The Eastern Michigan University football team will have to wait for another chance to become bowl eligible after losing to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, 28-22 Saturday.
Eastern Michigan’s final game of the regular season and last chance for bowl eligibility will be in DeKalb, Ill. against Northern Illinois on Friday for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
“We made too many mistakes to win the game,” EMU coach Ron English said. “We fumbled the ball, had untimely penalties. We’re going to regroup, and we play in six days so we will be ready to play in six days… “We still have one game to play and we’re going to do our best to prepare for that game.”
Dominique Sherrer had 24 carries for 136 yards for EMU against the Golden Flashes and Javonti Greene had six rushes for 43 yards and a touchdown. Kent State quarterback Spencer Keith completed 11 passes on 25 attempts for 173 yards and one touchdown. KSU receiver Tyshon Goode had five receptions for 129 yards and a
touchdown.
Kent State (5-6, 4-3 MAC) came in on a three-game winning streak and was trying to keep its chances of bowl eligibility alive. Eastern Michigan (6-5, 4-3 MAC) was looking to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1987.
On Kent State’s first drive, the Golden Flashes had to start in the shadow of their own goal post. Junior quarterback Spencer Keith was sacked and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by senior lineman Brandon Slater at the KSU 7.
Eastern Michigan was not able to capitalize on the good field position but got three points from Kody Fulkerson’s 27-yard field goal. The next time Eastern Michigan had the ball, redshirt junior running back Sherrer ran three times for two first downs. EMU was stopped and Fulkerson was out for a 44-yard field and converted it to give EMU a 6-0 lead. EMU stopped KSU on defense with senior linebacker Marcus English blocking the punt. Sophomore running back Greene scored on a 32-yard run to give EMU 13 unanswered points in the first quarter.
Kent State answered back in the second quarter with a hand off to KSU running back Trayion Durham for a 3-yard touchdown run set up by Keith’s 27-yard pass to receiver Tyshon Goode. With less than two minutes before halftime, KSU went for a 46-yard field goal that went blocked. EMU appeared to have recovered the football but lost it, giving the ball to Kent State at the EMU 2. Keith called his own number for a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Golden Flashes a halftime lead of 14-13.
The scoring got going with Eastern Michigan’s Demarius Reed returning a punt for 83 yards to give EMU a 20-14 lead. Kent State answered back with a 35-yard field goal to cut Eastern Michigan’s lead to two. The Golden Flashes would take a 20-19 lead, holding it until the end of the third quarter after a 49-yard field goal was good.
Fulkerson had to come out and kick a 40-yard field goal to give EMU a 22-20 lead. Kent State was backed up within its own 10 yard line and quickly scored a touchdown with a 28 yard run by Jacquise Terry and a 70-yard touchdown pass from Keith to Goode to give the Golden Flashes a 28-22 lead with 6:48 left.
Gillett led a drive ending with a pass intercepted in the end zone with 1:47 remaining. KSU would go three plays and out and gave the ball back to EMU with 39 seconds left. Starting on its own 45-yard line, Gillett tried to lead another drive when he passed to Nick Olds, who then went for a forward lateral pass. The officials ruled the pass as a forward lateral and gave EMU nine seconds to work with. All Gillett could do was heave the ball to the end zone, giving Kent State a 28-22 victory.
Material from Kent State’s website was used in this article.
