2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football
2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football
Big Sky co-champion
FCS Playoffs Semifinals, L 38–40 vs. Youngstown State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 4
FCS Coaches	No. 4
Record	12–2 (8–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Beau Baldwin (9th season);
Offensive coordinator	Aaron Best (16th season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeff Schmedding (2nd season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Roos Field
	Seasons ← 2015 2017 →

2016 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^	8	–	0	12	–	2
No. 12 North Dakota +^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 25 Weber State ^	6	–	2	7	–	5
No. 24 Cal Poly ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
Southern Utah	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Colorado	4	–	4	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Montana	3	–	5	6	–	5
Montana State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Portland State	2	–	6	3	–	8
UC Davis	2	–	6	3	–	8
Sacramento State	2	–	6	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Beau Baldwin, who was in his ninth season with Eastern Washington. 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 12–2, 8–0 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with North Dakota. They received the automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Arkansas and Richmond in the second round and quarterfinals, before losing to Youngstown State in the semifinals.

On January 16, 2017, head coach Beau Baldwin resigned to become the offensive coordinator at California.^[1] He finished at Eastern Washington with a nine year record of 85–32.

Preseason

Big Sky polls

On July 19, 2016, the Big Sky Conference released its preseason coaches' and media polls. The Wildcats were predicted to finish fourth in the coaches' poll and third in the media poll.^[2]

Coaches' poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Northern Arizona	132 (8)
2	Portland State	121 (2)
2	Montana	121
4	Eastern Washington	112 (2)
5	North Dakota	105 (1)
6	Weber State	83
7	Southern Utah	73
7	Montana State	73
9	Cal Poly	66
10	Northern Colorado	43
11	Sacramento State	30
12	Idaho State	24
13	UC Davis	23

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Northern Arizona	287 (8)
2	Montana	283 (7)
3	Eastern Washington	269 (5)
4	North Dakota	262 (2)
5	Portland State	252 (3)
6	Weber State	174
7	Southern Utah	162
8	Montana State	157
9	Cal Poly	153
10	Northern Colorado	111
11	Idaho State	58
12	UC Davis	56
13	Sacramento State	50

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	5:00 pm	at Washington State*	No. 14	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 45–42	32,952
September 10	12:30 pm	at No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 8	Fargodome Fargo, ND	SWX	L 44–50 ^OT	18,906
September 17	4:05 pm	No. 10 Northern Iowa*	No. 8	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 34–30	9,111
September 24	4:05 pm	at Northern Arizona	No. 4	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	SWX	W 50–35	10,179
October 1	1:05 pm	UC Davis	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 63–30	10,741
October 8	1:05 pm	Northern Colorado	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 49–31	10,924
October 22	11:05 am	at Montana State	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 41–17	18,087
October 29	12:35 pm	No. 16 Montana	No. 3	Roos Field Cheney, WA (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	RTNW	W 35–16	10,931
November 5	6:05 pm	at No. 14 Cal Poly	No. 3	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	WBS	W 42–21	9,722
November 12	3:35 pm	Idaho State	No. 3	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 48–17	9,302
November 18	7:35 pm	at Portland State	No. 3	Providence Park Portland, OR (The Dam Cup)	RTNW	W 35–28	5,669
December 3	1:00 pm	No. 14 Central Arkansas*	No. 3	Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 31–14	6,085
December 10	1:00 pm	No. 12 Richmond*	No. 3	Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN3	W 38–0	5,150
December 17	3:30 pm	No. 13 Youngstown State*	No. 3	Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPNU	L 38–40	5,233
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^[3]

Roster

2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`8`	Gage Gubrud	So
QB	`12`	Reilly Hennessey	So
RB	`28`	Antoine Custer Jr.	Fr
RB	`30`	Tamarick Pierce	Fr
RB	`2`	Jabari Wilson	Sr
WR	`10`	Cooper Kupp	Sr
WR	`11`	Kendrick Bourne	Sr
WR	`1`	Shaq Hill	Sr
WR	`7`	Nic Sblendorio	Jr
WR	`81`	Stu Stiles	So
TE	`9`	Zach Wimberly	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL	`3`	Samson Ebukam	Sr
DB	`32`	Zach Bruce	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Beau Baldwin

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Game summaries

At Washington State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Eagles	7	17	14	7	45
Cougars	14	14	0	14	42

At No. 1 North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 8 Eagles	0	14	10	20	0	44
No. 1 Bison	7	14	7	16	6	50

No. 10 Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Panthers	10	14	0	6	30
No. 8 Eagles	0	7	14	13	34

At Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	12	10	14	14	50
Lumberjacks	7	14	7	7	35

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	23	7	0	30
No. 4 Eagles	14	0	35	14	63

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	10	7	7	31
No. 4 Eagles	3	11	21	14	49

At Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Eagles	14	10	7	10	41
Bobcats	14	3	0	0	17

No. 16 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Grizzlies	7	3	6	0	16
No. 3 Eagles	7	14	14	0	35

At No. 14 Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Eagles	14	7	14	7	42
No. 14 Mustangs	7	7	7	0	21

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	3	7	7	0	17
No. 3 Eagles	7	13	14	14	48

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Eagles	7	0	14	14	35
Vikings	14	0	14	0	28

FCS playoffs

No. 14 Central Arkansas (Second Round)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Bears	0	14	0	0	14
No. 3 Eagles	0	21	3	7	31

No. 12 Richmond (Quarterfinals)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Spiders	0	0	0	0	0
No. 3 Eagles	7	14	10	7	38

No. 13 Youngstown State (Semifinals)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Penguins	7	10	3	20	40
No. 3 Eagles	10	14	7	7	38

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	14	8 (1)	8	4	4	4	4	3 (17)	3 (18)	3 (18)	3 (19)	3 (21)	3 (14)	4
Coaches	17	8	7	5	5	5	5	3 (1)	3 (1)	3 (1)	3 (1)	3 (1)	4 (1)	4
FCS Playoffs	Not released									3	2	2	Not released

References

^ "Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin hired as Cal's OC". January 17, 2017.
^ "Northern Arizona voted first in #BigSkyFB Media, Coaches' Preseason Polls". July 19, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
^ Schedule

[1] "Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin hired as Cal's OC". January 17, 2017.

[2] "Northern Arizona voted first in #BigSkyFB Media, Coaches' Preseason Polls". July 19, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2025.

[3] Schedule

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Eastern Washington Eagles football
Venues	Roos Field (1967–present) Joe Albi Stadium (alternate)
Bowls & rivalries	Montana: EWU–UM Governors Cup Portland State: The Dam Cup
Culture & lore	Swoop The Inferno "Go, Eagles, Go"
People	Head coaches Award winners Retired jerseys NFL draftees
Seasons	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910–1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917–1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Sky Conference football champions
College Division / Division II	Idaho State (1963) Montana State (1964) Weber State & Idaho (1965) Montana State (1966) Montana State (1967) Idaho, Montana State, & Weber State (1968) Montana (1969) Montana (1970) Idaho (1971) Montana State (1972) Boise State (1973) Boise State (1974) Boise State (1975) Montana State (1976) Boise State (1977)
I-AA/FCS	Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana, Idaho, & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana, Montana State, & Idaho State (2002) Montana State, Montana, & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington, UC Davis, & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023) Montana State (2024)
National championships in bold