missionmoon.blogg.se - Big mac for sacks program 2018

The defense should be sturdy again, but can the offense make the plays it couldn’t a year ago? I’m not going to say the future of the program might depend on it, but saying that wouldn’t be completely untrue either. But they have to replace Brogan Roback and his 8,653 career passing yards, and the receiving corps takes a hit as well. The Eagles will again be able to rush the passer, and the run game should rebound after an injury-plagued 2017. But the longer Creighton can sustain, the more fans will notice, and the more recruits will notice*.ĮMU returns basically every running back and offensive lineman and nearly every defensive back. Hard jobs tend to remain hard, and two competitive years isn’t enough to change the day-to-day difficulty in Ypsilanti. The program has earned a lifeline of sorts, but it won’t last forever. That football forever has the best revenue potential saved Creighton’s team from cuts despite the fact that “they’ve had like one good year.” The last two seasons have given EMU a taste of what could happen in football. The school just cut four sports, including wrestling, because of perpetual budgetary concerns. Now’s a very good time for EMU football to have gotten its act together. Chris Creighton Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images That’s gut-wrenching.Īfter a 42-30 loss to CMU officially eliminated them from bowl contention, they proceeded to win their last two games of the year by three points each to finish 5-7. Another OT, another loss.įive of these six games featured bad turnovers luck, too.

At NIU, they went up 24-10 early in the fourth quarter but gave up two touchdowns and missed a field goal at the buzzer.

Back at home against WMU, they indeed went to OT again.

Not wanting to fall in OT again, EMU went for two.

Down 28-21 at the best Army team in 20 years, they trailed 28-21 when Brogan Roback and Sergio Bailey connected for a TD with 49 seconds left.

In an upset bid at eventual MAC champ Toledo, they missed an early field goal and threw another late INT in UT territory in a 20-15 loss.

They out-gained Kentucky by 84 yards in Lexington but threw two late INTs in UK territory and fell by four.

They lost in double OT to a very good Ohio.

It became a morbid running joke - how’s EMU going to lose this week? Six losses to mostly strong teams by a total of 22 points. And in a six-game span in the middle of the season, they lost six of them in a row. Against a schedule that featured two power-conference foes and seven bowl-eligible opponents, the Eagles played in nine games decided by one possession. Overall, their scoring margin went from minus-3 points in 2016 to plus-33. S&P+, allowing just 23 points per game and pulling off some of the best big-play prevention in the conference. Following the Eagles’ 2016 breakthrough - they managed their first winning season in 21 years and their first postseason bid in 29 - Creighton’s squad took a step backwards on defense but offset that with about three steps forward on defense. In 2017, EMU fielded maybe its best team in 30 years.

If you’re around the middle of the MAC in talent and potential, you’re going to play in a lot of close games, and, well, someone has to lose those. That opens the door for luck to play a pretty massive role. A little improvement - a particularly good hire, a particularly good quarterback - can take you a long way. Perhaps more than any other conference, the MAC is designed for mobility. Geographically and financially, this is one of the more homogenous conferences in FBS. Over the course of 12 MAC season previews each year, I feel like I say the word “parity” approximately 864 times. A few good bounces could make the Eagles a MAC West dark horse. There are a ton more close games on the 2018 schedule.DEs Maxx Crosby and Jeremiah Harris are one of the best pass-rushing duos in the conference, but the front six is only a couple of injuries away from major depth issues.Senior RBs Ian Eriksen and Shaq Vann could bring consistency to the offense while it breaks in a new passing game.The Eagles could use a breakout 2018, and there’s a chance they get it. Creighton has done an incredible job of making EMU competitive but has just 12 wins in two years to show for it.EMU fielded maybe its best team in 30 years last fall, but six consecutive tight losses to mostly solid teams prevented anyone from noticing.Projected 2018 record and S&P+ ranking: 6-6 (96th) Head coach: Creighton (15-34, fifth year)