Eagle defenders chase down an Akron runner during Saturday’s game. Photo by William Tiano for The Pit
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]urnovers are the name of the game when it comes to winning. Unfortunately for the Eastern Michigan football team, they ended up on the wrong side of that battle this past weekend.
The Akron Zips took advantage of a fumble on an early kickoff, jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back on their way to a 47-21 road victory over the Eagles at Rynearson Stadium on Saturday in a Mid-American Conference matchup.
The Eagles (1-5, 0-1 MAC) were led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Brogan Roback, finishing 21-of-32 for 196 yards and three touchdowns, tying a career high.
Senior running back Darius Jackson paced the ground game with 112 yards on 24 carries, while freshman wide receiver Eddie Daugherty caught seven passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Tommy Woodson ran the Zips (3-3, 1-0) offense with efficiency, going 14-for-22 passing for 222 yards and four touchdowns. Akron finished with 500 yards of total offense, including 355 in the first half.
Woodson got things started after finding Imani Davis for a 9-yard strike for a touchdown to give the Zips a 7-0 lead midway thru the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles fumbled the ball deep in their own territory and Akron began their drive from the EMU 22-yard line.
Two plays later, Woodson played toss up on a pass to the corner of the end zone with Jerome Lane came down with the catch to give the Zips a 14-0 lead.
Eastern Michigan would respond though on the following possession as Roback found Austin Stone on a 7-yard pass to close the gap to 14-7 with 2:20 remaining in the first period.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, Akron wouldn’t allow for any hope for a comeback. Woodson would find Lane again, this time downfield for a 39-yard touchdown pass that pushed the Zips lead to 21-7.
EMU would respond however, putting together an 8-play, 78-yard drive, capped off by Roback finding Sam Browning on a 2-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 21-14.
Akron would go on to score 19 unanswered points and closing out the first half with a 40-14 lead.
The Zips kept their foot on the gas, scoring again on a 5-yard run by Conor Hundley that put Akron up 47-14 midway thru the third quarter.
The Eagles would post the final scoring play of the game on a Roback pass to Daugherty for a 41-yard touchdown pass to make it 47-21 with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles will hit the road next week, as they square off against MAC West division rival No. 24 Toledo. Kickoff is set for noon on Saturday.
