2017 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

The 2017 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by first-year head coach Aaron Best, who was promoted from Offensive Line coach. The Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington and were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 7–4, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. Despite being ranked in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, they were not selected to participate in the FCS Playoffs.

2017 Eastern Washington Eagles football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 21
FCS Coaches	No. 22
2017 record	7–4 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Aaron Best (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Bodie Reeder (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeff Schmedding (3rd season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Roos Field (Capacity: 8,600)

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 14 Southern Utah +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 5 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
Northern Arizona ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	4
Sacramento State		6	–	2					7	–	4
Montana		5	–	3					7	–	4
Montana State		5	–	3					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	6
Idaho State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	7
North Dakota		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					1	–	10
Portland State		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	1:00 p.m.	at Texas Tech*	No. 5	Jones AT&T Stadium Lubbock, TX	RTNW	L 10–56	54,988
September 9	1:05 p.m.	No. 2 North Dakota State*	No. 7	Roos Field Cheney, WA	ESPN3	L 13–40	10,231
September 16	10:00 a.m.	at Fordham*	No. 12	Coffey Field Bronx, NY	STADIUM	W 56–21	3,029
September 23	5:05 p.m.	at Montana	No. 11	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	RTNW[1]	W 48–41	25,944
September 30	1:05 p.m.	Sacramento State	No. 9	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX WA	W 52–31	10,917
October 7	6:00 p.m.	at UC Davis	No. 10	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV	W 41–38	8,158
October 14	1:05 p.m.	Montana State	No. 10	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX WA	W 31–19	11,301
October 21	4:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah	No. 8	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ELVN	L 28–46	7,463
November 4	1:05 p.m.	No. 19 Weber State	No. 11	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX WA	L 20–28	9,451
November 11	11:05 a.m.	at North Dakota	No. 19	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco	W 21–14	8,247
November 18	3:05 p.m.	Portland State	No. 18	Roos Field Cheney, WA (The Dam Cup)	RTNW[1]	W 59–33	8,717
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

at Texas Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	0	10	0	0	10
Red Raiders	7	21	21	7	56

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Bison	9	10	7	14	40
No. 7 Eagles	7	3	3	0	13

at Fordham

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Eagles	7	14	21	14	56
Rams	7	0	7	7	21

at Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Eagles	3	3	21	21	48
Grizzlies	14	10	3	14	41

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	7	10	7	7	31
No. 9 Eagles	21	7	14	10	52

at UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Eagles	6	7	7	21	41
Aggies	7	7	14	10	38

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	0	7	0	12	19
No. 10 Eagles	7	10	7	7	31

at Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Eagles	14	7	0	7	28
Thunderbirds	0	15	10	21	46

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Wildcats	0	14	7	7	28
No. 11 Eagles	7	7	0	6	20

at North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Eagles	7	14	0	0	21
Fighting Hawks	7	0	0	7	14

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	14	12	0	7	33
No. 18 Eagles	14	17	28	0	59

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	5	7	12	11	9	10	10	8	14	11	19	18	17	21
Coaches	4	6–T	12	11	8–T	10	9	8	12	11	21	20	19	22

References

1. "BIG SKY, ROOT SPORTS ANNOUNCE CONTRACT EXTENSION, 2017 SCHEDULE". Big Sky Conference. March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.