Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
1-3
Michigan State
2-1
Spartans Down Eagles in Battle of In-State Foes
9/20/2014 4:13:00 PM | Football
Michigan State used a quick start to defeat EMU, 73-14
Starting in his first game as an Eagle, quarterback Rob Bolden (Orchard Lake, Mich.-Orchard Lake St. Mary's-Penn State-LSU) threw his first touchdown pass in a Green and White uniform. The senior completed a strike down the middle of the field to Lansing, Mich. native Tyler Allen (Lansing, Mich.-Eastern) for the 43-yard touchdown reception. In front of the hometown crowd, Allen caught his first career touchdown pass and was on the receiving end of the longest play of the season for EMU at this point. Allen ended the day with two catches for 53 yards, both personal bests for the senior Eagle.
Bolden finished the day with two touchdown passes as he found Tyreese Russell (Chicago, Ill.-Walther Lutheran) from nine yards out for the senior tight end's first touchdown catch of the season and ninth of his career.
Allen led the Eagle offense in the air with 53 receiving yards, while Russell tacked on four catches for 38 receiving yards for the Green and White. Bolden capped off his first career start for the Eagles, completing 10 passes on 29 attempts and tallying 115 yards for two touchdowns.
On defense, Great Ibe (Hanover, Md.-Meade-Concordia), DaQuan Pace (Detroit, Mich.-Cass Tech), and Anthony Zappone (Westlake, Ohio-Westlake) had 10 tackles apiece, while Kevin Johnson (McKeesport, Pa.-McKeesport) added nine to the Green and White's defensive effort. At the half, Pace tied his career-high of seven tackles in a single game and added three more in the final half of play. Ibe also matched his fellow defender, while Zappone registered five tackles in the first 30 minutes of the contest. The extra five in the second half set a career high for Zappone.
Michigan State was led by Delton Williams, who carried the ball 10 times for 103 yards and three touchdowns, while Nick Hill added 58 yards on 14 carries. MSU quarterback Damion Terry completed five passes on eight attempts, while starting quarterback Connor Cook completed 5-of-6 pass attempts with two touchdown passes.
The Eagles got on the board in the third quarter as Bolden led the offense on a seven-play, 65-yard drive that took up just 2:29 on the clock. After keeping the drive alive with a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one, Bolden found Allen deep down the middle of the field for a 43-yard touchdown pass. It was the first career touchdown catch for Allen, while Bolden tossed his first touchdown pass as an Eagle.
Sophomore punter Austin Barnes (Fairview Heights, Ill.-O'Fallon) blasted a 65-yard punt later in the third quarter to down MSU at its own goal line. The career-long punt by Barnes was the first punt over 60 yards by an Eagle since Jay Karutz booted a 62-yarder on Sept. 22, 2012, also against Michigan State. To end the third quarter, Pace continued the best game of his career with his first interception donning the Green and White.
Starting the fourth quarter with great field position, Bolden noticed Russell wide open on a crossing pattern in the center of the field. The senior tight end completed the play by securing the catch and rolling into the end zone for an EMU touchdown, giving the Eagles a pair of scores in a three-minute span.
The Spartans added back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter to complete the 73-14 decision over the Green and White.
After three-straight weeks on the road, the Eagles will have a bye week before remaining away from home. EMU will begin Mid-American Conference play, Oct. 4, against the University of Akron Zips. Kickoff from Akron, Ohio is slated for 2 p.m.
Eastern Michigan at Michigan State – Game Notes – Sept. 20, 2014
- Senior Rob Bolden earned his first career start at EMU. The start was the 18th of his career after starting nine times and a freshman at Penn State and eight times as a sophomore.
- Freshman Jason Beck earned his first career start on defense. It marked just the second-time during the 2014 campaign that a "true" freshman had started a game this season.
- Redshirt sophomore Dwayne Brown came in at center in place of Jake Hurcombe midway through the first quarter. It was the first time Brown has seen action in a game after redshirting last season.
- Senior Tyler Allen's 43-yard touchdown reception from Bolden was the first TD reception of his career. The touchdown pass was the first of Bolden's EMU career and also the first by an Eagle quarterback in 2014. It was also the longest play from scrimmage the Eagles have recorded on the year.
- Sophomore punter Austin Barnes turned in an outstanding effort at Spartan Stadium against Michigan State, Sept. 20. The 5-foot-11, 218-pound Barnes racked up nine punts for 407 yards and a 45.2 yard average against the Spartans. His 407 yards via the punt are also 13th best. Barnes also boomed a career-long 65-yarder that was downed at the one-yard line.
- Sophomore DeQuan Pace notched the first interception of his career when he picked off Tyler O'Connor's pass at the MSU 12-yard line. The EMU offense would score three plays later for its first points off of a turnover this season.
- Senior tight end Tyreese Russell caught his first touchdown pass of the year early in the fourth quarter. The nine-yard strike marked the ninth time in his career he has found pay-dirt and the first since Oct. 26, 2013, at Northern Illinois.
- Bolden's two touchdown completions marked the first time since Nov. 2, 2013, that an EMU QB has tossed for a pair for scoring strikes in a single-game. Brogan Roback had two in that contest in his return to the Glass City.
- Senior offensive lineman Lincoln Hansen did not dress and missed the first game of his career. It snapped a streak of 15 consecutive starts dating back to the start of the 2013 campaign.
- The contest with the 10th time the two schools had squared off on the gridiron. The two will next meet Sept. 10, 2016, again at Spartan Stadium.
Eastern Michigan University Head Football Coach Chris Creighton Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement before taking quotes... I'd like to congratulate Michigan State. Coach Dantonio was kind enough to spend some time with me this summer, and it took about four seconds to figure out that the man is just all class. You get inspired by people who are doing it right and are successful and have a phenomenal program, and you can just tell it's first class. They [Michigan State] were awesome, and obviously I got outcoached in every way.
But I do want to say this. I believe in our guys and I'm undeterred. We will have a wall up when we come out for a homecoming game, and we'll knock it down again and run through it. I love my team, and this isn't fun, but I believe in them and I'm undeterred. We've got a lot of work to do. I've got to become a better coach, there's no question about it. I challenged them at halftime not just to win the second half, but we are not going to fold. We're not going to give in, we're not going to give up. We want to be tough. You can't be tough unless the situation presents itself in a way where it's really, really hard when you're down like that at halftime to continue to believe, to continue to fight, and our guys did. I'm proud of them for that.
On playing in a tough environment against a Big Ten team like Michigan State...
To really do something special at Eastern, it's not going to be easy, and this is as hard as it gets. I've got a lot of proud guys. The scoreboard is pretty big here. We can see it, and that's hard. For nine months I've been dreaming about winning every single game but the reality of it is that this is going to be hard. And so you have to be able to endure really, really hard times in order to achieve something special. So that's where we are undeterred. So a game like this, I'm not raising my hand and volunteering to get beat badly like that; I don't want to go through tough times. But the reality of it is, you have to go through tough times to get to where we want to be, to where it's special.
His thoughts on what's tougher to face from Michigan State - their offense or defense...
When you play a really good program, it's everything. You can tell the character in pregame warm-up. I'm serious about that. You just know when a team is disciplined and together, so I think the character comes out strong and then defensively, very, very physical and move well. And offensively, we knew we were going to get lots of power and some zone and had to be gap sound, and obviously the passing game is good. They're disciplined and first class.
His opinion of Coach Mark Dantonio after speaking with him this summer...
He is first class. I asked him "What am I in for? What do I need to do to get Eastern Michigan where they need to be?" He just was gracious with his time. He spoke to me in a place where we wouldn't be interrupted. He gave me some wise council in a cool way.
Team Stats
EMU 0, MSU 7
MSU - Cook, Connor 4 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 5 plays, 37 yards, TOP 2:15
EMU 0, MSU 14
MSU - Langford, J. 21 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 7 plays, 67 yards, TOP 2:51
EMU 0, MSU 21
MSU - Lippett, Tony 23 yd pass from Cook, Connor (Geiger, Michael kick) 1 plays, 23 yards, TOP 0:06
EMU 0, MSU 28
MSU - Lippett, Tony 8 yd pass from Cook, Connor (Geiger, Michael kick) 7 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:50
EMU 0, MSU 35
MSU - Troup, AJ 33 yd pass from O'Connor, Tyler (Geiger, Michael kick) 10 plays, 68 yards, TOP 5:48
EMU 0, MSU 42
MSU - Williams, D. 1 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 3 plays, 7 yards, TOP 1:20
EMU 0, MSU 49
MSU - Shelton, R.J. 6 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 1 plays, 6 yards, TOP 0:06
EMU 0, MSU 56
MSU - Hill, Nick 4 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 9 plays, 61 yards, TOP 5:09
EMU 7, MSU 56
EMU - ALLEN, Tyler 43 yd pass from BOLDEN, Rob (MULDER, Dylan kick) 7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:24
EMU 7, MSU 59
MSU - Geiger, Michael 30 yd field goal 6 plays, 17 yards, TOP 2:43
EMU 14, MSU 59
EMU - RUSSELL, T. 9 yd pass from BOLDEN, Rob (MULDER, Dylan kick) 3 plays, 12 yards, TOP 0:41
EMU 14, MSU 66
MSU - Williams, D. 7 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 6 plays, 29 yards, TOP 3:15
EMU 14, MSU 73
MSU - Williams, D. 80 yd run (Geiger, Michael kick), 1 plays, 80 yards, TOP 0:14
