Eastern Michigan football (1-1) struggled to defend against the pass as they fell to Missouri (1-1) on Saturday night in Columbia.
The Mizzou Tigers produced 647 yards of offense with 477 of the yards coming through the passing game. The Eagles produced 428 yards of offense, but struggled to translate them to points. Both teams had two turnovers.
“Their passing attack prove to be strong. The long balls and even just the quick game would eat up yards,” said coach Chris Creighton on Missouri’s offense.
The Eastern Michigan defense surrendered 450 passing yards to Mizzou quarterback Drew Lock while also allowing 5 passing touchdowns. The defense allowed 87 and 68 yard receiving touchdowns to wider receivers Ray Wingo and Johnathan Johnson. Running backs Damarea Crockett and Ish Witter combined for 129 rushing yards as the EMU defense allowed 170 total yards on the ground.
On offense redshirt junior Todd Porter threw for 287 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Porter completed 51.1 percent of his passes as he struggled to get the ball down the field. He also contributed 46 rushing yards as well as a rushing touchdowns. Porter found 10 different receivers as junior Johnnie Niupalau led the way with 58 yards on three receptions.
“We’ll go back and watch the film and whatnot, but he was not rattled at all. He ran our game plan, both the run game and the pass game.” Said Creighton on Porters performance.
It appeared in the first quarter that redshirt sophomore Shaq Vann suffered a shoulder injury as he only had one carry. Another redshirt sophomore, Ian Eriksen, ran for 90 yards and a touchdown as he carried the load for Eastern.
“He’s got a great attitude and always comes to work every day, so you knew that once he gets that shot he was going to perform.” Said offensive lineman Cole Gardner on Eriksen’s performance.
Junior Juan Giraldo led the team with 10 tackles and junior Jason Beck added 8 more. Redshirt junior Ikie Calderon and redshirt freshman Brody Hoying each forced a fumble to get Eastern the ball. The team struggled to get to the quarterback as they only had one quarterback hurry.
Redshirt junior Austin Barnes saw the field multiple timed as the punter, punted eight timed for an average of 47 yards per punt.
“For me, I need to work on my direction and fin-tuning my craft.” Said Barnes.
The Eagles look to rebound against the Charlotte University 49ers (1-1) as they travel down to Charlotte, North Carolina on Sept. 17.
