Despite career games from Brogan Roback and Ian Eriksen, the Eastern Michigan University football team dropped a heartbreaker to the Army Black Knights 28-27 Saturday Oct. 15.
With less than a minute to go, EMU scored a touchdown to go down one. However, the two-point conversion attempt was stopped by the defense to give the Eagles their fourth straight loss of the season.
The offense was the strong point of the game for the Eagles, as it put up 364 yards of total offense, including a season high of 135 yards rushing. Junior Ian Eriksen finished with 107 yards on 20 carries, marking the third 100-yard game of his EMU career, as well as putting him over 1,000 career rushing yards for the Clarkston, MI native.
Senior Brogan Roback finished with 227 passing yards on 19 of 27 attempts for a 70% completion percentage. He also had 4 Touchdown passes to move him ahead of E-Club Hall of Fame Quarterback Walter Church for second all-time in school history.
“It was a really good football game obviously, and congrats to Army on a really hard fought and well-played game,” EMU Head Coach Chris Creighton said. “
The defense had its hands full with Army’s vaunted triple option rushing attack all day long. The black Knights rushed for 413 yards, not completing a single pass through the air (0-for-5). Vince Calhoun and Kyle Rachwal had 12 and 11 tackles respectively for EMU. Senior Jason Beck also finished the game with seven tackles, putting him over 300 for his career.
“They’re a tough out and they’re really good at what they do, “Creighton said in response to a question about the defense’s attempt to neutralize the triple option. “Our guys were going to play assignment sound and obviously not playing our normal defense. But when they just bleed you for 3 or 4 yards and obviously they get some chunk plays too, and go for it on fourth down, they’re a well-oiled machine. Hats off to them.”
The Eagles return home to face off against division rival Western Michigan University for the 97th Homecoming game Saturday Oct. 21 at Rynearson Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
