2008 Week 2

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) - Message to Corey Everson: All is forgiven.

For now.

Everson, whose missed tackle allowed Michigan State to score its only touchdown last week, was back to his old tricks in a 34-14 victory over Tulane on Sept. 13, 2008 in Eastern Michigan's home opener.

Everson took an interception 87 yards to the house to open the scoring. It was Everson's 10th interception and fifth returned for a touchdown in the 14-game history of this dynasty. He has 492 yards in return yardage, taking three of his returns 87 yards or longer.

"If you look at the game film of his return, you'll notice that Corey had someone with sick stick skillz helping him avoid the last tackle on his way to the end zone," EMU coach B-Dawg said. "It wasn't all him. It's good to see a kid respond to a tongue-lashing like the one he got last week. Hopefully, it'll be nothing but love for here on out."

Everson was upstaged somewhat by another EMU cornerback, Lyle Garrison. Garrison officially had two interceptions and one forced fumble, but he had another pick nullified by a pass interference penalty.

Garrison's first interception set up a Sean Dutcher field goal. He had one taken away by a penalty with 58 seconds left in the first half, but just 37 seconds later he grabbed a keeper.

"It's nice to know our defensive backs can still hang on to interceptions, because we've dropped an awful lot of them since I tinkered with my sliders late last season," B-Dawg said. "It appears that they'll feast on weak quarterbacks and struggle more against good ones, which is proper."

Eastern led 17-0 at halftime before attempting to give the game back to Tulane.

An interception by James Dillard was followed one play later by a 22-yard touchdown run by Michael Batiste with 4:52 left in the third quarter, cutting the Hurons' lead to 17-7.

EMU (1-1) helped stem the momentum by moving 51 yards in 11 plays to get Sean Dutcher's second field goal of the game.

The Hurons put the game away on touchdown runs by fullback Brandon Downs and backup halfback Dwayne Harrison just 1:40 apart midway through the fourth quarter.

Tulane got a 69-yard catch and run for a touchdown by Brian Clement with 2:49 left, but red-shirt freshman Marty Cardwell recovered the onside kick to end any hopes for a miracle comeback by the Golden Hurricanes (0-2).

EMU quarterback Tyler Jones was on the mark in the Hurons' short-passing game, going 14-for-18 for 96 yards and a pick.