Hi All,

After this weekend, can everyone please committ to coming back to this thread and repost what their Predictions for the 2011 football season? Should be fun to see..

After graduating from EMU now four years ago, and beginning my third year teaching here in Louisville, I've been able to go to the home opener the last two years and will be able to again this year as Labor Day weekend works out good for me to take a trek back. Needless to say, my viewpoint after the two Army games the last two years were as follows:

Two years ago: When we lost to Army 27-14, I was pretty confident that if EMU played like they did that night that they wouldn't win a single game that year. Sure enough, they didn't.

Last year: When we lost to Army 31-27, I felt light years better about the team than I did the year prior. I thought EMU played a solid game in that particular opener despite the heartbreaking loss(although watching the blackout was sort of entertaining). After their performance vs Miami the week after, I figured they'd get a couple wins and sure enough they got 2 on the road at Ball State and at Buffalo.

Now looking ahead to this year. I think the schedule makers finally gave EMU a huge break and I think the schedule could potentially really allow the Eagles to have at the very least a chance at a good season. In my view, a lot of the success of this team is going to come down to consistency offensively and ultimately the defense not giving up 43.0 points a game. Also, this stat is remarkable to me as well looking back on last year. Opponents against EMU converted on 3rd down, 48% of the time. 48%. That right there is a huge reason why our defense gave up 43 a game(and yes I'm well aware of those two gigantic blowout games that really skew that value) If our defense can shade 10-20 points off of that average and our offense can consistently score in the 20's, we should at least be in games.

With all that said, I'm leaning towards 5-7 primarily due to the fact we have two FCS games on the schedule.

W's: Howard, Alabama State, Akron, [Ball State or Buffalo], at Kent(Just a feeling about this for some reason!)

I'm really, really, really hoping that we win at least 6. I'm looking forward to the home opener against Howard, and I'm definitely hoping that it'll be the first time since I've been teaching in Louisville, I'll be able to return to KY after an EMU Victory! Ironically, I haven't been to a winning Men's game at EMU in any sport since 2008 when EMU Basketball beat Ball State. Even last year, for the one double header I was able to go to, I naturally got to watch the EMU Girls lose to Buffalo and that infamous Miami(Ohio) game. lol. Now sure, I haven't been to too many due to my schedule but still...

Bottom line, let's beat Howard first and have a great season! If we lose to Howard.... probably extra HW for those students on Tuesday. :)

(08-19-2011 04:44 PM)TheCrumbIsHere Wrote:  After graduating from EMU now four years ago, and beginning my third year teaching here in Louisville, I've been able to go to the home opener the last two years and will be able to again this year as Labor Day weekend works out good for me to take a trek back. Needless to say, my viewpoint after the two Army games the last two years were as follows:

Two years ago: When we lost to Army 27-14, I was pretty confident that if EMU played like they did that night that they wouldn't win a single game that year. Sure enough, they didn't.

Last year: When we lost to Army 31-27, I felt light years better about the team than I did the year prior. I thought EMU played a solid game in that particular opener despite the heartbreaking loss(although watching the blackout was sort of entertaining). After their performance vs Miami the week after, I figured they'd get a couple wins and sure enough they got 2 on the road at Ball State and at Buffalo.

Now looking ahead to this year. I think the schedule makers finally gave EMU a huge break and I think the schedule could potentially really allow the Eagles to have at the very least a chance at a good season. In my view, a lot of the success of this team is going to come down to consistency offensively and ultimately the defense not giving up 43.0 points a game. Also, this stat is remarkable to me as well looking back on last year. Opponents against EMU converted on 3rd down, 48% of the time. 48%. That right there is a huge reason why our defense gave up 43 a game(and yes I'm well aware of those two gigantic blowout games that really skew that value) If our defense can shade 10-20 points off of that average and our offense can consistently score in the 20's, we should at least be in games.

With all that said, I'm leaning towards 5-7 primarily due to the fact we have two FCS games on the schedule.

W's: Howard, Alabama State, Akron, [Ball State or Buffalo], at Kent(Just a feeling about this for some reason!)

I'm really, really, really hoping that we win at least 6. I'm looking forward to the home opener against Howard, and I'm definitely hoping that it'll be the first time since I've been teaching in Louisville, I'll be able to return to KY after an EMU Victory! Ironically, I haven't been to a winning Men's game at EMU in any sport since 2008 when EMU Basketball beat Ball State. Even last year, for the one double header I was able to go to, I naturally got to watch the EMU Girls lose to Buffalo and that infamous Miami(Ohio) game. lol. Now sure, I haven't been to too many due to my schedule but still...

Bottom line, let's beat Howard first and have a great season! If we lose to Howard.... probably extra HW for those students on Tuesday. :)

Nice post Crumb....funny name.

Hi All,

After this weekend, can everyone please repost what their Predictions for the 2011 football season? Should be fun to see..

I've still believe EMU for 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the MAC
Howard - Win.
Alabama St – Win.
UM - Loss. But we will see some encouraging things
PSU - Loss.
Akron - Win.
UT - Loss.
CMU - Win.
WMU - Win.
BSU - Win.
Buff - Win.
Kent State - Win.
NIU - Loss.

(08-22-2011 03:23 PM)NUPudge Wrote:  Hi All,

After this weekend, can everyone please repost what their Predictions for the 2011 football season? Should be fun to see..

I've still believe EMU for 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the MAC
Howard - Win.
Alabama St – Win.
UM - Loss. But we will see some encouraging things
PSU - Loss.
Akron - Win.
UT - Loss.
CMU - Win.
WMU - Win.
BSU - Win.
Buff - Win.
Kent State - Win.
NIU - Loss.

I hope you are right but I'll stick with my original 6-6 predicition:

Howard - Blowout Win.
Alabama St - Win.
UM - Loss.
PSU - Loss.
Akron - Win.
UT - Loss.
CMU - Loss.
WMU - Win.
BSU - Win.
Buff - Win.
KSU - Loss.
NIU - Loss.

I'm sticking with 4-8. The scrimmage is us versus us so I don't read too much into it. The injury to Kurtz and the offensive linemen are troubling. I was counting on Henderson to improve the pass rush but it appears at minimum he might miss some games. I don't think our running attack will be as productive as last year which kept the defense off the field for long periods of time. We will win two of these three MAC games: Akron, Buffalo and Ball State. On the upside I can see us at 6-6.

Getting my prediction in the mix here...

Howard - Win
Alabama St - Win
UM - Loss
PSU - Loss
Akron - Win
UT - Loss
CMU - Win
WMU - Win
BSU - Loss
Buff - Win
KSU - Win
NIU - Loss

7-5.

Its going to be a good year to be an Eagle! And also. Side note question. Bowl Elgibility comes after 6 wins. Now... isn't there some type of rule, where you can only count 1 Win against D1aa teams for bowl elgibility, which would mean we have to get 7 wins to be elgible....? Maybe this is only for bcs teams. Either way, thanks for the help! Can't wait until football season!!!

(08-22-2011 07:40 PM)Forbesqps Wrote:  Getting my prediction in the mix here...

Howard - Win
Alabama St - Win
UM - Loss
PSU - Loss
Akron - Win
UT - Loss
CMU - Win
WMU - Win
BSU - Loss
Buff - Win
KSU - Win
NIU - Loss

7-5.

Its going to be a good year to be an Eagle! And also. Side note question. Bowl Elgibility comes after 6 wins. Now... isn't there some type of rule, where you can only count 1 Win against D1aa teams for bowl elgibility, which would mean we have to get 7 wins to be elgible....? Maybe this is only for bcs teams. Either way, thanks for the help! Can't wait until football season!!!

I thought I saw it posted that neither Howard nor Alabama counted toward bowl eligibility. I like your list with the exception of CMU and BSU, I would switch those. I still need to see them play UM before I can gauge their potential. Hopefully they'll stay healthy and keep the winning spirit they hold now. I like underdog stories.

One win vs. 1-AA would count.

The rule of thumb is 6 wins (can include one I-AA game) to quality for a bowl the MAC has an agreement with.

Seven wins (can include one I-AA game) to qualify for an at large bowl bid.

Realistically, it would take 8 wins (including 2 over I-AA foes) to qualify for a MAC bowl or be selected for an at large bowl which might come open.

What I like is that see EMU 4-2 in the MAC going into the last two conf. games as some predict.

Everyone would be talking bowl talk. :)

As I said 8-4 and I will be bowl bound...

Please read thru this thread...

I hate to brag and say I told you so. So I will let this thread say it.. So far I am 100 percent on W/L record for this season. All I need is for us to win the next 3 games ( which all are winnable).

I think now I am going to play the lottery.
I don't like to toot my own horn, but beep-beep

I am %100 percent also!

But i also have us losing to bsu... which now... better not happen. lol. After the bye... we should mess up my predicitons!! Can't wait!

Well, I was right about a couple things:

"Now looking ahead to this year. I think the schedule makers finally gave EMU a huge break and I think the schedule could potentially really allow the Eagles to have at the very least a chance at a good season. In my view, a lot of the success of this team is going to come down to consistency offensively and ultimately the defense not giving up 43.0 points a game. Also, this stat is remarkable to me as well looking back on last year. Opponents against EMU converted on 3rd down, 48% of the time. 48%. That right there is a huge reason why our defense gave up 43 a game(and yes I'm well aware of those two gigantic blowout games that really skew that value) If our defense can shade 10-20 points off of that average and our offense can consistently score in the 20's, we should at least be in games."

- 3rd Down Percentage of our opponent this year: 39%, 9% less than it was last year.
- Defense allowing 24.5 ppg (a reduction of 18.5 points per game)
- Offense averaging 20 ppg

Couple other stats that are intriguing:

-Last Season: 10 sacks for the year; 14 already this year.
-Last Season: 13 turnovers for the season forced; 10 already this year.

Now we just need to keep it going! I think I've become a believer in the NUPudge!

I believed in Genyk and thought he had EMU ready to turn the corner.
Never happened.
Just a bunch of close losses.

So it was hard to pick EMU to ever get a winner after heartache.

But finally, 2 games away from a winning record.

(08-11-2011 11:25 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(08-11-2011 06:47 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Actually I like this thread, why there is differences in predictions that's what makes it fun. On the positive side everyone is predicting we will win more games than last year. I mean there is an entire industry and publications making predictions on the upcoming football season. And most of the people rendering opinions here actually have been following EMU football for a long time so its not like they are uninformed.

If I were (I'm not) a Vegas bookie, I'd put EMU's over/under win total at 4.5 games.

Most of us would probably take the 'over'.

Most of the rest of the MAC, etc. might take the 'under.'

If we get out of the UofM and PSU games in good shape 5 - 6 is my guess.

We need to be careful though.

Look at what is happening with the Lions and their injuries (e.g., I believe they are without their top 3 OTs ) and they haven't even played the first pre-season game.

This was my post from essentially day one of Fall practice.

I used to be known as the 'board optimist' and now it turns out that my prediction was a bit cautious...

RE: my comment about injuries. We've had some injuries on the OL and RB but we've been pretty healthy this season esp. compared to Toledo which would be 'scary good' if they were healthier.