EMU 37-Jacksonville St. 34- OT
YPSILANTI (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University football team scored a thrilling double-overtime victory in its 2024 season home-opening game against Jacksonville State University Saturday, Sept. 15, inside The Factory at Rynearson Stadium as the EMU offense put on its best display of the year in the 37-34 victory. Jesús Gómez (Puebla, Mexico/Prepa Tec Puebla) knocked home a 34-yard field goal in the second extra frame to lift the Eagles to the win and move them to 2-1 on the year while the Gamecocks fell to 0-3.
How It Happened
The game came flying out of the gates as both teams scored on their opening drives, something the Eagles had not done on offense nor allowed on defense through the first two games. With the scored tied at 7-7 following Delbert Mimms III (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis/N.C. State) plunging into the endzone from five yards out, the Eagles doubled their lead to 14-7 as Eljah Jackson-Anderson (Flint, Mich./Grand Blanc) reeled in a 24-yard strike from Cole Snyder (Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern/Rutgers/Buffalo) to give EMU the lead at the end of the first quarter.
Jax State came out in the second and tallied 10 points to take a 17-14 lead, but Eastern responded with a pair of Max Reese (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) touchdowns. First, Snyder hit Reese for a 34-yard strike in the endzone to make it 21-17 before Reese hauled in a pass from Terry Lockett Jr. (St. Paul, Minn./Minnehaha Academy/Michigan State) on a trick play for the 22-yard score. The visitors added a field goal before the end of the quarter to make it 28-20 at the break in favor of EMU.
Following the break, the defenses took center stage as the Eagles managed just a 41-yard field goal from Gómez in the third quarter to make it 31-20. In the fourth, Jax State scored a touchdown early in the stanza and then tied the game with a field goal with 34 seconds remaining in regulation to send it to overtime.
In the first overtime, EMU had the ball first and was held to a 40-yard field goal from Gómez. On JSU’s ensuing possession, the EMU defense stood tall and allowed just a 40-yard field goal to make it 34-34. Jax State came out in the second overtime pushing toward the end zone, but an errant snap from the one-yard line sent the ball back to the 30. Eventually, the Gamecocks missed a field goal try before Gómez was true from 34 yards to win the game for the Eagles.
Game Notes
» The Eastern Michigan offense finished the game with 447 yards of total offense, the most it has recorded since it tallied 459 yards at Kent State, Nov. 16, 2022. Through the air, the Eagles put up 295 yards passing, which ranks as the most since EMU accumulated 298 yards against San Jose State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, Dec. 20, 2022.
» Reese caught the first two touchdown passes of his career, both of which came in the second quarter. On top of the touchdowns, Reese set career-highs in both receptions (four), and receiving yards (64). Additionally, his two receiving touchdowns mark the first time an Eagle has secured two in a single game since Darius Lassiter hauled in two in Eastern’s win over San Jose State in the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dec. 20. Reese entered the game with four total receptions for 32 yards and no scores in his career with Eastern. Reese now leads the Eagles in touchdown receptions on the season.
» Cole Snyder finished the game with two touchdown passes in the win over Jacksonville State. It was the first time this season in which he has thrown multiple touchdowns in a game. Additionally, the effort is his first game with multiple passing touchdowns since Sept. 16, 2023, when he recorded four touchdowns for Buffalo at home against Liberty.
» Cole Snyder was not the only player slinging touchdown passes as Terry Lockett Jr. () got in on the action with his scoring pass to Max Reese in the second quarter, a 22-yard pass to the corner of the end zone. On the play, Snyder tossed left to Lockett Jr. who in turn looked down the field and hit Reese for the score. The play is the first passing attempt for Lockett Jr. and marks the first non-quarterback passing touchdown for Eastern since Samson Evans last year at Toledo, Nov. 8, 2023. On that play, Evans hit Elijah Jackson-Anderson for a 28-yard score.
» Elijah Jackson-Anderson scored his first touchdown of the season as he pulled in a 24-yard pass from Cole Snyder late in the first quarter to stake EMU to a 14-7 lead. His first score of the year, the touchdown also stands as just his second career receiving score after pulling in a 28-yard pass last year at Toledo (Nov. 8, 2023) and his second touchdown overall. He went on to finish the game with 87 yards rushing, which was a major upgrade from his previous bests. Jackson-Anderson entered the game with three carries and six yards total in his three seasons in Ypsilanti.
» The Eagles had 295 yards of receiving and were led by Oran Singleton (Clewiston, Fla./Clewiston/Akron/Hutchinson CC), who finished the game with 89 total yards. It is the second time this season in which he has led the team in receiving yards this season after recording 89 yards in the game at UMass, Aug. 31.
» Eastern Michigan as a team rushed for a total of 152 yards. The effort is the best rushing tally for the Eagles this season, beating a season best of 134 yards at UMass, Aug. 31. The Green and White had more yards rushing on only three occasions last season. Delbert Mimms III and Elijah Jackson-Anderson posted 40 carries for 143 yards on the ground with one touchdown, which Mimms III scored in the first.
» The game opened with both teams marching down the field on their first offensive possessions to score touchdowns. The scores marked the first opening-drive score in 2024 for Eastern after turning the ball over on downs in the first two games of the year. On the defensive side, EMU allowed points on the first drive for the first time in 2024 after forcing punts on the opening drives the first two weeks.
» Eastern carried a 28-20 lead into halftime, which tied for the most points it has scored in a game in the early season after defeating UMass, 28-14, on the road, Aug. 31. The 28 points scored also marked the most scored in the first half for the Eagles since scoring 30 against Howard, Sept. 1, 2023. In that game, Eastern scored 16 points in the first quarter before adding 14 in the second.
» Terry Lockett Jr. caught nine passes against the Gamecocks, setting a single game team high in receptions and his second-highest yardage total with 61 yards. His reception total more than doubled his career total of eight receptions he had entering the game.
» Zach Mowchan (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York) led Eastern Michigan on defense with 15 tackles in the victory over Jacksonville State. The 15 tackles are a career-high for the senior. He had more tackles than his first two games combined of four and seven at UMass and Washington, respectively.
Historical Notes
» With the win, the Eagles moved to 2-1 on the year while the Gamecocks fell to 0-3.
» The Eagles are now 1-1 all-time against Jacksonville State and 1-0 when playing the game in Ypsilanti. Eastern dropped the first game in the series last year, 21-0, at JSU (Sept. 23, 2023).
» Eastern improved to 81-46-5 in its home-opening game and has now won four in a row. Additionally, the Eagles are 9-2 in their home opener under Chris Creighton and, when removing the conference-only COVID season of 2020, Eastern has now won eight consecutive home openers against non-conference foes with the last loss coming Sept. 5, 2015, in a 38-34 setback to Old Dominion.
» The three-point win over Jax State marked the 349th one-score game Eastern has played with the Eagles improving to 177-172 all-time in those contests. Eastern has now won two, one-point games in a row following its double-overtime win against Akron, 30-27, Nov. 14, 2023, at home.
» The victory saw the Eagles even their record in three-or-less point games as Eastern now stands 69-69 all-time. The Eagles, who have won two such games in a row (Akron in 2023), are 15-11 in those contests under Chris Creighton.
» Eastern prevailed in overtime to make it two wins in a row in such contests after defeating Akron in a #MACtion game, 30-27, in double overtime Nov. 14, 2023, at home. Since overtime was instituted by the NCAA, the Eagles are 7-11 in extra-session contests with the past two wins snapping a seven-game skid. When reaching a second overtime period, Eastern is now 3-0 with the first win coming Sept. 28, 2002, in a 48-45 victory over visiting Southern Illinois.
» The game featured two coaches on the current active FBS career wins chart as both Chris Creighton and Rich Rodriguez have tallied over 180 wins in their careers. Creighton is sixth on the chart with 193 wins while Rodriguez is seventh with 181.
Up Next
The Eagles return to action at home Saturday, Sept. 21, when they play host to the Red Flashes of St. Francis University inside The Factory at Rynearson Stadium. The game is set to kick off at 2 p.m. and will be aired live on ESPN+. Additionally, fans can listen to the game live on WEMU (89.1 FM) and The Varsity app with Tom Helmer and Rob Rubick on the call.