Coming back from a 11-point deficit, the Eagles came back to beat the Howard Bison with a final score of 34-24.
Though Tyler Benz threw an early interception, he managed to have a good game. He went 19/26 for 210 yards, a pair of TD (Tyreese Russell for 18 yards & Demarius Reed for 33 yards). As expected, Benz distributed the ball around very nicely. Jay Jones, Reed, and Dustin Creel all had 4 interceptions for 54, 53, 43 yards respectively. They were the leading receivers of the evening.
Bronson Hill rushed the ball very effectively in the second half of the ball game, finishing with 28 carries for 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Remember what I said about Darius Jackson? He had 7 carries for 64 yards with a touchdown.
It looked like the arm tackling and missed assignments were still a problem for the defense, which is why EMU trailed by 11 in the third quarter. They looked lazy to begin the second half, giving up a 32-yard pass and catch from Greg McGhee to Jonathan Booker, but hit the light switch and started playing at a higher intensity, only allowing the Howard offense to go 3/8 on third down conversions in the second half.
Linebacker Sean Kurtz had the play of the game. In the early goings of the 4th quarter, he intercepted a pass from Howard's McGhee and took the ball down to the 15-yard line, which resulted in a touchdown run by Hill. JUCO transfer Willie Creear would also get an interception in the final seconds of the ball game when McGhee tossed up a Hail Mary pass into the end zone.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Howard | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| Eastern Michigan | 0 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 34 |
The Eagles will head down to Happy Valley and face off against the Penn State Nittany Lions this Saturday.