I thought I would start this off...

This is a must win for us.. I think the team will come out ready..

IL State is not a bad team and they have a lots of D-1 Tranfers who's playing for them.. They may be the best in the MVS conferences...

We must get it done on the offense and defense side of the ball...

The run will setup the pass...

We must win the battle at the line.

We need to get some turnovers from our DB's

Just for the record as well, Illinois State won their opener against Dayton at home 56-14. They managed 318 yards rushing on 51 attempts with two different running backs who went for 127 yards and 120 yards respectively. Plus they have a senior QB who went 22-34 for 192 yards and 3 TD's. Zero turnovers in their opener and only two penalties. Defensively against Dayton they only allowed Dayton to get 138 yards for the entire game with one of Dayton's TD's coming on a punt return.

Yes, I know it's Dayton... but you'd have to think Ill State is coming in confident.

I have mentioned this before but I can't find ONE cupcake on the EMU schedule.

Not IL. State, not Kent, or Army or BG or... etc. Certainly not Ohio (ask PSU) and not NIU or UT which lost to BCS teams in the last minutes of their games.

It seems the MAC weak sisters are eastern teams like Akron, UMass, maybe UBuffalo and NONE are on our schedule this season. :(

The MAC West will be absolutely brutal this season.

agree that we have our work-cut-out for us.. Isnt this what we wanted? To place against teams that are good?

Lastly, I am sure how we didnt get any weak sisters from the East..

I know I have a bit of conspiracy theorist in me but I really do believe the MAC as a conference does not want to see Eastern do well, If there isn't repeat champions or at least a consistency of top programs in a conference, it becomes obsolete. When we think B1g SEC or Big 12 PAC 12 we automatically think of 3-4 teams in each. I know you'd say well those are BiG BCS conferences and I'd say exactly. The MAC office knows that the recruits will go to who wins and who is well funded. If they make the scheduale as such they dictate who those teams are. They desperatley want NIU, TOL, WMU, OHIO, Miami OH. I'll give examples both now and in recent memory

This year Cross Over games for:
NIU- Buff, Akron, UMass
TOL- BG(protected game) Buff, Akron
WMU-Kent, Buff, UMass
Ohio- EMU, Ball St
Miami OH- Central Ball St

Lets look at how they schedule hmm
Buffalo- NIU, Tol, WMU
Umass - NIU, WMU, Central

Last year
NIU Kent, Buff, BG
WMU bg akron miami oh
ohio - Ball CMU NIU

More important is the Bye week or mid week advantages
Every year for the last 4 years we have played NIU on short notice(friday after Thanksgiving) and NIU has either had a bye week prior or played a tuesday or wed night game the previous week giving them an extra 4-5 days to prepare for EMU.
This year is no different, we play them friday and they play the previous WED giving them an extra thurs friday sat(when we will play Western Mich) to rest and prepare.
Whereas NIU gets a bye week prior to TOL and TOL plays on a Tues prior to counter the unfairness

Dear Ninkonpoopersnap,
That's why I said on another thread the MAC officials are the worst, because we get the worst assigned to our games, or they have been told to gum up the works on Eastern. It has happened in too many games in the past, to be just coincidence.
The best in any conference always get the breaks when it comes to officiating, or scheduling.

(09-02-2012 10:12 AM)NUPudge Wrote:  Lastly, I am sure how we didnt get any weak sisters from the East..

We have gotten our share in recent years...

(09-02-2012 06:45 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Ninkonpoopersnap,
That's why I said on another thread the MAC officials are the worst, because we get the worst assigned to our games, or they have been told to gum up the works on Eastern. It has happened in too many games in the past, to be just coincidence.
The best in any conference always get the breaks when it comes to officiating, or scheduling.

Ken, I usually agree but as my former high school football coach used to say, "excuses are for LOSERS." I don't want to hear about anti-EMU officiating, that's just silly.

I do believe what I said, I mean if High Ranking officials at Penn State can cover up something as grotesque and vile as child abuse, then why should I trust the integrity of schedule making in the MAC. I do see Ken what you mean though my gut tells me there is no blatant open discussion on screwing us, I do think tho that there has been such a stigma that by human nature is to not give us calls as a ref

(09-02-2012 08:29 PM)Ninkonpoopersnap Wrote:  I do believe what I said, I mean if High Ranking officials at Penn State can cover up something as grotesque and vile as child abuse, then why should I trust the integrity of schedule making in the MAC. I do see Ken what you mean though my gut tells me there is no blatant open discussion on screwing us, I do think tho that there has been such a stigma that by human nature is to not give us calls as a ref

Human nature would be more apt to help out the weak teams instead of piling on with bad calls against them. Afterall, bad teams don't need bad calls against them for them to lose. That said, I'd bet that if you did a study of all questionable calls, it would break even or damn close for every team.

For those interested in a nice thread ranking all 13 MAC teams here it is:

http://www.csnbbs.com//showthread.php?tid=585408

Consensus is that EMU is the 8th best team in the MAC.

Any updates on injuries for this game?

Dear Friends,
I did come on a little strong about gumming up the works with referees. Just one last comment from me about it. I think when a referee is twenty yards away, and throws a late flag, that is just crazy. First, what can one see when you are fifteen yards farther from the action, and if it's late you probably aren't sure. So, in my opinion, don't throw a late flag, from center field. I'm done.

(09-02-2012 06:14 AM)emu steve Wrote:  I have mentioned this before but I can't find ONE cupcake on the EMU schedule.

Not IL. State, not Kent, or Army or BG or... etc. Certainly not Ohio (ask PSU) and not NIU or UT which lost to BCS teams in the last minutes of their games.

It seems the MAC weak sisters are eastern teams like Akron, UMass, maybe UBuffalo and NONE are on our schedule this season. :(

The MAC West will be absolutely brutal this season.

Steve, upon further review...I agree 100%. I don't even see the Illinois State game as a sure thing. But you know what? I love it! It is going to make the season that much more exciting. Every victory this season is going to be an accomplishment. To be a good team, you have to beat good teams. Who wants a Oklahoma State-Savannah State type game? What does that prove? Go Eagles.

(09-03-2012 09:42 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 06:14 AM)emu steve Wrote:  I have mentioned this before but I can't find ONE cupcake on the EMU schedule.

Not IL. State, not Kent, or Army or BG or... etc. Certainly not Ohio (ask PSU) and not NIU or UT which lost to BCS teams in the last minutes of their games.

It seems the MAC weak sisters are eastern teams like Akron, UMass, maybe UBuffalo and NONE are on our schedule this season. :(

The MAC West will be absolutely brutal this season.

Steve, upon further review...I agree 100%. I don't even see the Illinois State game as a sure thing. But you know what? I love it! It is going to make the season that much more exciting. Every victory this season is going to be an accomplishment. To be a good team, you have to beat good teams. Who wants a Oklahoma State-Savannah State type game? What does that prove? Go Eagles.

Agree, and if we want to play a BOWL GAME we better be able to beat some BOWL TEAMS.

Who wants to go to a bowl game and lose by 24 to a Sun Belt team?

(09-03-2012 09:07 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
I did come on a little strong about gumming up the works with referees. Just one last comment from me about it. I think when a referee is twenty yards away, and throws a late flag, that is just crazy. First, what can one see when you are fifteen yards farther from the action, and if it's late you probably aren't sure. So, in my opinion, don't throw a late flag, from center field. I'm done.

Ken, I cannot stand crappy calls either, but I just chalk it up to good, old fashioned incompetence. I mean if NFL refs screw up calls every single week, you know college refs are going to screw the pooch every game. You just never know when and you hope it's not against your team. It'll even out, we'll get our share, hang in there.

http://www.emueagles.com/documents/2012/...df?id=2520

I checked the 2-deeps and found nothing unusual. Iannotti is listed #2 while Benz is #3 (I assume it is because Benz is suspended).

This is worth noting:

"NEW BLOOD: A total of 13 players saw their first-ever action for EMU during the 2012 season opener, Aug. 30, on the road against Ball State. Seven of those players; Kirkland Bryant, Dustin Creel, Mitchell Dawkins, Darius Jackson, Quincy Jones, Pat O'Connor and Arron Pipkins are true freshmen and one; Omar McFarlane is a redshirt freshman.
Others seeing their first action included: Donald Coleman, Devin Henderson, Sean Kurtz, Travis Linser and Cy Maughmer."

Dear Friends,
I went on the Scout.com Illinois State Forum, and found nothing about their season opener against Dayton. Went to their hook-up here and found nothing. Went to their University site, and they had a video of the game with Dayton, and their passing game looked pretty good. Their quarterback is 6'4" 220 and looks like he throws some accurate passes. They only had three or four offensive linemen that were less than 300 lbs., and their preseason ranking was #19 for their division. This could be a very tough game for Eastern, and I hope they don't go in overconfident, or looking past this team. I was wondering, do any of you think Eastern was maybe overconfident in the Ball State game? They really should not have been, but maybe they thought it was a sure thing.

Ken,a
This is what I have been saying for a while.. My son friend plays football there and he said they have a lot of transfer who came in to play there.. I think we will will but it will be a dogfight for us and it will come back to tackling and stopping the run.. ISU is a good football team...

http://www.mvc.org/football/stats/ils_s1.htm

IL. State game stats (vs. Dayton).