The 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Beau Baldwin, who was in his ninth season with Eastern Washington. The Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington and were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 12–2, 8–0 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with North Dakota. They received the automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Arkansas and Richmond in the second round and quarterfinals, before losing to Youngstown State in the semifinals.
On January 16, 2017, head coach Beau Baldwin resigned to become the offensive coordinator at California. He finished at Eastern Washington with a nine year record of 85–32.
Preseason Big Sky polls On July 19, 2016, the Big Sky Conference released its preseason coaches' and media polls. The Wildcats were predicted to finish fourth in the coaches' poll and third in the media poll.
+Coaches' poll 1 Northern Arizona 132 (8) 2 Portland State 121 (2) Montana 121 4 Eastern Washington 112 (2) 5 North Dakota 105 (1) 6 Weber State 83 7 Southern Utah 73 Montana State 73 9 Cal Poly 66 10 Northern Colorado 43 11 Sacramento State 30 12 Idaho State 24 13 UC Davis 23 +Media poll 1 Northern Arizona 287 (8) 2 Montana 283 (7) 3 Eastern Washington 269 (5) 4 North Dakota 262 (2) 5 Portland State 252 (3) 6 Weber State 174 7 Southern Utah 162 8 Montana State 157 9 Cal Poly 153 10 Northern Colorado 111 11 Idaho State 58 12 UC Davis 56 13 Sacramento State 50
Schedule
Schedule
Roster
Game summaries At Washington State
At No. 1 North Dakota State
No. 10 Northern Iowa
At Northern Arizona
UC Davis
Northern Colorado
At Montana State
No. 16 Montana
At No. 14 Cal Poly
Idaho State
At Portland State
FCS playoffs No. 14 Central Arkansas (Second Round)
No. 12 Richmond (Quarterfinals)
No. 13 Youngstown State (Semifinals)
Ranking movements
References