Eastern Michigan Football Schedule with Preview and Predictions for 2011
Expectations are high, or higher anyways, at Eastern Michigan for the 2011 season. There’s no place to go but up. This team ranked near the bottom of most categories on both sides of the ball last season and has won just 2 Games in 2 years, both of those coming last year. Their defense GAve up 52 to Central Michigan, 73 to Ohio State, 52 to Vandy, and 71 to Northern Illinois on their way to giving up an average of 44 points per Game while averaging just 19 points per Game on offense.
It’s not much of a stretch to expect some improvement. That would mean winning 3 or 4 Games. They return 6 on offense iNCluding junior QB Alex Gillett and 6 on defense. They also bring in some junior college transfers which could have an immediate impact.
But let’s face it, this is a losing program. One of the worst in the nation. They haven’t had a winning season for 16 years. That was in 1995 when they went 6-5. In fact, they have only had 6 winning seasons since 1974! To add insult to injury, they play at Michigan and at Penn State in back to back weeks. There may not be much left of this team after those two Games!
They play Howard University and Alabama State to kick off the season, so who knows, maybe they can grab a win there, and they did play a couple of close Games last season, so perhaps they can pick off a MAC opponent or two. But what we’re really looking for when we look at a team like this, is a spot where maybe we can step in and make a winning wager or two.
For instaNCe, if they get obliterated in back to back weeks against Penn State and Michigan, similar to the way Ohio State beat them 73-20 last year, that could create some value when they come home to play Akron on October 1st. The public perception would be, same old Eastern Michigan, when in fact they may be improved. Also, if a team can avoid injuries when stepping way up in class, it can actually help them when they then play a team with similar talent to theirs. So, we’ll call for Eastern Michigan to grab 3 or 4 wins this year and we’ll take a close look at their early MAC Games to see if maybe they can surprise a few teams.
Eastern Michigan Football Schedule 2011
9-3-11 HOWARD
9-10-11 ALABAMA STATE
9-17-11 at Michigan
9-24-11 at Penn State
10-1-11 AKRON
10-8-11 at Toledo
10-15-11 at Central Michigan
10-22-11 WESTERN Michigan
11-5-11 BALL STATE
11-12-11 BUFFALO
11-19-11 at Kent State
11-25-11 at Northern Illinois (Fri.)