More on Weber vs Eastern Washington -- How Weber Won.

First of all, let me say that I have not deleted or sold fireronmcbride.blogspot.com.  I will keep that for a while.

Weber State won last Saturday for one reason, they neutralized Taiwan Jones.  When Eastern Washington could not succeed at moving the ball into the red zone, they abandoned the running game and put the game in the hands of Matt Nichols.  The Eastern Washington QB and offense is a traditional offense--run to set up the pass.  When you have to pass to set up the pass, you loose.

Saturday's Highlights

First Quarter
12:05 Eastern's first drive stalls just inside Weber territory and the attempt to convert a 4th down fails.  After a long Trevyn Smith run, Weber kicks a field goal and takes a 3-0 lead.
2:19  JC Sherritt picks off a Cameron Higgins pass and takes it to the house.  EWU has their only lead of the game 3-7.

Second Quarter
11:14  Cameron Higgins and Mike Phillips hook up for an 80 yard touchdown on a 1-play drive.  Weber leads 10-7.
1:32  After a long drive, Mike Snoy kicks another feild goal.  Weber leads 13-7.
1:08  A long snap on a punt attempt goes wild which results in a Weber Safety.  Weber leads 15-7.
0:32  After the EWU free kick, Higgins and Phillips hook up again for a 30 yard touchdown.  Weber leads 22-7 at halftime.

Third Quarter
8:56  EWU's Matt Nichols was intercepted by Beau Hadley.
7:25  Mike Snoy adds another field goal.  Weber leads 25-7
5:06  Matt Nichols interception #2, this time by Nick Webb
0:13  Snoy misses a feild goal.  25-7
At the end of the third Quarter, Taiwan Jones had touched the ball 15 times

Fourth Quarter
10:01  Snoy pins EWU at their own 1 yard line.  Ewu shows signs of life when Nichols hits Tony Davis on a 49 yard pass play to get the Eagles to the Weber 19
8:56  Nichols finds Aaron Boyce for a 19 yard touchdown.  The extra point is missed.  25-13
4:31  Weber answers and burns 4:25 off the clock.  Set up by a long kickoff return, Trevyn scores on a short, 3-yard touchdown.  The extra point is missed 31-13.
2:39  Taiwan Jones fumbled into the endzone, recovered by Weber's Kevin Linehan.
0:23  Another EWU fumble, a missed exchange between the center and Nichols.  Recovered by Beau Hadley.

-In the fourth quarter, the Eagles moved the ball twice inside the Weber 5 yard line but fumbled both times.  Had both final EWU drives lead to touchdowns, with two point conversions, the final would have been 31-29.
-Taiwan Jones only touched the ball three times in the fourth quarter.  One of those touches was fumbled. 
-EWU had 43 pass attempts on 66 plays.  Not very many teams can win with this pass/run ratio.

Bottom line, EWU's best weapon was neutralized by the WSU second half scoring flurry.  The Eags were playing catchup the entire second half...and passing the ball.