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| The LOSE maintains Eastern Michigan University should change their nickname to the Emus. The flightless bird is an appropriate mascot for a football program that cannot get off the ground. |
Sure, Bowling Green was great under Urban Meyer, but save for this season, what have they done since he left? It's unlikely Northern Illinois will be a BCS-caliber team when Jordan Lynch is gone. When those teams fall, everybody has their chance to be good ... even Buffalo, 12-79 in its first eight seasons in I-A, won the MAC Championship Game two seasons after the end of that run. It's logical; over a dozen years there's one you get hot, win some close games, maybe the schedule's in your favor and you make a bowl game. Anybody should be able to make at least one bowl game a decade.
Except Eastern Michigan.
Since 2000, every team in the MAC (save for Temple, which was only in the MAC briefly, and Massachusetts, which just joined) has been to the MAC Championship Game ... except Eastern. The "Eagles" (more on that later) haven't had a winning record since 1995. They've been to two bowl games in history, (1971 and 1987), and there seems to be no end in sight to the wait after a demoralizing 2-10 season this year.
I helped cover the Eagles in 2006 for the student newspaper in a season that was actually one of their high-water marks in the past decade. Eastern started 3-2 that season (with a near-win against Cincinnati) and was 3-4 when a post-Roethlisberger Miami (Ohio) team came to Ypsilanti. It was 7-7, 10-10, then 17-17 when Miami scored a touchdown with 1:10 left to take the lead. Improbably, Eastern answered with :13 left.
I remember thinking "Wow. Maybe this season will be the one that ends the drought and turns it all around" ... as the extra point clanged off the upright because a bad snap and mediocre hold forced an abbreviated kicking motion. I've never heard the air go out of a buzzing stadium (well, as much as about 5,000 people in a 30,000 seat stadium can buzz) that fast. That's the thing about Eastern football: Every time you get your hopes up, it makes sure they don't stay there for long.
A few weeks later, a Brady Hoke-coached Ball State team came in, and I was to column-ize the game, which looked to be a boring slurp job when EMU kicked a field goal to lead 25-7 with 7:52 left. Ball State's offense had done nothing; their points were off of an interception return. But when they took 22 seconds to score a touchdown to make it 25-14, I saw the potential for something beautiful.
EMU's coach complied by taking the air out of the ball, removing our quarterback who'd thrown for 286 yards in the first half (yes, he voluntarily took out a quarterback with 286 passing yards in the first half) and replacing him with a running quarterback.
After the 22-yard punt, two-play touchdown drive combo made it 25-20 with 4:38 left, I would've bet everything I owned (which at the time was not much, I concede) that Ball State would win. I started grinning during the ensuing three-and-out and my faith was unshaken even after a Ball State lost fumble.
Sure enough, my Eagles came through, going three-and-out and getting a punt blocked (I started laughing maniacally) so Ball State only had to go 30 yards in the last 55 seconds with no timeouts instead of 70. A fourth-down incompletion was nullified by defensive pass interference. On the ensuing play, a 15-yard pass called a touchdown was overturned to incomplete via review and the crowd cheered.
"It doesn't matter," I said to my co-worker writing the gamer. "They're just delaying the inevitable." The inevitable happened two plays later. Ball State 26, Eastern Michigan 25 ... and I thanked the patron saint of sports columnists (whoever he is) for it. Those two games were the difference between 4-7 and 6-5, between a bowl game and being an also-ran.
Since 2000, every team in the MAC (save for Temple, which was only in the MAC briefly, and Massachusetts, which just joined) has been to the MAC Championship Game ... except Eastern. The "Eagles" (more on that later) haven't had a winning record since 1995. They've been to two bowl games in history, (1971 and 1987), and there seems to be no end in sight to the wait after a demoralizing 2-10 season this year.
I helped cover the Eagles in 2006 for the student newspaper in a season that was actually one of their high-water marks in the past decade. Eastern started 3-2 that season (with a near-win against Cincinnati) and was 3-4 when a post-Roethlisberger Miami (Ohio) team came to Ypsilanti. It was 7-7, 10-10, then 17-17 when Miami scored a touchdown with 1:10 left to take the lead. Improbably, Eastern answered with :13 left.
I remember thinking "Wow. Maybe this season will be the one that ends the drought and turns it all around" ... as the extra point clanged off the upright because a bad snap and mediocre hold forced an abbreviated kicking motion. I've never heard the air go out of a buzzing stadium (well, as much as about 5,000 people in a 30,000 seat stadium can buzz) that fast. That's the thing about Eastern football: Every time you get your hopes up, it makes sure they don't stay there for long.
A few weeks later, a Brady Hoke-coached Ball State team came in, and I was to column-ize the game, which looked to be a boring slurp job when EMU kicked a field goal to lead 25-7 with 7:52 left. Ball State's offense had done nothing; their points were off of an interception return. But when they took 22 seconds to score a touchdown to make it 25-14, I saw the potential for something beautiful.
EMU's coach complied by taking the air out of the ball, removing our quarterback who'd thrown for 286 yards in the first half (yes, he voluntarily took out a quarterback with 286 passing yards in the first half) and replacing him with a running quarterback.
After the 22-yard punt, two-play touchdown drive combo made it 25-20 with 4:38 left, I would've bet everything I owned (which at the time was not much, I concede) that Ball State would win. I started grinning during the ensuing three-and-out and my faith was unshaken even after a Ball State lost fumble.
Sure enough, my Eagles came through, going three-and-out and getting a punt blocked (I started laughing maniacally) so Ball State only had to go 30 yards in the last 55 seconds with no timeouts instead of 70. A fourth-down incompletion was nullified by defensive pass interference. On the ensuing play, a 15-yard pass called a touchdown was overturned to incomplete via review and the crowd cheered.
"It doesn't matter," I said to my co-worker writing the gamer. "They're just delaying the inevitable." The inevitable happened two plays later. Ball State 26, Eastern Michigan 25 ... and I thanked the patron saint of sports columnists (whoever he is) for it. Those two games were the difference between 4-7 and 6-5, between a bowl game and being an also-ran.
In 2009, I had the "opportunity" to again
cover the football team, for a magazine a friend of mine was starting.
That 0-12 season was "highlighted" by a 29-27 loss to Ball State where:
• Eastern blew a 27-13 second-half lead
• Ball State had a 300-yard rusher and a 200-yard rusher, believed to be the first time in NCAA history that happened
• Ball State's coach ended his 34-game winless streak, which led to one of my
As luck would have it, said 34-game-winless-streak coach (Stan Parrish) became our interim head coach after current coach Ron English was recorded using both kinds of f-words in talking to the team. (Note to Ron: If the kids you have suck this bad that you have to chew them out like this ... who recruited them?)
I actually had hope for the English era when he went from 0-12 to 2-10 to 6-6 (no bowl because of two I-AA/FCS opponents). But, like I said before, EMU football makes sure that when your hopes get up, they don't stay there long. 2-10 last year, and the disaster this year. Not just on the field, but the murder of a wide receiver as well.
I went to the final home game this season (vs. Bowling Green), which may be the worst performance ever by a team that led at one point. A first-quarter pick-six made it 7-3 but the final was 58-7. EMU had four first downs and three turnovers. Their quarterbacks were 1-for-18 with two interceptions and they were outgained 560-65, numbers usually reserved for guarantee games against Michigan and not an in-conference opponent.
Not much had changed in a decade ... empty seats (I'd guess about 1,000 were there on a sub-freezing, windy day that also featured snow), defenders who couldn't tackle (gosh, were our DBs undersized ... now I see why we gave up an average of 49 points in the last nine games), a student holding up a sign saying "THANK GOODNESS THIS IS FREE FOR STUDENTS."
How has this happened and why? Well, there are many reasons. One notable one is facilities. When I was in school, we were one of the few I-A (sorry, NCAA, I refuse to call it the "Football Bowl Subdivision") schools, especially in the North, to not have an indoor practice facility. We now have a dome (called "the bubble") but still no football building like just about every other school.
Contrast that with similarly struggling in-state rival Western Michigan, responsible for half our four total wins the past two seasons and coming off a 1-11 season. I'm not a big fan of Tony Robbins knockoff P.J. Fleck, especially as a tactician, but he's young, energetic and has brought in a great recruiting class thanks to an upgrade of facilities that is making players and coaches of good MAC teams take notice. They're positioned far better than Eastern is for the future. Similarly, at least Central Michigan can say it's had a No. 1 NFL draft pick in its program.
There's also the issue of the big Maize and Blue shadow seven miles down the road. MAC schools are located in places like DeKalb, Illinois; Athens, Ohio; and Muncie, Indiana. They're the only game in town. At Eastern (more of a commuter school than most in the MAC, especially CMU and WMU), students would rather go seven miles and sit in the Big House than one and watch Eastern. Or sit in the dorm and flip channels.
Another why is an opinion held by me (and probably only me) that our school is the victim of an Indian curse. While it may not be on an Indian burial ground (that I know about), Eastern was one of many schools to change its name from an Indian mascot (Huron) to a generic one (sadly, not to the Emu, which a few of my friends agree would've been perfect).
One of my columns for the student paper was noticing that bad things seemed to happen to teams that schedule EMU in the non-conference, or even guest speakers/performers (Michael Moore, Bill Maher) – more than could be explained (to me, anyway) as confirmation bias.
This theory was later strengthened by Jerry Sandusky (broke about a month after EMU played Penn State's football team) and Bernie Fine (that broke at such a point that Jim Boeheim devoted his postgame press conference after the EMU game to defending Fine). Even at Eastern athletics' highest point (the NCAA basketball tournament Sweet Sixteen in 1991), the Huron controversy came to a head that week and internal politics, etc., led to Brent Musberger referring to us as the "Eastern Michigan No-Names." (And with the Sioux controversy, North Dakota could do worse than the "North Dakota No-Names.")
This season, all three I-A non-conference opponents (Penn State, Rutgers, Army) underachieved as a whole. I'm telling you, the EMU jinx is a thing.
We have reached the point where many think EMU should go down to I-AA (NCAA, take your "Football Championship Subdivision" and stick it where the sun don't shine) or drop the program altogether, an opinion held by my journalistic mentor, who I respectfully disagree with on this.
A year ago, Gregg Doyel (who I like, mostly) said that
CMU was searching for a coach at the same time we were a few years ago, similarly moribund. They got now-Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, we didn't ... and the impact of that is still being felt today.
As former Georgia Tech basketball coach Bobby Cremins said, everything about college sports comes back to the coach. If you have the talent and can't win (cough, cough, Roy Williams), then that's obviously on the coach. And if the talent you have isn't good, then, as I said above, who recruited them? I still believe that Eastern's one good hire away from being decent – if the bumblers in charge can get it right for a change.
Their last three hires have been Jeff Woodruff (who?), Jeff Genyk (who?) and Ron English, who was a good defensive coordinator at Michigan except that his teams couldn't stop the new "spread" offense ... that about half the MAC ran at the time. That hire was a done deal when Lloyd Carr was brought in for the search ... probably so above bumblers could rub elbows with him. We need a young up-and-comer with the energy needed to take this massive rebuild on. (I wanted Bob Sutton if interested each time (was underappreciated at Army), and while he may also be a retread he was considered a hot coach when his Kansas City defense went out to a 9-0 start and at least had some ties to the school.)
So, the for the 20-somethingth straight year, bowl season is about to begin without EMU being a part of it.
But, there is some hope for Eagles fans. At least our wait is not the 50-something years of New Mexico State. Sports Illustrated chronicled the Aggies' ineptitude more than 20 years ago, and the situation has not improved in Las Cruces.
As luck would have it, said 34-game-winless-streak coach (Stan Parrish) became our interim head coach after current coach Ron English was recorded using both kinds of f-words in talking to the team. (Note to Ron: If the kids you have suck this bad that you have to chew them out like this ... who recruited them?)
I actually had hope for the English era when he went from 0-12 to 2-10 to 6-6 (no bowl because of two I-AA/FCS opponents). But, like I said before, EMU football makes sure that when your hopes get up, they don't stay there long. 2-10 last year, and the disaster this year. Not just on the field, but the murder of a wide receiver as well.
I went to the final home game this season (vs. Bowling Green), which may be the worst performance ever by a team that led at one point. A first-quarter pick-six made it 7-3 but the final was 58-7. EMU had four first downs and three turnovers. Their quarterbacks were 1-for-18 with two interceptions and they were outgained 560-65, numbers usually reserved for guarantee games against Michigan and not an in-conference opponent.
Not much had changed in a decade ... empty seats (I'd guess about 1,000 were there on a sub-freezing, windy day that also featured snow), defenders who couldn't tackle (gosh, were our DBs undersized ... now I see why we gave up an average of 49 points in the last nine games), a student holding up a sign saying "THANK GOODNESS THIS IS FREE FOR STUDENTS."
How has this happened and why? Well, there are many reasons. One notable one is facilities. When I was in school, we were one of the few I-A (sorry, NCAA, I refuse to call it the "Football Bowl Subdivision") schools, especially in the North, to not have an indoor practice facility. We now have a dome (called "the bubble") but still no football building like just about every other school.
Contrast that with similarly struggling in-state rival Western Michigan, responsible for half our four total wins the past two seasons and coming off a 1-11 season. I'm not a big fan of Tony Robbins knockoff P.J. Fleck, especially as a tactician, but he's young, energetic and has brought in a great recruiting class thanks to an upgrade of facilities that is making players and coaches of good MAC teams take notice. They're positioned far better than Eastern is for the future. Similarly, at least Central Michigan can say it's had a No. 1 NFL draft pick in its program.
There's also the issue of the big Maize and Blue shadow seven miles down the road. MAC schools are located in places like DeKalb, Illinois; Athens, Ohio; and Muncie, Indiana. They're the only game in town. At Eastern (more of a commuter school than most in the MAC, especially CMU and WMU), students would rather go seven miles and sit in the Big House than one and watch Eastern. Or sit in the dorm and flip channels.
Another why is an opinion held by me (and probably only me) that our school is the victim of an Indian curse. While it may not be on an Indian burial ground (that I know about), Eastern was one of many schools to change its name from an Indian mascot (Huron) to a generic one (sadly, not to the Emu, which a few of my friends agree would've been perfect).
One of my columns for the student paper was noticing that bad things seemed to happen to teams that schedule EMU in the non-conference, or even guest speakers/performers (Michael Moore, Bill Maher) – more than could be explained (to me, anyway) as confirmation bias.
This theory was later strengthened by Jerry Sandusky (broke about a month after EMU played Penn State's football team) and Bernie Fine (that broke at such a point that Jim Boeheim devoted his postgame press conference after the EMU game to defending Fine). Even at Eastern athletics' highest point (the NCAA basketball tournament Sweet Sixteen in 1991), the Huron controversy came to a head that week and internal politics, etc., led to Brent Musberger referring to us as the "Eastern Michigan No-Names." (And with the Sioux controversy, North Dakota could do worse than the "North Dakota No-Names.")
This season, all three I-A non-conference opponents (Penn State, Rutgers, Army) underachieved as a whole. I'm telling you, the EMU jinx is a thing.
We have reached the point where many think EMU should go down to I-AA (NCAA, take your "Football Championship Subdivision" and stick it where the sun don't shine) or drop the program altogether, an opinion held by my journalistic mentor, who I respectfully disagree with on this.
A year ago, Gregg Doyel (who I like, mostly) said that
CMU was searching for a coach at the same time we were a few years ago, similarly moribund. They got now-Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, we didn't ... and the impact of that is still being felt today.
As former Georgia Tech basketball coach Bobby Cremins said, everything about college sports comes back to the coach. If you have the talent and can't win (cough, cough, Roy Williams), then that's obviously on the coach. And if the talent you have isn't good, then, as I said above, who recruited them? I still believe that Eastern's one good hire away from being decent – if the bumblers in charge can get it right for a change.
Their last three hires have been Jeff Woodruff (who?), Jeff Genyk (who?) and Ron English, who was a good defensive coordinator at Michigan except that his teams couldn't stop the new "spread" offense ... that about half the MAC ran at the time. That hire was a done deal when Lloyd Carr was brought in for the search ... probably so above bumblers could rub elbows with him. We need a young up-and-comer with the energy needed to take this massive rebuild on. (I wanted Bob Sutton if interested each time (was underappreciated at Army), and while he may also be a retread he was considered a hot coach when his Kansas City defense went out to a 9-0 start and at least had some ties to the school.)
So, the for the 20-somethingth straight year, bowl season is about to begin without EMU being a part of it.
But, there is some hope for Eagles fans. At least our wait is not the 50-something years of New Mexico State. Sports Illustrated chronicled the Aggies' ineptitude more than 20 years ago, and the situation has not improved in Las Cruces.
