Eastern Michigan loses season opener to Army, 27-14
Army running back Patrick Mealy barely touched the ball against Eastern Michigan Saturday night, only having his number called five times throughout the game; just once in the second half.
He made the most of it, rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown, leading the Black Knights to a 27-14 win at Rynearson Stadium in what was a battle of first-year head coaches as Army’s Rich Ellerson, who coached at Cal Poly from 2001-2008, won his FBS debut at the expense of coach Ron English’s first game at Eastern.
English has put up signs and billboards around Rynearson stadium and campus that read “Embrace the Process”. Saturday, part of the process was only managing 223 yards of total offense and being penalized nine times for 60 yards.
The Eagles had more penalties (6) than first downs (4) in a mistake plagued first half, and failed to enter Army territory after managing just 54 yards of total offense.
“You can’t expect to win if you get that many penalties, and you can’t expect to win if you get no points from the five, and if you turn it over inside the ten. It’s hard to win that way,” said English.
After trailing 13-0 at the half, Eastern’s defense held Army to a three and out to start the third quarter. On the ensuing drive, the Eagles had a first and goal at the 10 yard line, but three straight runs to Dwayne Priest brought up fourth and five and a Joe Carithers 21-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
“I am not going to second guess what we did there,” said English.
Andy Schmitt lobbed a floater for Trey Hunter for a 20-yard touchdown pass to put the Eagles on the board at 13:58 in the fourth quarter, but Army answered with an eight-play 52 yard drive to go up 21-7. Schmitt was 18-of-31 passing with a touchdown and an interception.
“It was a hard fought game. We did some really good things, we also did some things that we won’t get away with again,” said Ellerson. Ellerson’s triple option offense produced 300 rushing yards and just eight passing.
“We’re going to be more balanced than that. I’m much more concerned about the score and where the opportunities lied,” he said. “We had a couple opportunities in the pass game that we squandered.”
Eastern (0-1) will travel to Northwestern next week, and will play at the University of Michigan the following Saturday. (Box Score and player stats) Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com, or by phone at 734-623-2561 and follow along on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
Oldnormal
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 : 7:07 p.m.
BTW the Foundation only purchased tickets once. It has not been repeated. As far as a waste there are around 500 student athletes at Eastern and they do generate credit hours. BTW did you know that Eastern has won the men's Reese Cup trophy as the best all around sports program in the MAC. Blah.. Blah... Blah. Check your facts.
catfishrisin
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 8:34 p.m.
The football program is subsidized by student fees and tuition. It is a huge loss of revenue which could be focused into academic areas. Only a few people benefit from the progam such as the "athletes" who get a free ride, family and friends. Meanwhile the average student pays more in tuition so EMU has the previsledge of saying they have a football team. BTW, normally the EMU Foundation needs to purchase tickets so it appears EMU has more interest in football than it actually has and will be maintained by the NCAA as a MAC team. Go Eagles..bla bla bla
George
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 1:16 p.m.
I thought it was a good game in the 4th Quarter but a typical EMU Game if you want a better Football Game go to another school. This omment is for the Sports writers of The Sunday News Paper OOOOPPPPSSSS!!! Who does the proof reading. Hearline Eastern Mich falls to Army then On annarbor.com >>Read a complete report on the Eastern Michigan football team's "WIN" over Army. Im sending this page to Jay Leno's "Headlines"
tater
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 1:39 a.m.
someone wrote: "Once again the football program is a joke..what a waste of university resources...meanwhile tuition goes up again" I'm sure they still teach about "post hoc ergo propter hoc" in English class at EMU. The football program has nothing to do with your tuition. But your ire is duly noted.
catfishrisin
Sun, Sep 6, 2009 : 9:34 p.m.
Once again the football program is a joke..what a waste of university resources...meanwhile tuition goes up again
localgirl
Sat, Sep 5, 2009 : 10:48 p.m.
Hurray to EMU for the great fireworks after the game! Next week is the Northwestern game. The Eagles play Michigan the following week, September 19.