Container Top

Events Calendar

EVENT SEARCH:

In This Section


Most Read Stories


Blogs:


Ohio Politics/Elections:
Boccieri Shows Up at Renacci Town Hall, Engages in Impromptu Debate

Cleveland Browns:
Nothing new on Wednesday's Browns/Bucs injury report

Marla Ridenour on Sports:
Browns find plenty of good men

Varsity Letters:
Gridlocks: Week 3

The330:
Kanakaredes says she’ll have ‘CSI’ memories to treasure

Tribe Matters:
Monday’s Tribe lineup

First Bell - On Education:
Report is filed on bus incident

The Heldenfiles:
TNT Orders "Dallas" Pilot

Pets:
PAWS Pet of the Week: Meet Autumn!

Cleveland Cavaliers:
Scott believes Cavs can still win

Akron Zips:
No. 1 UA secures 2-0 win over No. 3 Wake Forest

Kent State Sports:
Around the MAC–Week 1

Akron Docs in Haiti:
Orphans in Fondwa

Buckeye Blogging:
‘The Shoe’ is Open for Business

All Da King's Men:
"They Talk About Me Like A Dog"

Blog of Mass Destruction:
Endangering U.S. Troops To Regain Power?

Akron Law Café:
Losing Common Ground

Car Chase:
Free Glenmoor Gathering Tickets

Let's Talk Real Estate:
Gossip Girl

Sound Check:
Robert Wilson, Gap Band bassist, dies

See Jane Style:
Making It Up

HRLite House:
From the White House – New Federal Approach to Hiring

Winless Eagles flying to Akron seeking upset

Coach relying on youngsters and emphasizing toughness

By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009

 

Eastern Michigan is having growing pains often associated with rebuilding football teams.

The Eagles are competitive at times, but not consistently so. They move the ball at times, but opponents do so from start to finish. They have talent and experience at some positions, but not at enough of them.

The result is an EMU team that is winless in 11 starts headed to a Mid-American Conference crossover game against the University of Akron on Friday afternoon at InfoCision Stadium.

''Where we are in our program is getting our kids to understand that effort is one thing, but execution is another,'' first-year coach Ron English said. ''You have to execute with tremendous effort and toughness to win games. We are continuing to grow our team in the area of mental toughness.''

Statistically, EMU is one of the worst teams in the country and in the MAC. The Eagles are 117th (out of 120) in the Football Bowl Subdivision and 13th in the MAC in total offense (274.55 yards per game). They also are 108th in the nation and 13th in the MAC in total defense (437.55). The Eagles are particularly porous stopping the run, ranking last in the country by allowing 284.45 yards rushing per game.

English, who has been defensive co-ordinator at Michigan and Louisville in
recent years, has gone with youth in attempting to change the mentality of a program that has not had a winning record since 1995. The depth chart shows only nine seniors holding spots on either the first or second units on offense and defense.

''We are playing so many young players. When you do that, they make mistakes,'' English said. ''One or two might turn a close game into a blowout, or turn a win into a loss.''

EMU was competitive early in the season in losses to Army (27-14) and Northwestern (27-24) behind senior quarterback Andy Schmitt, who threw for 2,644 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2008.

But Schmitt suffered a season-ending knee injury in the third game, a 45-17 loss to Michigan. Sophomore Kyle McMahon replaced Schmitt, but lost the job after six starts to true freshman Alex Gillett.

Gillett, a two-time all-state selection at Clyde High School, has completed 52-of-107 passes for 615 yards and three touchdowns, with five interceptions.

''He is a great kid, a true competitor. He has been a winner his whole high school career,'' English said. ''He is what we want in terms of being a competitor and a leader. He has just got to mature as a player.''

Against the Zips, the Eagles will attempt to avoid the program's first winless season since 1981.

In other MAC developments:

Ohio (8-3, 6-1) — The Bobcats defeated Northern Illinois 38-31 in Athens on Saturday to set up a home showdown with first-place Temple (9-2, 7-0) on Friday. With a victory, Ohio would finish as co-champions of the East Division with the Owls, but earn a berth in the MAC title game on Dec. 4 in Detroit against Central Michigan based on a head-to-head comparison. Against Northern Illinois, junior LaVon Brazill scored three touchdowns, including a 91-yard punt return that was the longest in school history. Senior quarterback Theo Scott threw three touchdown passes, giving him 16 on the season. That's the second-best total in school history, trailing only the 19 of teammate Boo Jackson in 2008.

Miami (1-11, 1-7) — The RedHawks' overall record was the program's worst since the 1989 team went 1-9-1. One consolation for the Miami community is that the RedHawks were the youngest team in the MAC. In a 42-17 loss against Buffalo on Nov. 18, Miami started five juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen on offense and one senior, two juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen on defense. ''We are definitely headed in the right direction,'' first-year coach Mike Haywood said. ''We just need to get physically and mentally stronger.''

Central Michigan (9-2, 7-0) — The Chippewas clinched the MAC West by virtue of a 35-3 victory over Ball State on Nov. 18 and a loss by runner-up Northern Illinois (7-4, 5-2) to Ohio. Against Ball State, senior quarterback Dan LeFevour completed 25-of-28 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. He finished the game with exactly 12,000 career yards passing, breaking the MAC record of 11,903 held by Byron Leftwich of Marshall (1999-2002). In addition, senior receiver Bryan Anderson had four receptions to run his streak of catching at least one pass to 51 games. That ties the NCAA all-divisions record, and he could break it Friday at home against Northern Illinois.

Bowling Green (6-5, 5-2) — In the Falcons' 36-20 victory over the University of Akron on Friday, senior quarterback Tyler Sheehan completed 23-of-32 passes for 338 yards and two touchdowns. During the game, he broke the school career record for completions and finished with 914. That broke the record of Rootstown High School graduate Brian McClure, who had 900 in 1982-85. Sheehan also had at least one touchdown pass in his 20th consecutive game, the third-longest current streak in the nation.

 

Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com.

 

 

Get the full article here.

Click here to read or leave a comment on this story.




Story tools

Email  Email   Print  Print   Save  Save   Reprint  Reprint   Popular  Most Popular   Reprint  Subscribe

Share this story

AddThis Social Bookmark Button










Most Commented Stories