Year 4 (2014), Game 12, Akron at #18 Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan junior halfback Robert Thomas breaks free of defenders on his first quarter touchdown / Redshirt sophomore Brian Parks lunges for the endzone on his game tying score in the fourth quarter.
Paying a High Price: Eastern Michigan Loses Star Tailback in 31-28 Victory
Junior HB Thomas breaks collarbone ending season; will most likely require surgery | Kicker Larry Taylor hits game winner as time expires to complete two score comeback | Eastern Michigan finishes ten win regular season and will now wait to see what bowl season holds.
AP Ypsilanti – Eastern Michigan K Larry Taylor drilled a 20-yard field goal as time expired to help the Eagles complete a two score comeback to win 31-28 over a surprising Akron team. The win came at a heavy price for Eastern Michigan as they saw their star, HB Robert Thomas, leave the game in the second quarter with what was later confirmed as a broken collarbone. The injury will end Thomas's season and prevent him from playing in the team's bowl game. This is the second time in just over a year that Thomas has broken his collarbone. There has been no word on how this injury might affect any plans of his to declare early for the NFL draft.
Fallen Star: Eastern Michigan will be without the services of Robert Thomas after the junior tailback suffered a broken collarbone on this hit from Akron safety John Gore.
Eastern Michigan would score on their opening drive as Thomas punched in a one yard touchdown run. This would be the only lead of the game for the Eagles until the clock struck zero. Following the opening drive touchdown, Akron would start to showcase their own ground game led by QB Kely Pohl. Despite a very mediocre day through the air, Pohl would score twice on the ground.
After Akron would jump out to a 14-7 lead, following two rushing scores, the Eagles would answer back with a 7-yard score from HB Brian Parks. Parks, who is now the lead back, ran for 157 yards and two scores in the victory. Momentum would swing just before the half as Eagles QB Mark Iannotti would throw a costly interception deep in his own territory to set up a third Akron score. Iannotti has now thrown eight interceptions in the last three games. Akron would take a 21-14 lead into the break.
The Akron ground game would continue to pound the Eagles in the second half as HB Marvin Staten punched in a one-yard score to widen the Zips lead to 14. Eastern Michigan would match the score later in the third quarter as Iannotti connected with TE Paul Hall on a diving six-yard slant pattern. Akron entered the final quarter holding a 28-21 lead.
A Scramblin' Man: Despite shutting down Akron quarterback Kely Pohl through the air, the Eagles had no answer for his legs. Pohl scrambled for 30 yards and two scores.
Eastern Michigan would seize momentum midway through the fourth quarter as Parks got his second rushing touchdown on the day, on a fantastic diving play. Following two firm stands from the Eagles defense as they finally clamped down on the option play calling. Parks would snag several key first downs to set up a game winning field goal from Taylor as time expired to give the Eagles a 31-28 victory. The finish mirrored last season's matchup between the two Mid-American conference foes, in which Taylor hit a game winning 47-yard field goal to lift Eastern Michigan to a 44-41 win.
"It is devastating to lose Robert (Thomas). There is no secret that he is the heart and soul of this team. To be without our top two tailbacks now really affects our offensive game plan." -- Eagles Head Coach Dan Clayton
Akron finishes the season with a 4-8 record under first year head coach John Skladany. Skladany has one year of head coaching experience prior to this, spending the 2013 season leading Ball State. This is the best finish for the Zips since 2008.
Eastern Michigan will finish up their regular season 10-2 on the year. They will have to await the results of the final week of football along with the conference championship games before knowing their destination for bowl season. They are currently ranked #16 in the coaches poll and #17 in the BCS. This is the third season under head coach Dan Clayton that the Eagles have finished with double digit victories.
(EMU) P. Hall 6 yd pass from M. Iannotti (L. Taylor kick)
28
21
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING
AKR
EMU
3:52
(EMU) B. Parks 3 yd run (L. Taylor kick)
28
28
0:00
(EMU) L. Taylor 20 yd FG
28
31
Akron Zips
PASSING
C/A
YDS
TD
INT
K. Pohl
9/21
126
0
0
RUSHING
ATT
YDS
AVG
TD
M. Staten
8
47
5.8
1
K. Pohl
6
30
5.0
2
K. Bostick
5
41
8.2
1
RECEIVING
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
A. Ritossa
3
42
14.0
0
A. Smith
2
27
13.5
0
A. Porter
2
20
10.0
0
G. Gold
1
34
34.0
0
M. Staten
1
3
3.0
0
BLOCKING
PANCAKE
SACK
--
--
--
DEFENSE
TACK
SACK
INT
TD
J. Gore
11
0.0
0
0
N. Rossi
5
0.0
1
0
L. Pettit
3
1.0
0
0
KICKING
FG
XP
PTS
LONG
A. Fox
--
4/4
4
--
PUNTING
NO
YDS
AVG
IN20
A. Fox
3
142
47.3
0
KICK RETURN
RET
YDS
AVG
TD
J. Gore
2
50
25.0
0
PUNT RETURN
RET
YDS
AVG
TD
J. Gore
1
21
21.0
0
Eastern Michigan Eagles
PASSING
C/A
YDS
TD
INT
M. Iannotti
9/18
77
1
1
RUSHING
ATT
YDS
AVG
TD
B. Parks
28
157
5.6
2
R. Thomas
14
83
5.9
1
E. Brown
12
66
5.5
0
M. Iannotti
2
1
0.5
0
D. Brooks
1
8
8.0
0
RECEIVING
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
P. Hall
3
13
4.3
1
J. Phillips
2
24
12.0
0
R. Johnson
2
22
11.0
0
E. Kennedy
1
15
15.0
0
B. Parks
1
3
3.0
0
BLOCKING
PANCAKE
SACK
P. Hall
1
0
DEFENSE
TACK
SACK
INT
TD
J. Hicks
4
0.0
0
0
D. Tyson
3
0.0
0
0
A. McDaniel
3
0.0
0
0
KICKING
FG
XP
PTS
LONG
L. Taylor
1/1
4/4
7
21
PUNTING
NO
YDS
AVG
IN20
K. Fulkerson
1
42
42.0
0
KICK RETURN
RET
YDS
AVG
TD
R. Johnson
5
104
20.8
0
PUNT RETURN
RET
YDS
AVG
TD
R. Johnson
3
30
10.0
0
2014 Eastern Michigan Schedule/Results
Code:
Opponent (record) Result Record
---------------------------------------------------
vs Purdue (0-1) W 38-31 1-0
at Florida (1-0) L 20-37 1-1
vs Oregon State (1-1) W 21-10 2-1
at Michigan (0-3) W 35-28 OT 3-1
vs Central Michigan (0-4) W 49-13 4-1
at Ball State (2-4) W 59-17 5-1
at Western Michigan (4-3) W 45-38 6-1
at Ohio (1-7) W 20-10 7-1
vs Northern Illinois (5-4)W 59-24 8-1
vs Toledo (9-1) L 17-38 8-2
at Kent State (8-3) W 38-17 9-2
vs Akron (4-8) W 31-28 10-2
Re: A Rising Storm in the North | Cheese's Eastern Michigan Dynasty
Just noticed the new game report font...love it. It is very sharp and more modern-looking; it especially goes good with the new level of picture quality.
Happy for the win obviously, even though it came much closer than expected. I'm sure it was fun though, getting a close game against a lowly opponent.
Terrible, terrible loss with Thomas going down. He's been your bread and butter. However he may just be a product of Coach Clayton's system. The next man up will do more than fine.
Only 1 turnover and 12 of 14 on third downs and it still went down to the wire versus the Zips...that's concerning.
Good luck with the bowl bid!
EDIT: Maybe I was seeing things, but now the font is back to normal. Did you change it back?
Re: A Rising Storm in the North | Cheese's Eastern Michigan Dynasty
Great win to finish off the season but it's a real shame that you lost Thomas for the bowl game. Hopefully Parks will be able to fill in for that one game. Your system is super beneficial to running backs so you have that going for you.
Maybe the broken collarbone will be enough to convince Thomas to stay another year.
Re: A Rising Storm in the North | Cheese's Eastern Michigan Dynasty
Congrats on your 3rd double digit win season. That's a big accomplishment for EMU!
Tough break for Thomas. I guess now there's a question of durability if he does declare for the draft. Maybe he decides to return to prove he can make it through a whole season? That's a big risk though. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Great job as always cheese!
Re: A Rising Storm in the North | Cheese's Eastern Michigan Dynasty
Wow, what a bummer to lose Thomas. Like Geezy said, your system is the driver of Thomas' numbers but it really is tough to lose your top dog after losing your No. 2 back earlier in the year. Still, gotta persevere!
Re: A Rising Storm in the North | Cheese's Eastern Michigan Dynasty
Bittersweet victory you have there. Sucks to lose Thomas especially for the upcoming bowl game, but a 10 win season is nothing to scoff at because you beat some Power 5 teams along the way. Good luck!
Also, my coordinator is doing a good job, but as always, the offense couldn't come through. Kinda like Boston College this year IRL.