Week 0: Stakes is High

Eastern Michigan enters its 135th season of football, 51st as a Mid-American Conference member, and is set to open the 2026 season with the biggest season-opening game in gray turf history. 

You’re not used to hearing the phrase “Week 0 MACtion”, especially when we have to include a team from California that was last seen playing in the Big Sky Conference as an FCS squad. The MAC, still a mostly-drivable league that was once a 9-hour drive to get from its East-to-Westernmost schools, now spans from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. 

UMass humbly re-joined the MAC as a full member last season. Northern Illinois left to be a Mountain West football school. And Sacramento State, after being rejected by the Pac-12 and Mountain West, finally got a firm handshake deal from the MAC to join on an expensive, 5-year term. 

On top of a $5 million entrance fee to the NCAA to move up from FCS to FBS, it’ll pay the MAC schools $18M in league entrance fees, and it’ll pay for visiting MAC teams’ travel to and from Sacramento. Oh, and it’ll forgo all of the league’s revenue distribution, so no television money. 

It’s certainly one way of looking at opportunity cost. 

For Eastern Michigan, it’s been a while since it hosted a league opponent. In 2012 and 2006, EMU went to Muncie, Ind. to battle Ball State in season openers, but those were MAC openers on the road. The last time EMU hosted a MAC team to begin a season was in 2004, when it beat Buffalo 37-34. The last time before that? Only months after the writer of this newsletter was born, in 1992, which ended with a 27-9 loss to Akron. 

In 2020, Eastern’s 6-game, COVID-shortened season was entirely played in-conference. EMU played at Kent State and lost 27-24. 

The addition of Sacramento State to the MAC (and Week 0) plus Wisconsin’s replacement of Marshall on the schedule means EMU’s start to its 2026 season is not what it had originally planned.

Without those two changes, EMU would’ve seen San Jose State to start the season next week, followed by a road trip to Michigan State, home vs. FCS-level Lindenwood, and a road trip to Marshall in Week 4. After those four games, everybody assumed 12 months ago, MAC play would begin for the 2026 Eagles. But Marshall and EMU agreed to have their game in Huntington punted to 2031, Lindenwood agreed to delay its trip to Ypsilanti by one week (Week 3 to 4), and now EMU gets to face two Big Ten teams before the FCS opponent comes to town as EMU’s fifth of the year. 

Why? Because Pittsburgh originally had Wisconsin down as a Week 4 opponent until the ACC made a sweeping decision. All of its members had to play nine league games instead of eight, so Pitt and Wisconsin canceled its scheduled game in Madison. Wisconsin chose EMU as its next opponent, which forced the delay in the EMU at Marshall game.

Then this game happened. Sacramento State became a MAC team in February, and now EMU will face Sac State here at the end of August instead of having that league home game be played, say, mid-Week 11 (November 10/11) between the Central and Western Michigan games in Detroit and Kalamazoo. 

“It's interesting. Most years we're playing a team in the first game that we're not familiar with, and then, you know, in the last three or four years, everybody has seemingly at least 50 new people on the roster, right?” Creighton said Monday at the team’s first weekly press conference of the season. “That part's not unfamiliar. Now, the fact that it's going to be a MAC opponent, yeah, there's definitely another layer.

“We've, in the past, had a four-game prep. So, it being a conference game, we talk about it. Not only is it [the] first game of the year, it's our home opener, and it's the MAC opener. So there's a ton at stake, and our preparation hasn't been any different. We've done a couple things, I think, that have been a little bit different, just to do everything that we can to make sure that we're playing the best that we can at the end of August and not having some time to figure some things out. So we've made some changes with that. 

“But yeah, the stakes — they're always high. I mean, it's hard to want to win more than you want to win when it's 100% already, but it's a big deal being a MAC game.”

Eastern Michigan has played schools from The Golden State just four times ever. And this year, it hosts two schools from the sunny state of California to begin the year. EMU’s never even hosted a California school before. Two of its games were bowl victories over San Jose State, separated by 35 years. Then in 1990 and 2018, EMU traveled to Fresno State and San Diego State, respectively,  for losses in the regular season. Talk about a rarity on the schedule. 

SDSU, now in the Pac-12, will visit EMU for a Week 1 contest in 2027. EMU will travel to SJSU in 2029.

EMU LB, Zach Mowchan (#11) — The linebacker returns to the field after last season got cut short by injury (again). Mowchan’s health status has been proudly lauded as full-strength all summer long, and now he’ll get the chance to get the 2026 season going on the right foot. 

Said Monday at the team’s presser: “I'm not braced up anymore. It feels like the past couple seasons I had to throw on braces, no matter if it was on the knee or the shoulder or whatever it was that was bothering me. But I feel great right now, and a lot of that goes to the training staff for getting my body right. I think a big factor of it actually has just been sleep. As a linebacker, as the kind of person that likes to be very productive throughout my day, I think sometimes sleep has been my biggest problem in the past, and I can't say that's a direct correlation to injury problems, but I kind of think it probably did because that's the most important thing with your recovery.”

EMU K, Rudy Kessinger (#46) — Kessinger’s back after his first season as the go-to place kicker for this team. He was able to reach 50 yards on a kick against Kentucky last year and was perfect on all of his PATs. But he also had misses from as deep as 55 yards away and as close as 42. The offense should be able to come away with some touchdowns, but Kessinger’s kicking duties could still be used in some clutch moments. 

EMU RB, Jamar Curtis (#1) — EMU will want to prove that its run defense is much improved from the jump, but Sac State’s running back is going to be tough to bring down regardless. Curtis’ first season with the Hornets was cut short, but he was previously a two-time FCS All-American at Lafayette.

EMU CB, Diontae Thornton (#2) — EMU’s strength on offense is its passing attack, and this long cornerback (6’4”) is going to try and blanket the Eastern receivers. Thornton’s a new transfer from Sac State, from Portland State (2025) and Boise State (2022-23). Last year, in the FCS, he started every game, had 34 tackles (36 solo, 2 TFL, 1 sack), and 5 pass breakups (no interceptions).

Last week, I finished my series of positional overview posts for EMU’s roster with a look at the special teams units. Field goals, punt averages – all great. But we can’t overlook the importance of a team’s starting field position as a team’s entire body of work.

We also have to simply correlate good field position with having really good odds of winning ball games. In the case of EMU, per BCFToys.com, the 2022 team had the 18th-best average starting field position for its offense (#48 net field position) and wound up with nine victories. Last year, EMU had the country’s worst average offensive starting field position (#129 net) and won just four games. 

Defense setting up punting situations and returners to advance the ball immediately help with that figure, but turnovers (specifically: interceptions) definitely help the cause too.

The offense needs to do everything it can to put up points, too, but the unit’s job is so much easier when it doesn’t have to take snaps in or near its own end zone. 

“It's the combination of special teams, which the first part of special teams is field position, right? There's just colossal yardage and territory being lost and gained on every one of those plays, or there's points at stake,” Creighton said. “And then the second piece is the turnover-takeaway; those two together. 

“Now, you can get into explosive plays, and running the ball, and stopping the run, and third-down conversions: all of it matters. But for 30 years, it's always been about special teams, turnovers, and takeaways… Those two things, and you know, we work incessantly, and the special teams. So, I think punt is the single -most important play in football. We have three captains… who are our starting punt team. You know what I mean? You look at our starting punt team, and you'll see how serious we are about special teams and the field position that is elicited from that.”

Not to anybody’s real surprise, Nick Devereaux, the team’s returning leading receiver and Third Team All-MAC recipient in 2025, received the team’s #2 jersey assignment honor. 

‘The Deuce’ was worn by former slot receiver Demarius Reed, who was shot and killed during the 2013 season. His #2 went unworn after his death, was buried underneath the gray turf when first installed in 2014, and was not worn again until after the time he would’ve graduated.

Since then, EMU has let a receiver or tight end (usually a senior) wear the #2 jersey for a year in Reed’s honor. The tradition began with Sergio Bailey in 2017, followed by Blake Banham, Mathew Sexton, Thomas Odukoya, Bryson Cannon, Hassan Beydoun, Tanner Knue, Oran Singleton, and Terry Lockett Jr.

Last year, Devereaux developed nicely into EMU’s offense and became a growing priority as the season progressed. Devereaux caught 34 passes for 510 yards and scored seven times. 

Additionally, on EMU’s offense:

Sacramento State’s going to force a habit. Alonzo Carter is a longtime running backs coach, and he’s not coming into this league trying to give the MAC a taste of a stereotypical West Coast, air-it-out offense. Sacramento State, if I could try to walk a mile in its shoes for a moment, isn’t going to make the FCS-to-FBS move and not try to play tough right out the gate.

If I’m Sacramento State, I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting nasty and physical in the run game all season long. The team record at the end of the year is going to end up being irrelevant, because the goal of the 2026 season for the Hornets isn’t going to be about winning ball games. It’s more immediately going to try to send a message with its physicality. 

Not only is Sacramento State going to try to convince teams that it belongs at this level of the sport, but it’s going to hope other teams walk away talking about how tough a squad that team from California is.

And if Sacramento State has any desires to send a message by running the ball on offense, there’s no better time than to do it against the team that was the worst in the nation in stopping the run. EMU gave up 232 rushing yards per game (136th, last nationally) and 5.5 yards per attempt (134th). 

While EMU returns a lot of pieces (15th in defensive returning production, ESPN), that just means a lot of the same faces have a big job to reverse in 2026. 

Additionally, on EMU’s defense:

#1 WESTERN MICHIGAN — Last year’s champions return with their head coach, MVP quarterback, and big-time running back. WMU is the heavy favorite to repeat as champs again, and deserves to be atop this list to start the new year.

#2 MIAMI OH — My favorites to win the 2026 season, but still the reigning runners-up of the 2025 season. Miami has to prove that its QB play will be dependable in 2026, and its new running back from Monmouth should have your full attention. 

#3 TOLEDO — A ‘gotta hand it to ‘em’ level of placement by me on here. I expect Toledo to do well through its coaching turnover, and wouldn’t be shocked if Mike Jacobs keeps up his winning ways at UT. 

#4 OHIO — Another year, another coaching change at Ohio. Lots of changes after 17 years of Frank Solich at the helm, but Ohio’s been a recent model of success for some time now. Ohio won a title in 2022, and the team still keeps winning 9 to 11 games per year. 

#5 CENTRAL MICHIGAN — CMU impressed last year with first-year coach Matt Drinkall, and had a fighter’s chance into November to play its way into the MAC title game. This is your last warning: don’t sleep on CMU in 2026. 

#6 BUFFALO — Buffalo had a good Year #1 with Pete Lembo, but last year wasn’t as successful. Buffalo doesn’t take the top-end talent like some other schools in the league, but it still plays really hard-nosed football and could be due for a sneaky upset or two if things go according to plan there. 

#7 EASTERN MICHIGAN — EMU won four games last year and didn’t make sweeping amendments to the team through the portal. Maybe returning so many players from last year will be a good thing. Maybe not. 

#8 AKRON — Slowly building up, Akron’s hoping to reach a bowl game this year. Its new QB had an interesting journey so far, but now Reese Poffenbarger is in the circus in the MAC with Joe Moorhead as his coach. It could be a worthwhile pairing.

#9 BALL STATE — A roster reset year in Mike Uremovich’s second year. If I’m being honest, I’m really just excited to watch Ball State use a quarterback that’s the same height as me, except he’s 250 pounds with a great weight-training regimen. Not because he’s been eating Hot Cheetos for three decades. That’s my reason.

#10 KENT STATE — Even with a surprise 5-7 win in Mark Carney’s unexpected debut season as the head coach, it’s still Kent State. It’s always going to be easier to expect fewer wins from this club than that, but I’m 1000% open to being dead wrong on the assessment. 

#11 BOWLING GREEN — If the quarterbacks stay healthy and can make some big plays happen, then BG will be much better than I expect. However, I just don’t trust a coach who was beat by all of the other first-year coaches in the MAC last year (minus UMass, which, sure). 

#12 SACRAMENTO STATE — First FBS season, and the Hornets come to Ypsilanti for their very first game of the season after their hella expensive reclassification this summer. Welcome to big boy football, I suppose?

#13 UMASS — According to Bill Connelly’s all-college football SP+ list, UMass was not just the lowest-ranked program in the FBS, but it’s listed at #201 out of 771 college teams. That’s two spots below the top-rated D3 school, three D2 schools, and 58 FCS schools. UMass might be the only football team in the world to lose in the preseason.

In my opinion, the music you listen to is as important as the games you watch to 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.)

And, of course, Dolly Parton forever.

Eastern Michigan is one victory away from celebrating its 500th all-time.

Yup.

As it stands right now, EMU has an all-time football record of 499 victories, 638 losses, and 47 ties, for a win percentage of 42.1%. Per EMU’s game notes, EMU would be the 111th Division I team to reach the milestone number of wins, and is one of two teams that could reach that figure this season. The other is Houston, which, at 486 wins, is 14 wins shy of that number. Ball State sits at 483 wins,17 wins shy of reaching 500.