Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
0-4 , 0-1
Michigan State
3-1
Valiant Effort Comes Up Short as Spartans Top Eagles, 23-7
9/22/2012 7:04:00 PM | Football, E-Gridiron Group
Eastern Michigan falls to 0-4 in 2012 after tough defeat to in-state foe
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EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - - For more than three quarters, the Eastern Michigan University football team was in perfect position to stun Michigan State University and pull off one of the biggest upsets in Spartan Stadium history.
EMU held a 7-3 advantage heading into the locker room at the half against No. 20/21 ranked MSU Saturday, Sept. 22, here at Spartan Stadium. But in the end it was the Spartans pushing in a pair of late scores to seal the 23-7 decision.
Eastern Michigan's losing skid against the Big Ten Conference nearly came to an end, but despite the valiant effort the Eagles drop to 0-4 on the young season. Meanwhile, the Spartans improved their mark to 3-1 on the year and 9-0 all-time versus Eastern.
Getting his first career start, redshirt sophomore quarterback Tyler Benz (Park Ridge, Ill.-Maine Township South) led the Eagles offensively, going 13-for-26 for 137 yards via the air and a score. Tight end Garrett Hoskins (Grand Rapids, Mich.-Creston) was the Eagles' leading receiver on the afternoon with a career-best eight catches for 102 yards.
Javonti Greene (West Palm, Fla.-Royal Palm) led the Eagles' rushing attack with 10 carries for 31 yards while Benz added five rushes for 12 yards. Defensively, Donald Coleman (Detroit, Mich.-NC State) led EMU with 19 stops.
For Michigan State, Le'Veon Bell carried the ball 36 times for 253 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Andrew Maxwell ran the ball two times for 10 yards while going 16-for-26 for 159 yards via the air.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Michigan State opened the scoring almost five minutes into the second quarter, as Spartans' kicker Dan Conroy converted on a 36-yard field goal to cap off a 12 play, 74 yard drive.
A Michigan State fumble forced by Marcell Rose (Orlando, Fla.-Cypress Creek) and recovered by Justin Cudworth (Monte Nido, Calif.-Agoura-College of the Canyons) set up the first touchdown of the game late in the second quarter for the Eagles.
With 4:04 remaining in the second quarter, Benz needed just one play to go 23 yards, completing his first career touchdown pass to a leaping Donald Scott (Apopka, Fla.-Apopka). Freshman place-kicker Dylan Mulder (Saline, Mich.-Saline) tacked on the extra point to give the Eagles a 7-3 advantage, which they took into the lockerroom at the intermission.
Michigan State promptly sliced into that 7-3 halftime deficit he deficit with a 44-yard field goal on its first possession of the second half.
After another stalled drive, the Spartans would again have to settle for a 35-yard field goal from Conroy with 1:11 left in the third quarter. With the kick, MSU regained the lead at 9-7.
The Eagles defense played strong in the first half against the Spartans, as EMU held MSU to only 151 total yards of offense, 117 of which were picked up by Bell on the ground.
Following the two second-half MSU field goals, the Spartans converted two fourth quarter touchdowns to put the game out of reach.
Eastern Michigan has a bye week before turning to action Saturday, Oct. 6, against Kent State University. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Rynearson Stadium. The contest is slated as EMU's 85th Annual Homecoming contest with more than 60 events scheduled throughout the week. To purchase tickets, visit EMUEagles.com or call 734. 487.2282.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Ron English Postgame Quotes
On the EMU defense playing well and "hanging tough" throughout the game...
"We did a lot of good things. We're fighting the same thing. We give up two drives where the guy doesn't cover the tight end; two separate guys don't do what they're coached to do. I thought the guys played hard. But, you know...we give up points on two drives because we don't cover the pass."
On EMU quarterback Tyler Benz' first start...
"I like him. I liked him out there. I don't know numbers yet; I haven't even looked at them. But I liked his poise against a hell of a defense...I mean, he was 13-of-26 for 137, no picks. And I'll take that all day long, and a touchdown. He should have had two; we dropped the ball. So, I really liked his poise and I like his demeanor."
On his defense playing well and not giving up a touchdown until the 4th quarter...
"I think we've been improving defensively every week. I think we've been on the field a lot and have been put in some bad situations. In fact, the best thing we did last week was play sudden change defense on a short field.
"But the issue is, at the end of the game, we're not finishing, so that's the frustrating part. I thought the guys did a nice job of trying to tackle Bell - you know he's a load - but we'd just like to finish better. For the most part, I thought the defensive staff had a good game plan and that the guys did a good job executing that."
On moving into Mid-American Conference play...
"Well I think that we had said all along that we addressed our issues and they were internal, and so we saw these stretch of games as preparing for league play. Now we play an outstanding Kent State team in a couple weeks here so we know that our backs are up against the wall. We already have a conference loss, so we expect these guys to really prepare and give ourselves a chance."
Michigan State Head Coach Mark Dantonio Postgame Quotes
Opening statement...
"I thought Dion Sims played well and defensively I thought we played well throughout the game. We need to play more consistently. Players make plays, plays don't make players. We need to be more consistent in what we are doing and play better. That's the message we delivered at halftime and I thought we played better in the second half. We need to bring our emotion every day, and it wasn't there in the first half. We picked it up in the second half and played better, but credit Eastern Michigan in what they were doing. They had a lot of guys up in the box doing different things and they played effectively."
Team Stats
EMU 0, MSU 3
MSU - Conroy, Dan 35 yd field goal 12 plays, 74 yards, TOP 5:38
EMU 7, MSU 3
EMU - SCOTT, Donald 23 yd pass from BENZ, Tyler (MULDER, Dylan kick) 1 plays, 23 yards, TOP 0:06
EMU 7, MSU 6
MSU - Conroy, Dan 44 yd field goal 7 plays, 35 yards, TOP 3:44
EMU 7, MSU 9
MSU - Conroy, Dan 35 yd field goal 7 plays, 38 yards, TOP 3:14
EMU 7, MSU 16
MSU - Sims, Dion 10 yd pass from Maxwell, Andrew (Conroy, Dan kick) 12 plays, 89 yards, TOP 5:28
EMU 7, MSU 23
MSU - Bell, Le'Veon 1 yd run (Conroy, Dan kick), 6 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:49
