Football Makes the Short Trip to Michigan State

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University football team makes the short 70 mile trip to East Lansing, Mich. Saturday, Sept. 22, for a non-conference affair against Michigan State University. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
The Eagles are 0-3 (0-1 Mid-American Conference) following a 54-16 loss on the road to Purdue University, Sept. 15. Meanwhile, the nationally-ranked Spartans (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) are looking to rebound following a 20-3 setback at home to No. 20 Notre Dame.
The contest will be televised by the Big Ten Network with Matt Devlin providing the play-by-play, Glen Mason serving as the analyst and Rebecca Haarlow roaming the sidelines. WEMU (89.1 FM) will provide audio coverage of the game with Chad Bush and Herman Moore calling the action on the field.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE SPARTANS: Michigan State and Eastern Michigan will be meeting for the ninth time in the series which started in 1898 with the Spartans recording a 24-6 victory in that opener.
The last time the two teams met was Sept. 6, 2008, when MSU posted a 42-10 win at Spartan Stadium. In that game, quarterback Andy Schmitt led the Eagles offensively, going 11-for-23 for 111 yards via the air and tailback Terrence Blevins led the Eagles' rushing attack with nine carries for 54 yards.

SECOND STRAIGHT BIG TEN CONTEST: Saturday's EMU-MSU game is the second straight Big Ten Conference matchup for the Eagles. Last weekend, Sept. 15, the Eagles lost at Purdue, 54-16.

NO STRANGER TO EAST LANSING: While it is just his first trip into Spartan Stadium as a head coach, EMU's Ron English has made the short trip before. English was a perfect 5-0 against Michigan State while an assistant coach at Michigan (2003-07). During that span, the Wolverines posted a 27-20 victory in 2003 at Spartan Stadium, a thrilling 45-37 three-overtime win in 2004 inside Michigan Stadium, a 34-31 overtime triumph in 2005 at MSU, a 31-13 decision in 2006 back at the “Big House” and a 28-24 win in 2007 in East Lansing.
Additionally, EMU assistant coaches Kurt Anderson, Tom Burpee and Mike Hart were also players, coaches or both at U-M. Anderson, a 2001 U-M graduate, earned two letters for the Wolverines from 2000-01 and was a member of their coaching staff as a graduate assistant from 2006-07. Burpee completed his undergraduate degree at Michigan in 2005 and was both a student assistant and graduate assistant from 2002-07. Hart earned four varsity letters from 2004-07 while setting school records for carries (1,015) and rushing yards (5,040) in a career at Michigan.

COACH TO CURE MD: The EMU coaching staff will be wearing Coach to Cure MD patches this week at Michigan State, Sept. 22, to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. Fans are encouraged to donate online at www.CoachtoCureMD.org or donate $5 by texting CURE to 90999.Celebrating its fi fth year , the Coach to Cure MD program's goal is to raise money and awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which is the most common fatal genetic disorder among boys worldwide.

CELEBRATE THE STATE SERIES: In August 2009, EMU Athletics Director Dr. Derrick Gragg, Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis, Central Michigan Athletics Director Dave Heeke and Western Michigan Athletics Director Kathy Beauregard outlined plans for a “Celebrate the State” football series. The package features 12 games over 10 seasons (2011-2020) against EMU, CMU and WMU that includes the Spartans making one road trip each to Mount Pleasant, Ypsilanti and Kalamazoo. Michigan State will play four games each against the Chippewas, Eagles and Broncos during the 10-year period.
Eastern Michigan is scheduled to host Michigan State in either 2018 or 2020 at Rynearson Stadium. Also as part of the deal, the EMU men's basketball team hosted Tom Izzo's Spartans at the Convocation Center during the 2011-12 campaign. Meanwhile, the MSU women's basketball team plays in Ypsilanti, Nov. 15, as Head Coach Suzy Merchant returns to Ypsilanti for the first time since departing the Green and White following the 2006-07 campaign.

PUDGE GETS HIS FIRST PICK-SIX AT PURDUE: Sophomore Pudge Cotton intercepted a Caleb TerBush pass on the left sideline and scampered his way to a 28-yard return for a touchdown with 13:04 showing in the second quarter at Purdue, Sept. 15. Cotton's first career INT also marked the first pick-six by an Eagle since Michael Richardson returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown against Buffalo, Nov. 19, 2005.
Since 1967, the EMU defense has returned 29 interceptions for touchdowns.

BENZ COMES ON IN RELIEF IN WEST LAFAYETTE: Redshirt sophomore quarterback Tyler Benz came off the bench against Purdue to set personal-bests in nearly every offensive category. Benz completed 5-of-14 pass attempts for 78 yards, including a 36-yard completion to freshman Dustin Creel. Benz also ran a bootleg-left for a two-yard run, the first touchdown of his career.
Previously, Benz had totaled limited snaps in a pair of contests at Michigan, Sept. 17, 2011, and at Toledo, Oct. 8, 2011.

MULDER IS ONE OF 15 TRUE FRESHMEN TO KICK: Dylan Mulder became one of just 15 true freshmen to kick in 2012. Mulder connected on a 23- yard field goal and was 1-of-2 on PATs against Purdue, Sept. 15. Other freshmen kickers include: Devon Bell (Mississippi State), Brad Craddock (Maryland), Kyle Federico (Rutgers), Daniel Grochowski (Army), Nick Jordan (Texas), Austin Lopez (San Jose State), Ross Martin (Duke), Seamus McMorrow (San Diego State), Jaden Oberkrom (TCU), Kaleb Patterson (Miami), Daniel Schwarz (Tulsa), Garrett Schwettman (Western Kentucky), Nick Sloan (Navy) and Alex Wood (USC).

HOLDING ON TO THE PIGSKIN: The consensus concerning turnovers is that they are bad when you commit them and great when you get them. Through three games, the Eagles have turned the football over nine times (six interceptions, three fumbles) while getting the ball back five times (two interceptions, three fumbles). In 2011, EMU was minus-four in turnover-ratio (EMU 16, OPP 12) but only had five miscues through its first three contests en route to a 2-1 record.

LONG WAY TO DRIVE: In the Sept. 15 contest, Purdue had three scoring drives of 90-or-more yards. The Boilermakers had touchdown drives of 99, 98 and 95 yards en route to the 38-point victory. The last team to capitalize on the EMU defense after having to go the entire length of the field was Arkansas, Oct. 31, 2009.

NEARING THE EMU RECORD FOR STARTS IN A CAREER: Senior Andrew Sorgatz is on pace to equal the Eastern Michigan record for most starts in a career. The Wheaton, Ill. native has started 38 of his 39 career games played at EMU. If he starts all 12 regular season contests this season, he will tie the mark shared by Daniel Holtzclaw and Andy Fetz with 47 starts.

BIG SECOND QUARTERS: Eastern Michigan has out-scored its opposition 38-23 in the second quarter, but has yet to score in either the first or third quarters in either of its first three games. FACING RANKED OPPONENTS: The matchup with No. 21/20 Michigan State, Sept. 22, will be the seventh time since 1992 that Eastern Michigan has played a team ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Of those six previous opponents, four were ranked in the top 10. A complete list can be found on page 10 of these notes.

EXTENDED ROAD TRIP: Eastern Michigan University football fans will have to wait three weeks before watching the Eagles play another home game. EMU played at Purdue, Sept. 15, and will be at Michigan State, Sept. 22, followed with a bye week, Sept. 29, before returning home, Oct. 6, for a Mid-American Conference cross-divisional matchup with Kent State. The Eagles' annual homecoming game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in Rynearson Stadium.

EMU AGAINST THE BIG TEN: The Eagles are still looking for their first victory over a team from the Big Ten Conference. EMU is 0-30 versus current members of the Big Ten (Indiana 0-1, Michigan 0-10, Michigan State 0-8, Northwestern 0-3, Ohio State 0-1, Penn State 0-2, Purdue 0-2, Wisconsin 0-3).

GILLETT CONTINUES TO MAKE A MOVE UPWARDS: Senior quarterback Alex Gillett has played in 36 games for the Eagles, earning 30 starts, and has made significant advancement in several EMU career categories. Gillett has rushed 474 times for 2,139 yards and 12 touchdowns and has completed 339-of-638 passes for 4,297 yards and 34 touchdowns in those 36 games. He has recorded 1,112 total offensive plays (rush and pass) for 6,436 total offensive yards.
He is currently ranked fourth all-time in total offensive yards and is just the sixth player in school history to reach 4,000 total offensive yard. His 339 career completions are good for the seventh spot while his 4,297 career passing yards is eighth in EMU history. Additionally, his 34 career touchdown passes is just one shy of Matt Bohnet for third in EMU history.

ON THE HORIZON: Following the MSU game, Eastern Michigan returns home to host Kent State University, Oct. 6, in the team's annual homecoming game. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Rynearson Stadium.
Kent State and Eastern Michigan will be meeting for the 30th time in school history. The Golden Flashes hold a 16-13 edge in the series that began in 1973 when KSU recorded a 34-20 victory in Ypsilanti, Oct. 20.
The last time EMU and KSU played was Nov. 19, 2011, when the Golden Flashes posted a 28-22 victory at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio. The setback also spoiled a strong offensive effort by running back Dominique Sherrer who gained 136 yards on 24 carries. Eagles' quarterback Alex Gillett completed 8-of-16 passes for 74 yards. Kent was led by quarterback Spencer Keith who completed 11-of-25 passes for 173 yards and one touchdown.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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