Wild game

My alma mater (Eastern Michigan) isn't quite what you would call a football power. Usually they have been one of the bottom teams in the Mid-American Conference, while state rivals Western and Central have flourished and gone to bowl games in recent years. Both seem likely to head to bowls this season.

The lack of success resulted in Jeff Genyk being fired a few days before the season finale. Genyk was named the coach during December of my junior year and I covered the team during his first season at helm. That season (2004) turned out to be the best season he would have as coach as EMU finished 4-7.

The only thing my school has been able to really hang their hat on in recent years is success against Central. Entering Friday's game, Eastern had beaten Central in three of the last four years. And CMU has won MAC West titles in two of those years.

This year Eastern was able to knock off Central 56-52 in a wild game that featured EMU quarterback Andy Schmitt setting a record for completions in a game (50) and receiver Tyler Jones tying the NCAA Division I mark for receptions in a game (23). With it being the last game of the Genyk era it was a good way for him to go out.

But the game also was heated between the teams with penalties and a little drama with comments CMU coach Butch Jones said to an EMU assistant prior to the start of the game. The drama carried throughout the game and even to the post-game hand shake when Jones accused Genyk of acting with a lack of class. A few papers have reports on this and the links are below, but a column by a writer at the Morning Sun stood out to me. I usually don't like to comment on stories in other newspapers, but I felt compelled to comment on this story because I thought the writer was making an unjustified slam on EMU. The column is located here: Morning Sun column

Here is a blurb from the column

What happened Friday was not winning with class.

Jeff Genyk, you should have acted like you have been there before.

Instead, you acted foolish, embarassed yourself, your players, and the university that gave you a chance to make a name for yourself.

You acted like you just won the national championship, when in reality, you completed a 3-9 season and a 16-42 career at Eastern Michigan.

I can understand the emotion that goes into beating a rival. But, there is a line that was crossed.

It is easy to blame Butch Jones for telling your assistants he wouldn't help them get a job, but honestly, I wouldn't either as your staff allowed your team to challenge the CMU football team while it was stretching.

This columnist views seemed completely one-sided to the reports posted in other publications. Here are those stories.

Ann Arbor News
Detroit Free Press
Detroit News

Despite the extra curriculars though, this was a good win for Eastern and hopefully they are able to find a coach to help the team make progress toward becoming an upper tier team in the MAC. Buffalo used to be horrible at football and were worst than Eastern a few years ago but this year they are playing in the MAC title game. And CMU and WMU have shown they can do it so there is no reason why Eastern can't be successful in football despite being in the shadows of the University of Michigan.

Associated Press photo

The nightmare season is over

When this fall began, there is no way I envisioned it would turn out like it did for the Michigan football team. But a season in which all kinds of records for futility were set by the Wolverines is finally over. And it ended in a fitting matter - getting drubbed by Ohio State 42-7.

Taking a look at this season here is the kinds of things the Wolverines accomplished.

- The worst record ever in school history (3-9)
- First time losing to all our rivals in the same season in 20 years (Notre Dame, Michigan State, Ohio State)
- First loss ever to a MAC team.
- First team to lose five games at the Big House (Utah, Illinois, Toledo, Michigan State, Northwestern)
- 33 year old bowl streak comes to an end
- Suffered a fifth straight loss to the Buckeyes (first time in the history of the rivalry U-M has lost five straight to Ohio State)

And the list goes on.

It seems not much progress was made throughout the season. And when it seemed as if U-M showed signs they were about to turn the corner they displayed another dismal performance. After beating Wisconsin (who needed overtime to beat Cal Poly today) and Minnesota it seemed as if the Wolverines were about to make a turn for the better. But then they ended up dropping their following games. Against Illinois, U-M was blown out thanks to Juice Williams. Northwestern ended Michigan's chance for its first two-game win streak of the season when they won at the Big House last weekend.


I was a little optimistic going into the game being that a rivalry game and that anything can happen. But when Stevie Brown intercepted Terrelle Pryor early in the first quarter and the Wolverines were unable to capitalize on the strong field position that was a sign of what was to come and an indication of what has occured all season. Later in the first quarter Martavious Odoms couldn't clean a punt and Penn State recovered. Granted it was a tough catch for Odoms, but that has been another problem that has plagued U-M all year

About the only thing U-M fans can take solace in as that Michigan State (aka Little Brother) got killed by Penn State. I usually try to root for the Spartans when they aren't playing U-M, but when Mark Dantonio can't even pull for U-M in a scenario that would favor his team, the dude has issues. He also was pretty lame for calling back-to-back timeouts at the end of the game when his team was getting blown.

Seriously if U-M would have won and the Spartans would have best Penn State, MSU could be celebrating a Big Ten title and a trip to Pasadena. As a poster commented in a forum, maybe pulling for the Buckeyes to win was bad karma for him.

The Spartans did have a great season this year and I tip my hats to them. But where were they in every big game they had. Most MSU fans had the term Same old Spartans, but really who did they beat this year? A terrible Michigan team? Each time they were matched up against a team that was ranked in the top 25 they failed. They lost on the road at Cal in their season opener, getting blown out by Ohio State at home and getting drubbed by Penn State in a championship-like game.

Another thing to take note in concerning college football - Notre Dame lost to Syracuse at home 24-23. Talk about bad losses, thats another one for Charlie Weis. After barely beating Navy last week, the Irish blow a 14-point lead and fall to a 2-8 Syracuse team at home. And the Orange just fired their coach last Sunday. Weis may not as ND's coach much longer.

Associated Press photos

Jokes are on

I was talking to my good friend Amy from EMU and she informed me of a crazy joke that I've seen more often as the Ohio State game looms.

It goes......................

Did you hear the Ohio State-Michigan game got canceled? Apparently Michigan couldn't get past Toledo.



For those who don't get it, the reference is because of Michigan's loss to Toledo at the Big House earlier this season. I happened to be at the game and was standing on the sidelines when K.C. Lopata missed the field goal as time expired to seal the win for the Rockets.

By the way, Toledo's coach resigned a couple weeks ago. The Rockets are having another dismal season and are just ahead of Eastern Michigan in the MAC West standings. Toledo is 2-8 and their only wins are against teams from Washtenaw County (Eastern Michigan and Michigan).

Speaking of Eastern, when was the last time they had the same amount of wins as Michigan in a football season. EMU plays Temple today in what could be a winnable game and closes with Central at home. They always play Central tough and beat them last year after they had already clinched the MAC West title.

And kudos to Ball State keeping its perfect season alive by holding off Central tonight. How cool would it be if they earned a spot in a BCS bowl. The odds are against them with them being behind Boise State and Utah in the BCS standings, but still it would definitely be a big deal for the MAC.

Usually I don't like to root against in-state MAC schools unless they are playing Eastern, but this is one instance where I hope Ball State knocks off WMU next week.

Detroit News photo

Henne / NCAA Football 08

Today during my morning page shift at work I got an email and call that Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham was going to be in attendance at a local football camp. So after I had my stuff done and the photographer was free we went over to check it out. Instead of Manningham being there, it was Michigan quarterback Chad Henne which was still cool in itself.

He seemed pretty cool and joked around with the kids and signed autographs for those in attendance. I thought the whole thing was pretty cool for the kids, knowing that with a real strong season this year Henne could potentially ensure that he will be a first round pick in the NFL Draft.

Since I'm on the topic of football, I went to pick up NCAA Football 08 when it came out at midnight Monday night/Tuesday AM and played it a little bit before going to bed and extensively on Tuesday when I wasn't busy doing other things. Most of the time was spent trying to put players names in the game but from what I have played so far I've noticed a few things

- Michigan's defense is absolutely dominant considering they lost a lot of playmakers in Woodley, Branch and Hall. EA Sports must be high on the maize n blue
- West Virginia seems unstoppable on the run - which I guess is apparent in real life. In the game, well half of game, I played with them I dominated with a mix of straight runs, scrambling plays or options to kill louisville.
- MSU seems to suck. Hoyer did nothing for me.
- EMU is rated 119 out of 119, but somehow I managed to beat Pittsburgh thanks to using Jones at quarterback to scramble.

All in all its a pretty cool game