Week 2: B1G Road Test

Eastern Michigan has a big assignment ahead of itself on Saturday.

After a 1-1 start to the year with a league win over Sacramento State and a non-conference loss to San José State, EMU’s hoping it can pull something off that it’s never done before: beat Michigan State.

EMU (1-1, 1-0 MAC), in 10 previous tries that date back to 1898, has never beaten MSU in a football game.

Why should Saturday be any different?

The Big Ten’s own Michigan State (1-0) hasn’t been its best football self since its 11-2 season under Mel Tucker, who was fired in 2023 for egregious personal misconduct. Jonathan Smith, hired away from Oregon State, went 9-15 in his two seasons in charge of MSU and was fired for poor performance.

In comes Pat Fitzgerald, three years after he was fired from his alma mater, Northwestern, after hazing claims, to lead the Spartans this year.

Fitzgerald, a former All-American linebacker and Rose Bowl winner as a player in 1996, led his school as coach from 2006 through 2022. With Northwestern, Fitzgerald posted a record of 110-101 and won two Big Ten West division titles (2018, 2020).

In his first game in charge of Michigan State, Fitzgerald’s Spartans battled Toledo to a 30-20 finish at home. Toledo took a momentary 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter, but State punched back with a 70-yard touchdown drive, then a fifth field goal made by its kicker, Liam Boyd.

Eastern coach Chris Creighton addressed the media Monday and shared his thoughts on the opponent ahead:

“We never played Northwestern, but I think that they've done a good job of just marrying up who they want to be, then they possess the ball for 43 minutes versus Toledo,” said Creighton. “You know, they're running the ball downhill, tough, physical, and then Alessio [Milivojevic], their quarterback, we got to know him through the recruiting process, great guy… man, he’s really playing well. Just super accurate and is in control and in command.

“Michigan State kicked a lot of field goals, you know, but they were in control, especially time of possession. They have the ability to throw it all over the place. They've got weapons outside, but they want to control the game, establish the run, right, and then play tough, hard-nosed defense.”

EMU has never beaten MSU. The last time EMU made the trip to East Lansing, Chris Creighton was a first-year coach. EMU lost by 59 points that day. It’s definitely not a fun memory for EMU, though I suppose none of the previous games exactly sent EMU back home smiling.

EMU OC, Nic Gallegos (#65) — EMU’s O-line has been shaky since the spring, and the starting center and team captain has seen fellow teammates fall to his left and his right. LT Tyler Brumbfield exited during the season opener, and RG Cole Dellinger left last week’s game. The offense needs to show some improvement, and that’ll have to start with Gallegos leading the protections against MSU.

EMU CB, Caleb Dobbs (#17) — Had an interception last week (Juan Salas asst.) and a near-pick minutes before. That was Dobbs’ second career INT, and he currently leads the team with five pass breakups this year.

MSU RB, Cam Edwards (#0) — A UConn transfer, Edwards is fourth among active FBS players with 2,788 career rushing yards, and tied for fifth with 28 TDs. Edwards had 27 carries for 98 yards and a score last week.

MSU LB, Jordan Hall (#5) — Two-year team captain through a coaching change. Hall was State’s leading tackler last year with 88 stops, along with 4.5 tackles for loss, 3 fumbles forced, and an interception.

Eastern’s offense has lacked consistency through its first two games in a lot of ways. The passing attack, led by former MSU transfer Noah Kim, went missing last week against San José State, and the rushing attack hasn’t seen many explosive plays either.

Though Amareon Blue’s 50-yard score last week showed that there are talented, skilled players on the roster. All they need is a little bit of help from the team’s blockers.

Up front, EMU’s offensive line has struggled since the spring to find a healthy, reliable group of five starters to lean on for the season. Last week, starting right tackle Tyler McMillan was replaced by Samuel Adjin (non-injury), and Dellinger’s exit at guard meant EMU finished the game with a different-looking O-line than what it came in with.

Dellinger could return to the starting lineup this week, but he’s still the second lineman to come out of a game with an injury in as many weeks. Left tackle Tyler Brumfield, who missed all of 2025 to injury at his previous college, left the season opener and played the next week.

Without them, EMU is still down several linemen that it expected to have during the summer. Joshua Anderson, with 16 career starts, and Elijha Payne, a Delaware State transfer, have not suited up. Neither has true freshman Carter Miculka, who, because of other injuries during the spring, was part of EMU’s all-time O-line during the team’s spring game.

Consistency’s not a safe bet for EMU’s offense, but this team has a chance at points if it can create big moments with explosive plays.

Toledo was able to have a fourth-quarter lead last week with some of those.

Receiver Adjatay Dabbs (Mercer transfer) scored twice against MSU. Once on a 60-yard catch-and-run on a double move, and a second time on a goal-line fade. Its running back, Connor Walendzak, took a handoff up the middle for a 71-yard score.

Scoring on Michigan State isn’t exactly climbing Mt. Everest.

But getting points on the board is going to require moving the ball at will, which just hasn’t been the case for this offense. If that doesn’t happen through great consistency, then EMU’s going to create its own luck with big, explosive moments.  

Additionally, on EMU’s offense:

Eastern Michigan might’ve had its first major injury of the year with the exit of #3.

Starting linebacker Barry Manning left in the second quarter of last week’s game after he made a tackle on San José State’s punt returner, and Creighton didn’t seem too enthusiastic about his chances of playing again soon when asked Monday.

“Doesn't look good for him… that was not great news for Barry,” he said.

Originally a safety with the defense, Manning bounced down to linebacker last year and has been a force to mess with when working downhill. He was one of three players to finish last season with a team-high 5.5 tackles for loss.

Over his career (31 games, 15 starts), Manning has logged 120 total tackles (73 last year), eight for loss, two sacks, three fumbles, one interception, and six pass breakups.

This year, Manning started both games and made 10 tackles. Before his punt stop, he had a crucial open-field tackle on San José’s QB, who tried to scramble on the first third-down try of the game.

Manning’s ability to fly around and deliver big hits is what made him one of the team’s top defenders before the season began. Now, it seems like EMU’s defense will be without one of its homegrown, fifth-year talents.

With or without Manning, MSU’s offense is going to give EMU a run for its money.

Creighton, last week, said San José ran the ball more than he initially expected (36 att., 137 yards). It should come as no surprise that Michigan State wants to stuff the ball down EMU’s throat Saturday.

Against Toledo, MSU ran the ball 49 times for 150 yards. Not a ton of production against the Rockets (3.1 yards per rush), but MSU’s not hiding what it wants to run. Edwards, as mentioned earlier, had 98 yards and a score against Toledo, and his two backups combined for 53 yards on 13 carries.

This defense will also have to contend with QB Alessio Milivojevic, who closed out last year as the team’s starter and returned as the lead guy for his new head coach. He was efficient throwing against Toledo’s defense: 26 for 34 passing, 247 yards, 1 TD.

Additionally, on EMU’s defense:

SATURDAY

#1 WESTERN MICHIGAN (0-1 | L, 13-12 at Michigan) — Officially lost the Michigan game, but not without some extracurricular arguing over how the game ended.

#2 UMASS (1-0 | W, 37-21 at Rutgers) — UMass shocked college football, and who knew that it could do so with a win over Rutgers? UMass’s win didn’t look flukey, either. That was an actual, factual football victory over (look, it’s Rutgers, but) a Big Ten team. That just wasn’t supposed to happen, but UMass did it.

#3 TOLEDO (0-1 | L, 30-20 at Michigan State) — Played well in a 10-point loss at Michigan State. It’s about as good a performance you could ever ask of Toledo, really.

#4 OHIO (0-1 | L, 49-21 at Nebraska) — Worked a scare into Nebraska until Nebraska engaged in some late-game dominance.

#5 MIAMI OH (0-1 | L, 59-14 at Pittsburgh) — I can look past a lot of opening week nastiness, but Miami allowed seven pass touchdowns to Pitt. Seven. Dan Marino never threw seven passing touchdowns in a game when he was in college, and he’s Dan Marino.

#6 EASTERN MICHIGAN (1-1, 1-0 MAC | L, 27-21 vs. San José State) — Week 1 wasn’t great for the MAC, so saying EMU’s the “fifth-best” team by this early list is, well, just a premature thing to say right now. EMU’s got its offensive hiccups to deal with, but the defense is off to a good start.

#7 AKRON (0-1 | L, 38-16 at Wake Forest) — So, uh, about Reese Poffenbarger being the no-doubt starting QB for the Zips… Are we entirely sure about that?

#8 CENTRAL MICHIGAN (0-1 | L, 38-7 at New Mexico) — The offense was completely non-existent at UNLV. The defense didn’t keep the score close, either.

#9 BALL STATE (0-1 | L, 56-3 at Ohio State) — I’ve seen so many worse MAC teams at Ohio State games than the one Ball State had to open the year.

#10 SAC STATE (1-1, 0-1 MAC | W, 52-0 VS. Miss. Valley St., FCS) — Couldn’t handle EMU in its first-ever MAC game, but whipped its FCS opponent last week. Not everybody can say they did even that much so far. Doesn’t matter that Mississippi Valley State has only won six times in the last four seasons.

#11 BUFFALO (1-0 | W, 21-17 vs. UAlbany, FCS) — Should’ve lost to UAlbany at the end of the game, but got very lucky and escaped the upset.

#12 KENT STATE (0-1 | L, 57-0 at South Carolina) — Nobody learned anything from its season opener at South Carolina other than the juice is not worth the squeeze. If you play a game with a shortened fourth quarter due to heat, that’s a sign that you should never be playing a season opener at South Carolina ever again.

#13 BOWLING GREEN (0-1 | L, 20-13 vs. Tarleton State, FCS) — Vegas had Tarleton State favored, so the loss isn’t totally surprising, but it’s an embarrassment all the same. If football is a game of blocking and tackling, then Bowling Green definitively did not play football last week.

In my opinion, the music you listen to is as important as the games you watch in making these college football weekends whole. Whether you’re outside tailgating or sitting at home in front of your television, the tunes you listen to become the soundtrack of your football season. 

Here at The Ypsilanti Eleven, I offer you, dear reader, some service journalism. Please consider these 11 handpicked tracks for your playlist to help make your football season feel whole and worthwhile:

(Click here to view The Ypsilanti Eleven’s pregame mix on Spotify.)

The three former Michigan State players will return as EMU Eagles on Saturday: QB Kim, OL Dellinger, and CB Caleb Coley.

Kim joined MSU back in 2020. He did not play his first two seasons, made four appearances in 2022, then made five starts in 2023. In 2024, he transferred to Coastal Carolina, then came to EMU in 2025. He’s been EMU’s starting QB ever since he arrived in Ypsilanti.

Dellinger, the only Michigan native of the three (Clarkston, Mich.) went to MSU in 2023 and did not see any action. Dellinger has been EMU’s starting RG this season.

Coley joined MSU out of high school in 2022 and made a start for Sparty in each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Last year, he came to EMU and had four starts at cornerback.