This is not just another early-season FCS game dressed up as a decent matchup. Eastern Washington vs South Dakota comes with actual weight to it: a No. 11 team, a ranked opponent on the road, and a first home-and-home meeting that immediately feels bigger than a standard September checkpoint. It is also one of only four Missouri Valley Football Conference-Big Sky Conference matchups this season, which gives the whole thing a proper cross-league edge.
And for Eastern Washington, the timing is awkward in the worst possible way. Aaron Best has already confirmed that Samarai Anderson will be out for the rest of the season after suffering an apparent knee injury in Saturday’s 34-24 win over Northern Iowa. That is not a minor detail to tuck away for later. It is a season-changing loss for a defense that leans on its captain and now has to keep its footing against one of the better teams in the FCS.
South Dakota arrives with a real argument
South Dakota is 2-0 for a reason. It opened with a 59-20 win over Central Connecticut State and then beat Northern Colorado 38-23, which is not the sort of start that happens by accident. The ranking says No. 11, but the bigger point is that the Coyotes have already shown they can control games and pile up points without looking rattled. They were also 30-17 winners over Eastern Washington back in 2011 in Vermillion, so this is not exactly an unfamiliar opponent arriving without precedent.
Marc Anderson did not dress it up when asked about South Dakota. “They are very good,” he said, and that is probably the most sensible starting point. He added that they have had “a ton of success over the recent years” and are “ranked for a reason.” That is the sort of respect that usually comes when a team has earned it the hard way.
Eastern Washington has to solve a lot at once
The challenge for EWU is obvious enough: replace production, absorb the emotional hit, and do it all while staring down a defense that, in Matt Vitzthum’s words, is “very aggressive” and plays downhill. He also warned that South Dakota often loads up with “11 defenders under 10 yards,” which is a pretty blunt way of saying the windows are going to be tight and the margin for error small. Vitzthum was not pretending otherwise when he said EWU is going to have to play “really, really well” to get a win.
That is the central tension in this game. Eastern Washington is not walking into Vermillion just to be a willing participant, and the program has already shown some life with the 34-24 result over Northern Iowa. But losing a captain and defensive anchor for the season changes the tone of everything around the matchup. Best said Anderson will stay around the group and “bring some juice to the sidelines,” which is a nice sentiment, but it does not solve the practical problem on the field.
There is also a tactical wrinkle worth watching. Vitzthum said South Dakota’s offense does things EWU does not see a ton of and spreads the field more than the Missouri Valley norm. That makes the game more than a brute-force test. It becomes an adaptation test, and those are often the ones that tell you the most about a team in September.
The kind of game that can say a lot quickly
South Dakota has the ranking, the clean record, and the home-field advantage on Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern Washington has the urgency, the reputation, and a chance to make a statement in the first game of the series before the return trip to Cheney next season. That is a decent setup on paper. In practice, it should be even better.
For EWU, the obvious question is whether it can keep South Dakota honest without Samarai Anderson. For South Dakota, the test is whether the ranking holds up when a solid Big Sky opponent turns up with real intent. That is why this one matters. It is early, yes, but it is not soft. And for both sides, that is exactly the point.
