Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
0-7 , 0-4
Ball State
1-7 , 1-3
Football Drops a Hard-Luck Game to Ball State
10/24/2009 4:45:00 PM | Football, E-Gridiron Group
Cardinals come back from early deficit to record its first win of the year
Box score.
Click Here to Watch the EMU Postgame Press Conference.
Click Here to Watch the BSU Postgame Press Conference.
Click Here to Re-Watch the Game on Eagle All-Access.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University football team could not hold on to an early lead and fell, 29-27, to a visiting Ball State University team here Saturday, Oct. 24, in a Mid-American Conference West Division game played in Rynearson Stadium.
Eastern jumped out to a 27-13 lead heading into the third quarter, but the visitors fought back with 16 points in the second half to record its first win of the year against seven losses. The Eagles fall to 0-7 overall and 0-4 in MAC action.
The Cardinals used a big-play offense, with two running backs rushing for more than 200 yards each, led by MiQuale Lewis who rushed for 301 yards on 26 carries and Cory Sykes rushing for 201 yards on 23 carries. Ball State rushed 57 times for 463 yards while completing just 2-of-10 passes for one yard.
Senior Dwayne Priest (Roanoke, Va.-Fleming-Fork Union) led the Eagles with 84 yards on 18 rushes.
EMU's Johnny Sears (Fresno, Calif.-Edison) returned the game's opening kickoff 53 yards to give the Eagles great field position at the Ball State 45-yard line.
The home team made the most of that first possession, capping an 11-play, 45-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyle McMahon (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Pontiac Notre Dame Prep) to tight end Ben Thayer (Kalamazoo, Mich.-Hackett Catholic Central) at the 9:08 mark. Carithers added the PAT kick for EMU's first lead of the season.
Ball State came right back to score on a 51-yard run by Cory Sykes, but the PAT onkick by Steven Schott was blocked by defensive lineman Ryan Leonard (Carrollton, Texas-Hebron) to make it 7-6 in favor of the Eagles.
Eastern then took advantage of a big defensive hit by Martavius Cardwell (Flint, Mich.-Carman Ainsworth) on Ball State's Tanner Justice which caused a fumble. It was recovered by EMU defensive lineman Brandon Downs (Springfield, Ohio-Kenton Ridge) at the Ball State 39-yard line.
The Eagles had to settle for a 20-yard Carithers field goal after that turnover to make it 10-6 in favor of the Eagles with 10:59 left in the second quarter.
EMU upped the lead to 17-6 with 9:23 remaining in the second quarter on a 12-yard run by Corey Welch (Akron, Ohio-Green) and a Carithers PAT. The Eagles padded that lead to 20-6 with 6:37 left in the half on a 26-yard field goal by Carithers.
Ball State managed to trim the deficit to 20-13 with 4:06 left in the first half when Lewis raced 48 yards for a score with Schott adding the PAT. That Cardinalus' touchdown completed the first-half scoring.
The Eagles opened the second-half scoring on a 10-yard touchdown run by White with Carithers adding the PAT at the 10:44 mark to give EMU a 27-13 lead. The touchdown was set up by senior safety Chris May's (Jupiter, Fla.-Dwyer) fourth interception of the season.
BSU came right back to cut the EMU lead to 27-20 on a 64-yard drive on six plays, culminating with a 6-yard run by Sykes and a Schott PAT with 6:37 left in the third.
The Cardinals then made a break of their own, blocking a Zach Johnson (Springboro, Ohio-Springboro) punt through the end zone for a safety, cutting EMU's lead to 27-22 with 5:33 left in the third.
Ball State then took its first lead of the game, 29-27, at the 1:47 mark of the third quarter when Sykes burst through the line for a 37-yard touchdown run with Schott adding the PAT. The Cardinals made that score hold up on the way to the victory.
EMU will head out of MAC play next Saturday, Oct. 31, when the Eagles travel to Fayetteville, Ark. to take on the University of Arkansas in a 6 p.m. non-conference tilt. The game will also be televised on ESPNU.
Team Stats
BSU 0, EMU 7
EMU - THAYER, Ben 3 yd pass from MCMAHON, Kyle (CARITHERS, Joe kick) 11 plays, 45 yards, TOP 5:52
BSU 6, EMU 7
BSU - SYKES, Cory 51 yd run (SCHOTT, Steven kickblocked), 1 plays, 51 yards, TOP 0:10
BSU 6, EMU 10
EMU - CARITHERS, Joe 20 yd field goal 9 plays, 35 yards, TOP 3:55
BSU 6, EMU 17
EMU - WELCH, Corey 12 yd run (CARITHERS, Joe kick), 2 plays, 59 yards, TOP 0:36
BSU 6, EMU 20
EMU - CARITHERS, Joe 26 yd field goal 6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 1:44
BSU 13, EMU 20
BSU - LEWIS, MiQuale 48 yd run (SCHOTT, Steven kick), 5 plays, 74 yards, TOP 2:26
BSU 13, EMU 27
EMU - WHITE, D. 10 yd run (CARITHERS, Joe kick), 4 plays, 29 yards, TOP 1:55
BSU 20, EMU 27
BSU - SYKES, Cory 6 yd run (SCHOTT, Steven kick), 8 plays, 93 yards, TOP 4:06
BSU 22, EMU 27
BSU - Team 14 yd safety
BSU 29, EMU 27
BSU - SYKES, Cory 37 yd run (SCHOTT, Steven kick), 6 plays, 64 yards, TOP 3:41
