Eastern chooses Big House over Swamp

In any other year, you might be tempted to ask for an explanation.

Why, exactly, would Eastern Michigan want to jog down Washtenaw Ave. and play with the Wolverines? This year, the answer comes easily.

Eastern could win.

Actually, the Eagles' chances are slim. They don't run the option.

In all seriousness, Eastern's situation is one paralleled by many smaller-scale Division I schools. In order to get their schools' names out, coaches like the Eagles' Rick Rasnick know that they have to play some big-name competition. The frequent r

WARREN ZINN/Daily Last week, Walter Cross ran for 104 yards against Syracuse in the fourth quarter.

esult, however, is so lopsided that the negative exposure outdoes the positive.

Last year, another Mid-American Conference school, Central Michigan, traveled down to Gainesville to play Florida. The goal was to hopefully hang around in the contest for a while and gain a little publicity at the same time.

Central lost huge. Like, 82-6 huge.

"It can impact your team for a couple of weeks when you go down there," Rasnick said. "Florida scored, I don't know, 75 or 85 points last year on Central.

"There's no way to make that a positive."

So with that in mind, why would Eastern schedule the Wolverines?

"Primarily the money," Rasnick said.

Games like this Saturday's are a financial windfall for smaller schools such as Eastern. Big-name schools, like Michigan, use the dates as early-season tune-ups, not to mention the chance to schedule an extra home game before the start of the conference season.

It just so happens that Eastern, like Central last year, was originally scheduled to travel down south to play the Gators this week. But when Rasnick was given the chance to drop the meeting with Florida in exchange for the Wolverines, he jumped at the chance.

A game in Ann Arbor not only offered more money, it also allowed the Eagles to prepare as they would for any other home game. Playing in Gainesville would've meant days on the road - with a smaller practice squad to boot.

"That was the reason I made the choice to play Michigan and not Florida - was to play here, close," Rasnick said. "We don't have to travel. We'll work out here, we'll stay in a hotel on Friday night, and we're going to take the whole football team out there and suit them up on Saturday - which is unique for us in an away game."

And now, of course, with Michigan struggling in the early part of the season, the jokes - usually reserved for basketball season - have begun anew. Maybe, just maybe, people are saying, the Eagles picked the right year to put Michigan on their schedule.

But Rasnick isn't buying it.

He said he'd much rather be facing a Michigan team looking forward to an easy week after a pair of impressive wins to start the season. Instead, he gets an angry group, ready to bounce back after a pair of disappointing losses.

But then again ...

"They are Michigan," Rasnick admits, "but I do know that their confidence is shaken a little bit."

Whatever the case, the Eagles will definitely achieve two of their big-game goals this weekend. They'll make a fair amount money, in the first place, and they'll certainly get some exposure as well.

"There's definitely gonna be publicity," Rasnick said. "What the publicity turns out to be, we'll find out. Anytime you play Michigan, the whole country's gonna know about it."

09-17-98