Entering Week 0 vs. Sacramento State, 3 big questions for Eastern Michigan
EMU enters the season a week ahead of most foes, and with plenty of questions still to answer as the games begin.
Ypsilanti — Eastern Michigan plays a football game on Saturday, one of a handful of programs nationally that will begin play Week 0.
The Eagles are hosting Sacramento State, a brand-new Mid-American Conference foe, at 6:30 p.m. at Rynearson Stadium in the respective season opener for both teams. It’s a matchup with plenty of unknowns, both in terms of what the visiting Hornets might do and how Eastern Michigan will look after an offseason of tinkering and refinement.
Can this defense rush the passer?
Eastern Michigan finished No. 126 nationally among FBS teams in sacks accrued in 2025, with 14 in 12 games. At one point EMU went several weeks without logging a sack. It was a troubling trend that fit in with a defense that struggled as a whole.
Along with producing takeaways, there’s a definite aim to produce more backfield production for the defense.
“One thing the coaches have done for us is made it so that we can play fast and physical, so that we can get to the ball more, we can get to the quarterback, we can make plays like that,” linebacker Zach Mowchan said.
How Eastern Michigan exactly gets after the passer remains to be seen, as the new co-defensive coordinators and their play calling desires and tendencies remain to be seen in live action, but it sounds like the Eagles have various clubs in their bag.
But beyond getting exotic with blitzes or pressure packages, something players and coaches are generally mum on, the Eagles are feeling like they have the goods to be impactful on the defensive front.
One note out of spring is that this defensive scheme involves a lot more of the defensive line shooting gaps upfield to get into the backfield and wreak havoc. Regardless, there’s a confidence that an EMU defense that struggled to produce impactful backfield plays in 2025 won’t be hamstrung in 2026.
“We got dudes that can go get the quarterback and go get the ball,” Mowchan said. “We got guys that are going to be, you know, destroying the line up front, plugging gaps. Yeah, so I have all the confidence in the world in the guys up front.”
Does the offensive line come together?
Eastern Michigan survived a spate of offensive line injuries in the spring and the group is in a much healthier state as the season arrives.
“It's gotten better here towards the end of camp, for sure,” Creighton said. “We've gotten some of those guys back healthy and getting wraps and then there'll be some guys that are going to continue to be on the mend. You know, two of those guys, we've known about. So that's — we're in better shape now than we than we were a couple weeks ago.”
The depth chart Eastern Michigan released on Monday lists the following starters: LT Tyler Brumfield, LG Guzzy Kayed, C Nic Gallegos, RG Cole Dellinger, RT Tyler McMillan.
But that group has also repped Dennis Strey Jr., Samuel Adjin, Cole Powell and Richardo Wourman, among others, though camp.
In general, there’s a belief that the offensive line group is trending in the right direction as the season hits.
“I think that if we communicate and have great fundamentals, we will win games,” Gallegos said. “So I think that's the best thing about our OL.”
Who steps up at running back?
Dontae McMillan put together a fantastic season for the Eagles in 2025. Can someone else step up and do the same this year?
It’s probably not likely any of the Eagles’ running backs are quite the dual-threat that McMillan was, but both Amareon Blue and Joey Mattord are listed as co-starters and Braydon Bennett, a transfer from Virginia Tech (and before that Coastal Carolina), should be in the mix, too.
Mattord seems like he has the best versatility as a pass catcher coming out of the backfield, but he’s of a generally slighter build at 6-feet, 192 pounds.
Blue, a 5-foot-6, 195 pound back has more of the compact, bowling ball build at his height and Bennett is the big one of the trio, at 6-foot-1, 212 pounds.
The Eagles will need one, preferably two of those backs to grow into bigger roles to round out the offensive equation.
