WEEK 9: Eastern Michigan looks to snap losing skid on the road

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Welcome back to our weekly roundup segments, Nation. After a brief three-week hiatus, we have returned to give you the latest updates surrounding our trio of Mid-American Conference programs in the state.

This week, however, will be much more condensed than the average piece. With both Central Michigan (4-4, 2-2 MAC) and Western Michigan (5-3, 3-1 MAC) off this coming weekend, this will be all about Eastern Michigan (2-5, 0-3 MAC).

A quick refresher on how CMU and WMU did last weekend. The Chippewas bounced back from a home loss to Toledo with a 56-9 drubbing of Ball State on the road. The Broncos, meanwhile, needed overtime to down the aforementioned Eagles of EMU.

EASTERN MICHIGAN EAGLES

This 2-5 record for Eastern Michigan is definitely not as bad as it looks. While they have dropped five consecutive games, each of those five defeats have been by seven points or fewer, with the latest loss coming at home to rival Western Michigan in overtime.

The defense continues to keep the Eagles in games. The 19.9 points allowed per game is second only to Northern Illinois in the MAC. The struggles to get over the hump have derived from the offensive side of the ball, particularly the ground game. The Eagles’ 93.9 rushing yards per game is among the lowest in all of FBS.

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A good answer to this dilemma would be giving Ian Eriksen the football more. The junior rushed it 23 times for 91 yards against WMU this past weekend. Over his last last three games, Eriksen has now averaged close to five yards per carry compared to just under three years per tote in his first three games.

UP NEXT: Eastern Michigan will look to get off the schneid on Thursday (10/23) when they travel to take on the aforementioned Huskies of Northern Illinois. Don’t expect a lot of scoring in this one, given these are the two best scoring defenses in the MAC.

Not only will EMU look to break a five-game losing skid overall, they will be in search of their first victory over NIU since 2007.

KICKOFF: 7 p.m. ET