College football: Mountaineers take aim at losing streak in matchup with MSU-Northern
Published 7:00 am Saturday, October 23, 2021
- Eastern Oregon quarterback Kai Quinn drops back to pass during the Mountaineers’ 24-7 loss to the College of Idaho on Sept. 25, 2021. EOU is coming off a bye week and after losing three games in a row and looks to end that streak Saturday, Oct. 23, when it plays in Montana against winless MSU-Northern.
LA GRANDE — Things have taken a rough turn for the Eastern Oregon University football team, but this could be a bounce-back week for the Mountaineers.
Coming off a bye week, Eastern will be looking for a win against an 0-7 MSU-Northern team on the road. While the Mountaineers have struggled offensively this year and stand at 3-3, the team will have a great opportunity to get back in rhythm in a matchup with the Lights on Saturday, Oct. 23.
“The bye week was exactly what the doctor ordered, getting some guys healthy and getting back to basics,” head coach Tim Camp said. “We got work done and worked on getting back to fundamental football.”
Eastern has floundered in its last three matches, dropping games to the College of Idaho, Southern Oregon and Rocky Mountain. The team’s last win came on Sept. 18 against Carroll College in a low-scoring 10-7 victory.
Offensively the Mountaineers have not scored 20 or more points in a game since a Week 2 victory over Montana Western by a score of 35-28. Eastern managed 17 points in the first half against Rocky Mountain, but six turnovers from quarterback Kai Quinn proved detrimental.
“We did it to ourselves, making mistakes that we need to clean up,” Camp said. “It’s up to us to make plays.”
The Mountaineers will look to take advantage of a MSU-Northern defense that is allowing just under 35 points per contest this year. The Lights are coming off a 42-14 loss to the College of Idaho, which dropped them to 0-6 in conference play. Even so, Camp and the Mountaineers are not overlooking the team’s upcoming opponent simply based on record.
“They have guys that can make plays. I think it will be a great Frontier Conference matchup,” he said. “They’re hungry for a win and so are we.”
Eastern’s defense has played admirably as a whole this year, but had difficulty slowing down Rocky Mountain quarterback Nathan Dick in the team’s most recent loss. Dick threw for four touchdowns and 224 yards and ran for an additional 123 yards on the way to a 34-17 rout.
While Quinn did what he could to spur the Eastern offense, risks taken in the pocket resulted in turnovers that killed momentum throughout the loss. However, he accumulated 201 yards passing and 82 yards on the ground.
If the redshirt-senior can limit mistakes, his production will be key to turning things around for the Mountaineers’ offense.
Eastern has won its last seven head-to-head matchups with the Lights, holding a 7-5 record in road games between the two schools. Having won nine out of the last 10 matchups, the Mountaineers will be hoping for similar results to end the team’s losing streak
.