AMHERST, Mass. (EMUEagles.com) -- Five different players scored touchdowns as Eastern Michigan racked up more than 500 yards of total offense en route to a 42-28 win over the University of Massachusetts Saturday afternoon inside McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
The triumph improved Eastern Michigan's record to 2-1 on the season while the Minutemen fell to 0-3.
Senior quarterback Ben Bryant led Eastern's passing attack with 298 yards through the air, tossing one touchdown without throwing an interception.
Senior running back Jawon Hamilton totaled 122 yards to lead the Eagles' ground attack and added one touchdown in the game, picking up 7.6 yards per carry along the way. Freshman Darius Boone Jr. also tacked on 27 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Junior wide out Hassan Beydoun reeled in six catches for 101 yards. Freshman Zach Westmoreland got in on the action in the passing game as well, hauling in two balls for 97 yards and one touchdown. The Eagles also got 73 yards receiving from junior wide receiver Dylan Drummond in the contest.
Freshman T.J. Peavy paced the Eastern Michigan defensive effort, totaling five tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one recovered fumble. Fellow underclassman David Carter Jr. added one interception and junior Grant Trueman had three tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack in the win.
The Eagles won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing two turnovers while coughing the ball up one time, with EMU turning those takeaways into 14 points. The Eastern offense did a good job prolonging drives, converting on 55.6 percent of third-down attempts. The Eagles also went 1-for-1 on fourth down.
How It Happened
Eastern Michigan scored on the game's opening drive to take a 7-0 lead.The Eagles then followed with another score to expand the lead to 14-0.
Eastern Michigan kept building its advantage, scoring again with 11:59 remaining in the second quarter to go on top 21-0.The Eagles continued to extend their lead after UMass closed the gap to 21-7, scoring again to go on top 28-7.
Eastern Michigan kept building its lead after UMass made it a 28-14 game, scoring again with 12:36 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 35-14.The Minutemen then rallied, tallying seven points before the Eagles responded with a touchdown to extend their lead to 42-21. Eastern Michigan didn't score again and UMass added seven more points to finish off the game.
GAME NOTES
» Eastern Michigan won the turnover battle, 2-1, after intercepting one pass and recovering one fumble.
» The Eagles scored first with 12:22 left in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Eastern Michigan had its highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when the Eagles put up 14 points.
» Eastern Michigan converted 5-of-9 third downs, while UMass was successful on 7 of 12.
» Senior Jake Julien punted one time for the Eagles, with an average of 58.0 yards per punt, a single-game career-high.
» Bryant completed 66.7% of his passes on the day, going 14-for-21 while averaging 14.2 yards per attempt.
»In his second-career game, freshman Westmoreland hauled in a game-long 54-yard reception, a new career-long. Two of his three career receptions have been EMU single-game highs in 2021.
»Boone rushed for two touchdowns in the contest. The game is his first with multiple scores in his career. His TD total led the Eagles.
»EMU opponents are now just 3-of-8 (38%) on fourth down conversions (UMass held to 1-of-3). That number is significantly better than last season, when EMU opponents converted 87% of fourth down tries (13-of-15).
»Peavy's fumble recovery as time expired in the third quarter was the first of his career. He added five tackles in the game, the third most of any Eagle.
»EMU's score with 4:07 left in the fourth quarter was its first of the season through the air. The team is one of the final 10 in the FBS (of 130) to throw for a touchdown in 2021.