For much of this season, the Eastern Washington football team was probably better known for its garish red field than the quality of the Eagles’ play on it.
The new red Sprinturf surface at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. – dubbed the “Inferno” – replaced the Eagles’ grass surface that tended to freeze late in the season. It’s attention-getting, which no doubt was the point, and created a lot of talk, both positive and negative, when EWU took the field for the first time in 2010.
“We’re all about it,” All-America linebacker J.C. Sherritt said. “We know some people aren’t too fond of it, but we don’t care. We love it and we love playing on it.”
Football purists might not like the color, but there’s been little to dislike about EWU’s play this season.
The Eagles (11-2) shared the Big Sky conference title with Montana State and were ranked No. 1 at the end of the regular season. They earned a No. 5 seed in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and will host defending national champion Villanova (9-4) in a semifinal tonight.
The winner will face Saturday’s survivor between Georgia Southern and Delaware in the Jan. 7 championship game in Frisco, Texas.
“We wanted to do something that gave us a home field, whether you call it an edge or just something that we could latch on to that was ours and different,” Eagles coach Beau Baldwin said. “Having a red field, if you’re not performing well, then it becomes kind of a gimmick.”
FCS semifinalsTonightVillanova (9-4) at No. 5 Eastern Washington (11-2), 8 (ESPN2)SaturdayGeorgia Southern (10-4) at No. 3 Delaware (11-2), noon (ESPNU)
Craig Haley, the FCS executive director for The Sports Network, attended EWU’s first game on the turf, a Sept. 18 matchup with Big Sky rival and FCS power Montana.
“I think the most distracting part of it is watching from above – for instance, when you’re watching from the TV angle or from the press box,” Haley said. “Then you see all this red. On the field, you have the background colors so it’s not as bad as you might think.”
The Eagles have been on their red field throughout the playoffs, and staying home is no small thing when you’re in the Pacific Northwest and most of the teams in the playoffs are east of the Mississippi River.
EWU reached the semifinals in dramatic fashion, beating North Dakota State 38-31 in overtime. Sherritt forced a fumble at the 1-yard line on the Bison’s possession, and the Eagles were able to celebrate after a replay review upheld the call on the field.
“It was one of the craziest games I’ve ever played in,” Sherritt said. “Obviously with it being the quarterfinals, it was something.”
Just like the field. Just like this season.
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.