If I didn't know any better I would think this is a EWU forum with all these "if we wanna have a shot" quotes!!! First off no team has stopped or even really slowed our ground game, not even NDSU or SDSU, that's was just at a time when our offense was putrid and we were turning the ball over at an alarming rate! Well those days are behind us and we are playing great ball in every phase of the game other than last week's kicking game mishaps because Kennedy was hurt. EWU run defense is terrible, their biggest weakest is our biggest strength. You can run the football in any weather but I'm not sure you can throw with the same effectiveness @ 0° so advantage Guins there also! Another thing guys are losing the minds over is how many times can we run the ball without Ruiz, well Webb carried it 37 times Saturday with 1 fumble, as a team I think we ran it 49 times and Ruiz carried it 1x so that's something we need not worry about! Webb just broke the school record for single game All-Purpose yards and has been on an 1st Team All-American type rare since his knee is back to 100% but we are worried about someone that is not gonna b playing? Doesn't make sense to me. Now I am worried about both of our Safties being out but Powell has played well all year so I think we will b ok. This isn't the same team from earlier in the year, they will b fine!!! No one dimensional team can beat this Guins team, period!!! See you guys in Frisco!
Neither is this team...so, back off the stats a little, they don't tell the whole story. Why do you think the rushing D at EWU looks so bad? Almost every team we play tries the same strategy, chew clock by running the ball. We also played some top offenses, including who was the top rushing offense in the FCS at the time we played them. The MVFC tends to be more ball control focused, and I would guess overall the number of possessions is dramatically lower. EWU is more of an uptempo quick strike offense (though not as much as in the past), and affords teams more possessions against us, which also contributes to the inflated stats against us. We have also played several top offenses, including FBS WSU, who we held out of the end zone for over 30 minutes.
YSU is going to be tremendously tough for EWU, as will any of the QF teams.
I do see Webb as your greatest weapon, and your DE's being a close second. You guys can absolutely win this game. I think this will be one of our toughest games, and your overall defense is tremendous. If EWU can build a lead early, that's our best path to victory.