East Lansing, Mich. After a disappointing loss to San Jose State last week, Eastern Michigan rolled into Spartan Stadium looking to upset its first of two Big Ten opponents this season.
Highlighted by the homecoming of former Spartan Noah Kim, the Eagles returned to East Lansing looking to hand Michigan State its first loss of the season.
Throughout the program's history, Eastern Michigan, the original green and white, had faced Michigan State 10 times prior, holding an 0-10 record against the Spartans. The teams' last matchup came in 2014, when the Spartans handed the Eagles a 73-14 loss in Chris Creighton's first season as Eastern Michigan's head coach.
The losing trend would continue Saturday as Michigan State downed the Eagles 35-7, with Kim finishing with just 118 yards passing. Losing at Spartan Stadium is not a new feeling for Kim, who lost 12 home games during his time playing for Michigan State. The only difference this time was that his allegiances had changed.
Last week against Toledo, the Spartans found success in their rushing attack, combining for 150 yards on the ground. Eastern Michigan and Creighton made it a point throughout the week that the Eagles needed to establish the run if they were going to have a chance to win.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, Michigan State struck first, opening the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Alessio Milivojevic to Fredrick Moore after forcing an Eastern Michigan punt that was returned to the Eagles' 24-yard line.
The Spartans quickly got the ball back, with their second drive marked by three near interceptions. Michigan State managed to convert a fourth-and-11 with a 19-yard pass, moving the sticks and putting the Spartans back into the red zone.
Eastern Michigan's defense could only slow the advancing Michigan State offense as the Spartans capped the 16-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, doubling their lead.
The Eagles showed signs of life at the end of the second quarter, relying on their rushing attack to carry them down the field. Eastern Michigan went 78 yards in seven minutes, with 67 of those yards coming on the ground.
The drive ended with Kim taking the ball himself for a 4-yard touchdown, cutting the Spartans' lead in half with just under two minutes remaining in the first half.
After the Eastern Michigan score, momentum shifted as the Eagles' defense forced the Spartans to punt with 11 seconds remaining in the half. A 20-yard run by Devin Vaught ended the half for the Eagles, but it also provided another glimpse of how dangerous their rushing attack could be.
Eastern Michigan entered halftime with 107 rushing yards as the Eagles outgained the Spartans 162-143. Unfortunately for Eastern Michigan, it still entered the break trailing by seven with 30 minutes left to play.
Michigan State immediately marched down the field after halftime.
Milivojevic was shaken up during the drive but returned nine plays later, just in time to hand the ball to Cam Edwards, who ran in for a 2-yard touchdown to push the Spartans' lead back to 14 at 21-7.
On Eastern Michigan's ensuing possession, the Eagles focused on attacking the Spartans through the air. They managed to move 35 yards down the field and build momentum before a disastrous fumble stopped the drive in its tracks, giving Michigan State possession at its own 40-yard line.
The Spartans would not waste the free possession. Three plays into the drive, Milivojevic tossed a 38-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver, pushing Michigan State's lead to 21.
The Eagles gave up a 46-yard pass play early in the fourth quarter but received a rare break when Edwards fumbled during a 1-yard run. Safety Jason Marshall recovered the ball, giving Eastern Michigan a free possession and offering the defense some relief as it finally got off the field.
That break would be short-lived.
Just two minutes later, the defense was back on the field with its back against the wall. Three plays later, the Spartans once again found the end zone, going 53 yards in just over a minute to add another rushing touchdown and make the score 35-7.
That score held the rest of the way as Michigan State controlled the ball for the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter, leaving Eastern Michigan with a loss and a 1-2 record.
After winning the rushing battle in the first half, Eastern Michigan was completely outmatched in the second. The Spartans rushed for nearly 200 yards after halftime, highlighted by two touchdowns and a 12-yard run on fourth-and-5 with just 20 seconds remaining.
The Eagles finished with 101 rushing yards, five fewer than their total in the first half. Their passing attack produced just 118 yards on the day, not the performance Kim wanted in his return to East Lansing.
After the game, Creighton discussed what the performance could mean for his offense moving forward after the Eagles showed life in the first half before going cold in the second.
“In a game, not just with RPOs, but the way that the game is going and whatnot, there's gonna be some games where you're throwing the football, right? There's gonna be games where you're running the football,” Creighton said.
“Today is the first time that we were able to, you know, show some life doing both of those things. And so we will just keep working on it, but there will be some confidence, you know, that comes from what the guys were able to do on the ground today. And, you know, we've been working hard at that and haven't seen the production the first two weeks,” Creighton added.
The Eagles will need to quickly recover as they prepare for another Big Ten bout, this time with the Wisconsin Badgers as they go on the road to Madison Sept. 19., as the two teams will meet for the fifth time in their combined history. Once again that game will be focused on the ground game as two run happy teams get set on a collision course
