Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
1-0
Eastern Kentucky
0-1
Football Uses Historic Season-Opening Point Total to Take Down EKU
9/2/2022 10:58:00 PM | Football
First-year signal caller Taylor Powell threw for three touchdowns in the effort
Teaser Video | Box score (PDF)
Postgame Press Conference
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University football team used a stellar offensive outing to earn a 42-34 win against Eastern Kentucky University inside "The Factory" at Rynearson Stadium Friday, Sept. 2.
Senior quarterback Taylor Powell (Fayetteville, Ark.-Fayetteville-Missouri-Troy) led Eastern Michigan's (1-0, 0-0 MAC) passing attack with 271 yards through the air, tossing three touchdowns and one interception. The signal caller also added one touchdown on the ground.
Classmate Samson Evans (Crystal Lake, Ill.-Prairie Ridge-Iowa) paced the EMU rushing attack by accumulating 89 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Junior Jaylon Jackson (Burleson, Texas-Centennial-Lamar) also added 24 yards on the ground, averaging eight yards per carry. Graduate student Dylan Drummond (Cleveland, Ohio-Cuyahoga Heights) reeled in four catches for 62 yards.
Senior defensive back Blake Bogan (Grand Blanc, Mich.-Grand Blanc) showed out for the Eastern Michigan defense, totaling four tackles and one interception. Fellow senior Russell Vaden IV (Louisville, Ky.-Moore) added three tackles and one recovered fumble and graduate student Jordan Crawford (Houston, Texas-Pearland-Tyler J.C.) tallied one sack in the win. Both Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky forced two turnovers in Friday's contest, with Eastern Michigan turning those takeaways into seven points.
The EMU offense extended drives well, converting on 54.5 percent of its third down attempts. Eastern Michigan took care of business in the red zone, scoring five times on five trips inside Eastern Kentucky's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
After EKU opened the scoring to go up 3-0, Eastern Michigan responded to take a 7-0 lead with 10:39 left in the second quarter. EMU then extended the lead to 14-3 with another score.
The Green and White kept building its lead after Eastern Kentucky made it a 14-10 game, scoring again with 11:39 left in the third quarter to go on top 21-10. The Eagles continued to expand their lead, scoring again to go ahead 28-10.
Eastern Michigan continued to increase its lead after the Colonels made it a 28-17 game, scoring again with 11:00 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 35-17. The EKU then rallied, tallying 10 points before the EMU responded with a touchdown to extend their lead to 42-27. EMU didn't score again and EKU tacked on seven more points to finish off the game.
» Eastern Kentucky outgained Eastern Michigan, 492-395, in the contest.
» Eastern Michigan converted 6-of-11 third downs while Eastern Kentucky was successful on 12-of-18.
» Powell threw his first three touchdown passes as an Eagle and also ran one in to finish with four total scores. His three passing touchdowns are the ninth, 10th and 11th of his collegiate career (Troy - 7; Missouri - 1). Tonight's performance marks the first time he has thrown for three touchdowns in a single game in his career while his four total touchdowns are also a single-game career high. Powell finished the game with 21-of-30 passing for 271 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. The Arkansas native also ran the ball eight times for five yards, which is the second-best mark for the transfer in his career.
» Senior Tanner Knue (Mason, Ohio-Mason) recorded two touchdowns for the Eagles. Tonight's win marks Knue's second multi-touchdown game, the first since Dec. 5, 2020. The scoring receptions were Knue's first since Nov. 2, 2021.
» S. Evans tallied two touchdowns for the Eagles. Tonight's performance marks Evans' third straight game with a touchdown and fifth career multi-score game. The Illinois-native last multi-touchdown game came Nov. 9, 2021 vs. Ohio University, when he found pay dirt twice.
» Kentucky-native Vaden registered a fumble recovery in the second quarter, just the second in his career as an Eagle. Vaden also totaled three solo tackles in the win over his home state team.
» Sophomore Melvin Swindle II (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Heritage Hall) recorded his first career forced fumble after punching the pigskin out of the hands of an EKU running back in the second quarter. Eastern's defense tallied a forced fumble in the fourth consecutive contest dating back to last season.
» Bogan grabbed his third career interception in the first quarter. The pick was Bogan's first interception since the team's 2019 season-opening win over Coastal Carolina University, Aug. 31, 2019.
» Crawford notched the sole sack of the game and the first of his career for the Eagles defense in the third quarter. The sack was the defensive lineman's third tackle for loss while donning the Green and White.
» Junior Chase Kline (Chardon, Ohio-Chardon-Michigan State) collected nine tackles on the night, setting a career-high in his Eagle debut. The transfer's previous career record of eight was set on Nov. 28, 2020, against Northwestern University.
» Senior Joe Sparacio (Naples, Fla.-First Baptist Academy-Boston College) and junior T.J. Peavy (Fayetteville, Ga.-Sandy Creek-Air Force) registered eight tackles apiece, tying for both player's career highs.
» Sophomore Jesus Gomez (Puebla, Mexico-Prepa Tec Puebla), in his first collegiate game as a place-kicker, went a perfect 6-of-6 in extra point attempts.
» The Eastern Michigan offense tallied six touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky tonight. The last time the Green and White recorded that many scores in a single game came in a 52-49 victory over Toledo, Nov. 2, 2021.
» Late in the fourth quarter, the Colonels attempted an onside kick that Eastern Michigan recovered. EMU has not fallen victim to a successful onside kick since the 2020 campaign, when Northern Illinois University recovered its onside attempt against the Eagles in a game at Rynearson Stadium, Dec. 12.
» Eastern was perfect in red-zone scoring chances, converting on all five opportunities tonight with touchdowns. Last year, Eastern Michigan was 48-of-57, 35 of which were touchdowns.
Historical Notes
» With the win, EMU improves to 79-46-1 all-time in home openers and 45-17-1 when opening the season at home. In 131 years of EMU football, the Eagles' win tonight brings the program's record to 62-61-8 in season-opening games.
» Head Coach Chris Creighton adds another win to his resume in season-opening games, taking his record to 7-2 overall as the Eagles' head coach. Furthermore, the California native now sits at 6-1 in season-debuting home showdowns.
» Creighton now sits just three wins away from tying Jim Harkema (41 wins) for fourth-best all-time at Eastern Michigan.
» Eastern secured the program's first win against Eastern Kentucky tonight, bringing the team's head-to-head record to 1-3-1 overall. After starting the series with three consecutive losses, EMU has not lost to the Colonels since 1970.
» The Eagles racked up 42 points against the visiting Colonels tonight, the most ever posted by the program against EKU. Eastern Michigan totaled more points tonight against Eastern Kentucky than their last four match-ups combined (16).
» While the total is just the third best for an opener under Creighton, it is also the ninth-best total by the team in any opening-game during its 131 year history.
» The Green and White improved to 72-55-10 against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams. Tonight's win marks the program's first win over an FCS opponent since last season's 35-15 season-opening takedown of St. Francis (Pa.) to start the 2021 campaign.
» Tonight's win marks the first time the Eagles have captured a win against an Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) team. It also is the first contest against an ASUN opponent in program history.
» Gomez's six extra points tie for the third-best total in a single game in program history. The mark has been hit 18 times in the 131 years of EMU football.
Up Next
The Eagles will migrate south next weekend, Saturday, Sept. 10, to take on the Ragin' Cajuns from the University of Louisiana. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET).
Team Stats
EKU 3, EMU 0
EKU - Nations,Patrick 33 yd field goal 12 plays, 59 yards, TOP 5:21
EKU 3, EMU 7
EMU - KNUE, Tanner 15 yd pass from POWELL, Taylor (GOMEZ, Jesus kick) 8 plays, 48 yards, TOP 4:05
EKU 3, EMU 14
EMU - EVANS, Samson 8 yd run (GOMEZ, Jesus kick), 10 plays, 51 yards, TOP 3:23
EKU 10, EMU 14
EKU - Smith,Jaden 19 yd pass from McKinney,Parker (Nations,Patrick kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:12
EKU 10, EMU 21
EMU - EVANS, Samson 2 yd run (GOMEZ, Jesus kick), 7 plays, 64 yards, TOP 3:15
EKU 10, EMU 28
EMU - KNUE, Tanner 12 yd pass from POWELL, Taylor (GOMEZ, Jesus kick) 4 plays, 42 yards, TOP 1:28
EKU 17, EMU 28
EKU - McKinney,Parker 23 yd run (Nations,Patrick kick), 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:29
EKU 17, EMU 35
EMU - POWELL, Taylor 7 yd run (GOMEZ, Jesus kick), 7 plays, 63 yards, TOP 3:09
EKU 20, EMU 35
EKU - Nations,Patrick 40 yd field goal 7 plays, 52 yards, TOP 2:44
EKU 27, EMU 35
EKU - Allen,Dakota 14 yd pass from McKinney,Parker (Nations,Patrick kick) 4 plays, 42 yards, TOP 0:51
EKU 27, EMU 42
EMU - BEYDOUN, Hassan 22 yd pass from POWELL, Taylor (GOMEZ, Jesus kick) 6 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:51
EKU 34, EMU 42
EKU - Allen,Dakota 9 yd pass from McKinney,Parker (Nations,Patrick kick) 11 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:11
