Football Falls in Overtime at Buffalo, 31-30

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team battled to the end, but a failed two-point attempt in overtime was the difference as the Eagles dropped a 31-30 decision to the University at Buffalo Saturday, Oct. 4, inside UB Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y. Dontae McMillan ran for 117 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead an offense that tallied a season-high 227 rushing yards.

How It Happened
After both teams went 3-and-out on their opening drives, the Eagles' offense got rolling and went 99 yards in eight plays as Noah Kim (Centreville, Va./Westfield/Michigan State/Coastal Carolina) found a streaking Nick Devereaux (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice/Davenport) behind the defense for a 45-yard touchdown, the first of Devereaux' career. The drive length tied for the longest in the nation this year with four other teams. The Bulls, however, responded quickly with a 1-play, 75-yard rushing touchdown for a 7-7 score at the quarter break.

In the second quarter, the Eagles regained the lead as they marched 94 yards in 19 plays – the third-longest drive by number of plays in the FBS this season – and devoured 7:07 of game clock with McMillan (Seattle, Wash./Chief Sealth/Weber State) taking a direct snap in from three yards out for the rushing touchdown. The hosts responded once again as they capped a 17-play, 75-yard drive (8:44 used) with a 7-yard touchdown pass to knot the game at 14-all at the break.

EMU regained the lead once again in the third quarter as the Eagles put together another long drive as they went 96 yards over 10 plays in 5:14 of game time as Kim found McMillan on the right side for a 38-yard passing touchdown and a 21-14 lead. But, as they had the previous two times, the Bulls responded with a 75-yard drive that resulted in a 19-yard rushing score for a 21-21 score at the end of the third.

In the fourth quarter, EMU reclaimed its lead with a 42-yard Rudy Kessinger (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) field goal that came after Carter Evans (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) recorded a strip-sack and Warren-Stevens Tayou (Inglewood, Calif./Lawndale/Northern Arizona/West Georgia) recorded his first career fumble recovery at the Buffalo 6-yard line. The Bulls responded with a 50-yard field goal time expired to tie the game at 24 and send it into overtime.

In the first overtime session, the Bulls opened with a touchdown and a point-after to take a 31-24 lead before the Eagles answered with a Kim 1-yard rush, but a failed two-point conversion attempt left the Eagles one point shy of tying the score and falling, 31-30.

Game Notes
» Dontae McMillan finished the game with 173 total yards as he rushed for 117 yards on 20 carries and on score, while adding 46 yards on two grabs with one score. His rushing total was nine yards off his season-high 126 accumulated against Louisiana (Sept. 20) and made him the first EMU back to rush for 100+ yards in multiple games in the same season since Samson Evans collected four in 2022. McMillan also recorded one rushing and one receiving touchdown for the second time in his career after first accomplishing the feat against Long Island (Sept. 6).
» Tavierre Dunlap also recorded over 100 total yards as he collected 79 yards on 23 carries and 23 yards on five grabs.
» The Eagles finished with 227 yards rushing in the game, their highest total of the year, surpassing the 183 yards tallied against Louisiana (Sept. 20). It marked the first game the Eagles have run for 200+ yards since recording 203 at Western Michigan (Nov. 30, 2024) and the most since the Eagles ran for 305 at Arizona State (Sept. 17, 2022).
» Nick Devereaux recorded his first collegiate touchdown as the wide receiver got behind the defense and pulled in a 45-yard pass from Noah Kim to stake the Eagles to a 7-0 lead. Devereaux finished the game with 62 yards on three grabs, both of which were just off his career bests of four catches and 76 yards recorded against Louisiana earlier this season.
» Noah Kim finished the game with 168 yards on 19-of-31 passing with two touchdowns, bringing his career total to seven passing scores, the highest of his career, surpassing the six he tallied with Michigan State in 2023. His two scores tied a season high he set against Long Island and marked the fourth time in his career he has thrown for multiple touchdowns in a game.
» The first scoring drive of the game for the Eagles started at its one-yard line and ended with Noah Kim finding Nick Devereaux for a 45-yard touchdown pass. The 99-yard drive, EMU's longest since its 12-play, 99-yard drive at Akron last year (Oct. 26, 2024) that saw Delbert Mimms III score from one yard out, is its longest of the year, surpassing the 80-yards covered in a touchdown drive at Texas State (Aug. 30) in the season-opening game. Additionally, the Eagles are one of five teams in 2025 to post a 99-yard drive:
99 – Eastern Michigan at Buffalo – 10/4/25 (8 plays, 3:53, TD)
  99 – Arkansas vs. Arkansas State – 9/6/25 (8 plays, 4:16, TD)
  99 – Georgia vs. Austin Peay – 9/6/25 (17 plays, 8:43, TD)
  99 – Temple vs. UMass – 8/30/25 (5 plays, 2:08, TD)
  99 – Wisconsin vs. MTSU – 9/6/25 (7 plays, 3:41, TD)
» EMU's second scoring drive of the game lasted 19 plays and took 7:07 off the game clock as the Eagles covered 94 yards on its way to Dontae McMillan's three-yard run. The 19 plays rank as the third-longest of the season in the FBS behind the 20-play drives by Utah (80 yards, 9:44) and Stanford (85 yards, 9:37).
» Carter Evans recorded his first sack of the season and second of his career late in the game and knocked the ball loose with Warren-Stevens Tayou recording his first career fumble recovery.

Historical Notes
» With the loss, the Eagles fell to 7-6-0 all-time against the Bulls and dropped to 3-3-0 when playing in Buffalo. The Eagles have now lost two consecutive meetings with the Bulls.
» Eastern is now 1-5 overall and 0-2 in MAC play while Buffalo moved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in league action.
» The loss dropped Eastern to 179-177 all-time in one-score games and 1-2 this year.
» Eastern fell to 7-12 all-time in overtime games.

Quoting Creighton
"We had some time to think about that, talk about it as an offensive and a defensive staff. And it certainly wasn't a no-brainer. Sometimes we decide that on Thursday. And this Thursday we did, we said, if we have the opportunity to win it, let's win it. But we often end up saying, let's see how the game's going, right? I mean, if we scored 48 points or if we've scored 10, right? It can be a tie either way. And yeah, I thought we had a good look at it and a good play. And I've got to see it. I was not along the line of scrimmage, obviously, but to see whether the shovel was there, right? Ended up slipping out of his hands, and that was it."

Up Next
Following a two-game road swing, Eastern Michigan returns to home action inside Rynearson Stadium Saturday, Oct. 11, when Northern Illinois University, in its final season as a member of the Mid-American Conference, comes to town for a 1 p.m. contest. The game will stream live on ESPN+. Tom Helmer (play-by-play), Rob Rubick (analyst), Elena Davis (sideline), and Greg Steiner (halftime) will have the call on WEMU (89.1 FM), The Varsity Network app, and SiriusXM.

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Team Stats

Noah Kim

Players Mentioned

Nick Devereaux

Tavierre Dunlap

Carter Evans

Rudy Kessinger

Noah Kim

Dontae McMillan

Delbert Mimms III

Warren-Stevens Tayou

Players Mentioned

Nick Devereaux

Tavierre Dunlap

Carter Evans

Rudy Kessinger

Noah Kim

Dontae McMillan

Delbert Mimms III

Warren-Stevens Tayou

Eastern Michigan Athletics