Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score
Postgame Notes

Bear Shots

YYPSILANTI, Mich. (August 30, 2014) – MSU Football opened the 2014 college football season with a 31-28 setback to the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday night at Rynearson Stadium.
 
Morgan State lost in the debut of coach Lee Hull, but the new era of Bear football is certainly off to a strong start. 
 
"I was excited the whole night," Hull said. "I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be for my first time as a head coach, and my first game playing against a MAC school. I'm proud of my guys. They fought, they played hard and I love the effort. I told them to keep their heads up."
 
Morgan State QB Robert Council had a sensational night by completing 18-of-28 passes for 269 yards and a career-best three touchdowns. He also accounted for 71 yards on 15 carries.
 
"The offensive line did a great job tonight," said Council. "They gave me a lot of time to look and see where my reads were, and I just tried to make the right read and put the ball where it's supposed to be."
 
Hull spoke about the play of his redshirt senior quarterback.
 
"Josh [Council] was the one guy I thought ran the offense the best from spring and fall camp, and he gave us the best opportunity to win in a game, and you could see it today. He played really well and he ran the offense. He was very composed, he scrambled and did some things down the field. He did a great job."
 
Ricky Fisk led the Bears with six receptions for 51 yards. Lamont Brown III had 124 yards on 18 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.
 
Senior linebacker Cody Acker finished the season opener with a career-high 19 tackles, while Delonta Hall posted 16 tackles from his cornerback position.
 
As a team, Morgan State had 479 yards of total offense, but struggled against the Eagles ground attack by giving up 292 rushing yards and 391 total.
 
The Bears marched right down the field on its opening possession. Council engineered a 13-play, 75-yard drive and Lamont Brown III capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run at the 8:08 mark in the first quarter.
 
Eastern Michigan countered with a 75-yard drive of its own. Eagles QB Reginald Bell ran the ball 12 times on the drive, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run by Darius Jackson with 3:06 left in the first quarter.
 
EMU's special teams came up big for the Eagles. Nathan Adams blocked a punt by Lawrence Forbes, and scooped it up in the endzone to give EMU a 14-7 lead with 54 seconds left in the first quarter.
 
The Eagles also blocked a 41-yd field goal attempt by Chris Moller at the 9:58 mark of the second quarter.
 
EMU employed a fast-paced, no-huddle offense and basically ran right at the heart of the Morgan defense all night.
 
Ryan Brumfield scored from 16-yards away, including a hurdle over Peterson Janvier to push the Eagles' lead to 21-7. It marked 21 unanswered points, but the Bears were far from finished.
 
Lamont Brown III turned a timely called screen pass from Council into a 46-yard touchdown down the middle of the field. The score trimmed the EMU's lead to 21-14 with 4:57 left in the half.
 
The Bears defensive pressure picked up late in the half, highlighted by two huge hits by linebacker Donyae Olton – one was a blindsided hit on Bell that caused him to fumble backwards, and another shot was along the sideline early in the third quarter -- it turned out to be Bell's last play of the game.
 
Council led his team to another score just before halftime. He completed an 18-yard pass to Ladarious Spearman, followed by a 15-yard scramble, before tossing a 34-yard TD strike to Landen Malbrough. The extra point by Moller tied the game at 21.
 
In the third quarter, Morgan State took the lead when Council rolled out and connected with Thomas Martin who was wide open in the middle of the field for a 75-yard touchdown. The Bears held a 28-21 advantage.
 
Brogan Roback relieved Bell with 8:08 left in the third quarter. After going 3-and-out on his first drive, the QB led the Eagles on a 10-play, 76-yard drive and capped it with a 7-yard TD pass to Dustin Creel to knot the game at 28-28 w/ 2:04 in 3rd quarter.
 
EMU's defense held the Bears to a rare 3-and-out on the ensuing possession, and the Eagles took over at their own 30 yard line.
 
On 1^st and 10, Roback raced 37-yards into Bear territory. But the Bears defense stiffened, as they held the EMU to a 42-yd field goal by Dylan Mulder. The Eagles to a 31-28 lead to with 13:41 left to play.
 
Morgan State had a shot to tie the game down the stretch, as Council engineered the team down to EMU's 38.
 
The Bears called time out with four seconds to go then brought their field goal unit out to attempt a 55-yarder.
 
Before the snap, Morgan State was called for offsides. Bears kicker Chris Moller didn't come close on a 60-yard attempt as time expired.
 
The Bears return to action against the Holy Cross Crusaders at Fitton Field next Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup. Lee Hull will be making his return to Holy Cross, where he was a wideout under head coaches Rick Carter and Mark Duffner, and coached alongside Dan Allen.
 
Bear Notes
* Coin Toss: Eastern Michigan won toss and deferred

* EMU had a moment of silence in memory of Morgan State student-athlete Marquese Meadow

* Game Captains: #62 Clarence Swain, #55 Christopher Robinson, #24 Nate Ayers, #72 Darren Pinnock
 
* Ricky Fisk had a solid showing in his debut as a wideout finishing with 6 catches for 51 yards
 
* Matthew Thompson started at right tackle for the Bears as a true freshman
 
* Morgan State offense scores on its first drive of the 2014 season

* Lawrence Forbes had a 55-yard punt downed on a the 1-yard line

The Bears' 28 points marked the most scored in a debut by an MSU coach since 1976 - Henry Lattimore began his career at MSU with a 28-23 win at Virginia State (Sept. 11 1976)
 
* Christopher Robinson was in Eagle QB faces for most of the night and finished with seven tackles, a tackle for loss and three QB hurries
 
* The game was halted due to inclement weather in the area and the contest was delayed for 57 minutes until the teams were allowed back on the field with 9:13 to play
 
* The team was even delayed heading back to the hotel after the game as a result of a major accident on I94 ... the Bears sat idle for over an hour in standstill traffic