Eastern Michigan improves to 3-1 on . . .
"It's adversity. Without adversity, it (EMU) doesn't make a great team," said Sexton, adding "It comes down to execution."
Sophomore Quian Williams enjoyed a career day for the Green and White, setting personal-bests with eight receptions for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Senior Arthur Jackson III's lone catch resulted in a 48-yard touchdown, while sophomore Hassan Beydoun made three catches for 45 yards and one touchdown. The score was the first-career for Beydoun.
Junior Willie Parker led the ground game with nine carries for 51 yards, while Glass ran 10 times for a total of 16 yards.
The Eagles outgained CCSU, 373-346, and extended drives throughout the afternoon by going 3-for-4 on fourth-down conversions. On the defensive end, senior Kobie Beltram finished with 12 tackles and a fumble recovery, while fellow senior Vince Calhoun contributed 10 tackles, including one for-loss, and a sack.
CCSU received the ball to begin the contest and found the end zone on its opening series, marching 75 yards on 11 plays in a 6:17 span. The Blue Devils were successful on their first two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead early on.
The Eagles bounced back on their first drive of the afternoon, needing fewer than three minutes to produce a touchdown of their own, when Glass lofted a 48-yard dime to Jackson, who had no trouble blowing past his coverage to make the catch in stride and trim the deficit to 8-7 with 6:02 remaining in the first period.
The Blue Devils restored their eight-point lead when junior Tyshaun James used runs of seven and 10 yards, respectively, to reach the end zone and widen the margin to 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Two plays later, Glass found Williams wide open on the right side of the field for a 25-yard touchdown pass to get the Green and White within a pair, 15-13 with 3:12 to go in the first half.
The Eagles managed to grab their first lead of the afternoon with 30 seconds remaining in the half. Parker's 11-yard run marked EMU's second successful fourth-down conversion, and Glass followed up by throwing a quick slant to Beydoun for a 21-yard touchdown pass to give EMU a 19-15 edge.
The Green and White opted to go for two and succeeded when senior Line Latu finished off a perfectly-executed reverse to make it a 21-15 contest.
Both sides traded three-and-outs to begin the second half, as the EMU defense held CCSU to just 25 yards of offense during a scoreless third quarter. In total, the Eagles have kept opponents off the board during the third quarter in 10 of the last 17 games.
Shortly after Williams made a 21-yard catch for his second receiving touchdown of the game, Ryland's extra point attempt sailed through the uprights and extend Eastern's lead to 28-15.
The Blue Devils refused to go away despite the scoreline, adding a one-yard touchdown run to cut EMU's lead to 28-22 with 8:20 left in regulation. Though the Eagles' defense recovered to force a turnover on downs with 5:23 on the clock, CCSU regained possession and snatched a 29-28 lead on a 68-yard strike with 2:05 to go in the final frame.
To finish the game and claim the win, Sexton returned a blocked punt 30 yards to push the Eagles past the Blue Devils, 34-29.
With the win, the Green and White improve to 77-45-5 all-time in their home openers and 5-1 under head coach Chris Creighton. EMU will now enter a bye week before starting Mid-American Conference play in Mount Pleasant, Mich. against Central Michigan University, Oct. 5.