Eastern Michigan Athletics
Saturday, September 30
Lexington, Ky.
4 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
2-2 , 0-1
20
at
24
Kentucky
4-1 , 1-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Eastern Michigan
7
7
0
6
20
Kentucky
7
7
3
7
24
Photo by: Walt Middleton Photography
EMU Falls Short of a Second Power 5 Upset at Kentucky, 24-20
9/30/2017 8:04:00 PM | Football
EMU out-gained UK, while also totaling season highs in TFLs and sacks
Game Highlights.
Postgame Audio.
Photo Gallery.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team battled hard, but ultimately fell in a 24-20 defeat to the University of Kentucky Saturday evening, Sept. 30, at Kroger Field. EMU and UK were deadlocked at 14 going into the half, but the Eagles were unable to overcome second half miscues in the four-point loss.
Eastern's (2-2, 0-1 MAC) defense carried the day for the fourth consecutive game, limiting UK's (4-1, 1-1 SEC) offense to 228 yards of total offense, including just 53 on the ground. The Eagles actually out-gained the Wildcats by a final tally of 312-228.
It was Eastern's immense defensive pressure that was the catalyst, as EMU finished with 10 tackles for loss, including five sacks, both of which were season highs. Senior Ike Spearman (Saint John, Ind.-Lake Central) led EMU with eight tackles, while junior Jeremiah Harris (Lambertville, Mich.-Bedford Senior) and sophomore Maxx Crosby (Colleyville, Texas-Colleyville Heritage) combined for two sacks each, both career-highs, while Harris also tallied a career-best 3.5 tackles for loss. One of the juniors' sacks was a strip sack on the first play from scrimmage, the fifth forced fumble of his career.
Offensively, the Eagles used the passing game to advance the ball for the most part, going for 299 through the air, including 256 from senior Brogan Roback (Maumee, Ohio-Toledo St. Johns Jesuit) to go along with a passing touchdown. The other 43 yards came from senior Jaron Johnson (Moreno Valley, Calif.-Rancho Verde (Mt. San Jacinto College)) on a trick play, a TD pass to fellow senior Johnnie Niupalau (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo (College of San Mateo)). It was the first touchdown pass by a non-QB for EMU since 2010 and the longest pass of the season for the Eagles.
Roback completed passes to eight different receivers, marking the fourth consecutive game he has completed a pass to at least eight different targets this season. Senior Sergio Bailey II (San Diego, Calif.-Olympian (Grossmont College)) was once again Roback's favorite target, as he tied his career-high with eight receptions for 80 yards a score. The third EMU touchdown came from the legs of junior Ian Eriksen (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston), his fourth of the season.
The game could not have started out any better for the Eagles, as on the first play from scrimmage, J. Harris came around the edge and striped the ball out on a sack, which was recovered by senior Dion Dawson (Cincinnati, Ohio-Western Hills (Dodge City C.C.)) to set up EMU at the Kentucky 20-yard line.
On EMU's first play on offense, Roback found Bailey II down the middle for a touchdown strike to put the Eagles up 7-0 just 15 seconds into the game. It was the quickest score for EMU since returning the opening kickoff for a TD against Ohio, Oct. 19, 2013.
Kentucky wasted no time evening the score back up on its ensuing drive, putting together an eight-play, 85-yard drive capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass to even the scoring early in the contest.
Following the offensive explosion to begin the game, both teams failed to get any offensive momentum the rest of the first quarter, with both teams not mustering much of anything on two respective drives. EMU's defense forced UK into two three and outs, highlighted by a sack from Crosby on the first one, and a vicious tackle for loss by junior Kyle Rachwal (Lapeer, Mich.-Lapeer East) on the second, to keep it a 7-7 draw after one.
On Kentucky's first drive of the second quarter, the Wildcats engineered another eight-play sequence, this time for 71 yards, to gain their first lead of the contest, 14-7, with 10:48 until the end of the half.
Facing its first deficit of the game, the Eagles used the aerial assault to quickly tie things up at 14. Roback began the drive by finding Eriksen and Johnson for gains of 26 and 14 yards, respectively, to move EMU to the UK 43. On the third play of the drive, Eastern reached into its bag of tricks as, on a screen pass to Johnson, he turned around and threw a 43-yard touchdown strike to Niupalau for the score. It was EMU's longest touchdown pass of the season.
UK came back on its next drive, looking for back-to-back scores, and looked poised to do so, getting down to EMU's 35 before being stalled. Facing a 53-yard field goal, Kentucky's kicker was accurate, but a few yards too short, keeping things knotted at 14 with 6:35 to go until the break. With good field position, Eastern advanced to midfield, but were stopped short of the 50-yard line, giving the ball back to UK after just two and a half minutes.
With one more opportunity to try and break the tie, UK was unsuccessful after gaining just five total yards in six plays, highlighted by a huge sack from junior Kwanii Figueroa (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Paramus Catholic), forcing yet another punt. The kick rolled down to EMU's four-yard line, and, with just one minute until halftime, EMU ran out the clock to keep it tied going into the half.
Coming out of the break, both teams traded possessions without much to show for it, and EMU looked poised to gain excellent field position after forcing a UK punt on their own 10-yard line, but the punt was muffed at EMU's 42, and the Wildcats recovered setting up a prime opportunity for them. They turned the EMU miscue into three points 10 plays later on a 39-yard field goal, putting Kentucky back up, 17-14, with 6:17 left in the third.
Both teams had short, unsuccessful drives that chewed the rest of the time in the quarter, keeping the score in place into the final quarter. To begin quarter number four, UK started with the ball on EMU's 24, looking to add to the lead.
As it had been all game, EMU's defense was stout, forcing the Wildcat attack back 11 yards on Crosby's second sack of the game, which resulted in an intentional grounding foul. Without gaining any of the yardage back, UK tried another long field goal, but this one was also short, setting up EMU at their own 35.
After a three-and-out, Kentucky used special teams to its advantage again, blocking a punt and taking over on EMU's 12. One play later, UK's running back found the end zone to extend the Wildcat lead to 24-14 with just under 12 minutes to play.
EMU's offense continued to sputter, going three-and-out immediately after the score. EMU's defense countered with a three-and-out of its own to get the ball back with about nine minutes to play. The Eagles found life on their third drive of the quarter, moving the ball well with long passes to Eriksen, sophomore Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), and Johnson, to move it into UK territory.
With the ball at the 25, EMU went for three deep shots toward the end zone. The first two fell incomplete, while the third landed in the hands of a Kentucky defender, ending the scoring threat, and giving the Wildcats the ball at the Eagles' 10 with five and a half to go.
Deep in its own territory, Kentucky went backwards two yards as the EMU defense continued to shoot into the backfield for negative plays. Punting out of its own end zone, Eastern got a good return and set up shop at Kentucky's 40 with 4:32 left on the clock. Roback found senior Antoine Porter (San Francisco, Calif.-Mission (City College)) on the second play to advance to the 25.
A long Roback scramble, a UK penalty, and then a 13-yard pass to Bailey II placed EMU at the two. On the next play, Eriksen plunged into the end zone for his fourth rushing TD on the year. After a missed extra point, Eastern trailed 24-20 with two and a half minutes to play.
Needing a miracle, EMU attempted the onside kick, but Kentucky recovered, giving them the ball with just one EMU timeout remaining. Eastern's defense presented one more opportunity with a three-and-out on three rush attempts, giving the Eagles the ball at its own 12 with 44 seconds left. Despite a few long completions to get Eastern to the Kentucky 47, a last second heave to the end zone was picked off, sealing the 24-20 defeat.
EMU returns to conference action next Saturday, Oct. 7, when it ventures down to Glass City for a date with the University of Toledo. EMU's first road MAC game of the season is set to kickoff at noon inside the Glass Bowl.
Postgame Quotes
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Chris Creighton
Opening statement …
"Obviously, big time disappointed right now. You know, we really believe in our team and in a ton of ways, I'm just super proud of the effort. We didn't give up, you know? There's plenty of teams that break and we didn't break. You know, we sure didn't play a clean game in the second half. Probably the third quarter was really frustrating with some special teams miscues. You know, we didn't turn the ball over in the first half, but we turned it over there in the second half. And hat's off to Kentucky. We thought in the very beginning that both teams had very disappointed losses last week and the team that was going to be able to respond was going to win the football game, and they were a little better than us today. I thought our defense played phenomenal from start to finish."
On taking a knee in the last play of the half…
"Because there's risk when you do that, and we had no intentions of trying to go 80 yards in a couple seconds."
On practicing running this past week…
"Not just this week. I mean, you know, Kentucky is very good against the run and so are we. And you're right, when you emphasize something, you usually get what you emphasize, and it's smart football by both teams to say that our defense is going to start by defending the run and both are really playing well right now."
On what led to the blocked punt…
"No, it was our shield. One of their guys made a nice play doing an up-and-under. So, he's coming from the outside and then dipped underneath and made our shield redirect, and that was a great play by that kid."
On weather being a factor in the game…
"Weather was gorgeous. You guys got it good down here. No, the weather had nothing to do with any of that. The special teams and turnovers, everybody thinks that's coaches speech and what not. It's not sexy, it's not what people want to talk about, but special teams and turnovers is what wins and loses games and you know, unfortunately we weren't sharp in the second half in the special teams and it hurt us."
On looking ahead…
"The things that we talked about, I think you know, the special teams and turnovers. You know, a little bit more consistency moving the ball. It was a good defense; I don't want to take anything away. We've played some good defenses, but we are playing really good defense right now. We need to continue to do that. We need to clean up some things on special teams and find a way to score more points and I think we could be a good football team."
#4 Brogan Roback, QB
On defense giving them the opportunity on the last drive to win…
"The defense balled out. Like Coach (Chris) Creighton said, they played really well. That's something they've been doing all year. They've been bailing us out at times when we've been slow offensively, and you know, even sudden change that he hit on, they just man up and they make plays and they give us the opportunity. They gave us the opportunity there at the end to toss one up into the end zone and try to make a play out of it. Like I said, they've been doing that all year and they're a great group. We just need to offensively catch up to speed with them."
On if he's comfortable throwing as much as he did…
"I threw about 72 times in one game last year. No, it doesn't wear out. My coaches have confidence in our passing game and they try to put the game in my hands. As a competitor, you love situations like that. You want the ball in your hands. We'll get the run game figured out, it's just something we had to do. There was times at the end we had to throw the ball quite a bit because we were trying to catch up. So the numbers are going to obviously increase because we're throwing the ball that many times because we're trying to play catch up."
On if they were surprised to compete with Kentucky like they did…
"I don't think we're ever surprised. We had the intention coming in here that we were going to win. We knew we matched up very well and we could do things. I think that showed that. We have players just like they do. The thing is it's SEC, so everyone expects them to roll the MAC, but the MAC is a really good (conference). You got top guys in the NFL right now that are MAC guys. So, there's good players here. This group, we rise to challenges like this. We thrive on stuff like that. Just to be able to prove what we can do and that we do belong. So no, we weren't surprised, to answer your question, because we fully expect to be in a game and to be in a situation similar to what we were just right there to win the game."
Postgame Audio.
Photo Gallery.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team battled hard, but ultimately fell in a 24-20 defeat to the University of Kentucky Saturday evening, Sept. 30, at Kroger Field. EMU and UK were deadlocked at 14 going into the half, but the Eagles were unable to overcome second half miscues in the four-point loss.
Eastern's (2-2, 0-1 MAC) defense carried the day for the fourth consecutive game, limiting UK's (4-1, 1-1 SEC) offense to 228 yards of total offense, including just 53 on the ground. The Eagles actually out-gained the Wildcats by a final tally of 312-228.
It was Eastern's immense defensive pressure that was the catalyst, as EMU finished with 10 tackles for loss, including five sacks, both of which were season highs. Senior Ike Spearman (Saint John, Ind.-Lake Central) led EMU with eight tackles, while junior Jeremiah Harris (Lambertville, Mich.-Bedford Senior) and sophomore Maxx Crosby (Colleyville, Texas-Colleyville Heritage) combined for two sacks each, both career-highs, while Harris also tallied a career-best 3.5 tackles for loss. One of the juniors' sacks was a strip sack on the first play from scrimmage, the fifth forced fumble of his career.
Offensively, the Eagles used the passing game to advance the ball for the most part, going for 299 through the air, including 256 from senior Brogan Roback (Maumee, Ohio-Toledo St. Johns Jesuit) to go along with a passing touchdown. The other 43 yards came from senior Jaron Johnson (Moreno Valley, Calif.-Rancho Verde (Mt. San Jacinto College)) on a trick play, a TD pass to fellow senior Johnnie Niupalau (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo (College of San Mateo)). It was the first touchdown pass by a non-QB for EMU since 2010 and the longest pass of the season for the Eagles.
Roback completed passes to eight different receivers, marking the fourth consecutive game he has completed a pass to at least eight different targets this season. Senior Sergio Bailey II (San Diego, Calif.-Olympian (Grossmont College)) was once again Roback's favorite target, as he tied his career-high with eight receptions for 80 yards a score. The third EMU touchdown came from the legs of junior Ian Eriksen (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston), his fourth of the season.
The game could not have started out any better for the Eagles, as on the first play from scrimmage, J. Harris came around the edge and striped the ball out on a sack, which was recovered by senior Dion Dawson (Cincinnati, Ohio-Western Hills (Dodge City C.C.)) to set up EMU at the Kentucky 20-yard line.
On EMU's first play on offense, Roback found Bailey II down the middle for a touchdown strike to put the Eagles up 7-0 just 15 seconds into the game. It was the quickest score for EMU since returning the opening kickoff for a TD against Ohio, Oct. 19, 2013.
Kentucky wasted no time evening the score back up on its ensuing drive, putting together an eight-play, 85-yard drive capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass to even the scoring early in the contest.
Following the offensive explosion to begin the game, both teams failed to get any offensive momentum the rest of the first quarter, with both teams not mustering much of anything on two respective drives. EMU's defense forced UK into two three and outs, highlighted by a sack from Crosby on the first one, and a vicious tackle for loss by junior Kyle Rachwal (Lapeer, Mich.-Lapeer East) on the second, to keep it a 7-7 draw after one.
On Kentucky's first drive of the second quarter, the Wildcats engineered another eight-play sequence, this time for 71 yards, to gain their first lead of the contest, 14-7, with 10:48 until the end of the half.
Facing its first deficit of the game, the Eagles used the aerial assault to quickly tie things up at 14. Roback began the drive by finding Eriksen and Johnson for gains of 26 and 14 yards, respectively, to move EMU to the UK 43. On the third play of the drive, Eastern reached into its bag of tricks as, on a screen pass to Johnson, he turned around and threw a 43-yard touchdown strike to Niupalau for the score. It was EMU's longest touchdown pass of the season.
UK came back on its next drive, looking for back-to-back scores, and looked poised to do so, getting down to EMU's 35 before being stalled. Facing a 53-yard field goal, Kentucky's kicker was accurate, but a few yards too short, keeping things knotted at 14 with 6:35 to go until the break. With good field position, Eastern advanced to midfield, but were stopped short of the 50-yard line, giving the ball back to UK after just two and a half minutes.
With one more opportunity to try and break the tie, UK was unsuccessful after gaining just five total yards in six plays, highlighted by a huge sack from junior Kwanii Figueroa (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Paramus Catholic), forcing yet another punt. The kick rolled down to EMU's four-yard line, and, with just one minute until halftime, EMU ran out the clock to keep it tied going into the half.
Coming out of the break, both teams traded possessions without much to show for it, and EMU looked poised to gain excellent field position after forcing a UK punt on their own 10-yard line, but the punt was muffed at EMU's 42, and the Wildcats recovered setting up a prime opportunity for them. They turned the EMU miscue into three points 10 plays later on a 39-yard field goal, putting Kentucky back up, 17-14, with 6:17 left in the third.
Both teams had short, unsuccessful drives that chewed the rest of the time in the quarter, keeping the score in place into the final quarter. To begin quarter number four, UK started with the ball on EMU's 24, looking to add to the lead.
As it had been all game, EMU's defense was stout, forcing the Wildcat attack back 11 yards on Crosby's second sack of the game, which resulted in an intentional grounding foul. Without gaining any of the yardage back, UK tried another long field goal, but this one was also short, setting up EMU at their own 35.
After a three-and-out, Kentucky used special teams to its advantage again, blocking a punt and taking over on EMU's 12. One play later, UK's running back found the end zone to extend the Wildcat lead to 24-14 with just under 12 minutes to play.
EMU's offense continued to sputter, going three-and-out immediately after the score. EMU's defense countered with a three-and-out of its own to get the ball back with about nine minutes to play. The Eagles found life on their third drive of the quarter, moving the ball well with long passes to Eriksen, sophomore Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), and Johnson, to move it into UK territory.
With the ball at the 25, EMU went for three deep shots toward the end zone. The first two fell incomplete, while the third landed in the hands of a Kentucky defender, ending the scoring threat, and giving the Wildcats the ball at the Eagles' 10 with five and a half to go.
Deep in its own territory, Kentucky went backwards two yards as the EMU defense continued to shoot into the backfield for negative plays. Punting out of its own end zone, Eastern got a good return and set up shop at Kentucky's 40 with 4:32 left on the clock. Roback found senior Antoine Porter (San Francisco, Calif.-Mission (City College)) on the second play to advance to the 25.
A long Roback scramble, a UK penalty, and then a 13-yard pass to Bailey II placed EMU at the two. On the next play, Eriksen plunged into the end zone for his fourth rushing TD on the year. After a missed extra point, Eastern trailed 24-20 with two and a half minutes to play.
Needing a miracle, EMU attempted the onside kick, but Kentucky recovered, giving them the ball with just one EMU timeout remaining. Eastern's defense presented one more opportunity with a three-and-out on three rush attempts, giving the Eagles the ball at its own 12 with 44 seconds left. Despite a few long completions to get Eastern to the Kentucky 47, a last second heave to the end zone was picked off, sealing the 24-20 defeat.
EMU returns to conference action next Saturday, Oct. 7, when it ventures down to Glass City for a date with the University of Toledo. EMU's first road MAC game of the season is set to kickoff at noon inside the Glass Bowl.
Postgame Quotes
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Chris Creighton
Opening statement …
"Obviously, big time disappointed right now. You know, we really believe in our team and in a ton of ways, I'm just super proud of the effort. We didn't give up, you know? There's plenty of teams that break and we didn't break. You know, we sure didn't play a clean game in the second half. Probably the third quarter was really frustrating with some special teams miscues. You know, we didn't turn the ball over in the first half, but we turned it over there in the second half. And hat's off to Kentucky. We thought in the very beginning that both teams had very disappointed losses last week and the team that was going to be able to respond was going to win the football game, and they were a little better than us today. I thought our defense played phenomenal from start to finish."
On taking a knee in the last play of the half…
"Because there's risk when you do that, and we had no intentions of trying to go 80 yards in a couple seconds."
On practicing running this past week…
"Not just this week. I mean, you know, Kentucky is very good against the run and so are we. And you're right, when you emphasize something, you usually get what you emphasize, and it's smart football by both teams to say that our defense is going to start by defending the run and both are really playing well right now."
On what led to the blocked punt…
"No, it was our shield. One of their guys made a nice play doing an up-and-under. So, he's coming from the outside and then dipped underneath and made our shield redirect, and that was a great play by that kid."
On weather being a factor in the game…
"Weather was gorgeous. You guys got it good down here. No, the weather had nothing to do with any of that. The special teams and turnovers, everybody thinks that's coaches speech and what not. It's not sexy, it's not what people want to talk about, but special teams and turnovers is what wins and loses games and you know, unfortunately we weren't sharp in the second half in the special teams and it hurt us."
On looking ahead…
"The things that we talked about, I think you know, the special teams and turnovers. You know, a little bit more consistency moving the ball. It was a good defense; I don't want to take anything away. We've played some good defenses, but we are playing really good defense right now. We need to continue to do that. We need to clean up some things on special teams and find a way to score more points and I think we could be a good football team."
#4 Brogan Roback, QB
On defense giving them the opportunity on the last drive to win…
"The defense balled out. Like Coach (Chris) Creighton said, they played really well. That's something they've been doing all year. They've been bailing us out at times when we've been slow offensively, and you know, even sudden change that he hit on, they just man up and they make plays and they give us the opportunity. They gave us the opportunity there at the end to toss one up into the end zone and try to make a play out of it. Like I said, they've been doing that all year and they're a great group. We just need to offensively catch up to speed with them."
On if he's comfortable throwing as much as he did…
"I threw about 72 times in one game last year. No, it doesn't wear out. My coaches have confidence in our passing game and they try to put the game in my hands. As a competitor, you love situations like that. You want the ball in your hands. We'll get the run game figured out, it's just something we had to do. There was times at the end we had to throw the ball quite a bit because we were trying to catch up. So the numbers are going to obviously increase because we're throwing the ball that many times because we're trying to play catch up."
On if they were surprised to compete with Kentucky like they did…
"I don't think we're ever surprised. We had the intention coming in here that we were going to win. We knew we matched up very well and we could do things. I think that showed that. We have players just like they do. The thing is it's SEC, so everyone expects them to roll the MAC, but the MAC is a really good (conference). You got top guys in the NFL right now that are MAC guys. So, there's good players here. This group, we rise to challenges like this. We thrive on stuff like that. Just to be able to prove what we can do and that we do belong. So no, we weren't surprised, to answer your question, because we fully expect to be in a game and to be in a situation similar to what we were just right there to win the game."
Team Stats
EMU
UK
Total Yards
312
228
Pass Yards
299
175
Rushing Yards
13
53
Penalty Yards
50
40
1st Downs
20
16
3rd Downs
4
7
4th Downs
1
0
TOP
29:55
30:05
1st Quarter
EMU 7, UK 0
EMU - BAILEY, Sergio 20 yd pass from ROBACK, Brogan (FRICANO, Paulie kick) 1 plays, 23 yards, TOP 0:05
EMU 7, UK 7
UK - Greg Hart 20 yd pass from Stephen Johnson (A. MacGinnis kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:50
2nd Quarter
EMU 7, UK 14
UK - T. Richardson 7 yd pass from Stephen Johnson (A. MacGinnis kick) 8 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:14
EMU 14, UK 14
EMU - NIUPALAU, J. 43 yd pass from JOHNSON, Jaron (FRICANO, Paulie kick) 3 plays, 83 yards, TOP 0:53
3rd Quarter
EMU 14, UK 17
UK - A. MacGinnis 39 yd field goal 10 plays, 21 yards, TOP 4:43
4th Quarter
EMU 14, UK 24
UK - Benny Snell 12 yd run (A. MacGinnis kick), 1 plays, 12 yards, TOP 0:06
EMU 20, UK 24
EMU - ERIKSEN, Ian 2 yd run (FRICANO, Paulie kickfailed), 6 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:58
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
26
TD
1
YDS
256
INT
2
CMP
1
TD
1
YDS
43
INT
0
Players Mentioned
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