By Justin Souva For AnnArbor.com

MOUNT PLEASANT - The Eastern Michigan football team fell behind Central Michigan quickly on Saturday and wasn't able to recover in a 56-8 Mid-American Conference loss at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Slow starts and poor defense have been the norm this season for Eastern (0-5, 0-2) and first-year coach Ron English. His team allows 36 points per game and has been outscored 51-3 in first quarters.

“I think what they learned today is you have to make plays, and you have to execute in all phases,” said English, who said he thinks Central is good enough to be a nationally ranked team. “We did not do that well enough to win.”

Quarterback Dan LeFevour led Central (5-1, 3-0) to scoring drives on its first three possessions. He accounted for six touchdowns (three passing, three rushing), which tied a career high, and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. He finished with 362 total yards of offense, and the team had 521.

“If you don’t get enough heat on him, he’s going to stand around (the pocket) and find guys,” said English about LeFevour, who wasn’t sacked. “And when you do pressure, you have to cover people. He’s a very good football player.”

Central coach Butch Jones said getting off to a hot start was important - especially to keep the homecoming crowd of 26,730 into the game - but he said he didn’t think it was as “quick and easy” as it seemed.

Eastern had won four out of the five previous meetings, but that was out of the question early. It was down 49-0 before Corey Welch had the team’s lone touchdown on a 1-yard run with 11:25 remaining. Quarterback Alex Gillett, who shared playing time with Kyle McMahon, rushed for a 2-point conversion.

Gillett and McMahon combined to go 17-of-32 passing for 127 yards and no touchdowns. English didn’t say who will start next week’s home game against Kent State.

He said a positive was getting underclassmen playing time. Welch, who is usually the second- or third-string tailback behind Dwayne Priest and Terrence Blevins, had 12 carries for 81 yards.

Antonio Brown scored on a 75-yard punt return and a 70-yard pass reception. He had four receptions for 110 yards and three carries for 25 yards. Bryan Schroeder and Kito Poblah each had touchdown receptions, and Carl Volny had a rushing touchdown.

“We really just need to get better in practice, just pay attention to the little things and the details,” Eastern Michigan defensive tackle Brandon Downs said. “Everybody consistently doing what they’re assigned to do every play.”