Four Downs: Getting Gassed Out There

If Eastern Michigan was going to have any shot at beating Toledo yesterday, it was going to have to win in a shootout.

The offense, generally, was going to have to be perfect.

Going into the game, I had two players in mind that I thought had to play somewhere between perfect and the best games of their lives against Toledo.

One was quarterback. Noah Kim’s had passable moments, but he’s not tearing defenses apart this season either.

The other position I was looking at was right tackle, because 1. Toledo’s Andrew Zock is a beast, and 2. this spot hasn’t been a strength. Elijha Payne made his second start of the season at the position, and Zock had his way with him. Samuel Adjin has also been in and out of the spot with injuries, and he went down during the Toledo game after he replaced Tyler Brumfield at left tackle, who also left the game to injury.

Zock’s ability to affect Kim’s passing and EMU’s playcalling was significant in its own right, and it prevented EMU from running explosive plays at will.

Before the game, I noted that Toledo was one of the best teams in the MAC at picking up chunk plays (7.8% of plays for 20+ yards) and that EMU’s offense was in the MAC’s bottom half in long scrimmage plays (4.3% for 20+).

Two claps for the EMU defense.

I don’t care about the obvious point you already know. I already spelled it all out for you in my game recap.

This injury bug got to this defense early in the season, and that thing has not stopped biting this unit. Zach Mowchan, who has a history of season-ending injuries, has struggled to play full games, and last did so at UMass. Carter Evans, Rayquan Adkins, Makhi Gilbert: these guys haven’t missed any games, but these starters have clearly been trying to play through a lot of pain.

I could go on and on about EMU’s injury report, but these things are relatable across the sport. Nobody’s roster stays 100% healthy all season long.

But I do, however, want to give EMU’s defense credit for a few stops that it did have yesterday. While Toledo launched explosives at a higher rate, the defense absolutely had moments where it shut down the visiting side’s offense.

First, after Toledo took a 7-0 lead and Andrew Zock’s sack-fumble put his team’s offense back on the field on Eastern’s 15-yard line, the defense stepped up and limited UT to a field goal after it stopped C.J. Miller on back-to-back runs, and forced its quarterback into an incomplete pass on third down.

In the third quarter, after Quinn Fracassi misplayed Toledo’s first punt of the night and Toledo re-took the field from EMU’s 13, Toledo only gained one yard on the new drive before it settled for another chip-shot field goal for three points.

Toledo didn’t have any punts in the first half, but punted four times in the second half.

Then, even though the game was already way out of reach, the defense had a goal-line stand late in the fourth quarter.

Toledo’s Autavius Isom broke off for a long coulda-been touchdown run to convert on a 3rd-and-1 situation, but Rayquan Adkins chased him down from behind and dropped him (and injured himself in the process) at the 2-yard line. From there, EMU’ defense stopped Isom on three run calls (1 yard gained), and silenced John Alan Richter on his QB sneak try for a turnover on downs at the goal line.

The 34 points aren’t pretty, and there are lots of numbers throughout the box score that might make an EMU fan gulp. But EMU’s defense kept a Toledo team that had the potential to score 40 or even 50 points to a more reasonable number.

Quick thought. You know what this 2026 team desperately needs and still hasn’t had yet?

A bye week.

Of course, the growing number of injuries, even at quarterback with Kim’s exit in the fourth quarter and him being listed as “questionable” before the game, is a concerning moment for this team, but EMU seriously hasn’t had a bye week yet, and it’s about to suit up for its ninth game of the year after an early, Week 0 start.

After this upcoming Saturday with a road trip to Ohio (fifth road game of the year), it’ll finally get to have a bye week. And even then, it’s not going to be a full bye week. With Game #10 being on Wednesday, Nov. 4 in Detroit (vs. Central Michigan), EMU will have just a 10-day bye, then will get a 12-day break before its next opponent (at Western Michigan).

Not to make excuses for EMU’s performance yesterday, but from the looks of how the game went, this team probably could’ve used a bye week by now. I don’t know if a bye week could’ve helped EMU get a win yesterday, but nine straight weeks of football games is a lot for any roster to weather.

EMU dropped its first league game with the Toledo loss, and the MAC’s two teams with 3-0 records remain on EMU’s schedule.

Who does everybody have this week?

Ball State gave Bowling Green its first MAC loss yesterday, and Buffalo gave UMass its third straight loss since its 4-0 start to the year. BG and UB are both 2-1 in MAC play now, but I don’t see their contest as one containing two dark horses

The Toledo-Western game is obviously a big one to circle. If Toledo wins that, then it’d have a big tiebreaker over the reigning MAC champs, and the rest of its schedule seems very favorable from there: at Sac State, vs. UMass, vs. BG, and at Ohio.

If Miami’s going to live up to its own preseason expectations, then it’s got some tough opponents still left after its CMU game. Miami still has Buffalo and Ohio to play (at home, though), and gets Kent State on the road before it finishes the year at Western Michigan.