McMillan Reaches 1,000-Yard Mark in Senior Day Loss

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Dontae McMillan had a career game on his Senior Day as the running back became only the second player in the FBS in 2025 to record 100+ yards rushing and receiving in the same game while also breaking the 1,000-yard rushing barrier for the season as the Eastern Michigan University football team dropped a 31-21 decision to Western Michigan University Tuesday night, Nov. 26, inside Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti. McMillan, who ran for 111 yards and one score while adding 126 yards through the air with one touchdown, paced the Eagles (4-8, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) in their final game of the season.

How It Happened
After both teams opened with three-and-outs on their first possessions, the Eagles started their second drive on their own 2-yard line and got out of trouble with a 50-yard reception by McMillan (Seattle, Wash./Chief Sealth/Weber State) from Noah Kim (Centreville, Va./Westfield/Michigan State/Coastal Carolina). Later in the drive, the duo connected on a 21-yard scoring play to put Eastern ahead, 7-0, after one.

The second quarter opened with the Eagles driving, but the Broncos intercepted Kim at their own 5-yard line, snapping the Eagles' perfect red-zone efficiency streak, which was 33-of-33 at the time. Following the turnover, the Broncos drove 95 yards for their first score of the game to tie things at 7-7 with 7:13 remaining in the second quarter. Eastern looked to respond and posted another deep drive that included McMillan breaking a 48-yard reception to break the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career and the fifth time this season, when including his four games of 100+ yards rushing. But a fumble in the red zone thwarted the EMU drive with WMU again driving 75 yards to take a 14-7 lead before adding a 44-yard field goal to make it 17-7 at the break.

In the third quarter, WMU extended its lead with its third touchdown of the game before picking off an EMU pass for the Eagles' fourth giveaway of the contest. The Broncos cashed in the takeaway for another touchdown to build a 31-7 lead heading into the final stanza.

The Eagles fought back in the fourth quarter to score 14 points while holding the Broncos off the board. First, Kim found Nick Devereaux (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice/Davenport) in the corner of the end zone for a 1-yard strike, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. With under three minutes to play, McMillan made history as he ran it in from 20 yards out before Joshua Long (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola/El Camino) caught the two-point try to make it a 31-21 final.

Game Notes
» Dontae McMillan tallied a career-high 237 total yards against the Broncos as he ran 11 times for 111 yards and one score while adding four grabs for 126 yards and one touchdown. With his numbers, he is the first player in Eastern Michigan history to record over 100+ yards rushing and 100+ yards receiving in the same game. Additionally, since the start of the 1995 season, he is only the fourth player in EMU history to rush for at least 75 yards and receive 75 yards in the same game, with the last instance coming Oct. 12, 2013, when Bronson Hill rushed for 143 yards and pulled in 91 yards through the air against Army.
» The feat of 100+ yards both rushing and receiving is rare, as Dontae McMillan is only the second player in the FBS in 2025 to accomplish the feat. The first came Nov. 8 when Emmett Johnson of Nebraska rank for 129 yards and caught another 103 yards at UCLA. Since the start of the 2016 season, McMillan is the 22nd player to accomplish the feat and joins a list that features players like Cam Skattebo, Desmond Reid, Ashton Jeanty, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, and Dalvin Cook.
» With his 111 yards on the ground, Dontae McMillan became the 12th player in Eastern Michigan history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season and the first since 2022 when Samson Evans tallied 1,166 yards. McMillan, whose 1,014 yards ranks 14th on the program's single-season rushing list, is the third player to surpass the 1,000-yard barrier under Chris Creighton after Darius Jackson ran for 1,078 yards in 2015.
» The 126 receiving yards Dontae McMillan recorded smashed his previous career high, which he set earlier this season at Buffalo, where he finished with 46 yards. In fact, his first reception of the game against Western Michigan surpassed his career high as it went for 50 yards.
» Eastern Michigan finished the year with at least one 100-yard player in the final seven games of the season, which ties for the second-longest single-season streak with the 1971 squad and ranks tied for third overall when the streak runs between two seasons. Dontae McMillan had a big hand in the streak as he started it with two consecutive games of 100-yards rushing before Harold Mack, Jr. (Fort Wayne, Ind./Wayne) at Miami and Nick Devereaux against Ohio added 100-yard receiving games to make it four in a row. McMillan added another 100-yard game on the ground (Bowling Green) before Jamarien Wheeler (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn/Iowa Central) extended the streak through the air at Ball State.
» Noah Kim finished the game with 327 yards on 24-of-41 passing with two touchdowns and three interceptions. The 327 yards were the second-highest of his career behind only the 349 yards tallied at Kentucky, Sept. 13. All told, Kim finished the season with 2,817 yards passing to finish sixth on the program's single-season ledger while posting the most passing yards since Ben Bryant threw for 3,121 yards in 2021. He also finished in a tie for sixth on the single-season passing touchdown list as he threw for 19 in 2025, tying with Brogan Roback (2017).
» With his placeholding duties on the first PAT, Mitchell Tomasek (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) made his 50th career appearance for the Eagles, tying him for the ninth-most games played in program history. The 11th different EMU player to reach 50 games played, Tomasek finishes his career tied with both Vince Calhoun (2016-19) and Gunnar Oakes (2018-22) for ninth on the all-time ledger.
» Mitchell Tomasek finished his career with the Eagles as one of the top punters in program history. With two punts for 88 yards against Western Michigan, he brought his career total to 9,508 yards, which ranks fourth all-time at Eastern. Additionally, he averaged 46.0 yards per punt in 2025 to set the single-season record and become the first Eagle to average 46.0 yards or better, surpassing the record of 45.9 yards set by Jake Julien in 2021. At the career level, Tomasek also took over the top spot, as his 44.6 yards per boot surpassed Julien's (2017-19), who was the first to average 44.0 yards in a career for EMU.
» Bryce Llewellyn (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral/Charleston Southern) finished the game with nine tackles and 0.5 TFLs. With the nine stops, he brought his team-leading season total to 102, making him the first Eagle to record 100+ tackles in a season since Chase Kline made 143 stops in 2023.
» Donovan Green (Palmetto, La./Opelousas Catholic/Northwestern State) recorded the team's lone sack in the game, marking his first full sack of the season after recording 0.5 at Ball State.
» As a team, the Eagles finished the year 35-of-37 in the red zone after going 3-of-5 against the Broncos. The two failed drives leave Oklahoma as the only team in the FBS still at 100 percent. Should the Sooners finish their season at 100 percent, they would join the 2020 Eastern Michigan squad as the only two to accomplish the feat since 2008.
» Before the game, the program honored 15 student-athletes with Senior Day festivities. The honored group included Dodji Dahoue (Bamako, Mali/Lycée Liberté de Bamako/Santa Rosa JC), Tyrelle Deener (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney/Adrian), Tavierre Dunlap (Del Valle, Texas/Del Valle/Michigan), Donovan Green, Zyell Griffin (Vancouver, Wash./Evergreen/UNLV), Nick Harris (Ellicott City, Md./Marriotts Ridge/UConn), Noah Kim, Terry Lockett, Jr. (St. Paul, Minn./Minnehaha Academy/Michigan State), Tyrell Martin (Newark, Del./St. Georges Tech/Delaware State), Dontae McMillan, Mickey Rewolinski (Caledonia, Wis./Union Grove), Porter Rooks (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park/NC State), Mitchel Tomasek, Jesse Vasquez (Lansing, Mich./East Lansing/Albion), and Jamarien Wheeler.

Historical Notes
» With the loss, the Eagles close their season with a record of 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the MAC, while the Broncos improved to 8-4 overall and 7-1 in league action.
Eastern fell to 21-33-2 all-time against Western Michigan and has dropped three consecutive games for the first time since falling in five in a row from 2014-18. The series is now tied, 13-13-1, when played in Ypsilanti.
» The Eagles fell to 6-13-2 overall and 4-2-2 at home when playing host to either Western Michigan or Central Michigan in the final regular season game of the year. EMU also fell to 1-8-1 against the Broncos in those games, including a 1-2-1 mark at home.

Up Next
Eastern Michigan's 2025 season has come to an end. The program will turn its attention toward the future with National Signing Day taking place Dec. 3 and the opening of the transfer portal in early 2026.

Team Stats

Noah Kim

Players Mentioned

Dodji Dahoue

Nick Devereaux

Donovan Green

Nick Harris

Noah Kim

Bryce Llewellyn

Joshua Long

Harold Mack

Tyrell Martin

Dontae McMillan

Mickey Rewolinski

Porter Rooks

Mitchell Tomasek

Jesse Vasquez

Jamarien Wheeler

Players Mentioned

Dodji Dahoue

Nick Devereaux

Donovan Green

Nick Harris

Noah Kim

Bryce Llewellyn

Joshua Long

Harold Mack

Tyrell Martin

Dontae McMillan

Mickey Rewolinski

Porter Rooks

Mitchell Tomasek

Jesse Vasquez

Jamarien Wheeler

Eastern Michigan Athletics