Pinned
Link copied
3rd Quarter Report
South Alabama already has more points against Eastern Michigan than they managed in total against Texas State back in November. South Alabama has a bit of a cushion as they currently lead Eastern Michigan 59-3.
If South Alabama keeps playing like this, they'll bump their record up to 7-6 in no time. On the other hand, Eastern Michigan will have to make due with a 6-7 record unless they turn things around (and fast).
Preview
The Eastern Michigan Eagles and the South Alabama Jaguars will square off in the 68 Ventures Bowl at Hancock Stadium 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Coming in fresh off a victory as the underdog, Eastern Michigan will stroll into this one as the favorite.
Even though Eastern Michigan has not done well against Buffalo recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way back in November. Eastern Michigan came out on top against Buffalo by a score of 24-11. The win made it back-to-back wins for Eastern Michigan.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Eastern Michigan to victory, but perhaps none more so than Austin Smith, who rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 141 yards and a touchdown. Eastern Michigan also got a significant boost from Samson Evans, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 127 yards.
Meanwhile, it looks like South Alabama got the smaller half of the wishbone at Thanksgiving dinner. They took a 52-44 hit to the loss column at the hands of Texas State back in November. South Alabama didn't live up to their potential and found themselves falling short of the advantage oddsmakers thought they had coming into the game.
South Alabama's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Desmond Trotter, who threw for 216 yards and four touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes, and DJ Thomas-Jones who picked up 56 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Braylon McReynolds, who gained 149 total yards.
Even though they lost, the Jaguars dominated in the air and finished the game with 399 passing yards. That's the most passing yards they've managed all season.
The victory got Eastern Michigan back to even at 6-6. As for South Alabama, their defeat dropped their record down to an identical 6-6.
