2008 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team

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 Eastern Michigan Eagles football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	West
Record	3–9 (2–6 MAC)
Head coach	Jeff Genyk (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Scott Isphording (2nd season)
Home stadium	Rynearson Stadium
Seasons ← 2007 2009 →

2008 Mid-American Conference football standings

v t e	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 (OH)		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

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. 20 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 (rivalry)		W 56–52	26,188
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

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

After the season

The following Eagle was selected in the 2009 NFL draft after the season.^[3]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL club
4	109	T. J. Lang	Tackle	Green Bay Packers

References

1. English to be announced as EMU coach, ESPN, December 15, 2008, retrieved December 20, 2008.
2. Bennett, Brian (December 22, 2008). "Sources: English to be announced as EMU coach". ESPN. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
3. "2009 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 7, 2024.