After six games, the Eastern Michigan University football team is still looking to earn their first win of the season. The Army Black Knights, who have a record of 1-5 and a top-ranked rushing offense, are coming to Rynearson Stadium Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. for EMU’s third home game in a row.
The two teams last met in 2010, where the Black Knights pulled off a last-minute victory in front of 11,318 fans with a score of 31-27. This will be the fifth meeting between the two teams dating back to 1992. Army has won all four previous games.
Although the Eagles are winless through six games, a win this weekend isn’t impossible. EMU put up 47 points during their last game, which should be enough to beat the Black Knights who are averaging 23 points per game.
This isn’t the first time students have seen the Eagles start the year with a 0-6 record. Nathan Perry, a fifth-year student and current vice president of the Eagle Nation Fan Section, remembers coach Ron English’s first year as coach and said, “Yeah that was a rough one.”
Being a supporter of a football program with an 11-43 record since his freshman year, Perry said, “If I’m going to pay all this money to a university that I love attending, I feel like it’s my duty to support all of the teams.”
However, there were only 2,837 people in attendance for EMU’s Oct. 13 game against Toledo and many of the students who did attend left after the first quarter because of the cold weather.
But Perry said this year’s team is different from the 2009 team.
“It feels like they are trying to win. They have more desire to win as opposed to English’s first team,” he said.
As a testament to this, through six games in ’09, the Eagles scored
83 points. This year the team has scored 114 points in six games.
Another Eagle Nation Fan Section officer, junior Franklin Anderson, shared his feelings about attending every home game since 2010. The intense feeling of unity and pride in a full student section is what Anderson said he cherishes the most about his times at Rynearson Stadium.
When asked about his expectations against Army, Anderson said, “This year looks to be another down-to-the-wire battle.”
Army did win the 2008 and 2010 games, but only by four points each time.
So, will the Eagles finally get their first win of the season and in this series? Anderson encouraged students to be there to find out.
“Supporting and celebrating EMU football has been one of the most memorable parts of my college experience. I encourage everyone to try coming to a game,” Anderson said.
