Ohio was forced to punt early on in the third quarter from Eastern's 34 yard line and backed the Eagles up to start the drive from the 1-yard line. A few tough runs by Bronson Hill and a much needed 3rd down catch by Dustin Creel to keep the chains moving was the setup for a big scoring drive. First and ten on the EMU 38-yard line, Tyler Benz found Tyreese Russell downfield on the hash marks to his left for a 62 yard pitch-and-catch score to complete the 99-yard drive in 7 plays, evening out the score at 21 a piece.
It's funny how one costly mistake can change the whole direction of how a football game is going to go, isn't it? Well, that mistake was Benz's first interception of the game.
The 'Cats offense was held to a 3-and-out the very next drive, forced to punt with all of the momentum on EMU's side. Driving all the way back to the Ohio 4-yard line, Benz rolled out the the right, missing an open receiver in the end zone and threw an interception to Devin Bass. Ohio's very next play was an 80-yard pitch-and-catch from Tyler Tettleton to Chase Cochrain.
Benz would later throw a second intreception later in the quarter to Xavier Hughes, which would end Benz's day and sent Brogan Roback onto the field for the next couple of drives.
This all led to a snowball effect, giving Roack and Mark Ianotti a little bit of playing time under center for Eastern Michigan as well as JD Sprague for the men in black.
Tettleton had himself a day. He completed 23 out of 30 passes for 375 yards with four touchdowns and an interception, but that didn't really have a big negative effect on the scoreboard. I mean, a blowout's a blowout. I doubt the guy's going to lose sleep for not getting that fifth touchdown pass. His main target, Donte Foster, exceeded all expectations for his single-game accomplishments. Foster caught 11 passes for 143 yards with a long of 44 and a touchdown.
As for Hill, he led the way for the Eagle offense. 23 carries for 258 yards and a touchdown. Benz finished the day throwing 12-for-22 for 151 yards in the air, 11 on the ground, with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Creel had five receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown.