Down to crunch time for area college teams
When it was announced in late October that star Eastern Washington quarterback Gage Gubrud was lost for the season with a foot injury, Eagles coach Aaron Best was asked if the team’s “ceiling” might be lower.
Not at all, Best responded quickly. In fact, the team’s ceiling “might be higher,” he said.
After an early stumble, sophomore QB Eric Barriere has led the Eags to seven straight victories, and a berth in the FCS title game for the first time since EWU won it all in 2010.
Eastern’s foe, Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas, is a daunting one — North Dakota State, which has won six of the last seven FCS titles since Eastern won its.
Meanwhile, bowl season is underway in the FBS.
Boise State plays Boston College on Dec. 26 in the First Responder Bowl at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Two days later, Washington State faces Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
Boise State is 12-6 in bowl games. The Broncos played a rare stinker in the 2016 Cactus Bowl, losing 31-12 to Baylor. Last year, BSU beat an Oregon team going through a coaching change 38-28 in the Las Vegas Bowl.
WSU, meanwhile, is playing in its fifth bowl in Mike Leach’s seven seasons as coach. But the Cougs have lost three of their four bowl games under Leach, including back-to-back stinkers the last two years — 17-12 to Minnesota and 42-17 to Michigan State, both in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
As for the picks, Jason Elliott and I both picked EWU to beat Maine last week in the FCS semifinal. That makes me 39-9 on college picks, 87-28 overall. Jason is 38-10 on college picks, 84-31 overall.
COLLEGE
First Responder Bowl
Boise State (10-3) vs. Boston College (7-5)
Wednesday, Dec 26, 10:30 a.m.
NELKE: Brett Rypien closes out a nice career in Boise with a nice showing.
BSU, 38-14
ELLIOTT: This might not be the bowl game in Dallas that Boise State wanted to be in. Rypien might be a little too much for Boston College to stop though.
BSU, 30-20
Alamo Bowl
Washington State (10-2) vs. Iowa State (8-4)
Friday, Dec. 28, 6 p.m.
NELKE: The Cougs can’t stink it up in three bowls in a row, can they? Depends on if they have put their Apple Cup beatdown out of their minds. One less excuse — they can’t blame snow for stopping their high-octane offense in the Alamodome.
WSU, 45-27
ELLIOTT: Yes, the Cougs could stink up another bowl game. I don’t think they will this year.
WSU, 38-28
FCS Championship
Eastern Washington (12-2) vs. North Dakota State (14-0)
Saturday, Jan. 5, 9 a.m.
NELKE: North Dakota State hammered the Eagles 40-13 in Cheney in 2017. But that was Game 2 of the Aaron Best era, and the Eags are a much different team after what is now nearly two full seasons under Best, the former longtime offensive line coach at the school. Also, the title game is in Frisco, Texas, not Fargo, N.D.
EWU, 38-35
ELLIOTT: After watching Eastern steamroll Maine in the semifinals, it might be easy to pick them in this one. Cooper Kupp’s alma mater gets the best of Carson Wentz’s.
EWU, 45-42