Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Temple
Football Drops Offensive Shootout at Temple, 55-52
11/22/2008 4:00:00 PM | Football, E-Gridiron Group
Record-breaking passing offense not enough for Eagles in 55-52 setback
Box score.
PHILIDELPHIA, Pa. -- The Eastern Michigan University football team turned in a record-breaking passing attack, but it wasn't enough for the Eagles as they fell to Temple University, 55-52 here Saturday, Nov. 22, in a Mid-American Conference game played in Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles football squad.
Trailing by a 55-45 count, the Eagles marched downfield to score on a two-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Andy Schmitt (St. John's Mich.-St. John's) to cut the margin to three points with just 37 seconds left in the game. An EMU onside kick failed on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the host team to escape with the victory.
The loss drops EMU to 2-9 overall and 1-6 in MAC action. Temple improves to 4-7 overall and 3-4 in league play.
The loss spoiled a record-setting day for the EMU offense as Schmitt completed a school-record 50 passes, breaking the mark of 40 by Matt Bohnet (Nov. 5, 2005 vs. Western Michigan) for a record 76 attempts, shattering the mark of 62 by Walter Church (Oct. 19, 1996 at Central Michigan). For the game, Schmitt was 50-of-76 for 484 yards and three touchdowns.
Additionally, Schimitt set the NCAA Single-Game Record for Most Passes Attempted Without An Interception with 76 pass attempts. Schmitt's mark shatters the previous standard held by Hawai'i's Timmy Chang versus Rice when he was 43-of-70, Sept 27, 2003.
Junior wide receiver Jacory Stone (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) caught a personal-best 18 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown while senior wide receiver Tyler Jones (Belleville, Mich.-Belleville) also turned in a record-smashing effort, hauling in 17 passes for 185 yards, both personal bests, to go along with three touchdowns.
DiMichele led the Owls, completing 21-of-37 passes for 370 yards and six touchdowns. His favorite target, Bruce Francis, caught nine passes for 125 yards and four touchdowns.
Eastern struck first, scoring on its first offensive possession of the game when the Eagles marched 57 yards on six plays with Schmitt hitting Jones for a 15-yard touchdown pass at the 13:11 mark of the first quarter. Place-kicker Joe Carithers (Dacula, Ga.-Dacula-Palmomar J.C.)added the PAT kick to make it 7-0.
Temple would get on the board on its next possession, driving 57 yards in nine plays before settling for a 34-yard field goal by Jake Brownell at the 4:55 mark of the first quarter.
EMU grabbed a 14-3 lead with 12:49 left in the second quarter when Schmitt found Stone for an 8-yard touchdown pass with Carithers adding the PAT kick.
Temple would once again cut the Eagles' lead to four, but they did it with a three-yard touchdown pass from DiMichele to wide receiver Bruce Francis with the PAT kick added by Brownell to make it 14-10 at the 9:16 mark of the second quarter. The Owls came right back to take their first lead with 6:47 left in the second quarter when DiMichele once again found Franis, this time for a 31-yard scoring toss to give Temple a 17-14 lead.
Jones came up with his second touchdown reception of the game on a seven-yard strike from Schmitt on a fourth-and-two call inside the red zone, Carithers added the PAT to put the Eagles back on top, 21-17, with just 2:41 left to play in the first half.
The Owls roared back to take a 24-21 lead into halftime intermission when DiMichele connected with Joe Jones for an eight-yard touchdown pass with Brownell adding the PAT with just 47 seconds left on the clock.
Schmitt completed 27-of-41 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, connecting with Tyler Jones nine times for 90 yards and two scores. Schmitt's counterpart, DiMichele, went 13-of-23 for 221 and three touchdeowns in the first 30 minutes.
Temple opened the second-half scoring on a 35-yard field goal by Brownell at the 10:56 mark of the third quarter for a 27-21 lead, but the Eagles came right back to cut it to three, 27-24, on a 35-yard field goal by Carithers.
The Owls bounced right back on their next possession, scoring on a four-yard touchdown pass from DiMichele to Francis with 4:34 left to go up by 10, 34-24.
The Eagles opened the fourth quarter with Schmitt bulling in from one-yard out after Eastern's Lyle Garrison (Beavercreek, Ohio-Dayton Carroll) recovered a fumbled punt on the Temple 10-yard line. That EMU score cut Temple's lead to 34-31 with 14:57 left.
Eastern could not take advantage of that score, however, as Temple turned right around and recorded a touchdown on a10-yard pass from DiMichele to who else, Francis, at the 12:39 mark, for a 10-point Owl lead. That fourth touchdown reception was a school record effort for Francis.
Both teams combined for 35 points over the final 12 minutes to set up the dramatic finish.
The Eagles will close out the 2008 season with a Friday, Nov. 28, home contest against the Chippewas of Central Michigan. Game time for that post-Thanksgiving game has been changed from 1 p.m. to noon in Rynearson Stadium.
Postgame Quotes:
Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan head coach
Overall impression of his team's performance:
I thought coming out after a 21-day layoff, which is one of the longest layoffs in college football history, that we played a little better than I thought we would offensively and on special teams. I think it was definitely evident in our tackling that we struggled.
We felt that Temple's defense was hard to run the football on, so therefore we felt like with our quarterback finally being able to practice, he hasn't been able to for six weeks, it really helped knowing he's a good player. I feel very good about what happened offensively but unfortunately we couldn't make a play on defense to actually turn the tide and get off that 10-, 3-point deficit.
