The 2003 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team represented Eastern Michigan University in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Eastern Michigan competed as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division. The team was coached by Jeff Woodruff in his final season at EMU. Following the 38–10 loss to Central Michigan, Woodruff, who had compiled a 9–34 record in 3 seasons, was fired on November 3. Running backs coach Al Lavan was named the interim coach while the school conducted a national search for the new permanent coach, and under his leadership the team won two of their final three games. After the end of the season, Northwestern running backs coach Jeff Genyk was hired as the new EMU head coach.
Schedule
EMU was briefly scheduled to host the University of South Florida Bulls in 2003. The Rynearson Stadium game had originally been scheduled for 2002, but the Bulls paid EMU a $50,000 postponement fee to delay the game to 2003, allowing USF a 2002 game at Arkansas. However, EMU dropped USF from the 2003 schedule with no advance notice.
Roster
Game summaries
East Tennessee State
EMU opened the season with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, a Division I-AA team in the Southern Conference. East Tennessee State had a 4–8 record in 2002, and 2003 would be the final year for their football program, which had been losing nearly $1 million per year from 1999 through 2003.
Scoring summary
1st Quarter
1:16 EMU – Anthony Sherrell 68 yard pass from Chinedu Okoro (Andrew Wellock kick) 7–0 EMU
2nd Quarter
10:26 EMU – Anthony Sherrell 38 yard run (Andrew Wellock kick) 14–0 EMU
8:56 East Tennessee State – Scott Brumett 70 yard interception return (Jonathan Godfrey kick) 14–7 EMU 0:57 East Tennessee State – Brian Matthews 34 yard pass from Carl Meadows (Jonathan Godfrey kick) 14–14
3rd Quarter
7:12 East Tennessee State – Gavin Varner 1 yard run (Jonathan Godfrey kick) 14–21 East Tennessee State 4:02 EMU – Chinedu Okoro 1 yard run (Andrew Wellock kick) 21–21
4th Quarter
7:49 EMU – Eric Deslauriers 44 yard pass from Chinedu Okoro (Andrew Wellock kick) 28–21 EMU
Western Illinois
Following the Leathernecks' win over EMU, Western Illinois received its first-ever #1 ranking in the national Division I-AA polls, though they lost the ranking the following week with a 35–7 loss to the eventual I-A national champions, the LSU Tigers.
Scoring summary
1st Quarter
11:02 Western Illinois – Travis Glasford 2 yard run (Justin Langan kick) 0–7 Western Illinois 4:14 EMU – Andrew Wellock 38 yard field goal 3–7 Western Illinois
2nd Quarter
13:01 EMU – Andrew Wellock 33 yard field goal 6–7 Western Illinois
2:01 Western Illinois – James Norris 95 yard punt return (Justin Langan kick) 6–14 Western Illinois
3rd Quarter
13:27 EMU – Andrew Wellock 35 yard field goal 9–14 Western Illinois
8:41 Western Illinois – Travis Glasford 1 yard run (Justin Langan missed kick) 9–20 Western Illinois
4th Quarter
13:18 EMU – Andrew Wellock 25 yard field goal 12–20 Western Illinois
7:22 Western Illinois – Russ Michna 15 yard run (Justin Langan kick) 12–27 Western Illinois 3:56 Western Illinois – Travis Glasford 11 yard run (Justin Langan kick) 12–34 Western Illinois
Akron
Scoring summary
1st Quarter
3:42 Akron – Matt Cherry 58 yard punt return (Jason Swiger kick) 0–7 Akron
2nd Quarter
14:17 Akron – Miquel Irvin 16 yard pass from Charlie Frye (Jason Swiger kick) 0–14 Akron 11:06 EMU – Anthony Sherrell 13 yard run (Andrew Wellock kick) 7–14 Akron 4:15 Akron – Charlie Frye 2 yard run (Jason Swiger kick) 7–21 Akron 1:20 EMU – Andrew Wellock 43 yard field goal 10–21 Akron
3rd Quarter
3:49 EMU – Chinedu Okoro 1 yard run (Andrew Wellock kick) 17–21 Akron
4th Quarter
5:14 Akron – Jason Swiger 23 yard field goal 17–24 Akron
Navy
With their win over EMU, the Midshipmen won consecutive home games for the first time since 1997. EMU's offense committed six turnovers, including four interceptions thrown by Chinedu Okoro, about which head coach Jeff Woodruff commented, "You can’t beat a high school team giving up five turnovers...Mathematically, you are out of the game with that. That was frustrating because the defense was playing well."
Scoring summary
1st Quarter
1:12 Navy – Eric Roberts 15 yard pass from Craig Candeto (Amir Jenkins pass from Craig Candeto) 0–8 Navy