Michigan MAC Trophy series begins Saturday, pits Drinkall's new-look CMU against Creighton's established EMU

Mt. Pleasant — Two programs on opposite ends of their respective head coaching tenures face off this weekend, with Central Michigan and new head coach Matt Drinkall begin MAC play by hosting in-state rival Eastern Michigan and the co-dean of MAC head coaches, Chris Creighton.

It’s a pivotal matchup for both teams, not only as a rivalry and conference opener, but an important inflection point as Drinkall and Co. hunt for a bowl in Year 1 and Creighton and Co. look to get back to the postseason after a run of three straight trips ended in 2024.  

And heading into the rivalry matchup, which kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Kelly/Shorts Stadium and is the first of three games to decide the 2025 Michigan MAC Trophy, the respective head coaches laid down the praise for their opponent. Creighton complimented the early surge and good vibes that the Chippewas have put on display in a 2-2 start to the Drinkall era. And Drinkall highlighted how Creighton’s fingerprints are evident all over an Eagles program that has enjoyed the most successful era in program history under him. 

“I know Coach Creighton drives a lot of his program on his emotion,” Drinkall said. “He is a hard working, high energy guy. His kids will come out fired up, ready to go. His teams do a really good job in games, whether it's going well for them or they're struggling, they find ways to find pockets of energy and momentum and then keep fighting and then keep playing and it just — you watch them on film, they're incredibly talented.”

“First of all, just seems like their new staff is off to a really good start,” Creighton said. “They've just got a good feel to the program. I don't know how else to say it, being in the same state and certainly appreciate that.”

Pleasantries and admirations aside, these teams both want to win, and for more than just the rivalry. 

For Central Michigan, after the 2-2 start, moving to 3-2 would put CMU in a strong position to make a bowl game with a weak conference schedule. The Chippewas will face UMass, Akron and Kent State, three of the worst teams in the MAC, among a generally light slate. Getting halfway to the six-win threshold before October begins, and with winnable games left on the slate, would have the Chippewas in a prime spot to get to six wins or more.

It’s a similar story for Eastern Michigan, trying to move to 2-3 and not fall behind the eight ball after dropping the first three games of the season. And for the Eagles, success in Mt. Pleasant has been hard to come by. The Eagles have won two of the last three matchups in the rivalry, but both of those wins, including in 2024, came in Ypsilanti. 

But the last time the Eagles came away victorious in Mt. Pleasant was 2011, years before Creighton got hired. Creighton is tied with Miami (OH) head coach Chuck Martin as the longest tenured coach in the MAC, coaching in his 12th season, and has yet to be victorious in Mt. Pleasant. 

He knows how sweet it can be, though.

“I told the guys, I said, in '22, last home game of the season, on Senior Day, we're hosting Central Michigan for a chance to have eight wins in the regular season and to win the Michigan MAC. And it was the best day that I've had here, at home,” Creighton said. “Best win. Just, like you say, personally, it was just — gosh, I even think it was my wife's birthday. It was Senior Day and it was a beautiful day. Our guys played really well and at that point, our guys, in my time here, hadn't hoisted a trophy, right? And taken pictures with the trophy and celebrating out on the field and in the locker room and all of those things. And as a coach, for your team to experience the fruition of all the work and the vision and all of those things, it's an awesome feeling.”

And the rivalry element is real, too, even if it might not be quite as intense as the bitterness between Central Michigan and Western Michigan. And despite the transfer portal making rosters more fluid and shrinking the share of Michiganders on either roster, the nature of wanting to beat an in-state rival hasn’t been diluted. 

The rivalry and trophy are also novel, one of two college football trophies that is played for among three teams. The other is the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, which Army, Navy and Air Force compete for. The Michigan MAC Trophy also thusly can go years without being won if the teams split their matchups and go 1-1, as was the case last year. Western Michigan won the trophy most recently, in 2023, and still holds it.

This all means that the winner on Saturday will have won a trophy game, but won’t get the Michigan MAC Trophy to celebrate with, at least not yet. A win against Western Michigan down the line would still be required. In a lot of ways, Saturday’s game is a semifinal, and both teams will have to wait a while to play the subsequent final. 

“So you've gotta be really careful with all that,” Creighton said. “It's the first time I've ever been in a three-way rivalry situation. It's really cool, it's really unique. But you've gotta do it twice. And it's not like a tournament where the next day, you're playing the next team. You've gotta handle it the right way.”

And as Drinkall and the Central Michigan program welcome an in-state rival into Kelly/Shorts Stadium, the new head coach wants to capitalize on early momentum and high vibes, and pack out the venue. 

He issued a clear call to action to fans, students, staff, and basically the entire population of Isabella County and surrounding areas to be one hand, cheering and pulling for the Chippewas.

“This is the point in time when everyone associated with Central Michigan University now needs to jump on board and pull the rope in the same direction,” Drinkall said. “We need as many fans, faculty, staff members, people in the community, I need 'em at the game, I need 'em cheering like crazy, because it takes everybody pulling the rope in the same direction to get over the hump.”

And no matter the outcome on the field, be it Drinkall’s fledgling program planting an early flag of success or Creighton’s tried-and-true Eastern Michigan picking up a meaningful road rivalry victory, Saturday’s matchup seems likely to set the course for both of these teams for the rest of the season.