Here at SB Nation Detroit, our college football eye is often trained on the two Big Ten schools, Michigan and Michigan State. (Some might say we pay too much attention to the Wolverines over the Spartans. As if any MSU fan has complained about such a thing before.)
But how about some of the other schools in the state? For instance, the Eastern Michigan Eagles, who were matched up against the Black Knights of Army on Saturday night at Rynearson Stadium.
Well, the Eagles lost. But you probably could've guessed that. EMU lost all of its games last year, and this was the 13th straight year in which they lost its season opener. The 31-27 loss to Army might have stung a bit more, however, given that the Black Knights drove 72 yards for the game-winning touchdown. And that was after EMU came back from 10 points down to take the lead at 27-24 with three minutes remaining.
(Not to mention that a transformer blew out at Rynearson, leaving the west side of the stadium in virtual darkness and the game without a scoreboard.)
But there were some bright spots for the Eagles, as SB Nation's MAC blog, Hustle Belt, points out.
Running back Dwayne Priest won Hustle Belt's honors for top MAC offensive player of the week. Priest rushed for 144 yards on 26 carries, with two touchdowns. Matt Sussman put the performance in perspective with this quote:
Do the fourth-grade math; that's over five-and-a-half yards per carry against our nation's greatest land unit.
Priest was also awarded MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week, by the way. But does that come with a belt?
Overall, EMU rushed for 285 yards against Army, which might give coach Ron English something to be optimistic about. But the poor guy could really use a win. Can English and his Eagles get a victory this Saturday at Miami of Ohio? Well... Miami has won its last six versus EMU. The two schools will be playing each other for the first time since 2005.