Eastern Michigan, QB Brogan McCaughey come up few yards short in 24-20 loss at Ohio

Playing backup quarterback Brogan McCaughey in place of an injured Noah Kim, Eastern Michigan fell a few plays short of ripping off a massive road win at Ohio in Peden Stadium on Saturday evening, instead falling 24-20. 

With fewer than :30 left in the game, Eastern Michigan (4-5, 3-2 MAC) had first and goal from the Ohio 4 yard line but couldn’t get in the end zone, with two incompletions, an intentional grounding, and a final incompletion from the 16 yard line dooming the Eagles in the end. 

“Something I just shared in the locker room is I'm genuinely super proud of our football team, program, coaches, the players,” head coach Chris Creighton said in a brief postgame interview shared by EMU. “That's real. And I'm not supposed to be, I guess, right? After you don't win and you're supposed to turn things over and all that, it's not it. It's not it at all. I love those guys. And they not only fought until the very end, but they believed. That's what makes it so hard.”

McCaughey went 27-of-39 for 197 yards, a touchdown and an interception and six non-sack carries for 25 yards. He completed passes to nine different receivers. 

“Brogan just emerged as the guy who was gonna take the reins for this game,” Creighton said. “And I'm really proud of him. I think he did a really good job against a good football team leading our team and battling. On the ground and in the air. And now really get to coach him off of game tape.”

Eastern Michigan trailed Ohio, 17-13, after the Bobcats had driven for a touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter. EMU went three and out as an offense that mustered only a few field goal drives — the touchdown came via defense — seemed listless in the fourth quarter. But after the Eagles defense came up with a stop, EMU came to life, but first had to get out of the shadow of its goalpost. 

Starting inside the two, McCaughey completed an 11 yard pass to Harold Mack and the offense was off. The drive was keyed by a bold fourth down call, rolling McCaughey out and letting him flip a pass to tight end Tanner Lemaster, which he took for 34 yards to the Ohio 24. 

McCaughey connected with running back Joey Mattord on a wheel route the next play for a touchdown. 

EMU had a 20-17 lead with 3:53 to play. 

Then Ohio returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, setting the final 24-20 margin. 

“We didn't want to start with the ball on the minus-1, but it was an awesome, coming-down-to-the-end, we've-gotta-have-this drive,” Creighton said. “Our guys executed, we did it on the ground and in the air. And finished it off. And we certainly weren't celebrating early. And I haven't seen the iPad or anything like that yet, but it sounds like they bounced it to the field on the kickoff return. We knew he was a good returner. Had a plan for trying to keep it away from him and had to get away from that. So it's a huge play for them.”

Eastern Michigan would mount another drive, getting as close as the Bobcats’ 4, but couldn’t break through for the winning score. 

The Eagles also played masterfully on defense to keep the game so close, holding Ohio to 10 points until :26 remaining in the third quarter. 

Eastern Michigan came up with a sack-fumble, scoop and score touchdown in the second quarter, as Ronn Hardin came up with the sack, dislodging the ball for Aaron Kearse to scoop it up and scoot 25 yards to the end zone. 

And EMU held Ohio to 90 net rushing yards, the first time the Bobcats have been held under 100 yards rushing since 2023. 

“A really good plan, by our staff. And our guys executed,” Creighton said. “We popped a couple gaps and assignments and they got some runs. They're a good football team and know who they are and have a good system. But yeah, our guys, we want to play really smart, really tough and really disciplined and I think for the most part we did.” 

McCaughey notably started in lieu of an injured Kim, and EMU notably also didn’t have available tight end Armaad Sharpe, tackle Samuel Adjin, tackle/guard Cole Powell, defensive lineman Javon Thomas or kickoff specialist Nathan Dibert. Regular starting left tackle Tyler Brumfield didn’t start after being listed as questionable, but did show up in the stats as participating. 

The Eagles did get good injury news, as wideout Nick Devereaux got back in the lineup for the first time since Week 3, coming back from an injury suffered against Wisconsin.

But the borderline-M.A.S.H. unit didn’t give up belief that it was going to get the job done at any point, Creighton said. 

“But again, our guys, shoulders didn't slouch and heads didn't go down,” Creighton said. “We knew we were going to come back and go down the field and win the game and couldn't do it with a field goal. Knew we had to score a touchdown. And we just knew that we were going to do it, so it really, really, really hurts that we fell short.”