2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team

Last updated

2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football
Eastern Michigan Eagles logo.svg
Conference Mid-American Conference
DivisionWest
Record3–9 (2–6 MAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Scott Isphording (2nd season)
Home stadium Rynearson Stadium
Seasons
←  2007
2009  →
2008 Mid-American Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
East Division
Buffalo x$  5 –3   8 –6  
Bowling Green  4 –4   6 –6  
Temple  4 –4   5 –7  
Ohio  3 –5   4 –8  
Akron  3 –5   5 –7  
Kent State  3 –5   4 –8  
Miami (OH)  1 –7   2 –10  
West Division
Ball State x  8 –0   12 –2  
Central Michigan  6 –2   8 –5  
Western Michigan  6 –2   9 –4  
Northern Illinois  5 –3   6 –7  
Toledo  2 –6   3 –9  
Eastern Michigan  2 –6   3 –9  
Championship: Buffalo 42, Ball State 24
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions

The 2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team represented Eastern Michigan University during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Eastern Michigan competed as a member of the Mid-American Conference. The team was led by head coach Jeff Genyk, who was released at the end of the season. He was replaced by Ron English. [1]

Contents

2008 started with a bang in a 52–0 defeat of Indiana State. For longtime fans, this was repayment for an embarrassing loss to ISU in 2001. Despite the strong start, Eastern lost 4 straight after the opener, and was never close in any of them. Then they pulled off a road upset of Bowling Green, who had beaten BCS member Pittsburgh earlier in the year. But after that, they had two close losses by three at West Point to Army, and by seven at home to Akron.

After a loss to Temple on November 22, 2008, Eastern Michigan fired coach Jeff Genyk, but would allow him to coach the Eagle's final game of the season against rival Central Michigan. [2] Many games lost by 7 points or less was one of the reasons given for firing Genyk. Eastern won that game, however, 56–52. Two national records were set against CMU as QB Andy Schmitt had 58 completions and Tyler Jones tied a record by catching 23 passes. With Eastern Michigan's win over Central Michigan, all three schools split the series, and Eastern retained the Michigan MAC Trophy on the tie. Schmitt finished 58/80 for 516 yards (school record), threw 5 TDs, and ran for one more. Most of these records were reset from just the week prior against Temple. In that game, Schmitt finished 50/76 for 485 yards, but Eastern was outscored by three. His 76 passes in a game without an interception set an NCAA record. He was only intercepted once against Central with 80 passes.

Schmitt's return as a 5th year senior in 2009 was a point of optimism for fans. For those two games he was 108/156 for 1001 yards and 1 interception. Perhaps the 2009 season would have been much different (instead of 0–12) if Schmitt had not gone down with a career-ending knee injury early in that season.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
August 287:00 pm Indiana State *
W 52–017,494
September 612:00 pmat Michigan State *
 BTN L 10–4271,789
September 1312:00 pm Toledo
  • Rynearson Stadium
  • Ypsilanti, MI
L 17–4116,860
September 201:00 pmat Maryland *
L 24–5148,023
September 2712:00 pm Northern Illinois
  • Rynearson Stadium
  • Ypsilanti, MI
 ESPN+ L 0–3717,159
October 44:00 pmat Bowling Green
W 24–2116,217
October 111:00 pmat Army *
 ESPN Classic L 13–1727,096
October 181:00 pm Akron
  • Rynearson Stadium
  • Ypsilanti, MI
L 35–4217,055
October 2512:00 pmat No. 20 Ball State
L 16–3820,948
November 12:00 pmat Western Michigan
L 10–3119,917
November 221:00 pmat Temple
L 52–5513,033
November 2812:00 pm Central Michigan
  • Rynearson Stadium
  • Ypsilanti, MI (rivalry)
W 56–5226,188
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Indiana State

1234Total
Indiana State00000
Eastern Michigan141414042

Michigan State

1234Total
Eastern Michigan070310
Michigan State71471442

Toledo

1234Total
Toledo14027041
Eastern Michigan0701017

Maryland

1234Total
Eastern Michigan0143724
Maryland1014101751

Northern Illinois

1234Total
Northern Illinois1477937
Eastern Michigan00000

Bowling Green

1234Total
Eastern Michigan0710724
Bowling Green707721

Army

1234Total
Eastern Michigan0130013
Army703717

Akron

1234Total
Akron32171142
Eastern Michigan01471435

Ball State

1234Total
Eastern Michigan007916
Ball State37141438

Western Michigan

1234Total
Eastern Michigan073010
Western Michigan10701431

Temple

1234Total
Eastern Michigan71432852
Temple321102155

Central Michigan

1234Total
Central Michigan142110752
Eastern Michigan142814056

After the season

The following Eagle was selected in the 2009 NFL draft after the season. [3]

RoundPickPlayerPositionNFL club
4109 T. J. Lang Tackle Green Bay Packers

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References

  1. ↑ English to be announced as EMU coach, ESPN, December 15, 2008, retrieved December 20, 2008.
  2. ↑ Bennett, Brian (December 22, 2008). "Sources: English to be announced as EMU coach". ESPN . Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  3. ↑ "2009 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 7, 2024.


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