Football Comes Up Short at Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team fought hard, but ultimately fell to the University of Minnesota, 25-6, inside Hunting Bank Stadium Saturday, Sept. 9. Eastern falls to 1-1 on the year while Minnesota improved to 2-0 (1-0 Big Ten).

How It Happened
It was a classic Midwest football clash in the early stages of Saturday night's contest between the Eagles and Golden Gophers, as both squads would end the first quarter with no points on the board. Minnesota would draw first blood with a chip shot 24-yard field goal, giving the Golden Gophers a slight 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.

EMU wasted no time striking back as they marched 73-yards down the field on the ensuing drive, ending in a Jesús Gómez (Puebla, Mexico/Prepa Tec Puebla) field goal, evening the score at three each. The back-and-forth battle continued with the Gophers capturing the game's first touchdown late in the second frame, before Gomez would knock through another field goal, bringing the score to 10-6 in favor of Minnesota at the end of the first half.

Minnesota took hold of the game in the third quarter with a field goal and touchdown in the frame. However, the Eagles would not go out quietly as they forced two Golden Gopher turnovers in the second half. Justin Jefferson (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) forced and recovered the first fumble of his Eastern career early in the fourth, before Bennett Walker (San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry/San Diego Mesa) secured his first interception as an Eagle, and the third in his college football career.

The game concluded soon after, resulting in a 25-6 win in favor of the Golden Gophers.

Game Notes
» Joe Sparacio (Naples, Fla./First Baptist Academy/Boston College) recorded a team-high 14 tackles in the contest to mark a season-high for the defensive captain. Prior to Saturday night's game versus Minnesota, Sparacio's season-high was 10 against Howard, Sept. 1.
» Mikah Coleman (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) came to play for the Eagles as the 6-foot-5 defensive end registered two tackles-for-loss, marking a career-high. Moreover, with one sack on the night, Coleman tied a single-game career-best as well. Coleman previously tabbed a sack in EMU's season-opening contest against the Howard Bison, Sept. 1, after taking down signal-callers versus Akron, Nov. 8, 2022, and Ball State, Oct. 22, 2022.
» Graduate student Blake Daniels (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North/Davenport) hauled-in a 29-yard reception for the Eagles early in the second quarter. The catch goes down as Daniels' fourth of the season, as well as the longest reception in his collegiate football career. Prior to Saturday's contest, he recorded three catches for 20-yards on the season.
» The EMU defense held strong once again in the first frame of play, allowing zero points to the Golden Gophers. After holding the Howard Bison scoreless in the first quarter, Sept. 1, it marked the second consecutive game EMU has locked up their opponent in the first quarter. The last time EMU held their respective opponent scoreless in the first quarter of play in consecutive games came last season when the Eagles held Ball State scoreless, Oct. 22, 2022, before doing the same to the Toledo Rockets in its next contest, Oct. 29.
» Junior Zach Mowchan (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York) forced a fumble in the first quarter of play, marking the first forced fumble of his career. Additionally, it was the first forced fumble for the Eagles of the 2023 campaign.
» The Eastern defense stood tall on its own goal line as the Eagles stuffed the Golden Gophers on 4th-and-Goal from the 2-yard line on Minnesota's opening drive. Over the course of the game, the EMU defense put up a fight in the red zone as the Minnesota offense saw six of their eight drives get inside the Eastern 6-yard line, but were held to just two touchdowns. Of the six instances, the Eagles stopped the Golden Gophers on downs and forced three field goal attempts as well.
» Jefferson forced and recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter, giving the Eagles positive field positioning in the late stages of the game. For EMU, it was its first takeaway of the 2023 campaign. For Jefferson, it marked his first forced and recovered fumble as an Eagle.
» Gomez knocked through two field goals during the battle versus the Golden Gophers. For Gomez, it marks his fourth game registering multiple made field goals in his collegiate football career. Gomez punched through multiple kicks last season versus Arizona State, Sept. 17, Ball State, Oct. 22, and Akron, Nov. 8.
» Walker snagged his first career interception as an Eagle after corralling a tipped pass from the Minnesota QB. Overall, it is Walker's third interception of his NCAA career as he snagged two during his time at the University of San Diego Mesa.
» The Eagles defense forced two Minnesota turnovers Saturday night. This marks the first time EMU has turned-over its opponent twice in the same contest since it did so against San Jose State last season in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, which the Eagles won, 41-27.
» Mitchell Tomasek (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) punted four times in the game, averaging a season-high 47.2 yards per punt. Tomasek, who dropped two of those punts inside the Minnesota 20-yard line, boomed one out to 57 yards for a season-best.

Historical Notes
» Saturday night marked Eastern's first meeting with Minnesota. After the 25-6 result, Minnesota claims the 1-0 series lead.
» With another double-digit tackling performance from Sparacio, EMU has tabbed consecutive double-digit individual tacklers for the first time since the 2021 season, when it did so versus Western Michigan, Nov. 16, 2022, and Central Michigan, Nov. 26. Former Eagles Jose Ramirez and Terry Myrick reached the double-digit mark against Western while Tariq Speights did so against the Chippewas.

Up Next
Eastern returns home Saturday, Sept. 16, as the Eagles will play host to the Minutemen of UMass in a 2 p.m. game at 'The Factory' inside Rynearson Stadium. The game, which will be streamed live on ESPN+, WEMU (89.1 FM), and the Varsity Network app, will serve as the program's annual Car Show and Band Day game. Numerous classic automobiles will line the stadium terraces while many of the top high school bands in the area will be on hand to perform at halftime.

Next Event

Team Stats

Austin Smith

Players Mentioned

Mikah Coleman

Blake Daniels

Justin Jefferson

Zach Mowchan

Jose Ramirez

Joe Sparacio

Tariq Speights

Mitchell Tomasek

Bennett Walker