Five Things Learned - Monmouth at Eastern Michigan

Well there’s one game finished for the young Eastern Michigan season. But what did we learn?

1. I’m still not sure what targeting means. The penalty has been around for a while now and it seems like it gets used sparingly. I’ll admit, I saw the hit that Kyle Rachwal ejected, but I’m still not sure it was warranted. Sometimes, it seems like the debate between charging and blocking in basketball. I get what they are trying with it but I wish they could make the rules cleared.
2. Eastern Michigan beat the team they were supposed to beat. I think that Eastern Michigan football is getting better and they showed it by beating the team that they should beat.
3. Despite getting 171 yards on the ground, I think Eastern Michigan’s run game still needs some improvement. Shaq Vann got 46 yards, Ian Eriksen got 44 yards and Mike Glass got 37, but Mike Glass is a quarterback. It still seems like Eastern Michigan has speedy enough backs that they should be trying to run sweeps instead of off the tackles.
4. The Eastern Michigan line may be the difference. None of the Eastern Michigan quarterbacks were sacked.
5. The Eastern Michigan defense may be scarier this year. Despite not playing with their full complement on defesne, the Eagles recorded 3 sacks and 1 interception. Granted, it was against a team they should beat but still.

I don’t think we can make too many conclusions from the game on Friday though. The real test will be when Eastern Michigan travels down to East Lafayette but given the history of the past 30 years, we’ll take what we can get.