Football Travels to the Glass City to Battle Toledo

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team begins its 2015 Mid-American Conference road schedule with the first-of-two straight conference games away from Ypsilanti, beginning with the No. 22/25-ranked Rockets of the University of Toledo, Oct. 17. Saturday's contest will be played at the Glass Bowl in Toledo, Ohio with kickoff scheduled for Noon.
   The Eagles (1-5, 0-2 MAC) are coming off of a 47-21 loss to conference foe Akron, while the Rockets (5-0, 2-0 MAC) remained unbeaten on the season with a 38-7 win over Kent State.
   The contest will be televised by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN) with Greg Franke providing the play-by-play and Tom Cole serving as the analyst. WEMU (89.1 FM) will provide audio coverage of the game with Matt Shepard and Rob Rubick calling the action on the field.

RENEWING A RIVALRY WITH THE ROCKETS: Separated by just 50 miles, the Eagles and Rockets will be meeting for the 43rd time in the all-time history between the two squads. UT holds a 31-11 edge in the series, which began in 1923 when the Rockets claimed a 13-0 victory in Toledo, Oct. 6. EMU is looking to break the trend in the series as UT has won the last eight meetings, including 14 of the last 15 contests. The last victory for the Green and White in the series was a narrow 17-13 decision at home, Oct. 21, 2006.

PLAYING TOP COMPETITION: The game against No. 22/25 Toledo marks the second time in the 2015 season that Eastern has squared off against a top-25 foe. The other being when EMU fell, 44-22, at No. 9/8 LSU, Oct. 3.
   Its the second time that EMU has played against two ranked teams in the same year. The other came in 2012 when EMU met No. 21/20 Michigan State and No. 24/23 Northern Illinois.

A YOUTHFUL MOVEMENT: Eastern Michigan has played 29 players who have donned the Green and White in a game for the first time this season. The 29 players include 6 "true" freshmen, 10 transfers (junior college four-year college) and 13 redshirt freshmen. In keeping with the youth movement, EMU has had a total of 12 players earn their inaugural start as a Eagle through the first six games of the 2015 campaign.

ONE OF THE TOP BACKS IN THE MAC: Senior running back Darius Jackson ranks second in the MAC in rushing this season with 585 yards on the ground, good for 97.5 yards a game. This ranks 27th in the country. Jackson has also totaled 54 points on the season. That is second in the MAC and 45th in the nation.

JACKSON OVER THE CENTURY MARK: With his 112 yards on the ground against Akron, Darius Jackson went over the 1,000-yard mark for his EMU career. He is one of at least 25 players in program history to exceed that number. He now has 1,093 rushing yards in his career since joining the EMU football program. The Akron contest was the third time Jackson surpassed 100 yards in a single game during his career.

STEADY EDDIE: Freshman wide receiver Eddie Daugherty had 107 yards receiving against Akron, Oct. 10. This was the third time in his young career that he has gone over the 100-yard plateau in a game. He currently leads the team in receiving yards with 370 yards through the air.
   Nationally, the Mentor, Ohio product is one of just six freshmen to rank inside the top 100 in receiving yardage. He joins Middle Tennessee's Richie James, Texas A&M's Christian Kirk, SMU's Courtland Sutton, Georgia State's Penny Hart and Alabama's Calvin Ridley as the only freshmen on the NCAA's weekly ranking summary.

RED HOT IN THE RED ZONE: Eastern Michigan has been one of the most efficient teams in the red-zone through five games this season, scoring on 17-of-19 (89 percent) attempts, which is good for a tie for third in the MAC and 29th in the country. Fifteen of those scores have been touchdowns for the Green and White.

IBE PLAYS GREAT IN HIS RETURN: After missing the game against LSU, Oct. 3, linebacker Great Ibe returned to the field against Akron the following week and proceeded to lead the team in tackles for the third time this season with a season-best 16 stops.
   He ranks fourth nationally in tackles with 59 on the season, including 36 solo tackles.

NON-QB AERIAL ATTACK: For the second consecutive game, the Eastern Michigan offense used some tricky play calling to get someone other than the quarterback involved in the passing attack. After the two-point conversion from Eddie Daugherty to Brogan Roback against LSU, Oct. 3, Cody Tuttle showed off his throwing skills against Akron, Oct. 10, on a 48-yard strike to fellow tight end Sam Browning. The big play would lead to an EMU touchdown later in the drive, on a pass to Browning from Roback.

FINDING SOME OFFENSE: For someone to say the Eagles' offense has improved would be a major understatement. Eastern Michigan has piled up 178 points and 2,410 total yards in the team's first six contests in 2015. In the first year under offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer's system the offense surpassed the 2,400-yard plateau in the 10th game of the year while collecting its 170th point in the last game of the season. EMU only scored 182 points in all of 2014 to go along with 3,475 yards.

SPREADING IT AROUND: The EMU passing attack has spread the wealth with five different receivers having 15-or-more receptions. EMU is one of just nine schools nationally to accomplish that feat through the first six contests.

# of Receivers with 15 or More Receptions
Six – Cal, Texas Tech, Washington State
Five – Arizona, Arizona State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Wake Forest, WKU
Four – Boise State, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Marshall, Southern Miss, West Virginia

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST THE ROCKETS: Eastern Michigan ended its 123rd season on the gridiron with a 52-16 setback to Toledo at The Factory, Nov. 28, 2014. Tyler Allen saw his name etched into both EMU and MAC record books, becoming the leader in career kick returns with 131, surpassing former Eagle Trumaine Riley for the top spot on both charts. Allen ends his career as not only the career kick return leader, but also the EMU career kick return yardage leader with 2,664 yards, which also ranks second in the conference all-time.

EMU'S LAST WIN OVER TOLEDO: The Eagles' last victory over the Rockets occurred Oct. 21, 2006, when EMU escaped with a 17-13 victory at Rynearson Stadium. With EMU clinging to a 9-7 lead late in the fourth quarter, Toledo missed a field goal that would have put them ahead by one but a personal foul penalty for roughing the center by the Eagles gave the Rockets a second chance that they would take advantage of with a score. UT quarterback Clint Cochran connected with tight end Josh Powell on a four-yard touchdown strike to give Toledo a 13-9 lead with just 3:11 left in the game. On the ensuing two-point conversion attempt, EMU defensive end Kevin Howe forced a fumble by Cochran which was picked up and returned by linebacker Darran Matthews for two points to cut the Rocket lead to 13-11. Trumaine Riley then returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to the EMU 46-yard line. The Eagles put on a game-winning march, going 54 yards in five plays capped off by an 18-yard touchdown run by Pierre Walker with 36 seconds remaining to give the Eagles the come-from-behind victory.

EMU LOOKING TO END THE STREAK IN THE GLASS CITY: The Green and White's last victory at the Glass Bowl came Oct. 23, 1999, when Walter Church guided EMU to a 20-13 upset of UT. In that contest, Church threw for 210 yards on 20-of-29 passing, while Lincoln Dupree recorded a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown just before halftime that proved to be the difference in the seven-point decision.

HUSKIES AWAIT: Eastern Michigan remains on the road next week when they head to DeKalb, Illinois to square off against MAC foe Northern Illinois. NIU holds a 29-14-2 advantage in the all-time series, and have won the last seven meetings.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tyler Allen

Sam Browning

Eddie Daugherty IV

Great Ibe

Darius Jackson

Brogan Roback

Cody Tuttle

Eastern Michigan Athletics