Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
0-3 , 0-1
Purdue
2-1
Football Falls at Purdue, 54-16
9/15/2012 3:24:00 PM | Football, E-Gridiron Group
Late second quarter drives doom Eagles in West Lafayette.
Postgame Audio.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University football team fell to 0-3 on the season following a 54-16 defeat Saturday, Sept. 15, against Purdue University at Ross-Ade Stadium.
After struggling in the first two games of the season, the Eagles running game was effective, gaining 169 yards and accounting for touchdown. Senior tailback Dominique Sheerer led EMU with 73 yards on 12 carries. The offense as whole managed 313 yards of offense.
Senior quarterback Alex Gillett finished the game 9-of-15 passing for 66 yards to go along with the three interceptions. The Green Springs, Ohio native continued to move up the EMU career starts list and is now tied with tied Andy Schmidt with 30th career starts for the Green and Whites.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Benz turned in the best outing of is career, going 5-of-14 passing for a total of 78 yards. He also ran for his first career touchdown late in the contest.
Meanwhile, freshman wide receiver Dustin Creel had the best day of his young career with three catches for 49 yards. Senior punter Jay Karutz had a exceptional day, as he averaged 43.9 yards per punt, with three downed inside the 20.
For Purdue, Caleb TerBush passed for 158 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another Akeem Hunt rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown to go along with a 50-yard touchdown on his only catch. Meanwhile, Brandon Cottom ran for 95 yards and Antavian Edison caught five passes for 78 yards for the Boilermakers (2-1), who were coming off a last-minute 20-17 loss to Notre Dame.
The Boilermakers gained 576 total yards and ran 42 times for 392 yards.
Purdue took advantage of Eastern Michigan miscues as Purdue built an early 13-0 lead over the Eagles in the first quarter. The Boilermakers first touchdown drive began following an Alex Gillett interception, and extended the lead following a blocked EMU punt.
Eastern Michigan answered when Pudge Cotton picked off a TerBush pass and ran it back 28 yards for the Eagles first points of the game. A failed PAT kept the score at 14-6.
The interception was the first of Cotton's career, and it marked the first pick-six by an Eagle since Michael Richardson returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown against Buffalo, Nov. 19, 2005.
Eastern Michigan forced a second straight turnover when Kalonji Kashama forced a Purdue fumble at the Boilermaker 32 which was recovered by Cotton.
After stalling in the red zone, freshman place-kicker Dylan Mulder hit a 23 yard field goal to cut the EMU deficit to 13-9.
Purdue answered with 20 unanswered points in the final 5:23 of the second quarter. The Boilermakers turned in touchdowns on drives of 99 yards, 95 yards, and 33 yards respectively.
Following two second half touchdown runs by Purdue, Benz ran a bootleg-left in from two yards out for the first touchdown of his career.
Purdue tacked on their sixth rushing touchdown with 1:47 remaining to close out the scoring on the day.
EMU will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 22, as the Eagles travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State at Spartan Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on the Big Ten Network and heard on WEMU (89.1 FM).
Team Stats
EMU 0, PUR 7
PUR - Shavers, Akeem 40 yd run (McCartney, Sam kick), 7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:25
EMU 0, PUR 13
PUR - Edison, A. 18 yd pass from TerBush, Caleb (McCartney, Sam kickfailed) 5 plays, 29 yards, TOP 1:35
EMU 6, PUR 13
EMU - COTTON, Pudge 28 yd interception (MULDER, Dylan kickfailed)
EMU 9, PUR 13
EMU - MULDER, Dylan 23 yd field goal 6 plays, 26 yards, TOP 2:53
EMU 9, PUR 20
PUR - Hunt, Akeem 50 yd pass from TerBush, Caleb (McCartney, Sam kick) 10 plays, 99 yards, TOP 3:58
EMU 9, PUR 27
PUR - Cottom, Brandon 87 yd run (McCartney, Sam kick), 3 plays, 95 yards, TOP 0:44
EMU 9, PUR 33
PUR - TerBush, Caleb 2 yd run (McCartney, Sam kickfailed), 6 plays, 33 yards, TOP 1:31
EMU 9, PUR 40
PUR - Hunt, Akeem 56 yd run (Griggs, Paul kick), 4 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:34
EMU 9, PUR 47
PUR - Mostert, Raheem 15 yd run (Griggs, Paul kick), 7 plays, 98 yards, TOP 1:41
EMU 16, PUR 47
EMU - BENZ, Tyler 2 yd run (MULDER, Dylan kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:33
EMU 16, PUR 54
PUR - Anthrop Danny 4 yd run (Griggs, Paul kick), 12 plays, 74 yards, TOP 6:53
