THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Idaho, Eastern passing each other in different directions again

Down a ramp that leads to the basketball arena, down a long hallway and hang a left into the Red Reese Room just off Reese Court, Eastern Washington football coach Aaron Best slammed his hand on the table at the conclusion of his 12-minute presser, rattling recording devices on the table and startling members of the media who might have looked away by then. 

“Awesome,” Best said, as media looked up and back at him again, wondering what the noise was all about. “That was so fun. So fun.” 

It was apparent that Saturday’s 21-14 victory over the Idaho Vandals, at Roos Field in Cheney, was bigger than just Eastern winning its second straight game, which boosted the Eagles to 3-4, 2-1 in the Big Sky. 

It was also Eastern’s first victory over Idaho since 2021; the Vandals had won the last three meetings. 

“It’s been a while,” Best said. “It’s been a while.” 

A FEW years ago, Eastern was among the best teams in FCS, not just the Big Sky, while Idaho was stuck in neutral, making the transition back to the Big Sky after 22 seasons at the FBS level. 

In that 2021 matchup, Eastern embarrassed Idaho in a 71-21 victory. A few weeks later, the Vandals had a new football coach. And while Idaho went 7-5, 9-4 and 10-4 the last three seasons under Jason Eck, making the FCS playoffs each year, the Eagles went the other direction, with records of 3-8, 4-7 and 4-8. Eastern last made the playoffs in 2021. 

In 2022, Idaho beat EWU 48-16 in Moscow. The Vandals won 44-36 in Cheney the following season, and triumphed 38-28 at the Kibbie Dome last year. 

“There’s been a lot of emotion the last few years, having to walk through the tunnels, and wait hours for media after games down in Moscow,” Best told the media early Saturday evening. “So this had a little personal touch to it, with recruits walking by my face over the years. 

“I’m proud of our guys; they found a way.”

TO SAY Eastern is back to being Eastern might be a bit premature. 

After all, the Eags’ conference wins have come over a winless Portland State team, and over an Idaho team which has now lost four straight. 

Just three weeks earlier, Eastern was shellacked 57-3 by Montana State in Bozeman. 

But there have been signs of encouragement, especially on defense — a literal soft spot for the Eags in recent years. 

And, while Idaho has been hit by injuries at quarterback, so has Eastern, which was coming off its bye week. But Nate Bell, the Eagles’ new starting signal-caller, ran for 134 yards and passed for 177 yards and a touchdown against Idaho. 

"We’re going to challenge the entire offense, coaches included, to not put so much on 2’s (Bell’s) back,” Best said. “He’s carried us thus far; he’s a winner. But we’ve got to get him less mileage on his tires. But he was a dog again tonight.” 

Best was so excited about beating Idaho that he planned to let his team enjoy the victory an extra hour — 25 hours instead of 24 — before the Eagles turn their focus to Saturday’s game at Weber State. 

“Our guys were focused,” Best said. “Our guys had purpose, our guys had conviction, and they practiced two weeks for this game.” 

WHEN THOMAS Ford Jr. was introduced as Idaho’s new head football coach in December, he said he was not walking into a rebuilding situation. 

But seven games in, Idaho sits at 2-5, 0-3 in the Big Sky, likely needing to win out to have a chance to make the playoffs. 

“I know our expectations were very high, and at times our expectations were lofty for the group that we had, but I would not change those expectations for anything,” Ford said. “Because I do believe in this group, I do believe we can play at a high level, and I believe that we’re going to do that starting next week.” 

And folks on the outside figured the Vandals would survive a second straight year of multiple losses to the transfer portal, and the loss of coach Jason Eck to New Mexico.  

But after all the portal shuffling was done, the Vandals were left with one returning starter on defense, linebacker Isiah King.  

And at receiver, after being blessed with the likes of Hayden Hatten, Jermaine Jackson, Jordan Dwyer and Mark Hamper, this year’s bunch is still young and learning — though redshirt freshman Marquawn McCraney, who missed all of fall camp with an injury after having surgery in the spring, emerged Saturday with seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. 

“You’re seeing the type of receiver that I believed in when Marquawn was a high school senior,” Ford said. “I’ll never forget, it was before his junior year (at Highline High in the Seattle area), and he told me that he really wanted to play receiver, but everybody else wants him to play safety. I said, 'You can play receiver at the University of Idaho.’ Seeing his performance tonight validated that in every way. And I think he’s going to be a guy you see a lot more of as we move forward in this season and beyond.” 

PART OF Idaho’s problems can be traced to its starting quarterback, Joshua Wood, missing the last two games with a lower-body injury. Backup Sawyer Teeney has also been unavailable the last two weeks due to injury. And the No. 3 quarterback, Jack Wagner, suffered a lower-leg injury in the first half of the Eastern game, and didn’t return in the second half. 

Idaho plays host to Portland State on Saturday, then plays a Friday night Halloween game at Northern Arizona. Then, UC Davis visits, and Idaho travels to Sacramento State before playing host to Idaho State in the regular season finale. 

“We don’t live in a patient business in college football, but I think our group will continue to get better; they’re going to continue to believe,” Ford said. “I hope that the Vandal fans continue to give me grace and patience to get this group going. Because, again, this isn’t the same group that we’ve had. We don’t have a bunch of veteran players. We have a lot of young players, and a lot of new players, and you’re seeing a little bit of that come to a head in these last four weeks.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.