Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Texas State
Football Falls at Texas State in Season Opener
8/30/2025 11:42:00 PM | Football
Kim led the way with 248 yards passing and one touchdown for the Eagles
Photo Gallery | Postgame Audio
SAN MARCOS, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team dropped its season-opening game Saturday, Aug. 30, in a 52-27 decision at Texas State University inside UFCU Stadium in San Marcos, Texas. The Eagles were led by Noah Kim (Centreville, Va./Westfield/Michigan State/Coastal Carolina), who threw for 248 yards and one score, while Tavierre Dunlap (Del Valle, Texas/Del Valle/Michigan) and Joey Mattord (Hartland, Mich./Hartland) each scored on the ground for the Eagles (0-1).
How It Happened
The game got off to a high-octane start as the hosts covered 75 yards in 1:41 to take a 7-0 lead. The Eagles countered with a strong drive of their own but had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Rudy Kessinger (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) as the redshirt freshman converted his first collegiate attempt. The hosts added a touchdown two minutes later to take a 14-3 lead through one quarter of play.
In the second, Eastern responded with their first touchdown of the season as Dunlap punched it from two yards out to cap an eight-play, 80-yard drive. The Bobcats added 10 points to their total for a 24-10 lead before the Eagles tallied their second touchdown of the game with Kim finding Joshua Long (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola/El Camino CC) for a 16-yard score with 12 seconds remaining in the half for a 24-17 TXST lead at the break.
Following a third quarter that saw the Bobcats add 14 points on two passing touchdowns, Texas State would add another score to extend its lead to 45-17 with 12:19 to play before the Eagles halted the scoring with Kessinger connecting on a career-long 37-yard field goal. Following another touchdown from the hosts, Mattord found a hole and took it in from 7-yards out for the score and 52-27 final.
Game Notes
» Noah Kim earned the start at quarterback for the Eagles and finished 23-of-34 passing for 248 yards and one score. Kim has now thrown at least one touchdown at three different schools after doing so at both Michigan State and Coastal Carolina previously.
» Dontae McMillan (Seattle, Wash./Chief Sealth/Weber State) led the team with 113 all-purpose yards after leading the way with a team-best 78 yards rushing while adding 35 yards receiving. It marked the first time McMillan accumulated over 100 total yards for the Eagles and his highest since totaling 49 yards at UMass last year.
» Joey Mattord finished with a career-high 38 yards rushing on five carries while scoring a touchdown. He surpassed the 37 yards he accumulated at Western Michigan last year (Nov. 30) while scoring his second career touchdown with his first coming against Toledo last year (Nov. 2). He added five yards receiving and 33 kick off return yards for 76 total yards.
» Tavierre Dunlap, who grew up in Del Valle, Texas, just 30 minutes up the road from San Marcus, made his return to the Lone Star State and ran in the first touchdown of the season for the Eagles as he pounded his way into the endzone from two yards out to cut the team's deficit to four points (14-10) early in the second quarter. Dunlap, who finished with 33 yards on 10 carries, punched in his second career touchdown after scoring from 20-yards out for Michigan last season at home against Northwestern (Nov. 23, 2024).
» Porter Rooks (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park/NC State) saw his first game action for the Eagles after sitting out the 2024 season with an injury and his first action since Nov. 25, 20232, when he played for NC State against North Carolina. Rooks finished with three catches for 13 yards.
» Juan Salas Jr. (Eastvale, Calif./Roosevelt/Southwest Baptist) led the team with seven total tackles, including a team-high five solo stops. He made his EMU debut and NCAA Division I debut after playing two years at Mt. SAC.
» Joshua Long was on the receiving end of Noah Kim's first passing touchdown with the Eagles as he hauled in a 16-yard strike in the second quarter. Long is no stranger to the endzone as he caught six scoring passes in 2024 while playing for El Camino College, marking his scoring play with EMU his first NCAA Division I scoring play. Long finished with three grabs for 31 yards on the day.
» In his first collegiate attempt, Rudy Kessinger connected on a 24-yard field goal for the Eagles' first points of the season and his first with the Eagles after redshirting last year. Kessinger, who added a 37-yard strike in the fourth, finished the game with nine points after adding a trio of point-after tries to his total.
» Messiah Blair (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) recorded his first TFL, sack, and forced fumble in the first half of the game with all three coming on the same play. With 3:56 remaining in the opening stanza, Blair rushed the Texas State quarterback and sacked him for a 9-yard loss. While bringing him down, he knocked the ball loose, but the Bobcats recovered the ball and continued their possession.
» Mitchell Tomasek (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) continued to what he does: punt the ball over 50 yards and flip the field for the Eagles. After punting his first ball of the game 51 yards, he added back-to-back kicks over 60+ yards with a kick of 62 yards in the second quarter and 63-yards in third, which tied for the eighth-longest punt in his career.
» Mitchell Tomasek finished the game with 262 yards on five punts, giving him an average of 52.4 yards, the highest in a single game in program history and the only 52.0+ average ever at EMU. His average surpassed the previous record of 51.4 average Jake Julien tallied, Sept. 11, 2021, at Wisconsin. Prior to the game at Texas State, Julien held the top three marks in program history.
» Nine Eagles earned their first starts with the program, including Dodji Dahoue (Bamako, Mali/Lycée Liberté de Bamako/Santa Rosa JC), Nick Deveraux (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice/Davenport), Noah Kim, Bryce Llewellyn (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral/Charleston Southern), Joshua Long, Jason Marshall (Trenton, Mich./Trenton), Sterling Miles (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield/Cincinnati), Benson Prosper (Hollywood, Fla./Champagnat Catholic/Highland CC/Hutchinson CC), Porter Rooks, and Terrance Saunders (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West). Additionally, Carter Evans (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) made his third career start and his first since two starts in the 2022 season.
» Seventeen transfers saw their first action for the Eagles, including: Kadin Bailey (Jefferson, Ga./Jefferson/Syracuse), Caleb Coley (Warner Robbins, Gal./Houston County/Michigan State), Nathan Dibert (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/LSU), Tavierre Dunlap, Makhi Gilbert (Phenix City, Ala./Central/Samford), Nick Harris (Ellicott City, Md./Marriotts Ridge/UConn), James Jointer Jr. (Little Rock, Ark./Parkview A&S Magnet/Arkansas/Liberty), Noah Kim, Tanner Lemaster (Washington Courthouse, Ohio/Washington/Kentucky), Joshua Long, Ja'Quel Mack (Gonzales, La./East Ascension/Northwestern State/Hutchinson CC), Andrew Marshall (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom Carroll/Ohio/Lakawanna CC), James Monds III (Fort Pierce, Fla./Vero Beach/Indiana/Middle Tennessee), Marco Patierno (Wake Forest, N.C./Heritage/Elon), Juan Salas Jr., and Warren-Steves Tayou (Inglewood, Calif./Lawndale/Northern Arizona/West Georgia).
» Nine freshmen took the field for Eastern, including: Quincy Byas (St. Louis, Mo./De Smet Jesuit), Antonio Floyd (Atlanta, Ga./Lovejoy), Hector Gonzalez (Monterrey Mexico/Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School [Ga.]), Rudy Kessinger, Harold Mack Jr. (Fort Wayne, Ind./Wayne), Jaylin Monds (Fort Pierce, Fla./Westwood), Noah Patterson (South Point, Ohio/Ironton), Donmiel Rogers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Winton Woods), and Everett Small (Hamilton, Ontario/Clarkson Secondary). Of those rookies seeing their first action, Small was the only to also earn his first start.
Historical Notes
» Eastern fell to 1-1 all-time against Texas State and 0-1 when playing in San Marcos. The Eagles also are 7-15-1 when playing the current membership of the Sun Belt Conference.
» With the loss, the Eagles fell to 64-62-8 all-time in their first game of the season and saw their four-game winning streak in such games come to an end. Eastern additionally slipped to 18-45-7 when its lid-lifter is played on the road.
» The loss pushed EMU to 0-2 all-time when playing in the state of Texas and 0-1 in regular season games. The only other time the Eagles played in Texas was 14-3 loss, Dec. 11, 1971, to Louisiana Tech in the Pioneer Bowl in Wichita Falls, Texas.
» The game in San Marcos was only the second time the Eagles have played a game in the Lone Star State in its 134-year history and its first in the regular season. The only other game was played Dec. 11, 1971, in Wichita Falls, Texas, where Eastern fell to Louisiana Tech, 14-3, in the Pioneer Bowl.
Up Next
Eastern Michigan returns to action Saturday, Sept. 6, when the Eagles play host to the Sharks of Long Island University in EMU's home opener inside 'The Factory' at Rynearson Stadium. The Eagles and Sharks will kick off at 7 p.m. on Crosby Field with the game, which is sponsored by Michigan Rose Construction, streaming live on ESPN+. The game can also be heard on WEMU (89.1 FM) and The Varsity Network app with Tom Helmer, Rob Rubick, and Elena Davis calling all the action.
