2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team

2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football

Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	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^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 28	7:00 PM	Indiana State*	Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, MI		W 52–0	17,494
September 6	12:00 PM	at Michigan State*	Spartan Stadium • East 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 Stadium • College 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 Stadium • Bowling Green, OH		W 24–21	16,217
October 11	1:00 PM	at Army*	Michie Stadium • West 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 No. 22 Ball State	Scheumann Stadium • Muncie, IN		L 16–38	20,948
November 1	2:00 PM	at Western Michigan	Waldo Stadium • Kalamazoo, MI (Michigan MAC Trophy)		L 10–31	19,917
November 22	1:00 PM	at Temple	Lincoln Financial Field • Philadelphia, 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. Homecoming. ^#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

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

Eastern Michigan Eagles football

Venues	Normal Field (1927–1937) Briggs Field (1938–1968) Rynearson Stadium (1969–present)

Bowls & rivalries	1987 California Bowl 2016 Bahamas Bowl Central Michigan & Western Michigan (Michigan MAC Trophy)

Culture & lore	Marching band Swoop

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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