THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: September 4, 2013

Upset. Stunner. Shocking.

Those were some of the words used to describe the 49-46 win by Eastern Washington of the FCS over 25th-ranked Oregon State of the FBS last Saturday.

Many proclaimed it a monumental victory, the little school from Cheney beating a team at the highest level of college football.

I disagree. While it was indeed impressive, based on recent results, we should have seen this day coming, and not been all that surprised.

THIS IS not to degrade what Eastern did. Rather, to show how good the Eagle football program has become, to the point where being able to play with teams like that should not be a surprise.

EWU nearly beat the Huskies in Seattle two years ago, and probably should have beaten the Cougars in Pullman last year. So this year's game was more of a breakthrough than a shocking upset.

This wasn't an overmatched FCS team hitting a few big plays and taking advantage of sloppy play by the FBS team. Oregon State couldn't stop EWU's offense, in particular quarterback Vernon Adams. He passed on the Beavers, ran on them, scrambled on them. Beaver defenders are probably still having nightmares about him. The game evolved into a shootout, with the team with the last best possession winning - in this case, EWU (the actual last possession, by OSU, was more of a desperation drive).

Oregon State is a good, mid-level Pac-12 and FBS program, probably a little better at this stage than the University of Washington, definitely better than Washington State.

After some 30 years of futility, the Beavers have become competitive since around 2000. But while they are capable of knocking off, say, a top-ranked USC, they are also capable of losing at home to Sacramento State, like they did two years ago. Sac State, in the Big Sky with EWU, went on to finish 4-7 last year, though the Hornets did beat Montana, lost by 10 to Montana State, and lost 42-35 in overtime to Eastern.

If you strapped the EWU coaches to a lie detector machine, they would probably admit they thought their team could beat OSU, rather than roll over and lose by 25 like the oddsmakers predicted.

Last year, Eastern rolled into Moscow and beat Idaho 20-3 in a game that was more one-sided than that score indicated. The fact EWU went into Corvallis and beat Oregon State head-up was just another example that the best FCS teams can indeed play with mid-level FBS squads.

Now, if EWU goes into Tuscaloosa someday and beats Alabama ...

IF YOU'RE looking for a stunner, the bigger surprise was Boise State getting hammered 38-6 in Seattle by the Huskies last Saturday.

Boise State, kings of the gadget plays in recent years, ran pretty much straight-up plays against U-Dub, mostly for minimal gain, and failed to even score a touchdown.

And to think some predicted the Broncos would wind up in a BCS game at the end of the year. Then again, they won't play anyone as good as the Huskies the rest of the way, so if they get it together, I guess it wouldn't be far-fetched to say they could win out and hope some of the big boys lose multiple games.

As for the Huskies, let's see if they can maintain that level of play the rest of the way. In recent years Washington, like Oregon State, has shown they can knock off the top teams, but can also stumble and lose to teams they shouldn't.

TANNER JONES is a goalkeeper for the North Idaho College men's soccer team.

Check that - with the other goalkeeper recovering from illness, Tanner Jones is THE goalkeeper for the NIC men's soccer team.

In that role, he has two responsibilities. One, allow as few goals as possible. Two, do not get hurt. And if you do, continue to play.

That second role is easier said than done.

Last week, in a game against Chemeketa Community College of Salem, Ore., Jones came out to challenge an onrushing Chemeketa player, and got cleated - NIC coach Ken Thompson said there were seven cleat marks on his chest, one on his head.

"You could almost see the whole shoe," Thompson said afterward.

Still, Jones remained in net, and has helped the Cardinals to a 3-0-1 record in the early going - including home-and-home victories over Northwest College of Powell, Wyo., which was ranked 20th in the NJCAA preseason poll.

This week, NIC has made a mark of its own - receiving votes in the season's first regular season poll.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.