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After two games on the road, Eastern Michigan is heading back home. They will take on the Ball State Cardinals at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Given that the pair suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Last Saturday, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Eastern Michigan had to settle for a 26-23 defeat against Central Michigan.
Despite the defeat, Eastern Michigan got a solid performance out of Austin Smith, who threw for 186 yards and a touchdown while completing 76.9% of his passes, and also rushed for 71 yards.
Meanwhile, Ball State scored first but ultimately less than Western Michigan in their matchup on Saturday. The matchup between both teams wasn't a total blowout, but with Ball State falling 42-24 on the road it was darn close to turning into one.
Even though the team lost, they still saw several impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Layne Hatcher, who threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns. Those 316 passing yards set a new season-high mark for Hatcher. The team also got some help courtesy of Qian Magwood, who picked up 110 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Eastern Michigan has been struggling recently and they've lost three of their last four games. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's lackluster offensive performance: across that stretch, they only averaged 12 points per game. Ball State's loss on Saturday dropped their record down to 1-4.
Not only did Eastern Michigan and Ball State lose their last games, neither team covered either. Looking ahead, Eastern Michigan is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by two points. For those looking to play the spread, watch out: Ball State is playing as the underdog, but their 0-4 record against the spread as such isn't exactly encouraging.
Eastern Michigan didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Ball State in their prior recent meeting last October, but they still walked away with a 20-16 victory. Thankfully for Eastern Michigan, Carson Steele (who rushed for 101 yards, and also picked up 57 receiving yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check CBSSports.com after the match to find out.
