As soon as Idaho State's loss to Central Washington became official last weekend, the Bengals began turning their attention toward today's 3:35 p.m. game against No. 17 Eastern Washington at Holt Arena.

As much as the loss to a Division II team stung, junior safety Dustin Tew pointed out it didn't affect Idaho State's position in the Big Sky standings.

"The most important thing is, when you look at our record, we're 0-1 in conference," Tew said last Saturday. "That's all that matters. Granted, I would love to be 4-0. But we're 0-1 in conference, and we still have a chance of winning the Big Sky if we turn it around."

In order to do that, Idaho State needs to fix the deficiencies on its offensive line. The unit allowed five sacks and helped the Bengals' running backs generate just 17 rushing yards last week.

Idaho State has to keep up with a relentless Eastern Washington offense that churned out 537 yards and 56 points last week against Sacramento State. Senior Eagles quarterback Matt Nichols, the Big Sky's offensive Most Valuable Player two years ago, now has speedy running back Taiwan Jones as his sidekick. Jones leads the Big Sky in rushing and earned The Sports Network's national co-Offensive Player of the Week honors last week. This is a dangerous, dangerous team Idaho State faces.

The following are some other talking points surrounding the two teams.

FIRST DOWN

The Eagles are still awaiting word about their appeal of a postseason ban the NCAA levied on the program for violations under former coach Paul Wulff.

Eastern Washington president Rodolfo Arevalo, athletic director Bill Chaves and other school administrators traveled to Indianapolis on Aug. 17 to present their appeal. The NCAA has not given the school a timetable for when it will make its decision.

The Eagles insist the uncertainty surrounding their postseason hopes hasn't become a distraction. Nichols said he doesn't ever think about the ban "unless someone asks me about it."

Eagles coach Beau Baldwin has noticed the same.

"I've been extremely impressed with how resilient our players are," Baldwin said in an EWU news release. "They have a tough mindset to them. A lot was thrown their way, and people can say what they want on whether or not it was fair. The bottom line is that as a group, all of our players are going in the same direction."

SECOND DOWN

For the second straight week, Idaho State will play a game that also serves as a reminder of how inter-connected the football coaching fraternity is.

Baldwin served as Idaho State coach John Zamberlin's quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator for six years while Zamberlin was Central Washington's head coach. Baldwin then took over as Wildcats coach after Zamberlin left for Idaho State in December 2006.

Zamberlin has plenty of history with Eastern Washington himself. He coached the Eagles' linebackers and defensive special teams from 1992 to 1994.

There are plenty of other Eastern Washington ties within Idaho State's coaching staff. Bengals defensive coordinator Brian Strandley coached the Eagles' defensive line in 2006, while Bengals safeties coach Steve Amrine graduated from Eastern Washington and served as an assistant coach there from 1993 to 1995.

Standing on the opposite sideline will be Eastern Washington assistant coaches John Graham, Ryan Sawyer and Torey Hunter, all of whom played and/or coached under Zamberlin at Central Washington.

THIRD DOWN

During the first three games this season, Nichols stayed on the field for several fourth downs as the Eagles' punter.

Without an experienced punter to begin the season, the Eagles spotted junior Cameron Zuber with Nichols, who has punted all his life. Nichols' seven punts this season have gone for an average of 34.4 yards, just shy of his average of 37.6 yards from the past two seasons.

Last weekend's game against Sacramento State was the first in which Zuber handled the punts exclusively. But Nichols said the Eagles might still throw him in on fourth downs just to give the Bengals something else to worry about.

FOURTH DOWN

Here's a position switch you won't see too often: Eastern Washington's Brynsen Brown, after playing at wide receiver the first three years of his career, has moved to defensive end.

What's even more surprising is that Brown ranks 12th in school history with 137 career receptions and earned second-team All-Big Sky honors last season. The Eagles could afford to make that move because senior wide receivers Aaron Boyce and Tony Davis have continued their solid play, while tight end Nathan Overbay has emerged as a legitimate threat in their passing attack. Overbay leads the team with four touchdown catches.

All that meant Brown had more use to the team on the defensive line, where he excelled in high school.

"It must be nice to be able to take a kid that's second-team all-conference and move him to defensive end," Zamberlin said. "To be able to have that luxury says a lot about your depth at that position."