Saturday, Sept. 10 • 2 p.m. Pacific

#1 Eastern Washington Eagles 0-1 (0-0) @ South Dakota Coyotes 0-1 (0-0)

DakotaDome (10,000) • Vermillion, S.D.

Series: Never played.
TV: Televised regionally by the Midco Sports Network
Radio: http://www.espnnorthwest.com/listen-live/

One big play short of being 1-0, the Eagles play fellow 0-1 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision foe South Dakota this Saturday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, N.D. Kickoff is 2 p.m. Pacific time in a game televised regionally on the Midco Sports Network.

Eastern out-gained Washington 504-250 in total offense, but lost the turnover battle 4-0 and narrowly lost to the Huskies 30-27 last Saturday (Sept. 3) in front of 58,088 fans at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash. The Eagles had a chance to win the game, but Washington’s Desmond Trufant – the younger brother of former Eagle Isaiah Trufant – intercepted a pass in the end zone with 29 seconds left to ruin Eastern’s upset bid. The loss spoiled a remarkable performance by senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who had the second-most passing yards in school history with 473.

“We are 0-1 and we’ve got to just dig back,” said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin, whose team retained the No. 1 ranking in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 poll despite the loss. “We don’t like the taste of being 0-1, but we’re going to find a way to fight and do the things we need to do in practice to come back. We need to do everything we can to get a win against South Dakota.”

“We have to clean up some things -- we obviously made some mistakes in spots where they were able to score on short fields,” explained Baldwin of his team’s performance last week, including two turnovers by EWU’s punt return unit. “So those are the areas we need to come back and clean-up, but you know it’s just tough to be that close and lose. It’s tough when you’re in that spot and you have a shot to win at the end. But at the same time, I’m extremely pleased with the fight of our squad.”

Eastern returns 15 starters from last year’s team that finished with a school-record 13 wins and just two losses. Twelve Eagle players garnered preseason honors, including seven who received All-America honors at the NCAA FCS level. Those players include quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, wide receiver Brandon Kaufman, center Chris Powers and tackle Gabriel Jackson on offense, and safety Matt Johnson, linebacker Zach Johnson and tackle Renard Williams on defense.