Week 3: B1G Road Test (pt. 2)

Here’s a new first for the Chris Creighton era.

With Eastern Michigan’s (1-2, 1-0 MAC) upcoming trip to Wisconsin (1-1), this will be his first time seeing Big Ten teams in back-to-back weeks.

The last time that happened, EMU was still living in the Ron English era: 2012. EMU lost its first two games of the year to Ball State and Illinois State, then it fell 54-16 at Purdue, then 23-7 at #21 Michigan State.

Last week, EMU fell 35-7 at MSU, and now it’ll travel to take on Wisconsin Saturday. Wisconsin lost 41-13 to #4 Notre Dame to begin the season at Lambeau Field, then beat up on Western Illinois (FCS) 36-9 last week.

While it’s not the most ideal pair of games for EMU to have, it’s certainly the schedule that it was dealt. MSU got physical and ran the ball over EMU’s defense in the second half of last week’s contest, and Wisconsin ought to pose more of the same issues.

Except one big difference is the Badgers’ transfer quarterback: a true dual-threat option with the football.

“Wisconsin, another really tough, physical program,” Creighton said Monday at EMU’s weekly press conference. “They're going to run the football. Things really do kind of start with their quarterback, though. As an Old Dominion transfer, he can throw it, but he also runs the ball really well.”

Of the defense, Creighton said the defense, coordinated by Mike Tressel (nephew of Jim Tressel), is a physical, sound, and disciplined group.

While it’s not what EMU had originally planned for its 2026 season, any chance to go into a Big Ten stadium and try and prove thousands of people wrong is always a welcomed.

It doesn’t matter if Vegas is slapping another big point spread on this game, either. Because, like safety and defensive captain Bryce Llewellyn said at the beginning of the week: “It's just a matter of putting your pants on, putting your helmet on, strapping up your helmet, and playing football.”

EMU has never beaten Wisconsin. The two played three times in the 1990s and once five years ago.

In 2021, Creighton’s squad fell to the Paul Chryst-led squad 34-7, and EMU’s only touchdown that night was a 98-yard interception return by David Carter Jr.

Saturday will be the first time Creighton will coach against Luke Fickell.

EMU RT, Samuel Adjin (#70) — Adjin, a 21-year-old true freshman, made his first career start Saturday as he moved ahead of Tyler McMillan on the depth chart. Next to him, at guard, fifth-year signee Dennis Strey Jr. made his first career start as well. EMU feels as though its run game improved through the State game, and that’s with the help of these two up front. While Adjin was not the only Eagle lineman to surrender a sack last week, he’s gaining great experience in these Big Ten games.

Said Creighton of the O-line’s right side Monday: “The moment wasn't too big for [Adjin]… There [are] things that didn't go well, but he's getting better. He's so coachable, and he's got a really bright future. Then, you know, Dennis [Strey], that was really some of his first snaps on the offensive line… He's given so much to this program for so long.”

EMU S, Jason Marshall (#13) — Marshall’s been playing with his hair on fire this season. He had an interception in the first game, almost a couple more in the second, and caused a fumble with a team-best 13 tackles against MSU. Marshall is second on the team with 21 tackles (11 solo).

Wisc RB, Abu Sama III (3) — Sama, an Iowa State transfer, moves with a lot of speed and power. He only needed eight carries to reach 107 yards last week in a blowout win over Western Illinois.

Wisc DE Sebastian Cheeks (#15) — Wisconsin’s defensive captain, Cheeks has had a strong start to the year with a forced fumble and a pass breakup against Notre Dame, and has eight stops so far this season (one sack).

EMU feels like it found some strides with its run game in East Lansing.

Maybe not major gains, but important strides nonetheless.

Through its first two games, EMU had 176 net yards on 55 attempts with 3 touchdowns. Of the offense’s 35 first-down pickups, 11 came from rushes.

Against MSU, EMU had 101 yards on 26 attempts, and one score from quarterback Noah Kim. EMU’s offense had 13 first downs, 10 from rushes.

Even with two new, inexperienced starters at right guard and tackle, EMU found some moments of a strong push in the trenches for its running backs to have some good gains.

Starting sophomore Amareon Blue has shown that he’s a very capable back with long runs of 50, 20, and 18 yards in the three games so far.

Transfer RB Braydon Bennett’s been a physical runner in his first two games, but didn’t have the blocking for any explosive runs. Bennet led EMU’s rushing attack last week with 56 yards on nine carries (6.2 avg.).

On Monday, Creighton stressed to the media that his team’s offense requires good balance in passing and throwing the football.

“To do… what we want to do, we've got to be able to have equal proficiency on the ground and in the air,” he said. “That's been frustrating in the first two weeks, so there was some real positive light in the run game.”

EMU knows it’ll be tested with Wisconsin. Last year, the Badgers were fourth in the Big Ten in rush defense (105.3 yards/game, 12 TD). This year, Wisconsin has the #24-rated defense by SP+.

Additionally, on EMU’s offense:

This EMU defense is going to have its hands full on Saturday.

Wisconsin has speed and power with some of its skilled guys, but its quarterback has the potential to be an overwhelming playmaker.

Colton Joseph is a transfer from Old Dominion and is one of two quarterbacks who had at least 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards for the season. The other was Byrum Brown, who also transferred-up from South Florida to Auburn.

In 21 games played as a Sun Belt quarterback (league offensive player of the year in 2025), Joseph scored 56 touchdowns and racked up 5,905 total yards of offense.

While Joseph hasn’t really taken off this year on the stat sheet, EMU knows full well what he’s capable of doing.

And EMU’s going to have to show what it’s capable of against the most dynamic quarterback of the early schedule. Joseph is certainly not the last mobile quarterback EMU will see this year. UMass has legs at quarterback (Pop Watson), so does Central (Angel Flores) and Western Michigan (Broc Lowry).

EMU hasn’t faced a true dual-threat quarterback yet.

“When you have a quarterback that's a really effective runner, it opens up just a huge can of worms,” Creighton said of Wisconsin’s QB. “It can spread you out. It can keep you home. [It] can mess with your eyes. There's a lot that goes into that, and they showed that they've got a really good plan to use him really effectively.

“It's not a once or twice a year kind of thing, and so we're gonna prepare really hard to be ready for it.”

Additionally, on EMU’s defense:

SATURDAY

#1 WESTERN MICHIGAN (1-1 | W, 49-14 vs. Monmouth, FCS) — Easy to keep Western Michigan up top after it blew the doors off a respectable Monmouth group.

#2 UMASS (2-0 | W, 37-10 vs. Sacred Heart, FCS) — There’s no real need to move UMass from this spot, so I won’t.

#3 TOLEDO (1-1 | W, 63-10 vs. Central Connecticut, FCS) — Destroyed its FCS opponent at home, as it should.

#4 OHIO (1-1 | L, 49-21 (4OT) vs. Jacksonville State) — Ohio’s top two quarterbacks went down, and its true freshman sensation Levi Davis led his team to a comeback, overtime victory.

#5 MIAMI OH (1-1 | W, 45-7 vs. Holy Cross, FCS) — Miami had 200 yards throwing and rushing against Holy Cross, and its starting quarterback threw zero incompletions. Heck of a turnaround week, though it looks like some special teams needs to be cleaned up. The Crusaders had 165 punt return yards on six tries.

#6 EASTERN MICHIGAN (1-2, 1-0 MAC | L, 35-7 at Michigan State) — EMU had its hands full against Michigan State, and is showing some progress on both sides of the ball.

#7 AKRON (1-1 | W, 45-10 vs. Robert Morris, FCS) — I feel really bad for Coach Marty Whims II; he deserved better than Akron fumbling away the opening possession. Akron won the game, but I feel like the team might’ve lost something more there.

#8 BALL STATE (1-1 | W, 41-17 vs. Stony Brook, FCS) — Ball State had some issues, even in a big win over a poorer FCS team. The first pass of the day was a pick; the Cardinals were 3 of 10 on third downs, it had 11 penalties for 99 yards. But it neared 500 yards of offense, which is something you can certainly win with.

#9 KENT STATE (1-1 | W, 36-15 vs. Wofford, FCS) — Down 15-14 entering the fourth quarter, Kent State’s offense rolled in the fourth quarter and scored 22 points in the final 15 minutes.

#10 CENTRAL MICHIGAN (1-1 | W, 13-10 vs. Colgate, FCS) — Happy for Central, I suppose, to pull away with a 13-10 win over Colgate. Again, like Buffalo’s win over UAlbany to open the year, Colgate had a chance in CMU territory to win the game on its final possession, and CMU escaped at the end.

#11 SACRAMENTO STATE (1-2, 0-1 MAC | L, 49-3 at Fresno State) — New quarterback for Sacramento State after Carson Conklin’s wrist injury on this throwing hand, and things did not go great. More incompletions (16, one intercepted) than completions (15) for him, and the Bulldogs had 542 yards of offense on the night. Welcome to FBS football, Hornets.

#12 BUFFALO (1-1 | L, 33-20 at Florida International) — One of two MAC vs. Group of 6 games on the weekend, and Buffalo struggled against FIU. FIU’s quarterback had 367 passing yards, 3 passing scores, and maybe the most demoralizing touchdown reception UB will give up all year (fingers crossed).

#13 BOWLING GREEN (0-2 | L, 56-7 at Nebraska) — In fairness to Bowling Green, this game was originally supposed to be Nebraska vs. Tennessee. Doesn’t mean losing by 49 points needs to be explained away, but this game probably didn’t need to happen in the first place.

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.)

I’ll make this the last time I mention this, I think.

This game shouldn’t even be happening. Eastern Michigan should be playing Lindenwood this week and Marshall next week, but big business never stopped for an EMU-Marshall series.

In November, the ACC became the latest Power conference to mandate a 9-game conference schedule model as soon as 2026. Pittsburgh and Wisconsin previously agreed to play one of their games this weekend, but agreed to cancel it and just look forward to their game in Ireland in 2027 instead.

Wisconsin, needing a new opponent for its already-planned home game, sent feelers around and wound up getting EMU to agree to take Pitt’s place. Lindenwood agreed to let its game at EMU be moved down a week, and EMU and Marshall agreed to have one of their games in the 2-game series be punted to 2031 instead.

This is also before EMU found out Sacramento State would be part of the MAC, too. This time last year, EMU expected its non-conference slate this year to be: vs. San José State, at Michigan State, vs. Lindenwood, then at Marshall before it began MAC play. But with the new league member as EMU’s Week 0 opponent and the changes to add Wisconsin, EMU’s first five games instead read: league game vs. Sac State, vs. SJSU, at MSU, at Wisconsin, and vs. Lindenwood (which is currently on a bye week).