Football Renews Rivalry with Western Michigan Saturday

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- After back-to-back road contests, the Eastern Michigan University football team returns to the friendly confines of Rynearson Stadium Saturday, Nov. 9, to kickoff rivalry week against Western Michigan University. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Eagles enter the Mid-American Conference West Division contest with a 1-8 (0-5 MAC) record following a 55-16 road setback to the University of Toledo at the Glass Bowl, Nov. 2. Meanwhile, the Broncos are 1-8 (1-4 MAC) after upending the University of Massachusetts , 31-30, at Gillette Stadium, Oct. 26.
ESPN3 will broadcast the game with Dan Gutowsky providing the play-by-play and Rocky Boiman serving as the analyst. The contest will once again hit the airwaves of WEMU (89.1 FM) with Matt Shepard and Rob Rubick calling the action on the field.

BATTLE FOR THE MICHIGAN MAC TROPHY: Saturday begins the Eagles' chase for the Michigan MAC Trophy, which is given to the Michigan MAC university that defeats the other two schools in the same sport in the same regular season. In the event that no school defeats its other two rivals during the regular season, the Michigan MAC Trophy will remain with the winning school until one of the other rivals claims the title.
Created in 2005 by the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, EMU currently holds the football trophy and Western Michigan has the basketball version.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE BRONCOS: Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan will be meeting for the 49th time in school history. The Broncos hold a 29-17-2 edge in the series which began in 1906 when EMU recorded a 14-5 victory in Kalamazoo, Nov. 17.
Eastern Michigan has defeated WMU in back-to-back seasons for the first time since rattling off three straight wins in the series from 1989-1991.
Last year, Dylan Mulder connected on a career-high three field goals and Alex Gillett racked up 142 total yards of offense en route to a 29-23 victory at Waldo Stadium, Nov. 17. Despite losing the offensive yardage battle, 443-369, the EMU defense battled all afternoon to force three WMU field goals and two turnovers in Eastern territory.
With EMU, CMU and WMU all going 1-1 against each other last season, Eastern was able to retain the Michigan MAC trophy after claiming the honor during the 2011 season.

FOUR PLUS THREE EQUALS SEVEN: Playing in front of his hometown fans, "true" freshman Brogan Roback found a favorite target in the Eagles' setback to Toledo, Nov. 2. The Maumee, Ohio native connected with sophomore wideout Dustin Creel six times for 115 yards throughout the game, including a 16-yard touchdown pass-and-catch in the back corner of the end zone late in the first half. The numbers were career highs for Creel, and Roback threw for a collegiate-best 209 yards, finding paydirt on two occasions.

CREEL'S CAREER HIGHS: In just his second season donning the Green and White, wide receiver Dustin Creel has made an impact on the Eastern Michigan offense. Against the Rockets of Toledo, Nov. 2, the sophomore tallied career-highs with six catches for 115 yards receiving. Creel's 100+ yard receiving game at Toledo was the first time a receiver went over the century mark in yards since Garrett Hoskins hauled in 158 receiving yards against Army, Oct. 20, 2012.
With 34 receptions for 455 yards through nine games, Creel is second on the team in both categories while leading the Eagles' receiving corps with four touchdowns.

ROBACK RETURNS: After playing high school football in Toledo in his prep days, EMU quarterback Brogan Roback returned to the Glass City, Nov. 2, as the Eagles fell to the Rockets in a MAC West showdown. The EMU freshman came on in relief of Tyler Benz in the first quarter, and played the rest of the contest, completing a career-high 11 passes for a personal-best 209 yards, including two touchdowns. Along with connecting with Dustin Creel six times for 115 yards, Roback tossed a career-long 45-yard pass to Jay Jones in the third quarter.

FIRST CAREER START FOR BRUMFIELD: Junior tailback Ryan Brumfield started his first collegiate game against Toledo, Nov. 2. The Chester Springs, Pa. native led the EMU ground attack with 67 yards on 17 carries, enough for 3.9 yards per rush. Brumfield also found the end zone on the receiving end of a three-yard touchdown pass from freshman Brogan Roback, his fifth score of the year.

LAST TIME WE MET IN YPSI: In the team's last meeting at Rynearson Stadium, EMU combined a tenacious defense with some timely offense to record a 14-10 win over WMU, Oct. 22, 2011. Eastern, trailing by a 10-7 count with under 11 minutes left, grabbed the lead on a 50-yard dash to paydirt by Javonti Greene. Kody Fulkerson added the PAT for a 14-10 EMU lead with just 7:46 left. The Eagles defense then came up with some magic of its own, stuffing a fourth-and-goal WMU attempt on the EMU one-yard line to regain possession of the ball with just 4:56 left in the fourth quarter. The offense would keep the ball the rest of the way to preserve the victory.

BYE WEEK ON THE HORIZON: The Eagles will have a bye week before returning to the gridiron at home against Bowling Green State University, Nov. 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Rynearson Stadium. Prior to the contest, the Eagles will honor its 15-member senior class that includes: Kenyarda Bates (Detroit, Mich.-Martin Luther King), Tim Brown (Wai'anae, Oahu, Hawai'i-Kapolei), Donald Coleman (Detroit, Mich.-Orchard Lake St. Mary's-North Carolina State), Joe Fleming (Southfield, Mich.-Lathrup), Kody Fulkerson (Zanesville, Ohio-Maysville), Ja'Ron Gillespie (Washington, D.C.-Friendship Collegiate Academy), Javonti Greene (West Palm, Fla.-Royal Palm), Kalonji Kashama (Brampton, Ontario, Canada-Brampton), Sean Kurtz (Anaheim, Calif.-Canyon), Cy Maughmer (Glendale, Ariz.-Apache Junction-Glendale C.C.), Orlando McCord (Detroit, Mich.-Martin Luther King), Matt Price (Saline, Mich.-Saline), Donald Scott (Apopka, Fla.-Apopka), Shawn Sinawe (Ann Arbor, Mich.-Pioneer) and Mycal Swaim (Chico, Calif.-Pleasant Valley-Butte C.C.).

MULDER FINDING HIS GROOVE: Following a rough start of the season where he only converted one-of-five field goal attempts, sophomore Dylan Mulder seems to have found a groove. The EMU kicker has made his last four field goal tries, including a season-long 41-yarder at Toledo, Nov. 2.

ALLEN RETURNING TO THE TOP OF EMU HISTORY: After setting an EMU single season record in kickoff returns a year ago, junior Tyler Allen continues to move up the EMU career return charts. With 36 returns already this season, Allen now sits in second among the all-time great EMU returners with 82 total kickoff returns. Against Toledo, Nov. 2, the Lansing, Mich. native passed Corey Welch for second on the all-time list.
Allen has returned kicks for a total of 1,776 yards, which also ranks second all-time at EMU, passing Steve Clay on the all-time list against the Rockets. Trumaine Riley (2003-06) holds the EMU standard with 2,541 career return yards.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS: The offensive tandem of Tyler Benz and Bronson Hill continue to etch their names securely in the EMU record books. Since the start of the 2012 campaign, the duo has combined for 4,842 yards of total offense and 35 touchdowns.
Against Toledo, Nov. 2, Benz became the 12th EMU player to toss for 3,000 yards in a career. The Park Ridge, Ill. native is already tied for eighth place all-time with 24 touchdown passes while ranking 11th with 243 career pass completions.
Meanwhile, Hill needs 278 yards rushing to become the 11th EMU player to run for 2,000 yards in a career. The Grand Rapids, Mich. product also needs just 183 yards on the ground to reach 1,000 yards in a season. Anthony Sherrell was the last EMU running back to reach the grand total, when he rumbled for an EMU single-season record of 1,531 yards in 2003.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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