Eastern Michigan Athletics
Saturday, September 10
Columbia, Mo.
6:30 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
1-1
21
at
61
Missouri
1-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Eastern Michigan
0
7
14
0
21
Missouri
14
19
14
14
61
Photo by: Tim Spyers
Eagles Fall on the Road to Missouri
9/10/2016 11:35:00 PM | Football
EMU totaled 428 yards on the night
Photo Gallery.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team battled until the end, but ultimately fell on the road to the University of Missouri, 61-21, Saturday night, Sept. 10 at Faurot Field.
Offensively, the Eagles had an efficient day, totaling 428 yards, including 287 in the air and 141 on the ground.
Junior Todd Porter (O'Fallon, Ill.-O'Fallon (Western Kentucky-Garden City C.C.)) led the offense with a career-high 287 yards passing with one touchdown. He also added 46 more yards on the ground, including his first career rushing touchdown. Redshirt sophomore Ian Eriksen (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston) tallied his second straight 90-yard rushing effort with 90 yards on 23 carries and a score.
On the main receiving end of Porter's passes was a pair of wide outs, as juniors Sergio Bailey II (La Mesa, Calif-Olympian (Grossmont)) and Johnnie Niupalau (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo (College of San Mateo)) both had career-highs with 57 and 58 yards, respectively. Bailey II also picked up his first career touchdown reception, while totaling seven catches on the day.
Missouri started off with an efficient seven-play, 75-yard drive on their first possession that took less than two minutes off the clock. It was capped off by a 36-yard touchdown pass that gave MU the early 7-0 lead.
Two drives later, the EMU offense got moving with a couple passes from Porter to get the offense to the Mizzou 37-yard line. However, the Eagles were halted by a MU interception that took the Tigers down to the EMU 7-yard line.
With Mizzou knocking on the door, the defense turned around and forced a turnover of their own on third and goal. On a QB sneak, redshirt Ikie Calderon (Neptune, Fla.-Neptune (College of Desert)) flew in from the secondary, jarring the ball loose and sophomore Jaylen Pickett (Zephyrhills, Fla.-Zephyrhills) pounced on it to force the turnover.
With its backs up against the wall, the Missouri defense stood strong forcing an EMU punt, which the Tigers turned into six points with a 54-yard touchdown return as the clock expired in the first quarter. After one quarter, MU held a 14-0 lead.
To start the second quarter, the Eagle offense found its rhythm, starting with a huge 32-yard run from Eriksen to get EMU back into Tiger territory. On the next play, Porter found Niupalau for 21 to get down to the MU six yard line. Three plays later, Eriksen pounded it into the end zone to give EMU its first points of the night, cutting the deficit to 14-7.
After trading possessions, Missouri pieced together another 12-play 86-yard drive to extend their lead. A missed extra point put the score at 20-7 with just under 4:30 to go until halftime. The lead extended on the next drive for MU on just a single play, as the Tigers took an 87-yard screen pass to the house, pushing the score to 26-7 after another missed PAT.
The Tigers kept the pedal on the floor on their next drive, scoring their third consecutive TD with less than a minute until the half, giving them a 33-7 lead into the half.
The Eagles received the ball to begin the second half, but did not make much of their initial drive, punting the ball back to Misouri. On the return, redshirt freshman Brody Hoying (Coldwater, Ohio-Coldwater) jarred the ball loose on the tackle and senior Chris O'Risky (Poseyville, Ind.-North Posey) jumped on it near midfield, giving EMU a second chance to begin the half.
EMU made the most of the opportunity with a seven-play scoring drive, cutting into the Mizzou lead. EMU got to the MU 10-yard line with a nice 30-yard connection to redshirt junior Dan Buschman (Brighton, Mich.-Brighton). One play later, Porter found Bailey II in the corner of the end zone, where he made a diving fingertip catch for his first career EMU touchdown.
With the Missouri offense back on the field for the first time in the half, the Tigers picked up where they left off with a quick scoring strike in six plays, capped off by a 52-yard touchdown pass to put the MU lead back at 40-14. The lead extended to 47-14 on Mizzou's next drive, scoring another TD on a 13-yard pass with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Eastern responded on the ensuing drive, putting together a nine-play, 79 yard drive. Led by long passes to senior Sam Browning (Escondido, Calif.-Escondido (Palomar C.C.)) and freshman Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), Porter finished the drive off himself with his first career rushing touchdown, a four-yard scamper, cutting the MU lead to 47-21.
In Missouri's first drive of the fourth quarter, the Tigers added to their big lead with an 86-yard drive, giving them a 54-21 advantage. After trading multiple possessions, Eastern found themselves with the ball on their own goal line. Facing immense pressure up the middle, Porter tried to dump off the ball, but it was intercepted in the end zone for a Mizzou touchdown, giving them the decisive 61-21 win.
Eastern remains on the road next week, traveling to Charlotte, N.C. to battle the 49ers of Charlotte. Kickoff from Jerry Richardson Stadium is set for 6 p.m., Saturday Sept. 17.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Chris Creighton
Opening Statement:
"I congratulate Missouri. First home game, first game of coach's career here at home and he's first class. I can tell that just from talking to him before the game. They were disappointed last week, and so congratulations to Missouri. I got a hurting team in there right now because we fully believed that we could come in here and play Eastern Michigan football and come away with a victory. It didn't end up that way, for sure. Their passing attack proved to be too strong. The long balls and even just the quick game would eat up yards. They did a really nice job of that. I was really pleased with our offense. Very consistent. I think at halftime we were 7 of 12 of 3rd downs. We were mustering some yards on the ground and in the air. We had a really bad second quarter. That was two weeks in a row. It was 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. We had the punt situation, and then soon after that was the interception that was returned a long way. At halftime I told our guys that we've got to live what we're talking about and let everyone know each play and each series. Our guys fought to the end. It's difficult when you put everything into something and you believe it's going to happen. Then it's not happening. Our guys, we're a good group, we're a group that's going to stick together and weather this. We're going to learn from it, flush it, and then get better. Tough night for us, but we're undeterred in what we want to do in this season."
On preparing for Mizzou's offense:
"We had prepared for a very, very fast offense. You know, I think that Missouri just may have been a little out of sync last week. There were a lot of plays that balls were dropped or just missed and whatnot. There were a couple today that were missed, but they really connected at the same time. We were ready to keep things in front of us with the quick game. We just got run by on some of those long balls, some well placed balls and the size and speed of those receivers. We just weren't able to combat."
On Todd Porter's performance:
"I'll answer that by telling you that our offensive line really kept him clean. I think the stats had him down for one sack. Our offensive line did a good job with pass protection tonight. We'll go back and watch the film and whatnot, but he was not rattled at all. He ran our game plan, both the run game and the pass game. We're far from perfect, but we moved the ball, didn't score as many points as we would've liked, but without having watched the film, I think Todd played a pretty good game."
EMU Offensive Lineman Cole Gardner
On how his team's offensive and defensive lines approached the game:
"We have a great offensive line, so we knew coming into it that it was going to be a big game for us - a big game to show what we have. So, we just focused on the little things, and knowing that if we got our guys room to go that they would have some space and make some room and make some plays. So, that's all we thought about – just giving our guys the opportunity to make some plays. They have a great defense, so it was a good challenge for us."
On what he saw out of quarterback Todd Porter during the game:
"Just his ability to stay relaxed no matter what. They were bringing some heat and he was taking some shots, but he stayed in the pocket and stayed calm and made some throws near the end of the game that were impressive. Just knowing when I'm back there, he got hit on me once, and I'm back there the first one to apologize to him. He said, "Hey, you're good, you're good. We made the first down, don't worry about it." So, as an offensive lineman, as the guy who is taking shots for you, it shows unbelievable confidence."
On running back Ian Eriksen's performance:
"Ian is a great kid. He's got a great attitude and always comes to work every day, so you knew that once he gets that shot he was going to perform. He had a great game last week too so we knew that he would step up in that role if we needed him to and he did a great job doing that today."
EMU Punter Austin Barnes
On how he felt playing in a stadium close to home:
"I was born over in St. Louis and I've always been kind of around this area. So, it was just really cool to see, just all the fans, and I had my mom and my mom's side of the family here rooting me on."
On his punt that was returned for a touchdown:
"I definitely took the blame on that one. I left the ball out there in the middle of the field and against a good returner, that's detrimental. I've just got to work on getting that direction down, that way we can really limit their returns."
On things he believes special teams needs to work on:
"For me, I need to work on my direction and fine-tuning my craft. I try to take pride in what I do and I love being a part of Eastern Michigan and especially special teams."
COLUMBIA, Mo. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team battled until the end, but ultimately fell on the road to the University of Missouri, 61-21, Saturday night, Sept. 10 at Faurot Field.
Offensively, the Eagles had an efficient day, totaling 428 yards, including 287 in the air and 141 on the ground.
Junior Todd Porter (O'Fallon, Ill.-O'Fallon (Western Kentucky-Garden City C.C.)) led the offense with a career-high 287 yards passing with one touchdown. He also added 46 more yards on the ground, including his first career rushing touchdown. Redshirt sophomore Ian Eriksen (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston) tallied his second straight 90-yard rushing effort with 90 yards on 23 carries and a score.
On the main receiving end of Porter's passes was a pair of wide outs, as juniors Sergio Bailey II (La Mesa, Calif-Olympian (Grossmont)) and Johnnie Niupalau (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo (College of San Mateo)) both had career-highs with 57 and 58 yards, respectively. Bailey II also picked up his first career touchdown reception, while totaling seven catches on the day.
Missouri started off with an efficient seven-play, 75-yard drive on their first possession that took less than two minutes off the clock. It was capped off by a 36-yard touchdown pass that gave MU the early 7-0 lead.
Two drives later, the EMU offense got moving with a couple passes from Porter to get the offense to the Mizzou 37-yard line. However, the Eagles were halted by a MU interception that took the Tigers down to the EMU 7-yard line.
With Mizzou knocking on the door, the defense turned around and forced a turnover of their own on third and goal. On a QB sneak, redshirt Ikie Calderon (Neptune, Fla.-Neptune (College of Desert)) flew in from the secondary, jarring the ball loose and sophomore Jaylen Pickett (Zephyrhills, Fla.-Zephyrhills) pounced on it to force the turnover.
With its backs up against the wall, the Missouri defense stood strong forcing an EMU punt, which the Tigers turned into six points with a 54-yard touchdown return as the clock expired in the first quarter. After one quarter, MU held a 14-0 lead.
To start the second quarter, the Eagle offense found its rhythm, starting with a huge 32-yard run from Eriksen to get EMU back into Tiger territory. On the next play, Porter found Niupalau for 21 to get down to the MU six yard line. Three plays later, Eriksen pounded it into the end zone to give EMU its first points of the night, cutting the deficit to 14-7.
After trading possessions, Missouri pieced together another 12-play 86-yard drive to extend their lead. A missed extra point put the score at 20-7 with just under 4:30 to go until halftime. The lead extended on the next drive for MU on just a single play, as the Tigers took an 87-yard screen pass to the house, pushing the score to 26-7 after another missed PAT.
The Tigers kept the pedal on the floor on their next drive, scoring their third consecutive TD with less than a minute until the half, giving them a 33-7 lead into the half.
The Eagles received the ball to begin the second half, but did not make much of their initial drive, punting the ball back to Misouri. On the return, redshirt freshman Brody Hoying (Coldwater, Ohio-Coldwater) jarred the ball loose on the tackle and senior Chris O'Risky (Poseyville, Ind.-North Posey) jumped on it near midfield, giving EMU a second chance to begin the half.
EMU made the most of the opportunity with a seven-play scoring drive, cutting into the Mizzou lead. EMU got to the MU 10-yard line with a nice 30-yard connection to redshirt junior Dan Buschman (Brighton, Mich.-Brighton). One play later, Porter found Bailey II in the corner of the end zone, where he made a diving fingertip catch for his first career EMU touchdown.
With the Missouri offense back on the field for the first time in the half, the Tigers picked up where they left off with a quick scoring strike in six plays, capped off by a 52-yard touchdown pass to put the MU lead back at 40-14. The lead extended to 47-14 on Mizzou's next drive, scoring another TD on a 13-yard pass with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Eastern responded on the ensuing drive, putting together a nine-play, 79 yard drive. Led by long passes to senior Sam Browning (Escondido, Calif.-Escondido (Palomar C.C.)) and freshman Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), Porter finished the drive off himself with his first career rushing touchdown, a four-yard scamper, cutting the MU lead to 47-21.
In Missouri's first drive of the fourth quarter, the Tigers added to their big lead with an 86-yard drive, giving them a 54-21 advantage. After trading multiple possessions, Eastern found themselves with the ball on their own goal line. Facing immense pressure up the middle, Porter tried to dump off the ball, but it was intercepted in the end zone for a Mizzou touchdown, giving them the decisive 61-21 win.
Eastern remains on the road next week, traveling to Charlotte, N.C. to battle the 49ers of Charlotte. Kickoff from Jerry Richardson Stadium is set for 6 p.m., Saturday Sept. 17.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Chris Creighton
Opening Statement:
"I congratulate Missouri. First home game, first game of coach's career here at home and he's first class. I can tell that just from talking to him before the game. They were disappointed last week, and so congratulations to Missouri. I got a hurting team in there right now because we fully believed that we could come in here and play Eastern Michigan football and come away with a victory. It didn't end up that way, for sure. Their passing attack proved to be too strong. The long balls and even just the quick game would eat up yards. They did a really nice job of that. I was really pleased with our offense. Very consistent. I think at halftime we were 7 of 12 of 3rd downs. We were mustering some yards on the ground and in the air. We had a really bad second quarter. That was two weeks in a row. It was 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. We had the punt situation, and then soon after that was the interception that was returned a long way. At halftime I told our guys that we've got to live what we're talking about and let everyone know each play and each series. Our guys fought to the end. It's difficult when you put everything into something and you believe it's going to happen. Then it's not happening. Our guys, we're a good group, we're a group that's going to stick together and weather this. We're going to learn from it, flush it, and then get better. Tough night for us, but we're undeterred in what we want to do in this season."
On preparing for Mizzou's offense:
"We had prepared for a very, very fast offense. You know, I think that Missouri just may have been a little out of sync last week. There were a lot of plays that balls were dropped or just missed and whatnot. There were a couple today that were missed, but they really connected at the same time. We were ready to keep things in front of us with the quick game. We just got run by on some of those long balls, some well placed balls and the size and speed of those receivers. We just weren't able to combat."
On Todd Porter's performance:
"I'll answer that by telling you that our offensive line really kept him clean. I think the stats had him down for one sack. Our offensive line did a good job with pass protection tonight. We'll go back and watch the film and whatnot, but he was not rattled at all. He ran our game plan, both the run game and the pass game. We're far from perfect, but we moved the ball, didn't score as many points as we would've liked, but without having watched the film, I think Todd played a pretty good game."
EMU Offensive Lineman Cole Gardner
On how his team's offensive and defensive lines approached the game:
"We have a great offensive line, so we knew coming into it that it was going to be a big game for us - a big game to show what we have. So, we just focused on the little things, and knowing that if we got our guys room to go that they would have some space and make some room and make some plays. So, that's all we thought about – just giving our guys the opportunity to make some plays. They have a great defense, so it was a good challenge for us."
On what he saw out of quarterback Todd Porter during the game:
"Just his ability to stay relaxed no matter what. They were bringing some heat and he was taking some shots, but he stayed in the pocket and stayed calm and made some throws near the end of the game that were impressive. Just knowing when I'm back there, he got hit on me once, and I'm back there the first one to apologize to him. He said, "Hey, you're good, you're good. We made the first down, don't worry about it." So, as an offensive lineman, as the guy who is taking shots for you, it shows unbelievable confidence."
On running back Ian Eriksen's performance:
"Ian is a great kid. He's got a great attitude and always comes to work every day, so you knew that once he gets that shot he was going to perform. He had a great game last week too so we knew that he would step up in that role if we needed him to and he did a great job doing that today."
EMU Punter Austin Barnes
On how he felt playing in a stadium close to home:
"I was born over in St. Louis and I've always been kind of around this area. So, it was just really cool to see, just all the fans, and I had my mom and my mom's side of the family here rooting me on."
On his punt that was returned for a touchdown:
"I definitely took the blame on that one. I left the ball out there in the middle of the field and against a good returner, that's detrimental. I've just got to work on getting that direction down, that way we can really limit their returns."
On things he believes special teams needs to work on:
"For me, I need to work on my direction and fine-tuning my craft. I try to take pride in what I do and I love being a part of Eastern Michigan and especially special teams."
Team Stats
EMU
MU
Total Yards
428
647
Pass Yards
287
477
Rushing Yards
141
170
Penalty Yards
61
75
1st Downs
21
30
3rd Downs
11
9
4th Downs
0
1
TOP
38:44
21:16
1st Quarter
EMU 0, MU 7
MU - Hall, Emanuel 36 yd pass from Lock, Drew (Adams, Turner kick) 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:31
EMU 0, MU 14
MU - Johnson, J 54 yd punt return (Adams, Turner kick)
2nd Quarter
EMU 7, MU 14
EMU - ERIKSEN, Ian 1 yd run (FRICANO, Paul kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:09
EMU 7, MU 20
MU - Witter, Ish 1 yd run (Adams, Turner kickfailed), 12 plays, 86 yards, TOP 2:40
EMU 7, MU 26
MU - Johnson, J 87 yd pass from Lock, Drew (McCann, Tucker kickfailed) 1 plays, 87 yards, TOP 0:15
EMU 7, MU 33
MU - Reese, Jason 19 yd pass from Lock, Drew (McCann, Tucker kick) 3 plays, 82 yards, TOP 0:21
3rd Quarter
EMU 14, MU 33
EMU - BAILEY, Sergio 5 yd pass from PORTER, Todd (FRICANO, Paul kick) 7 plays, 45 yards, TOP 3:03
EMU 14, MU 40
MU - Wingo, Ray 52 yd pass from Lock, Drew (McCann, Tucker kick) 6 plays, 78 yards, TOP 1:33
EMU 14, MU 47
MU - Blanton, K 13 yd pass from Lock, Drew (McCann, Tucker kick) 7 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:36
EMU 21, MU 47
EMU - PORTER, Todd 4 yd run (FRICANO, Paul kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:43
4th Quarter
EMU 21, MU 54
MU - Crockett, D 26 yd run (McCann, Tucker kick), 14 plays, 86 yards, TOP 3:25
EMU 21, MU 61
MU - Burkett, Joey 1 yd interception (McCann, Tucker kick)
Game Leaders
CMP
23
TD
1
YDS
287
INT
2
Players Mentioned
WR
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P
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TE
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TE
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RB
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OL
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DB
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DL
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WR
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LS
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LB
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WR
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