Football Opens Up With Eastern Washington in 2015, Next Up San Francisco Tech
By Brian Spaen
Yesterday, it was announced that Eastern Washington will be playing the Ducks to kick-off the 2015 season in Eugene. The Eagles are a Big Sky team opponent in Division I FCS, adding no strength regardless of what they’ve done recently.
By then, it will be a world where four spots will be fought for amongst schools, and putting an FCS school on your resume doesn’t exactly show firepower.
This season already boasts a very weak non-conference schedule. Montana State was switched out for Tennessee Tech, and the Ducks will play Arkansas State and Fresno State before that. It’s the first time the school doesn’t play a BCS opponent since 2005.
Previous to this announcement, no FCS teams were scheduled from 2013 onward; Nevada, Tennessee, and home-and-homes with Wyoming, Michigan State, and Texas A&M were all on the schedule. Now, the Oregon football team has scheduled an FCS opponent for three straight seasons (including this year) and again three years from now.
Is Eastern Washington really that bad? No, the team won a national championship in 2010 and Washington needed an interception in the endzone to hold on to a three-point victory against them. But when a team is in the FCS, it doesn’t matter how good they’ve played – they’re in a lower division. Teams like Wyoming, Nevada, even Arkansas State would register better when these committees that are deciding playing spots review the season.
There’s nothing against the Eagles here. With only three games still on the non-conference schedule thanks to the Pac-12 not adopting the eight-game conference format, all opportunity needs to be taken to make the strength of schedule a non-topic.
Eastern Washington doesn’t fill that void. It just makes it bigger.
Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Autzen Zoo, follow the site on Facebook and Twitter. Read his other work on the Iowa State blog, Clones Confidential, and Watson Talk Lacrosse.