Notebook: 2 injury notes, Lance Taylor's Dillon Moore praise, Jaion Jackson ejection fallout

There is lots to catch up on ahead of Week 2, with all five teams from the Mitten in action, including a head-to-head matchup in Spartan Stadium, with Eastern Michigan traveling to face Michigan State.

Dig in to some quick hits across the state, and from the Big Ten, as game day approaches, with notes on few injuries to key defenders, on a couple MAC defenders after notable performances (one good, one not so good), and how MSU is sizing up the Eagles' offense.

The Big Ten is expanding TV replay look ins to all games

So now if a game is at a Big Ten venue and using Big Ten officials, even if it’s a non-conference game, the video and audio feed of the replay officials will be accessible to the television broadcast, according to CBS Sports’ Richard Johnson. The Big Ten later issued a release about this change. 

This, of course, comes on the heels of the clock fiasco Saturday night in Ann Arbor. 

On Tuesday, a memo was sent out to NCAA schools from a rules editor that clarified, in the case of a clock discrepancy, that the “program feed” or clock being shown on TV, should be the deciding one, not the non-embedded one in the replay feed, as was used on Saturday night. 

While nothing is going to change the outcome, it’s looking like the MAC had a salient point in its appeal about the protocol being misapplied in allowing a second to be added back on the clock. 

At least now, though, the Big Ten and other powers that be are taking steps to increase transparency and improve the process. 

EMU LB Barry Manning likely out vs. MSU, beyond

Manning apparently got injured on a punt in the first half, and head coach Chris Creighton shared a less-than-ideal prognosis on the linebacker. 

“He got hurt on a tackle on punt,” Creighton said. “And, you know, doesn't, doesn't look good for him. So yeah, that was not great news for Barry.”

Manning originally was a defensive back playing largely safety for EMU but moved to linebacker in 2025, and was among EMU’s starters on defense in 2026. 

Manning had 10 total tackles across EMU’s first two games. 

CMU LB Victor Earl sidelined by knee sprain

Central Michigan got out of its Week 1 loss healthy, but linebacker Victor Earl did suffer a sprained knee, head coach Matt Drinkall said. 

Earl, who was among the starters listed on the depth chart, won’t need surgery, Drinkall said, but will be out for a number of weeks. 

“PCL, LCL sprain, no surgery, but will be out a couple weeks for sure,” Drinkall said. 

Lance Taylor’s high praise for linebacker Dillon Moore

His interception shortly before halftime is the highlight of his debut 2026 performance starting at linebacker for Western Michigan, but Dillon Moore was all over the field on Saturday night in Ann Arbor. 

Moore led the Broncos with six total tackles, including getting in for half of the lone sack the defense came up with on the night, to go with his interception that set up a field goal right before halftime. 

“He leaned into, you know, helping himself grow,” Taylor said. “Now he's got his degree from Western Michigan, and he just had one of the biggest games on national television, you know, with the world watching. I mean, that interception at the end of the first half, that's preparation. That's film study. He was able to jump that route and intercept the ball, and he's half a shoe size smaller from having a pick six in that game, than just, you know, having to kick a field goal. But just really proud of how he played, his leadership has really shown through.”

And more than his performance on Saturday night, Taylor praised Moore for sticking it out at Western Michigan through some real trials and tribulations. 

“I think we have special people at this university, and in this program,” Taylor said. “Dillon Moore is a special person. He's always got a special place in my heart, in particular, because, you know, he's had some — he's faced some disciplinary actions, and some things that I've had to be hard on him and he's had to grow and really look himself in the mirror and decide whether he wanted to be here and wanted to come back, and he did. And what you saw on Saturday night was a young man who didn't always think the grass was greener on the other side. Didn't, at the first, at the first sight of adversity, or not getting what I wanted, go somewhere else, because it would be an easier and easier path. He leaned into adversity, he leaned into hard things.”

Taylor ultimately had some extremely high praise for the linebacker, who also endured some injury troubles in 2025. 

“Dillon Moore is the most improved player in our program,” Taylor said. “I said this to our team, said this to our staff, I've said this to our leaders, and now saying it publicly. Dillon Moore is why you get into coaching. And you talk about the growth and maturity and how much he's changed. Not only is — I'm not even talking about football, OK, right now? I'm just talking about as a human being.”

Drinkall addresses Jaion Jackson ejection

Jaion Jackson, a starting cornerback for Central Michigan and one of the few returners on defense, got ejected from Saturday’s opener for picking up two personal foul penalties, leading to his ejection. 

Jackson will sit out the first half of CMU’s opener and not serve as a captain, Drinkall said, and the two have had productive conversations and Jackson also addressed the team about the matter. 

“He is awesome,” Drinkall said. “We are both on the exact same page. He spoke to the team and the staff and aggressed it. He is — I'm the least of his concerns. His mom got a hold of him before me, and I am the least of his worries. So you don't have to worry about — he doesn't have to worry about me. I'm trying to save him. But he is our team captain. He will not serve as team captain this week, and he's actually going to set the four half of the Colgate game. And he understands, like, I just, we can't have that in our program. There's no place for it. He understands it.”

Drinkall also noted he doesn’t find either of the individual penalties to be particularly egregious. 

The first, Jackson and a receiver he covered on a play started jawing and officials threw offsetting penalties. Drinkall viewed that as a bit officiating game control, just signalling to both teams to cool their jets. 

The second, with Jackson getting flagged for taunting for apparently standing over a player too long after forcing an incompletion, is one Drinkall chalked up to being a judgement call by the Mountain West crew. 

“What I do have a problem is that my most loved and revered and respected player who is a team captain, on national television [getting ejected],” Drinkall said. “We cannot have that. We'll not have that, not who we are, what we're about.” 

And as much as he won’t tolerate that being the image of Central Michigan, Drinkall made sure to stick up for his player, too. 

“I know it looks bad,” Drinkall said. “But I’ve — I love Jaion. He's my guy. I will defend him to the teeth. I know who he is, what he's about, and anybody that thinks he's a bad kid or a bad person, I will fight that person. Like, that is as inaccurate as you can be. Love him.”

Drinkall also expects this will be a one-time episode with Jackson. 

“He will have the best week of preparation of everyone on the entire roster this week,” Drinkall said. “That is, I can guarantee you that. He will be the best coach, the most energetic player we have on the sideline for the entire first half, and I'll bet you when he gets into that second half, we check his GPS numbers, we will think he played an entire game. He is going to light it up and he will use this as a catalyst.”

Joe Rossi’s scouting report on Eastern Michigan’s offense

Speaking in his usual Wednesday timeslot, Joe Rossi spoke at some length about what the Spartans are expecting out of the Eagles’ offense and former Spartan Noah Kim in his return to East Lansing. 

In general, Rossi expects the Eagles to keep spreading the ball out to a litany of playmakers through the air, highlighting wideouts Nick Devereaux and Harold Mack along with tight end Josh Long. Rossi also said the Spartans are anticipating an Eastern Michigan offense that wants to push the ball vertically, hitting double moves and straight go balls, often to Devereaux. 

“They've thrown a good amount of balls and had success throwing the ball,” Rossi said. “We expect a lot of double moves and a lot of shot-type plays. Especially when you get on the plus side of the field, those are things we expect to see. We've been talking about them and repping them. So I got a lot of respect for them.”

As for Kim himself, Rossi noted just how mature and confident and in control the seventh year quarterback is. He also praised the quarterback’s ability to pull the ball from time to time on zone reads or scramble out and make a play with his legs. 

And having played against the MSU-vintage of Kim when Rossi was the defensive coordinator at Minnesota, he’s seen some notable changes in the quarterback’s game. 

“He's accurate with the ball,” Rossi said. “I think where he's taken a step from in his younger days till now, as you can see, he values the ball. When he was younger, he was at times a little bit looser with the ball, but I see him now as a, I think, is he a seventh-year guy? He's an older guy. He values the ball, he takes care of it. If it's not there, if the throw is not there, he puts it out, you know, in the flat or he throws it away. So I think it's just the maturity that you see with a lot of football players.”