Mid-Season EMU Football Grades

Eastern Michigan is 3-3 through its first six games of the season, and it’s been somewhere between 21 and 38 years since the team has had a start to the year like this.

EMU’s 2-0 start in MAC play, with wins over Sacramento State and UMass, is the best start the team’s had since 2005.

EMU’s 38-14 win over UMass was unique in a way. Not just because UMass happened to bring a sellout-sized crowd to McGuirk Arena, but because UMass had an undefeated, 4-0 record next to its name at the time. The last time EMU beat an opponent that was undefeated through at least four games was 1988 when it beat 5-0 Ball State.

What happened after that?

The Hurons took it in the chin with a 31-27 loss at home to Western Michigan, then tied with Ohio the next week, 17-all. But that WMU game mattered a lot; WMU went on to win the league championship with a 7-1 record while EMU finished in second with a 5-2-1 record. Ball State, conveniently, and CMU tied for third with 5-3 finishes.

EMU takes on Akron (1-4, 0-1 MAC) on the road next before Toledo comes to town. It’s a classic “don’t get too high on your own success” or “don’t overlook your next opponent” set of circumstances, but more on that later.

And please put your pencils down now, because it’s time to see how everybody’s doing at the midpoint of the season. A midterm examination of sorts.

Let’s take a look around each position group on offense and defense, and assign a letter grade for each.

I’ll start with the good. Eastern Michigan’s offense, particularly on its game-opening drives, has seen a night-and-day difference between the way it started the year (3 punts) and the way it opened at Wisconsin, at home to Lindenwood, and at UMass (3 touchdown drives). Kim’s performance has been a key factor in those tone-setting moments, as he’s made the necessary throws to keep chains moving and get the Eagles, hopefully, an early 7-0 lead.

Last week, Kim had one of his more efficient days throwing the football with a 70% completion mark on the box score and his second straight game without a turnover.

That last part can be an issue at times. At the end of last year, he threw 5 interceptions and 3 touchdowns in his final couple of games. This year, he’s fumbled the ball twice, which led to a field goal (San José State) and a defensive touchdown (Wisconsin), and thrown it to the wrong opponent thrice (same opponents).

Kim has completed 62.6% of his passes this season, so there’s room to say he’s more accurate than he’s ever been in his career. But being precise and exact with his passes, especially deep downfield, has been concerning.

On throws of 20+ yards downfield this season, EMU is tied for third in the MAC (with Akron) at 15.

On throws of 30+ yards, EMU’s tied for ninth in the MAC (with Bowling Green, Buffalo, and Sacramento State) at 3.

Chris Creighton has talked about the team’s need for “monster” explosive plays through the air, and how he wants his QB to be a better runner with the football. If Kim’s warning track power can turn into homers through the air in these final six games of the regular season, then I think we’ll start to see more of a completeness of Kim’s dual-threat potential in this offense.

The leading running back duo of Amareon Blue and Braydon Bennett has been big for Eastern’s offense, and the position room had its best day of the year against UMass with 192 yards. Those two, plus Joey Mattord, all scored a touchdown, and they all had over 4 yards per carry for the second straight game.

It’s taken some time for EMU to feel like it had a strong run game it could rely on, but I don’t think this group’s collective talent is anything to feel bad about. The UMass game was the first time this season that EMU’s offense had more rush attempts (39) than passes (30), and I wouldn’t be surprised if EMU starts to lean more heavily on its running backs.

This team’s top receivers have been tasked with making a lot of contested catches this year, and they’ve made great plays in just about every game this season. There’s no questioning Harold Mack’s hops, there’s no questioning Benson Prosper’s ability, there’s no doubt in Kozy Isaac’s speed. And the sooner Nick Devereaux can return to action, the sooner Kim can have another receiver it can trust in tough moments.

If I’m downgrading this position room for anything, it’s the depth. After the names mentioned, EMU just doesn’t have another difference-making receiver that’s simply too good to keep off the field.

The leading tight end, Joshua Long, has kept pace with his All-MAC season from last year. Well, statistically, his numbers aren’t as great as they were last year, but there’s been no huge, catastrophic, game-altering drop-off in his game. He’s just not playing like a gamechanger right now, either.

This is a difficult room to fairly grade. Six games into the year, EMU’s had four different starting combinations thanks to three different starters at right tackle, Cole Dellinger’s injury in the second game of the year, and Guzzy Kayed’s absence in the Lindenwood.

At RT, Tyler McMillan started the year, but 21-year-old freshman Samuel Adjin overtook the position and started the two Big Ten games, but went down with an injury at Wisconsin and has missed action since. Transfer Elijha Payne has been out since the summer with an injury, but made his first EMU start Saturday; the UMass game featured the team’s best overall rushing performance of the season, and Kim was sacked zero times.

It was a rough few weeks of the season for the offensive line, but there’s so much football left to improve this unit’s grade.

EMU’s starting four linemen of Quincy Byas, Carter Evans, Makhi Gilbert, and Peyton Christian have been steady, competitive, and, best of all, injury-free this season. Plus, with an additional 3.5 tackles for loss off the bench from Ronn Hardin and 2.5 via Joseph Oluwayemi, this team’s shown that it’s got some decent depth.

There are plenty of guys who can break through O-lines and have important, clutch moments during games. I just don’t think this D-line has an enforcer that changes the way opposing teams run their offenses.

Zach Mowchan’s been the defense’s quarterback, and this team is surely thankful that he’s been able to lead and play every game this season. Mowchan is currently the nation’s second-leading tackler with 50, second on the team with 3 pass breakups, and third with 2.5 stops for loss.

Barry Manning’s season-ending injury just six quarters into the season is obviously devastating, but EMU’s fortunate enough to have a guy like Elgin McDuffey, a first-year junior college transfer, go in and play well so far in Manning’s place.

EMU’s safeties and cornerbacks were expected to be the strength of this team, and they’ve lived up to the billing. They’re breaking up passes, they’re taking the ball away with interceptions and fumbles, and they’re catalysts for how this defense has performed in every game this season. This team is off to a 2-0 start, and the secondary’s been a big reason for that.

Even with guys like Caleb Coley and Jason Marshall on the sidelines, Rayquan Adkins and Davion Williams have stepped up and have contributed to the D’s takeaways.

Does EMU have one of the best pass-defending units in the country? No, it’s still short of that. But there’s no doubt that the secondary’s play has been a giant reason why EMU could give UMass a black eye in the first place.