Eastern Michigan's bowl chances take hit with 28-20 loss at Kent State
The Eastern Michigan football team’s chance for a bowl bid took a severe hit Saturday afternoon when Kent State beat the Eagles 28-20.
The Golden Flashes scored on a 70-yard pass from Spencer Keith to Tyshon Goode with 6:40 left in the game. That duo also combined on a two-point conversion pass to provide the final margin of victory in front of 10,253 at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio.
Eastern Michigan coach Ron English: "We're going to regroup."
The Eagles now must win at Northern Illinois (8-3, 6-1 MAC West) at 11 a.m. Friday to become bowl eligible. Being bowl eligible does not assure an invitation.
The Huskies will be playing for a spot in the MAC Championship game.
"We're going to regroup, and we play in six days so we will be ready to play in six days," Eastern Michigan coach Ron English said. "We still have one game to play and we're going to do our best to prepare for that game."
Kent State’s long, game-winning touchdown pass accounted for nearly one-quarter of the Golden Flashes’ 294 total offensive yards.
"Coach (Darrell) Hazell was in the huddle and looked at me and told me 'Ty, I need you to make a play,'" Goode said. "In the huddle, my play was called and I knew i was getting the ball and Spencer made a great throw and I got right under it and the rest is history."
The Eagles had a big play of their own. An 83-yard punt return by Demarius Reed put Eastern Michigan ahead 19-14 early in the third quarter. The Golden Flashes reclaimed the lead late in the quarter with a pair of Freddy Cortez field goals.
Kody Fulkerson’s 40-yard field goal two minutes into the fourth quarter gave Eastern Michigan a 22-20 lead.
Fulkerson kicked a pair of first quarter field goals for a 6-0 EMU lead and a 32-yard run by Javonti Green - the Eagles’ lone offensive touchdown - made it 13-0 with 1:50 remaining in the opening quarter.
Dominique Sherrer led the Eagles with 136 rushing yards on 24 carries. Alex Gillett was 8-of-16 passing for 84 yards and two touchdowns.
Kent State got rushing touchdowns from Traylon Durham (18 carries, 52 yards) and Keith in the second quarter to lead 14-13 at halftime.
Comments
berlekamp
Tue, Nov 22, 2011 : 8:11 p.m.
i listened to coach english's radio show last night as usual the QB didn't play well again. when will they ever use the QB the way he is most comfortable and at his best? rolled out play action bootleg etc. etc. they get up then go into they're shell. why not try to keep the defense off balance instead of playing right into they're hand? IS it really that hard to figure it out? If gillett had only thrown the ball 6 inches the other way hoskins would have caught it. that is so lame coach it him in the hands big time players make that catch. ask hoskins if he thinks he should have caught it. when are the coach's going to admit maybe they are to blame for somethings instead of passing the buck. The eagles should have 8 wins right now. it is not all on the players as to why they don't. One more thing the Eagles aern't going to any bowl games soon with this approach.
Billy the Kid
Sun, Nov 20, 2011 : 3:31 p.m.
My family and I made the 3-hour drive to Kent yesterday. Nice stadium and nice folks there in Kent. Unfortunately, EMU committed too many penalties and someone on the EMU staff needs to tell their players that a blocked field goal is a live ball! On the good side, when was the last time EMU had a blocked field goal (albeit gaffed), a blocked bunt and a punt return for a TD? As lumberg states below, EMU is far too conservative with their play calling on offense. The 1st and goal from the one against Ball St (at the end of the game) was a good example. Three straight running plays? Too predictable. What about a naked bootleg? When was the last time you seen a QB bootleg fail? They're infallible, for the most part. Or give it to your fastest guy and let him run to the corner. You seen UM and MSU do it all day long yesterday! And Kent did it twice to us yesterday with perfect success. At the goal line, there isn't much space so you need to spread the defense out. Run to the corners! You have the speed, why not? The point is that you have to fool the defense. And from what I see, for the most part, Eastern's offense plays right into the defense's hands. Play action, Eastern? A reverse? Throw on first down? Eastern finally has the talent but they need to stop making mistakes and their coaches need to get more creative on offense. -kidemu
berlekamp
Mon, Nov 21, 2011 : 12:16 a.m.
amen finally someone gets it. let"s play to our strength which is putting our quarterback in space and let him make plays. Everyone knows what the next play is before it's even ran. Ken Karcher is gonna take Enlish down and he doesn' even get it! How many times can English make excuses for Karcher and his bad calls.
lumberg48108
Sun, Nov 20, 2011 : 2:08 p.m.
Bowl talk was premature weeks ago (not that the coach was talking about it but everyone else was) as this is an average team that is making strides and building ... the fact EMU could have been looking at 8-4 speaks to its improvement but 6-6 was a reasonable goal for the season and that is likely where they will be. They were 5-1 at home and that is great but they obviously need to win games on the road and the coaches need to get out of their 1980s Big Ten philosophy of sitting on a 3-point lead in the second quarter - watching the coaches call plays is like being in a time machine bowls are not the end-all -- conference titles are the goal and if the coaches actually improve with the players, they will get there soon bowl talk, coach of the year -- its all noise
Josh Atkinson
Sun, Nov 20, 2011 : 12:28 a.m.
The score was actually 28-22 <a href="http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/football/2011/game-11.htm" rel='nofollow'>http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/football/2011/game-11.htm</a>
berlekamp
Sun, Nov 20, 2011 : 2:03 a.m.
emus play not to lose insted of playing to win cost them again. they are predictable and have no imagination. they just sit on the ball and let the oppnent back in the game instead of staying aggresive. how do the players embrace the recess i mean the process. the penalties and mental mistakes are the responsibility of the coaches. for example trying to cover the blocked field goal. the coachin staff cost them the b state and kent st games. they continually put the QB in tough situations instead of trying play action on first or second down