Illinois State Vs. Eastern Michigan - The Game

Coming into the season, Eastern Michigan was riding some high expectations.  After having a non-losing season for the first time in a long time last year and with a good chunk of the offense returning, we thought that maybe this might be the season.  The loss at Ball State last week took out some of those expectations but that was only the first game which means it's too early to strike the colors just yet.

The Illinois State Redbirds are a Division IAA (those other names do not exist in my world) and hopefully would give Eastern Michigan a chance to regain some of those expectations.  They will need some confidence as they travel to East Lansing next week and Lafayette the week after.  A loss to the Redbirds could give EMU the very possibility of starting 0 and 4.

Eastern did win the coin toss and kicked the ball to the Redbirds.  This is a shot just after the snap.  EMU managed to hold them on this series and forced the punt.

Little did I realize at the time I snapped this shot, it would be a sign of things to come in the game.  The punt was muffed and recovered by the Redbirds.  They scored on the ensuing drive.

As I was walking to the other side of the field, I noticed this and took a picture of it.

Tyler Allen running with the ball.

A shot of the teams lined up just before the snap.  I forgot how difficult it was to get the straight out shot.

Tevin Allen getting tackled during the punt return.

Another shot of the student section...find the chicken.

This would be the first of many interceptions during the day.  Again, hope wasn't lost at this point as Eastern was keeping it pretty close.

One of many attempts by Eastern to establish a running game but unfortunately it wasn't quite happening.

The first Eastern touchdown.

I'm kind of surprised the ref didn't catch this penalty.  He seemed to catch most of the other Eastern penalties.

One of the Illinois State players on the bench.

Coach Ron English heading to the locker room at halftime.  At this point things still looked good for the Eagles as they were ahead 14-10.

A better shot showing off the new Eastern band uniforms.

And more shots of the Eagle. 

Another shot of the eagle.

And a shot of the fake Eagle although Swoop is pretty cool.

As I was wandering through the sidelines, I looked up at the band and kind of liked this shot.

I don't know how many shots I had that looked exactly like this.  The Redbirds were pretty much running the ball at will.

Alex Gillett had a few nice runs and it seemed like his passing game would be in line if the receivers would just catch the ball.

Didn't I shoot this picture before?

Look who is getting tackled.  I wonder if the previous shot looked the same as the ones above.

Sometimes you don't need a picture of the scoreboard or the action of the game to show what happened during the game.

Despite that, Eastern still had a slim chance, until this interception.

I'm not ready to write this season off just yet.  They could have good games against the Spartans and the Boilermakers and build some of their confidence back.  They are still likely to be 0 and 4 when they come back to Ypsilanti but you never know.  I just hope that the coaches make some adjustments because whatever they are doing isn't quite working.