2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team

2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football
Conference Mid-American Conference West
2008 record 3–9 (2–6 MAC)
Head coach Jeff Genyk
Home stadium Rynearson Stadium
(Capacity: 30,200)
2008 Mid-American Conference football standings
Conf     Overall
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   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
Rankings from AP Poll

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]

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

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
August 28 7:00 PM Indiana State* Rynearson StadiumYpsilanti, MI W 52–0   17,494
September 6 12:00 PM at Michigan State* Spartan StadiumEast Lansing, MI BTN L 10–42   71,789
September 13 12:00 PM Toledo Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, MI L 17–41   16,860
September 20 1:00 PM at Maryland* Byrd StadiumCollege Park, MD L 24–51   48,023
September 27 12:00 PM Northern Illinois Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, MI ESPN+ L 0–37   17,159
October 4 4:00 PM at Bowling Green Doyt Perry StadiumBowling Green, OH W 24–21   16,217
October 11 1:00 PM at Army* Michie StadiumWest Point, NY ESPN Classic L 13–17   27,096
October 18 1:00 PM Akron Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, MI L 35–42   17,055
October 25 12:00 PM at #22 Ball State Scheumann StadiumMuncie, IN L 16–38   20,948
November 1 2:00 PM at Western Michigan Waldo StadiumKalamazoo, MI (Michigan MAC Trophy) L 10–31   19,917
November 22 1:00 PM at Temple Lincoln Financial FieldPhiladelphia, PA L 52–55   13,033
November 28 12:00 PM Central Michigan Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, MI (Michigan MAC Trophy) W 56–52   26,188
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Game notes

Indiana State

1 2 3 4 Total
Indiana State 0 0 0 0 0
Eastern Michigan 14 14 14 0 42

Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 7 0 3 10
Michigan State 7 14 7 14 42

Toledo

1 2 3 4 Total
Toledo 14 0 27 0 41
Eastern Michigan 0 7 0 10 17

Maryland

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 14 3 7 24
Maryland 10 14 10 17 51

Northern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Northern Illinois 14 7 7 9 37
Eastern Michigan 0 0 0 0 0

Bowling Green

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 7 10 7 24
Bowling Green 7 0 7 7 21

Army

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 13 0 0 13
Army 7 0 3 7 17

Akron

1 2 3 4 Total
Akron 3 21 7 11 42
Eastern Michigan 0 14 7 14 35

Ball State

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 0 7 9 16
Ball State 3 7 14 14 38

Western Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 0 7 3 0 10
Western Michigan 10 7 0 14 31

Temple

1 2 3 4 Total
Eastern Michigan 7 14 3 28 52
Temple 3 21 10 21 55

Central Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total
Central Michigan 14 21 10 7 52
Eastern Michigan 14 28 14 0 56

References

  1. English to be announced as EMU coach, ESPN, December 15, 2008, retrieved December 20, 2008.
  2. Bennett, Brian (2008-12-22). "Sources: English to be announced as EMU coach". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-04-21.


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