Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 117. Eastern Michigan
Missed opportunity to be the EMU Emus
Eastern Michigan, located in Ypsilanti, Michigan: home of the first Domino’s Pizza. Founded as the Michigan State Normal School, the “normal school” became a university in 1959 and rebranded as the Eastern Michigan Eagles in 1991. EMU comes in as the 4th lowest ranked MAC team on this list. Not too bad considering how they fared in the 2000s and early 2010s.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 21 | Eastern Michigan | 1987 | 15.35 | 10-2 |
| 43 | Eastern Michigan | 1988 | -0.825 | 6-3-1 |
| 43 | Eastern Michigan | 1989 | -1.499 | 7-3-1 |
| 60 | Eastern Michigan | 2022 | -6.363 | 9-4 |
| 61 | Eastern Michigan | 1995 | -11.336 | 6-5 |
| 79 | Eastern Michigan | 2018 | -12.478 | 7-6 |
| 80 | Eastern Michigan | 2020 | -13.536 | 2-4 |
| 83 | Eastern Michigan | 2021 | -16.061 | 7-6 |
| 68 | Eastern Michigan | 1986 | -16.334 | 6-5 |
| 76 | Eastern Michigan | 2016 | -17.503 | 7-6 |
| 87 | Eastern Michigan | 2017 | -19.152 | 5-7 |
| 71 | Eastern Michigan | 1994 | -19.931 | 5-6 |
| 82 | Eastern Michigan | 2011 | -20.183 | 6-6 |
| 88 | Eastern Michigan | 2019 | -22.527 | 6-7 |
| 81 | Eastern Michigan | 1997 | -28.434 | 4-7 |
| 93 | Eastern Michigan | 2005 | -28.939 | 4-7 |
| 88 | Eastern Michigan | 1999 | -29.013 | 4-7 |
| 83 | Eastern Michigan | 1993 | -30.055 | 4-7 |
| 82 | Eastern Michigan | 1991 | -30.442 | 3-7-1 |
| 84 | Eastern Michigan | 1985 | -32.807 | 4-7 |
| 88 | Eastern Michigan | 1984 | -35.362 | 2-7-2 |
| 99 | Eastern Michigan | 2007 | -35.57 | 4-8 |
| 98 | Eastern Michigan | 2004 | -36.491 | 4-7 |
| 93 | Eastern Michigan | 1998 | -37.505 | 3-8 |
| 95 | Eastern Michigan | 1996 | -38.489 | 3-8 |
| 97 | Eastern Michigan | 2000 | -41.069 | 3-8 |
| 108 | Eastern Michigan | 2008 | -42.12 | 3-9 |
| 95 | Eastern Michigan | 1990 | -45.009 | 2-9 |
| 106 | Eastern Michigan | 2003 | -48.632 | 3-9 |
| 114 | Eastern Michigan | 2012 | -52.835 | 2-10 |
| 108 | Eastern Michigan | 2001 | -53.938 | 2-9 |
| 112 | Eastern Michigan | 2002 | -57.56 | 3-9 |
| 116 | Eastern Michigan | 2010 | -59.947 | 2-10 |
| 115 | Eastern Michigan | 2006 | -60.815 | 1-11 |
| 105 | Eastern Michigan | 1983 | -60.958 | 1-10 |
| 126 | Eastern Michigan | 2014 | -61.67 | 2-10 |
| 106 | Eastern Michigan | 1992 | -62.538 | 1-10 |
| 120 | Eastern Michigan | 2013 | -65.008 | 2-10 |
| 125 | Eastern Michigan | 2015 | -65.873 | 1-11 |
| 120 | Eastern Michigan | 2009 | -74.01 | 0-12 |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -2282.457821 (117th)156-297-5 record
1 conference title
2-4 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
12 NFL players drafted
They probably would’ve had 1 consensus All-American by now if Caleb Williams took the $1 million NIL deal offered to him last spring. Still—full credit to some of the great players that have come through this program like Maxx Crosby, Charlie Batch, and TJ Lang. 17 out of 40 seasons have had 3 or less wins, which is pretty staggering, but the last decade has been better for EMU, 6 of their top 11 seasons coming since 2016.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2009 (0-12 overall, 0-8 MAC)
Excitement was abuzz in Eastern Michigan with the hiring of defensive savant Ron English to take over as head coach. It wouldn’t last long, though, as players struggled to adjust to the new pro-style offense and averaged just 16.4 PPG. In the second game of the year, EMU was down 21-0 to Northwestern but somehow managed to tie it at 24 with 2 minutes left. Northwestern would ultimately kick a winning FG in the closing seconds. On the year, the defense gave up 38.2 PPG and ranked last in the nation in rushing yards given up, but 2nd in the nation in pass defense. The reason? Teams knew they couldn’t stop the run. Gave up 6.3 yards per carry.
5. 1995 (6-5 overall, 5-3 MAC)
QB Charlie Batch entered his 2nd season with the team, coming off a 7 TD 1 INT freshman year. Batch would earn 1st team All-MAC in 1995, throwing for 3177 yards 21 TD 17 INT and tack on 3 rushing TD. The favorite target was senior WR Steve Clay, who caught 63 balls for 999 yards and 7 TD. Clay also had 1 kick return and 1 punt return go for TDs. A 5-2 and 4-0 MAC start set up a title contention match with 6-0-1 Toledo, but Gary Pinkel’s Rockets would win the day 34-28. EMU dropped their next 2 before rebounding with a 41-7 win over Kent State to close out the year. They finished 5th place in the MAC with a 5-3 record, Toledo won that year at 11-0-1. Batch was drafted a few years later in the 2nd round, and would have a 15 year NFL career with 2 Super Bowl wins as a backup, a 2012 Man of the Year Award, and the record for highest QBR in a game.
4. 2022 (9-4 overall, 5-3 MAC)
Coming into the year with a new QB, EMU was picked to finish just 5th in their division. 20 point underdogs in week 3 against Arizona State, the Sun Devils were no longer firm for coach Herm Edwards as EMU pulled off the 30-21 upset. RB Samson Evans had a ridiculous statline of 36 carries for 258 yards and 1 TD. EMU would alternate wins/losses until they were 5-4, then beat up weaker MAC teams Akron, Kent State, and Central Michigan to finish 8-4. A 41-27 win in the bowl over San Jose State sealed their best season since 1989. The team’s standout player was DL Jose Ramirez with 12 sacks and 7.5 TFL, winning MAC DPOTY. OL Sidy Sow, P Mitchell Tomasek, and KR Jaylon Jackson also made the 1st team. RB Evans was 2nd team with 1166 rushing yards and 15 TD. WR Hassan Beydoun finished a solid career, proving doubters wrong as a 5’8 174 lb WR with a 3rd team all-MAC selection to go with his 1000 yard receiving season in 2021.
3. 1989 (7-3-1 overall, 6-2 MAC)
This was the tail end of the greatest 4 year stretch in school history, their 4th winning season in a row. Going into the final week of the season, 7-2-1 Eastern Michigan and 5-2-2 Ball State squared off in the de facto conference title game. EMU was looking for their 2nd MAC title in 3 years to establish a sort of dynasty, but Ball State would thwart them 23-17 and Eastern Michigan never really recovered, having just 1 winning season in the 26 seasons afterward. DB Brandon Navarro had a good argument to be EMU’s only ever consensus All-American, leading the nation with 12 INTs, a school record that stands today. Him and DB Charles Gordon, who had 4 INTs, both made the school’s 1980’s all-decade team.
2. 1988 (6-3-1 overall, 5-2-1 MAC)
The 1988 team had a slightly better resume than the 1989 version, but you wouldn’t believe it looking at the stats. This team averaged just 17.3 PPG while giving up 20.0 PPG. QB Tom Sullivan and the 2 backups combined for a whoping 5 TD to 16 INT. They faced a tougher schedule than the ‘89 team, getting wins over 6-5 Toledo and 8-3 Ball State, with losses to 7-4 Arizona, 7-4 Central Michigan, and 9-3 Western Michigan. A 24-31 loss to Western Michigan cost EMU a second straight MAC title.
1. 1987 (10-2 overall, 7-1 MAC)
What a year for Eastern Michigan. QB Ron Adams and RB Gary Patton returned for their senior years, determined to lead EMU to glory. After a 35-20 win over Youngstown State in the opener, EMU played a Miami (OH) team fresh off a MAC title. A statement 33-17 win would set the tone for the start of the year. A slip up against Akron a week later (who was Independent at the time, not in the MAC yet) had them fall to 2-1. EMU travelled to another big game at 2-0 Kent State, who had just beaten Kansas. EMU hung on for a 23-21 victory to move to 2-0 in the conference, and while Kent and Miami would pose the biggest threats to EMU, the Eagles held the tiebreaker. After beating NIU 32-31 and dropping another game to Central Michigan, EMU stood at 4-2 and 2-1 in-conference. It was time to prove if they were just another 6-5, 7-4 team, or if they were serious about winning the MAC. They’d win 2 close games before dominating their last 3, including a 38-9 win over Toledo on ESPN. They were MAC champions, and headed to their first bowl ever! 17.5 point underdogs to 10-1 San Jose State, EMU shocked the nation with arguably the biggest win in school history, 30-27, to complete the double digit win season.
5th Quarter
Eastern Michigan was a very hard team to research. Their best teams came in the 80’s, and fun facts and game scores were hard to come by. Still, 1987 seems like a fascinating year, and I’d love to see scoring summaries of the games if they exist.
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
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