A Year Later...

When we got home from work last Friday, I asked my wife if she remembered what we were doing a year ago at that particular time. Before she could reply that she didn’t know, I said, “We were watching the Eastern-Delaware championship football game.” To which she replied, “That was the night I was the good wife!”

Yes, that was the first and only time that she has ever watched a football game with me from start to finish. Not easy at times but very memorable.

This season was much different for the Eagles. After beginning the season as the No.1 rated FCS team in the nation with a lot of promising talent returning, the Eagles went on the road and nearly pulled off a big upset against the Washington Huskies. Then it was onto South Dakota, and Montana before playing their first home game against Montana State.

During the 0-4 September the Eagles were beat up with injuries to both sides of the football. To his credit, Coach Beau Baldwin would not make excuses for the losses, knowing full well that many of the wins that he has been a part of, have come when the opposing team wasn’t at full strength.

But honestly, when you lose three potential defensive All-Americans for the season, defensive stops came at a premium. A weakened defense made for a tired defense. The offensive line was patchwork and the running game often abandoned.

Last season the Eagles had a balanced attack with Taiwan Jones. Without Jones in the last two and a half games last year the Eagles were still able to run the ball. Credit the line for that ability. But this year rushing yards were few.

But Bo Levi Mitchell used his arm to carry the Eagles to victories in five of their last six games. Not good enough to make it to the playoffs.

Mitchell, who transferred from SMU a couple of years ago, had a season for the record books and was awarded the Walter Payton award last Friday night.

The Walter Payton award is the FCS equivalent to the FBS Heisman trophy. Last year, J.C. Sherritt earned the Buck Buchanan award as the National defensive player of the year.

For a school like Eastern these awards are big. A National Championship and players of the year in back-to-back seasons shows that the Eagles are recruiting quality athletes and the coaching staff is getting the most out of them and definitely coaching them well.

It took me a while to become a Bo Levi Mitchell fan. Mainly because I saw him throw so many interceptions for touchdowns and that is never good. But he had a great championship game last January and followed it up with an award-winning senior season.

I know that a lot of people wondered why the Eagles were having trouble winning this fall and that it was a very disappointing season. In reality, for a team to make it to the championship game so many things have to go right and the most important thing is that players need to stay healthy and on the field. But for whatever reason, when injuries happen it is like an epidemic and this year the trainers got a real workout.

Injuries are one thing, but season ending ones are mentally crushing to a team. You can’t make young, inexperienced players overnight wonders. These things take time.

For anyone that has played high school sports, how good were you as a freshman and how much better were you as a senior? Multiply this by a hundred when it comes to college athletics, and that should give you an idea what young players need to strive for when they are thrown into the fire of a game.

Sure, I was disappointed that the Eagles didn’t have the kind of success that they had a year ago and make the playoffs. But they never quit playing hard, were always striving for success and that should make all Eagle fans proud.

Who knows what next year will bring, but we are sure to be treated to some exciting Eagles’ football on the red turf in Cheney.