The Eastern Michigan Eagles have a chance to accomplish something that has only been done once in head coach Chris Creighton's tenure with the team, which is starting the season with a 3-1 record. The Eagles will have a chance to do so when they face Central Connecticut State on Saturday Sept. 21 at Rynearson Stadium in the home opener.
After the team's upset victory over Illinois, Creighton has another record on his mind.
"There are a lot of streaks that people are talking about. Everybody is talking about 3-0 against the Big Ten. The streak that we are talking about in our room is 0-10. That has been our record over the last two years after the Big Ten wins. You can look at it as 3-1. We're trying to go 1-0 this week."
The Eagles lost six straight games after defeating Rutgers in 2017 and lost four consecutive games following their victory over Purdue last year. The team will try to break that trend this weekend as they are at home for the first time this season. Eastern Michigan is the final FBS team to open up the home portion of their respective schedule.
"Being with our home crowd, on the grey turf, in The Factory with the new building, we have a lot to look forward to," said Creighton. "A lot to look forward to. I’m excited about it and I’m sure our guys are to. There’s something about being where you practice and where you live and for the local community and the families. I think it’s going to be a really big deal.”
Central Connecticut is currently 3-0 and coming off two consecutive games in which they scored 40+ points.The Blue Devils' rushing attack recorded 315 yards on the ground, including two runs by Keonte Lucas of 75 and 85 yards that both resulted in touchdowns in their most recent game against Valparaiso.
Creighton noted that limiting their run game will be a point of emphasis this week in practice: "We want to have no more than three explosive plays in a game. If that is happening to us in any game, it is going to be a long afternoon. We always start from the inside out, we knew that our interior defensive line play had to improve and it did against Illinois. We have to continue on that track to face another very explosive back."
Eastern Michigan quarterback Mike Glass III and place kicker Chad Ryland both earned MAC athlete player of the week for Week 3, marking the third consecutive week in which an Eastern Michigan Eagles player has brought home the honor. Glass and Brody Hoying earned the accolade in the previous two weeks.
Tune in to ESPN3 at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21 for the broadcast or make the trip to Rynearson Stadium to see if the Eagles can pull off their third win of the season, while breaking their 0-10 streak. The Eagles are 5-3 in non-conference home games since 2014, when Creighton was hired.
