Miami RedHawks at Eastern Michigan Eagles: 5 Things Learned

Saturday, the Miami Redhawks earned their third win in a row after they defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 28-15. It was thought that Eastern Michigan would win the game and at least be bowl eligible. Anyway, what can we learn from a game like this.

Eastern Michigan’s secondary is still a work in progress.

Miami was able to get 175 yards in the air which is not bad for a defense, but still. Eastern Michigan cut their opponents rushing yards in half but the secondary still seems to need some work. I’m not sure if that’s a product of teams knowing that they could run at will last year or something else.

Miami has a pretty good defense. Eastern’s run game...not so good.

This is kind of a double lesson. One, the Eastern Michigan running game needs some work. Yesterday they only gained 70 yards on the ground. Part of that is because Eastern Michigan really hasn’t had a run game this year. Part of that is because Miami’s defense is pretty solid.

Getting to the quarterback helps your cause.

Kenneth Bailey

I mentioned in the section above, that Miami has a pretty good defense. Yesterday they were able to find their way to Brogan Roback five times. That is as many sacks as Eastern Michigan allowed the rest of the year. This also contributed to Eastern Michigan only getting 33 net yards on the ground.

This Gus Ragland kid is pretty good

Kenneth Bailey

Gus Ragland passed completed 15 of 23 passes for 175 yards yesterday. He also seemed to move pretty well on the ground. Given that he’s only a sophomore, Miami could be scary next year.

Stupid Penalties will kill you

Kenneth Bailey

Yesterday, Eastern Michigan managed to get 67 yards in penalties. Probably the worse was when Pat O’Connor was flagged for unnecessary roughness after removing Ragland’s helmet. That was after a pretty nice sack at a time when Eastern Michigan really needed good new. Instead of fourth and a mile, it became first and ten and led to Miami getting their third touchdown. There were also a couple of holding penalties that effectively killed those drives at times when Eastern really needed to move the ball.

I wish Miami the best of luck for the rest of their season and I really hope that this is an aberration for Eastern Michigan. I still think that they can win the rest of their games but they really need to avoid a game like yesterday’s.