Sunday, September 18, 2005

John T. Greilick / The Detroit News Steve Breaston knifes through Eastern Michigan's special teams on the way to a 72-yard punt return in the first quarter.

Eastern Michigan leaves with sour taste

Eagles overwhelmed en route to suffering their worst loss since Wisconsin rolled, 56-0.

By Jim Spadafore / The Detroit News

Related links  NCAA football scores and stats Big Ten Talk Big Ten Weblog U-M schedule U-M roster U-M stats Big Ten schedule Big Ten standings Big Ten stats AP Top-25 poll USA Today / ESPN Top-25 poll Sports Challenge: Pick the college winners weekly, win prizes Game photo galleries U-M 33, N. Illinois 17 Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

ANN ARBOR -- When the Eastern Michigan players walked off the field Saturday afternoon, a whopping 55-0 loss stared them in the face on the big scoreboard at Michigan Stadium.

EMU's bigger Washtenaw County neighbor was not too neighborly, dominating the game from the start. Michigan recovered from a loss to Notre Dame the previous week.

"Losing a game is bad, but losing one like that is something you never want to feel," senior quarterback Matt Bohnet said. "To look at the other guys and to look in their eyes and see that defeat is tough.

"You feel so bad inside. You never want to lose a game. Especially losing the way we did. That was the toughest thing."

It was EMU's worst loss since 56-0 against Wisconsin in 1994.

How bad was it? The Wolverines led 14-0 after four minutes and 28-0 after the first quarter. The Eagles didn't even get into U-M territory until there was 5:21 left in the third quarter.

U-M's first two scoring drives went 10 and 20 yards. EMU's special teams had a disastrous start. U-M's Steve Breaston raced 72 yards on a punt return to the EMU 10-yard line. A couple of minutes later, U-M got the ball back on the EMU 20 after an errant snap sailed over the head of punter Andrew Wellock.

The mismatch was a combination of the Wolverines' superior talent and size and the Eagles' jitters. EMU's offense had no answer for U-M's defense. Bohnet also struggled badly with accuracy and decisions. He completed 13 of 25 passes for 118 yards, with an interception. It didn't help that the Eagles were held to 15 yards rushing.

"We just didn't execute at all on offense," coach Jeff Genyk said of EMU, which is 0-7 against Michigan and 0-19 against Big Ten teams. "Matt had a number of guys wide open and just couldn't find them in those first few drives. He just didn't play very well, as did a lot of guys.

"But you have to give credit to Michigan. They're a very good team and extremely athletic."

But the Eagles never lost their spirit as the score mounted. Genyk had drilled into his players that no matter how excited they were to play the Wolverines, it was still a nonleague game and next Saturday's Mid-American Conference opener at Central Michigan was more important.

"We came in here with great hope and aspiration, and we really expected to perform better," Genyk said. "But it's very important we learn from this, from a technical aspect as far as execution is concerned. I think we can also learn long-term how hard you have to work in the weight room and how hard you have to work at the training table in order to compete at this level.

"And it's really a game that you (learn) from quickly in terms of new perspectives and stay together as a team and move on. We have a great challenge in Central Michigan, and I think we'll bounce back fine."

You can reach Jim Spadafore at (313) 223-4638 or jim.spadafore@detnews.com.