EMU offense stutters as Eagles fall 24-3 to Bowling Green State
After scoring 85 points in its previous six quarters, the Eastern Michigan offense stumbled Saturday scoring a meager three points in a 24-3 loss at Bowling Green State. With the loss EMU is now 1-7 (0-4 in MAC play) on the year. BGSU is now 6-3, 4-1 this season.
“When you play a team like this, that is a really sound defensive team. And they’re gonna drop eight in the box consistently and you can’t throw your way out, you’re gonna struggle and that’s what really happened today," said EMU head coach Ron English.
“We still did some good things in the running game, but you’re not going to just keep doing that and score points. Today our quarterback had to be good in the throwing game and he wasn’t. But he’ll learn from that and he’ll get better.”
The lone Eagles points came on a 42-yard field goal from Saline native Dylan Mulder in the first quarter.
After posting back-to-back weeks of 550 yards or more of offense, the Eagles were held to 178 yards of offense. Bronson Hill was held in check rushing for 57 yards on 13 carries.
“If you take the sacks out, we still ran the ball decently. Against that defense we still averaged well over four yards a carry, we just didn’t run it enough times,” English said.
Eastern quarterback Tyler Benz completed 11-of-24 passes for 114 yards and no touchdowns for the Eagles. He also threw an interception to go along with a fumble that was returned for a score by BGSU’s Chris Jones.
“Their front made our guy look like a rookie quarterback,” English said. “There were guys open, he couldn’t find them. He missed a lot of throws. I don’t’ think that they had as much of pressure on him early, but when they got ahead and we had to throw, then they got a lot of pressure on him.”
The Eagles once again were gashed on the ground, giving up 225 yards on the ground. BGSU’s John Pettigrew rushed for 136 yards on 24 carries to lead the Falcons.
Alex Bellfy led the Eagles defensively with 15 tackles on the day.
Bowling Green opened the scoring in the first quarter on a flea-flicker from Jordan Hopgood hit Shaun Joplin for 53-yard touchdown pass.
EMU has a short week ahead as the Eagles travel to Athens, Ohio for a Thursday night game against the Ohio Bobcats. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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