The Eastern Michigan Eagles are a college football program at Eastern Michigan University. They compete in Division I Football Subdivision (FBS) and the Mid-American Conference. Past names include Michigan State Normal College Normalites (1899 to 1928), Michigan State Normal College Hurons (1929 to 1955), and Eastern Michigan Hurons (1956 to 1990).
Since 1981, Eastern Michigan University has compiled an all-time record of 428-519-47, fielding a team each year except 1944. The team has achieved five undefeated seasons, in 1906, 1925, 1927, 1943 (holding opponents scoreless), and 1945 and eight winless seasons, in 1891, 1910, 1941, 1949, 1960, 1961, 1981, and 2009. The team has never ended a season ranked in any major poll, and is among the worst Division I FBS schools both in all-time win percentage (45.4%, for 107 out of 120) and in all-time scoring margin (-1898, for 108 out of 120). The team saw its greatest period of success from 1925 through 1939 under head coach Elton Rynearson, for whom their home field, Rynearson Stadium, is named. Among the lowest periods in the team's history was a 27-game losing streak in the early 1980s; under head coach Mike Stock the team was held scoreless seven times and posed an average margin of loss of 18 points per game.
Following the firing of Jeff Genyk during the 2008 season, Eastern Michigan hired Ron English, who had formerly been the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan and the University of Louisville, as the team's head coach. The coaching change initially brought excitement to the program, as English hired a new staff, including former University of Michigan, New York Giants, and Oakland Raiders running back Tyrone Wheatley, and replaced Genyk's spread offense with a pro-style offense.
However, the change in offense proved difficult for senior quarterback Andy Schmitt, and after being largely ineffective in the first several games of the season, Schmitt suffered a season-ending knee injury playing against Michigan. Eastern finished 2009 without a win, their first winless season since 1981 - although the 1981 season was part of a 27 game losing streak, and the current losing streak is only at 12. Once again, the season started better than it turned out in the end. In the second game of the year, the Eagles traveled to Northwestern, and after falling down 21-0 in the second quarter, they ended up tying the game at 24 with 2 minutes left, before Northwestern kicked a game winning field goal in the closing seconds. The following week, they had another trip just across the county to play Michigan. Similar to their 2006 game at Michigan State, they played a very competitive first half, only trailing by one score. But like many times before, they couldn't put two good halves together. They were outscored 21-0 in the second half, and gave up 380 yards rushing total. The rest of the season they used former starting quarterback Kyle McMahon, and freshman Alex Gillet, giving him good experience for the future. Eastern scored no more than 12 points in any of the next three games, including a 56-8 loss at Central Michigan. The week after that, they nearly beat Ball State who was also winless at the time. The difference was a safety in the fourth quarter. Next, they had one more non-conference game as they traveled to Arkansas. This game was the opposite of the Michigan game -- bad first half, good second half. They were down 42-0 before eventually losing 63-27. For the rest of the year, they were only close in the finale at Akron, losing by 7.
In previous years, Eastern was able to get at least a few wins because of a high scoring offense. The loss of their quarterback ended that, and their defense was bad this year even by their standards. Eastern gave up 3,321 rushing yards (276.8 per game), more than any other team in the nation, which was their downfall. Because of this, they statistically appeared to have one of the best passing defenses, allowing 150.5 passing yards per game, second only to Air Force, but this was mostly an illusion. Everyone knew they couldn't stop the run, so opponents just didn't call many pass plays.