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The big 2014 Eastern Michigan preview: Losing and the law of the price tag

Last year wasn't any fun for EMU, on or off the field. The goal for new head coach Chris Creighton will be to restore direction, enjoyment, and some sense of momentum for a program that doesn't tend to have much of any of those things.

Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

SB Nation 2014 College Football Countdown

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

1. He wanted the job

If New Mexico State isn't the country's most consistent coaching graveyard, it's EMU. Since going 7-3-1 in 1989, EMU has finished with a winning record just once (6-5 in 1995). Rick Rasnick won 20 games in five years. Jeff Woodruff won 11 in four. Jeff Genyk won 16 in five. Ron English won 11 in most of five.

That said, Drake is not exactly a football hotbed, and Chris Creighton did average seven wins a year there. Creighton's résumé is ridiculously midwestern -- he went 32-9 in four years at Ottawa (Kan.), 63-15 in seven years at Wabash (Ind.), and 42-22 in six years at Drake (Iowa). He was a quarterback at Kenyon (Ohio) and an assistant in Illinois and Indiana before that.

He wasn't a sexy hire, but EMU isn't going to make a sexy hire. He wanted the job, which made him attractive, and if nothing else he has shown that he can unearth interesting talent in less-than-fertile areas. And he boasts more head coaching experience than most realistic EMU candidates. I'm intrigued.

That's what I said about EMU's new head coach in January. As UMass did, EMU found a guy with head coaching experience and lots of ties to the region. He was also crazy enough to want the job. That's good enough for now.

2. This job steals your sanity

You have to be a little on the crazy, confident side to believe you can do some damage at a job that typically only damages your résumé. And if you aren't sightly on the insane side when you start, you might be by the time you finish.

For a while, it seemed like Ron English was following the rebuilding checklist to a T. He succeeded Jeff Genyk in 2009, stripped everything down with an 0-12 season in a Year 0 situation, then began putting the pieces together. EMU went 2-10 in 2010 with competitive losses to decent teams like Army (7-6) and Miami-Ohio (10-4), then returned almost everybody for a run at a bowl in 2011.

They crafted a "Now's our time" video. They crafted a catch phrase ("The law of the price tag"). They were ready.

EMU came so very close. The Eagles did win six games in 2011, but thanks to two wins over FCS teams, they needed one more win for bowl eligibility. They lost via last-second field goal to Ball State on November 5. They lost by six to Kent on November 19. And then they lost by six to eventual conference champion NIU on November 25 and stayed home during bowl season for the 24th consecutive year.

And then things fell apart. Injuries and poor depth doomed the defense. EMU careened back to 2-10, then went 2-10 again.

In September 2013, as part of my Big Ten Road Trip piece, a friend and I swung through Ypsilanti to get a glimpse of the facilities on the way out of Ann Arbor. The two-year old "Price Tag" slogan by that point seemed to mean something a little bit different on a worn banner in front of patchy sod.

The English tenure was on death's door, and on the way out, English kind of went insane.

Good luck, Coach Creighton. You seem pretty good at your job. You need to be great.

2013 Schedule & Results

Record: 2-10 | Adj. Record: 0-12 | Final F/+ Rk: 124
Date Opponent Opp. F/+ Rk Score W-L Adj. Score Adj. W-L 5-gm Adj. Avg.
31-Aug Howard N/A 34-24 W 22.8 - 40.6 L
7-Sep at Penn State 61 7-45 L 11.0 - 39.4 L
14-Sep at Rutgers 91 10-28 L 17.8 - 35.3 L
21-Sep Ball State 57 20-51 L 29.8 - 34.5 L
5-Oct at Buffalo 80 14-42 L 25.5 - 35.4 L -15.6
12-Oct at Army 100 25-50 L 28.5 - 56.2 L -17.6
19-Oct Ohio 104 28-56 L 34.4 - 47.1 L -14.5
26-Oct at Northern Illinois 60 20-59 L 21.5 - 43.7 L -15.4
2-Nov at Toledo 62 16-55 L 21.8 - 47.6 L -19.7
9-Nov Western Michigan 117 35-32 W 28.5 - 43.8 L -20.8
23-Nov Bowling Green 47 7-58 L -5.1 - 37.0 L -23.6
29-Nov at Central Michigan 111 10-42 L 24.2 - 45.7 L -25.4
Category Offense Rk Defense Rk Spec. Tms. Rk
F/+ -11.2% 103 -24.2% 123 -6.7% 125
Points Per Game 18.8 113 45.2 123
Adj. Points Per Game 21.7 108 42.2 123

3. Bad, then real-life bad

On the playing field, EMU's season was doomed from the start. Any hopes of reaching a bowl were extinguished by consecutive blowout losses to Ball State, Buffalo, and Army, and things certainly got even worse on the field down the stretch.

4. Demarius

But for the most part, when we talk about "bad things," we're talking about losses on a playing field. But real-life got involved in a terrible way on the early morning of Friday, October 18, when receiver Demarius Reed was shot and killed in a robbery attempt near campus. His Twitter account, active as of that Thursday, still sits as a haunting reminder of his sudden passing. EMU had to play football barely 24 hours after learning of Reed's passing, and while the Eagles put up a decent fight against Ohio, that didn't really matter at the moment.

This is the third time in a week that we've previewed a team forced to deal with the passing of a teammate and classmate, and that's devastating.

Offense

FIVE FACTORS -- OFFENSE
Raw Category Rk Opp. Adj. Category Rk
EXPLOSIVENESS IsoPPP 1.09 90 IsoPPP+ 93.3 96
EFFICIENCY Succ. Rt. 40.2% 81 Succ. Rt. + 86.1 109
FIELD POSITION Def. Avg. FP 32.9 110 Def. FP+ 95.4 103
FINISHING DRIVES Pts. Per Trip in 40 3.8 102 Redzone S&P+ 81.0 114
TURNOVERS EXPECTED 20.7 ACTUAL 23 +2.3
Category Yards/
Game Rk
S&P+ Rk Success
Rt. Rk
PPP+ Rk
OVERALL 111 110 110 118
RUSHING 76 92 86 100
PASSING 106 116 114 110
Standard Downs 100 96 101
Passing Downs 118 122 68
Q1 Rk 121 1st Down Rk 108
Q2 Rk 104 2nd Down Rk 107
Q3 Rk 87 3rd Down Rk 118
Q4 Rk 111

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2014 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals Comp Att Yards Comp
Rate
TD INT Sacks Sack Rate Yards/
Att.
Tyler Benz


129 217 1497 10 9 59.4% 22 9.2% 5.8
Brogan Roback 6'3, 185 So. 4 stars (5.8) 49 116 640 4 5 42.2% 6 4.9% 5.0
Brandon Bossard 6'2, 200 RSFr. 2 stars (5.3)
Reggie Bell 6'3, 169 RSFr. 2 stars (5.3)



Running Back

Player Pos. Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals Rushes Yards TD Yards/
Carry
Hlt Yds/
Carry
Opp.
Rate
Bronson Hill RB 5'10, 208 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 195 1093 5 5.6 5.7 40.0%
Ryan Brumfield RB 5'10, 188 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 98 509 5 5.2 4.6 42.9%
Darius Jackson RB 6'0, 215 Jr. 2 stars (5.2) 49 201 2 4.1 4.3 28.6%
Javonti Greene RB 37 104 0 2.8 2.1 29.7%
Tyler Benz QB 6'3, 215 Sr. 2 stars (5.3) 22 118 0 5.4 3.9 45.5%
Brogan Roback QB 6'3, 185 So. 4 stars (5.8) 7 16 1 2.3 2.8 28.6%
Juwan Lewis RB 5'10, 210 So. 3 stars (5.6)
Shaq Vann RB 5'10, 196 Fr. 2 stars (5.4)




5. Brogan and Bronson

Back to on-field matters, no matter how awkward the transition.

Tyler Benz had to see the writing on the wall when four-star freshman Brogan Roback signed in February. A near-blue-chipper doesn't sign with a MAC program with the idea of sitting as an understudy for a few years. Sure enough, following a six-for-15 performance against Northern Illinois, Benz went from first-string to second-. When a new head coach came aboard, Benz quietly left the program.

Roback was one of three quarterbacks to sign in the 2013 class, but he was easily the most highly touted of the three. To be sure, he was in no way good in 2013, but he got some experience.

Roback was also quite aggressive with the football. Benz completed 59 percent of his passes at just 11.6 yards per completion, but Roback wanted it all: 42 percent completion rate, 13.1 yards per completion. His bad performances were absolutely horrendous (one-for-12 for four yards and a pick against BGSU, nine-for-22 for 139 yards against WMU), but he showed signs of life in blowout losses to Toledo and CMU. Creighton has said Roback isn't guaranteed to be the starter in 2014, but ... yeah, he's probably going to be the starter.

Be it Roback or anybody else, the starting quarterback will line up with a pretty good asset next to him. Bronson Hill made some serious noise in the middle of the 2012 season, rushing for 283 yards in a narrow loss to Toledo and reaching 905 yards for the season despite getting only seven carries before October 13. His production in 2013 was scattershot, but with this team, that was probably unavoidable. He rushed for 125 or more yards four times last fall, peaking with a 257-yard performance against Ohio, and he has now crossed the 2,000-yard mark in two years. He has decent wheels and size, and while Creighton's Drake offense threw nearly 60 percent of the time in 2013 (good news for Roback's future stat lines), there will almost certainly be a place for Hill, who has shown decent capabilities as a pass-catcher out of the backfield as well.

Toss in a couple of reasonably decent targets in Dustin Creel and tight end Tyreese Russell, plus some star recruits new (receiver Kenny Jones) and old (junior Quincy Jones, sophomore Juwan Lewis), and there's potentially some solid depth in the skill position lineup.

Receiving Corps

Player Pos. Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals Targets Catches Yards Catch Rate Target
Rate
%SD Yds/
Target
NEY Real Yds/
Target
RYPR
Dustin Creel WR 6'2, 205 Jr. 2 stars (5.2) 76 46 593 60.5% 24.8% 55.1% 7.8 18 7.5 74.0
Tyreese Russell TE 6'3, 242 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 75 44 594 58.7% 24.4% 51.0% 7.9 35 8.7 74.1
Jay Jones WR 5'10, 181 Jr. 2 stars (5.0) 44 25 293 56.8% 14.3% 54.3% 6.7 -30 5.0 36.6
Bronson Hill RB 5'10, 208 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 22 16 175 72.7% 7.2% 50.0% 8.0 -8 9.4 21.8
Demarius Reed WR


22 15 185 68.2% 7.2% 62.5% 8.4 8 9.0 23.1
Duwhan Alford TE 6'1, 250 So. 2 stars (5.2) 18 10 57 55.6% 5.9% 100.0% 3.2 -74 2.9 7.1
Donald Scott WR 16 5 53 31.3% 5.2% 100.0% 3.3 -40 1.3 6.6
Quincy Jones WR 6'3, 209 Jr. 3 stars (5.7) 10 5 49 50.0% 3.3% 60.0% 4.9 -20 4.6 6.1
Ryan Brumfield RB 5'10, 188 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 10 5 80 50.0% 3.3% 66.7% 8.0 11 10.6 10.0
Cole Gardner TE 6'5, 250 So. 2 stars (5.2) 5 2 17 40.0% 1.6% 0.0% 3.4 -15 1.5 2.1
Javonti Greene RB 5 2 15 40.0% 1.6% 0.0% 3.0 -17 1.7 1.9
Darius Jackson RB 6'0, 215 Jr. 2 stars (5.2) 4 3 26 75.0% 1.3% 75.0% 6.5 -8 7.7 3.2
Kenny Jones WR 6'2, 190 Fr. 3 stars (5.6)








Offensive Line

Category Adj.
Line Yds
Std.
Downs
LY/carry
Pass.
Downs
LY/carry
Opp.
Rate
Power
Success
Rate
Stuff
Rate
Adj.
Sack Rate
Std.
Downs
Sack Rt.
Pass.
Downs
Sack Rt.
Team 96.5 3.27 3.02 38.4% 69.0% 18.3% 77.7 3.2% 11.6%
Rank 85 18 86 75 65 54 98 29 114
Player Pos. Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals Career Starts Honors/Notes
Lincoln Hansen RT 6'6, 301 Sr. 2 stars (5.1) 28
Orlando McCord RG 19
Campbell Allison RG 6'6, 316 Sr. NR 18
Andrew Wylie LT 6'6, 310 So. 2 stars (5.2) 12
Jake Hurcombe C 6'3, 302 So. 2 stars (5.4) 11
Robert McFadden LT 6'7, 303 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 10
Kent Collins LG 6'3, 288 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 6
Darien Terrell LG 6'4, 332 So. 2 stars (5.2) 5
Matt Thornton RT 6'4, 305 So. 2 stars (5.2) 0
Dwayne Brown OL 6'3, 320 RSFr. 3 stars (5.5) 0
Ka'John Armstrong OL 6'5, 272 Fr. 3 stars (5.6)
Dakota Tallman OL 6'4, 304 Fr. 3 stars (5.5)

6. The line might come around first

EMU's line was built for English's run-first system, and the change to Creighton and offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer could result in square-peg-round-hole-itis for a little while.

But in terms of talent and experience, no unit might have as much of a mix of it as the EMU line, which bosts seven players with starting experience (90 career starts), three former three-star recruits (all freshmen or redshirt freshmen), and a high-two-star in Jake Hurcombe. EMU was good at keeping defenders out of the backfield on standard downs, rushing and passing, and that's a start, anyway.

DeBoer, by the way, is an interesting choice for O.C. He went 67-3 in five seasons as the head coach at the University of Sioux Falls (seriously, how many good-for-their-level programs do the Dakotas produce?), and his pass-first offense averaged almost 400 yards per game (407 against Illinois) in 2013. Like Creighton, he has proven a decent amount at lower levels; now we'll see what he can do in the MAC.

Defense

FIVE FACTORS -- DEFENSE
Raw Category Rk Opp. Adj. Category Rk
EXPLOSIVENESS IsoPPP 1.41 124 IsoPPP+ 78.3 124
EFFICIENCY Succ. Rt. 49.7% 119 Succ. Rt. + 80.6 121
FIELD POSITION Off. Avg. FP 26.0 119 Def. FP+ 92.6 118
FINISHING DRIVES Pts. Per Trip in 40 5.2 121 Redzone S&P+ 85.0 102
TURNOVERS EXPECTED 10.6 ACTUAL 11.0 +0.4
Category Yards/
Game Rk
S&P+ Rk Success
Rt. Rk
PPP+ Rk
OVERALL 120 125 121 124
RUSHING 123 126 123 124
PASSING 96 113 112 113
Standard Downs 124 116 126
Passing Downs 125 123 125
Q1 Rk 125 1st Down Rk 121
Q2 Rk 114 2nd Down Rk 125
Q3 Rk 124 3rd Down Rk 117
Q4 Rk 115

7. Where do you even start?

There are rankings in 26 advanced defensive stats above. EMU ranked above 100th in none of them and worse than 115th in 20. Six of the top eight on the line, six of seven at linebacker, and eight of 11 at defensive back all return, which suggests that youth was at least one of last year's problems, but it's hard to even know where to look for positives or negatives. It was all negative.

Defensive coordinator Brad McCaslin comes with Creighton from Drake; his Bulldogs allowed just 4.7 yards per play in 2013 -- 6.2 per pass attempt (including sacks) and 3.7 per carry. McCaslin's Drake defense stopped the run, forced a ton of turnovers, and filtered the ball toward a strong middle linebacker. EMU's 2013 defense did none of those things.

Defensive Line

Category Adj.
Line Yds
Std.
Downs
LY/carry
Pass.
Downs
LY/carry
Opp.
Rate
Power
Success
Rate
Stuff
Rate
Adj.
Sack Rate
Std.
Downs
Sack Rt.
Pass.
Downs
Sack Rt.
Team 83.8 3.36 4.19 44.6% 68.1% 12.5% 124.7 5.0% 9.0%
Rank 122 112 124 112 72 126 24 50 23
Name Pos Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals GP Tackles % of Team TFL Sacks Int PBU FF FR
Kalonji Kashama DE 12 21.5 3.3% 9.0 5.5 0 0 2 0
Pat O'Connor DE 6'4, 272 Jr. 2 stars (5.2) 11 31.0 4.8% 5.0 4.0 0 3 0 0
Cy Maughmer NT 9 21.5 3.3% 3.5 2.5 0 0 0 0
Mike Steals DT 6'5, 259 So. 2 stars (5.2) 10 18.0 2.8% 4.0 1.0 1 0 0 0
Travis Linser (2012) NT 6'4, 280 Sr. 3 stars (5.5) 11 13.5 1.9% 4.5 1.0 0 0 1 0
Arron Pipkins NT 6'1, 280 Jr. 2 stars (5.2) 5 8.5 1.3% 2.0 1.0 0 0 0 0
Alex Jones DE 6'2, 238 So. NR 6 8.0 1.2% 2.5 2.0 0 0 0 0
Omar McFarlane DE 6'1, 250 Jr. NR 6 4.5 0.7% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Matt Price DE 3 2.5 0.4% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Deshai Powell DE 6'2, 245 RSFr. 2 stars (5.3)
Derrick Dunlap DT 6'2, 290 RSFr. 2 stars (5.3)







Lion King Conaway DE 6'4, 205 Fr. 2 stars (5.2)







Linebackers

Name Pos Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals GP Tackles % of Team TFL Sacks Int PBU FF FR
Ike Spearman WLB 6'1, 220 Jr. 3 stars (5.6) 12 57.5 8.9% 3.5 0.5 2 0 0 0
Great Ibe SLB 6'1, 225 Jr. NR 9 45.0 7.0% 3.0 0.0 0 2 0 0
Hunter Matt MLB 6'1, 225 Jr. 2 stars (5.4) 12 37.5 5.8% 5.0 3.0 0 0 1 1
Sean Kurtz MLB 12 36.0 5.6% 1.5 0.0 2 1 0 0
Derric Williams SLB 6'2, 210 So. 2 stars (5.2) 7 26.5 4.1% 2.5 1.5 0 0 0 0
Anthony Zappone WLB 6'1, 235 So. 2 stars (5.2) 5 6.0 0.9% 1.5 1.0 0 0 1 0
Mark Borland LB 6'0, 225 Sr. NR 2 2.0 0.3% 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Lavonte Robinson LB 5'10, 225 RSFr. 2 stars (5.4)
Kyle Rachwal LB 6'3, 225 Fr. 2 stars (5.4)






8. There might be something to the pass rush

The run defense was Drake's calling card last year, but the Bulldogs certainly weren't bad against the pass, allowing just a 58 percent completion rate at 10.9 yards per completion with a 6.5 percent sack rate. With five of the top six cornerbacks returning (including Willie Creear, who showed a little bit of on-ball ability, and former star recruit Jaleel Canty), McCaslin's scheme might find some success.

But a lot of that will depend on the success of a pass rush that was downright solid last fall. EMU ranked 24th in Adj. Sack Rate, attacking from a lot of different angles; the Eagles had five players with at least two sacks and only one with more than four. That one (Kalonji Kashama) is gone, but end Pat O'Connor is back, as is a decent blitzing threat in Hunter Matt.

Granted, the fact that EMU ranked 113th in Passing S&P+ with a strong pass rush probably tells you more than you want to know about EMU's secondary, but there's perhaps some hope there, even if the run defense is still a couple of years away from meeting McCaslin's standards.

Secondary

Name Pos Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Rivals GP Tackles % of Team TFL Sacks Int PBU FF FR
Mycal Swaim FS 12 58.5 9.0% 1.5 0 1 1 0 0
Donald Coleman SS 12 56.0 8.7% 1 0 0 2 0 0
Willie Creear CB 5'10, 193 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 12 46.0 7.1% 0 0 1 5 0 0
Pudge Cotton SS 6'1, 218 Sr. 3 stars (5.7) 9 29.0 4.5% 0 0 0 0 0 0
Quan Pace CB 5'10, 165 So. 2 stars (5.3) 11 23.5 3.6% 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ja'Ron Gillespie CB 8 23.0 3.6% 0 0 0 2 1 0
Jaleel Canty CB 5'9, 191 So. 3 stars (5.5) 11 21.5 3.3% 0 0 0 2 1 0
Darius Scott CB 5'8, 160 Sr. 2 stars (5.3) 5 18.5 2.9% 0 0 0 1 0 0
Ray Tillman CB 5'11, 183 Jr. NR 6 10.0 1.5% 0 0 0 1 0 0
Kevin Johnson FS 5'11, 200 Sr. 2 stars (5.2) 4 7.5 1.2% 0.5 0 0 0 0 0
Jalen Williams FS 5'11, 194 Jr. NR 5 6.0 0.9% 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ross Williams CB 5'11, 160 Fr. 2 stars (5.4)
Tim Gordon DB 5'11, 158 Fr. 2 stars (5.4)






Special Teams

Punter Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Punts Avg TB FC I20 FC/I20
Ratio
Austin Barnes 5'11, 205 So. 50 39.7 7 18 12 60.0%
Owen Dubiel 6'0, 205 Sr. 18 35.2 0 7 3 55.6%
Kicker Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Kickoffs Avg TB OOB TB%
Kody Fulkerson 36 50.2 0 3 0.0%
Brendan Renius 6'2, 224 So. 11 58.9 3 1 27.3%
Place-Kicker Ht, Wt 2014
Year
PAT FG
(0-39)
Pct FG
(40+)
Pct
Dylan Mulder 6'0, 186 Jr. 24-26 5-6 83.3% 1-5 20.0%
Returner Pos. Ht, Wt 2014
Year
Returns Avg. TD
Tyler Allen KR 5'8, 171 Sr. 51 19.9 1
Jaleel Canty KR 5'9, 191 So. 4 17.5 0
Demarius Reed PR

7 6.6 0
Category Rk
Special Teams F/+ 125
Field Goal Efficiency 110
Punt Return Efficiency 33
Kick Return Efficiency 29
Punt Efficiency 121
Kickoff Efficiency 125
Opponents' Field Goal Efficiency 107

9. No solace from special teams

Sometimes a bad team can stay close by making field goals and breaking even in the field position battle thanks to special teams. EMU was not one of those bad teams. The return game was in decent hands with Tyler Allen (who returned 51 kickoffs last year, easily the second-most in the country in a category in which "most" is not a good thing) and the late Demarius Reed, and Dylan Mulder was a decent place-kicker inside 40 yards, but kick and punt coverage was absolutely atrocious. This probably won't change in 2014.

2014 Schedule & Projection Factors

2014 Schedule
Date Opponent Proj. Rk
30-Aug Morgan State NR
6-Sep at Florida 21
13-Sep at Old Dominion NR
20-Sep at Michigan State 13
TBD Buffalo 107
TBD Central Michigan 106
TBD Northern Illinois 51
TBD Toledo 53
TBD at Akron 118
TBD at Ball State 81
TBD at Massachusetts 123
TBD at Western Michigan 113
Five-Year F/+ Rk -28.0% (121)
Two-Year Recruiting Rk 111
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin* -12 / -10.1
TO Luck/Game -0.8
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.) 17 (10, 7)

10. Participation ribbons for a while

Losing is not something Chris Creighton has done much -- in four years at Ottawa, seven at Wabash, and six at Drake, he never suffered a losing season and only three times won fewer than seven games. But he's now taking on one of the three or four toughest jobs at the FBS level, and he's inheriting a demoralized roster that wasn't good at very much last fall. It is is not a roster devoid of talent, but it won't have enough to do much.

The schedule isn't particularly favorable, and even if things click for Roback, and Hill has a big year, and the offensive line holds up, and the pass rush is solid, and the defense improves to something nearing competence (lots of ifs there), there's still probably little chance for EMU to get too far beyond four wins without an upset. Then again, EMU has won only four games in the last two years combined; four in one would be progress.

Last year was no fun for EMU, either on the field or in real-life. Never mind the law of the price tag (insert "EMU fought the law, and the law won" joke here); never mind reaching six wins; never mind becoming any sort of immediate threat in the MAC. The goal for 2014 needs to be about relaxing, playing football, and finding pieces around which you can build.