Charlotte 49ers at Eastern Michigan Eagles.

Friday night was the season opener for Eastern Michigan football.  They were playing the Charlotte 49ers.  This was the second meeting of the two teams.  Charlotte is relatively new to football, this being the fifth year of their program and only the third season at the Division 1A level.  Last year, the Eagles traveled to Charlotte and defeated the 49ers 37-19.  Would this year bring a different result?

As usual, this is mostly a post of stuff surrounding the game.  If you would like to see pictures of the game itself, go to Hustle Belt.

 It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since Eastern Michigan went to the California Bowl.  While it was nice that they went to the Bahamas Bowl last year, there were a few other MAC teams that went.  For a long time, the MAC could only go to one bowl.  I'm not sure that it is a good thing that almost half of the college football teams can get into a bowl of some sort.  Anyway, I hope they do something this year to commemorate this anniversary.

 The EMU ROTC battalion getting ready with the touchdown cannon.

 This will be Coach Creighton's fourth year as the Eastern Michigan head football coach.  His 7 wins last year were over double the wins of his first two seasons.  I am hoping that last year was a sign of things to come and not an aberration.  Unfortunately, if they are a sign of things to come, I think larger programs will come calling.

 I'm not sure how many different helmet styles that Eastern Michigan has but it is kind of cool.  I'm hoping that they are mostly going to stick to green and white though.

 One of the players after catching the ball.

 Defensive Line coach Chuck Bullough going through some drills with the defensive line.  This was one where he was trying to get the guys to force a fumble as the quarterback gets set to pass.

 It was kind of different for me.  Normally I hang around the offensive side of the drills but I think part of the reason for Eastern's success was on the backs of their defense last year.  With their best guy going to the Lions and their second best guy graduating, there are some question marks on defense.  However, based on what I saw last year, I think they will be fine.

 The color guard getting ready to come onto the field.

 The marching band taking the field.  I still think that the marching band is an integral part of the college game day experience.  I kind of wish we got to hear more of them instead of piped in music.

 The color guard during the National Anthem.

 The eagle flying out on the field during the National Anthem.

 And she finds her landing spot.

 While I am not a fan of breaking down the wall, I thought the added bit of smoke was kind of cool.

 Coach Creighton as he comes out on the field.

 The band as they get ready to enter the stands.

 Some other members of the band.

 The coin toss.

 One of the cheerleaders after Eastern Michigan managed to get an interception and a touchdown from that.  I guess that answered any questions I had about the defense.

 One of the Charlotte players getting tackled.

 Ian Eriksen searching for the endzone.  He would score on this drive.

 And the ensuing celebration.

 The EMU Dance team.

 Another shot of them.

 The moon looked pretty cool Friday night.  It was kind of a cool night and a little hazy.  Made for nice football weather though.

 As the band was getting ready to take the field for halftime, I looked up and saw the reflection in the tuba.  I thought it looked pretty cool.

 The EMU Marching band during halftime.  They played Beethoven's Fifth.  It was pretty cool.

 They also played Beethoven's Ninth, which is my favorite piece.

 A shot of the tubas.

 Another shot of the band.

 The baton twirler.

 One of the police escorts for the Charlotte team.  I kind of like the Smokey the Bear look. 

 Swoop.  When I started at Eastern Michigan, the team was known as the Hurons.  In the middle of my tenure there, they changed to the Eagles.  At the time, I was upset with the change.  I still am a little upset but that softened over my ears of following them more closely.  Especially when it dawned on me that most of the Eastern Michigan students were born after the change.

 Another shot of one of the cheerleaders.

 The drumline.

The team singing the fight song after their victory.  They would defeat the Charlotte 49ers by a score of 24-7.  I saw a few things that gave me worry but hopefully they can correct those as they travel to Rutgers.

At the Game

Eastern Michigan beat Miami of Ohio at home on Monday night, so that gave them the opportunity to play Bowling Green on Wednesday night.  They beat Bowling Green which meant they got the chance to play Toledo.  The MAC Tournament is set up in a way that rewards the higher ranked teams in the Conference.  It is the main reason why the games that Eastern lost early in the MAC season were huge.  Eastern had to claw its way to get to this point and this was Toledo's first game in the Tournament.

So Eastern would be playing its third game in 4 days and Toledo would be playing it's first.

 A shot of the inside of the Arena.  It seats a little over 20,000 people for basketball games.  Given that we were watching MAC games, the attendance wouldn't get anywhere near that.

 The Eastern Michigan Basketball Band made the trip as well.

 Jumbotrons are so passe, so Quicken has a Humungotron.  I will have to admit, it looked pretty cool.

 Since I didn't think that Eastern would make it to this point, I was sitting in the stands.  The seats weren't bad, but the people that would be occupying those seats would get in the way.  Anyway, the Eastern Michigan Cheerleaders also made the trip.

 As did Swoop.

 Since I didn't think my shots of the game would be as good as usual, I tried to concentrate on different things.  The Cheerleaders doing a pyramid.

 With the way the game was going, I am surprised the ref didn't call Swoop for a foul.

 Tim Bond and Brandon Nazione on defense.  The Eagles managed to keep it close in the first half but I think fatigue started to show up into the second half.

 Raven Lee advancing the ball down the court.

 Coach Murphy was not very happy with the officiating and I honestly can't say that I disagree with him.  It seemed like many of the calls were going Toledo's way.  But that is the way of things.

 Mike Talley taking the ball down the court.  He was starting to look tired at the end of the first half but I don't blame him because he played pretty hard in the prior games.

 The Eastern fans cheering on a good play.

 The Eastern Cheerleaders to start the first half.

 Tim Bond setting up the offense.

 We got to see a few Karrington dunks but by the time that was happening, the game was starting to get out of hand.

 Raven Lee on defense.

 Mike Talley advancing the ball again.

 The Eastern Cheerleaders.

 Brandon Nazione making a layup.

 Even Swoop got into a pyramid and that was pretty cool.

 This guy was a beast all night.

 After a flip.

 Raven Lee for a rare Eastern appearance at the free throw line.

Mike Talley just before he was pulled.  The game was pretty much won at this point.

Even though I'm not happy with the way the season ended, I was still proud of the Eagles.  I just wish the momentum they built at the beginning of the season would carry into the MAC Season.  It would have been nice to Mike Talley and Karrington Ward leave with a MAC Title.  Oh well.

I think Eastern is in pretty good shape for next season though.