Bob Wickersham
Heisman
Posts: 5,942
Joined: May 2011
Reputation: 13
I Root For: EMU
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RE: Keeping it Real
(10-11-2011 02:24 PM)michman83 Wrote: (10-11-2011 11:10 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote: (10-11-2011 10:43 AM)michman83 Wrote: (10-10-2011 08:34 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote: (10-09-2011 12:46 PM)emu steve Wrote: Matter of fact I may have posted the 'win probabilities' before the season:
Howard 95%
AL State 90%
UofM 10%
PSU 10%
Akron 65%
Toledo 20%
CMU 30%
WMU 40% (I would NOT say that now).
BSU 60%
UB 60%
Kent 40%
NIU 20%
Basically, as suggest the first 4 games wee 'baked' before the season started.
Two wins and two losses.
Then hopefully Akron and then either WMU or BSU (most likely BSU)and then either UB or Kent (most like UB).
Of course these have changed some.
WMU is now a terrible opponent for Homecoming and less winnable.
Kent is probably more winnable than UB.
CMU is more winnable as is NIU but either would be a nice upset.
I'm sorry, but if you're saying the WMU homecoming game is unwinnable and the CMU game is highly unlikely for us to win...I'm sorry, that's a bad season. Beating the Akrons and Kent States and Buffalos of the world means nothing compared to beating (or at least competing with) WMU, CMU, and Toledo. Ask any EMU alum, they'll tell you the same.
No, it really does mean something to beat the Akrons, Buffalos, KSUs, and even Alabama St and Howard. It means that, if you win all those games, you've gone 5-7, whereas last year EMU was 2-10 and the year before 0-12.
I won't be satisfied without one more, and I think among CMU, BSU and NIU there could be another win out there.
But, please, be realistic. Everybody wants to win all the time, and EMU has certainly won much more of the time in certain eras, but to turn around a team with the attitude, recruiting record, reputation and institutional culture of EMU when RE took over takes time. So far, the trend is good. Give him another two years and EMU will be a winning program, with legitimate hopes to win the MAC.
I also think EMU, while it will never ever compete with UM and MSU for attention and attendance, can, with smart marketing, be something like the Lansing Lugnuts in SE Michigan -- an attractive, affordable entertainment option at a reasonable price that gets people out to the games at an average attendance of, say, 12,000 .
All in all, those are pretty attractive prospects.
I think you missed my point. Winning is nice, I'll take every one we can get. However, we have to be able to COMPETE with WMU, Toledo, and CMU. We did not compete with Toledo and someone on here basically deemed the homecoming game with WMU as "unwinnable." We should at the very least be able to compete with WMU, especially on homecoming, if not, it is a bad season. What built-in advantage does WMU have over EMU? Why would that game EVER be unwinnable. That was not an unwinnable game for Eastern when Genyk was here, why is it now?
Ok, so your real point about the TEAM, as opposed to your point about a silly comment that EMU can't beat WMU, is that not competing with TU (which is only one game) is an element in a bad season. Fine, but I think the CMU and WMU games will at least be respectable. In that case, assuming no more 54-16s, and wins against the other teams I named, we have a good season.
Oh yeah, the season to this point has gone exactly as most have preditcted in terms of wins and losses. To a man, any sane person probably expected us to beat Howard, ASU, and Akron. Only the incurably optimistic/delusional had us beating Michigan and PSU. Very few had us beating Toledo. That's why people who are beating their chests and saying everything is fine because they were able to predict 6 of the most "predictable" games in the world are missing the point. We should be as a program that can go into Toledo and not have our asses handed to us. A 54-16 loss is a setback. People can't just look at wins and losses, that doesn't tell the whole story.
Outside of the Toledo game, the season has been successful. However, we cannot go into Mt. Pleasant and lay an egg, get blown out by WMU on homecoming, finish up with a couple wins against bad teams to convince me we're making progress.
Hopefully we play much better against CMU and WMU and give ourselves a chance to win.
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