A return home was just what Stan Parrish needed.

Parrish, the Ball State University football coach, hadn’t won a game since accepting the job last December. Parrish lost his first game, the GMAC Bowl, 45-13, and Ball State was 0-7 entering Saturday’s game at Eastern Michigan.

Ball State trailed for much of the game, but came back from a two-touchdown deficit and defeated Eastern Michigan, 29-27, just a few miles from where Parrish calls home.

“I still own a home in Ann Arbor, my daughter teaches in the area, and I’ve got a zillion great friends here,” Parrish said. “When I hang this up in the next couple years, (my wife) Ruth and I are coming back to Ann Arbor.”

Parrish, 63, was an assistant coach for five years at the University of Michigan, including the 1997 national championship season. He spent two of those years as the team's offensive coordinator.

Since becoming head coach at Ball State, Parish has experienced frustrations similar to those of Eastern Michigan coach Ron English, another former Michigan assistant.

At the start of Saturday, Parrish and English coached two of the nation’s six winless Division I-A football teams. Parrish said he knows what English is going through.

“I’m going through the same thing,” Parrish said. “He’s an intense, darn good football coach. We didn’t cross paths at Michigan, but I know what Lloyd (Carr) and everyone there thought about him. He’s got a lot of substance, and that’s what it takes.”

Parrish, who on Saturday won his first game as a head coach since 1986 when he was at Kansas State, said he and English have proven track records - regardless of how this season is going.

“The kids in our program don’t look at me as a loser,” Parrish said. “They associate me with winning. The kids (at Eastern Michigan) look at Ron English as a winner.”

One team had to win Entering Saturday, at least one of the nation’s six winless programs - Eastern Michigan or Ball State - had to notch that first victory. One team was going to feel a tremendous weight lifted, and the other would be left to wonder if a win could come at all this season.

As Ball State took a knee to run down the clock on its first win, the Cardinals’ sideline was jubilant.

“It felt like we won the Super Bowl,” running back MiQuale Lewis said.

The disappointment was equally as intense on the Eastern Michigan sideline.

“It was as bad as you can get,” English said. “This was as low as we’ve been this year, to be honest with you.”

Ball State preyed on Eastern Michigan's run defense Eastern Michigan allowed just 1 passing yard to Ball State, but Lewis and fellow running back Cory Sykes combined for more than 500 rushing yards for the Cardinals.

“I think what happens early is we start overrunning Lewis, he cuts the ball back, and he gets momentum,” English said. “So, I think (Ball State) did a good job.”

Ball State knew Eastern Michigan’s run defense would be vulnerable, Parrish said.

“The kids all said at halftime, ‘Coach, we can run the ball at them.’ We felt that going in,” Parrish said.

Lewis, who rushed for 301 yards, said Eastern Michigan had a “great defense,” but perhaps allowed his true feelings to slip through a few moments later.

When asked if it had been easy to burst through Eastern Michigan’s front line, Lewis said, “Yeah, we felt like,” and then paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“Well, it wasn’t easy,” he said. “They’re a Division (I-A) football team also.”

James Briggs covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734.623.2557 or jamesbriggs@annarbor.com.