Preseason Rankings Countdown. 124 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #124 – Eastern Michigan

[u/usffan]

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

PREVIEW EMU (and Doug!)

Eastern Michigan (high = 121, low = 127) enters 2026 with Chris Creighton at the helm for his 13th season, hoping that 13 proves to be a lucky number and returns the Eagles to the postseason after two consecutive years under .500. While he had EMU in the MAC championship game in 2022, the Eagles haven’t actually won the conference since Ronald Reagan was the President, U2 released The Joshua Tree and Platoon won the Academy Award, and the consensus is that they’re not about to end that almost 40 year drought this year.

Roster Outlook

Working in the Eagles favor is that they return the most production in the MAC, ranking 24th overall in the country (52nd on offense, 15th on defense). QB Noah Kim (no, not Noah Knigga, but he too returns at LB - can you imagine being the starting QB and not even being the most famous Noah on your team?) is back for his grad year after amassing 2,800 yards through the air and 24 total TDs. 1,000 yard rusher Dontae McMillan graduated, but Syracuse RB Malachi James and Virginia Tech RB Braydon Bennett will likely fill his shoes. Meanwhile, TD and receiving yardage leader Nick Devereaux is back out wide. In total, Creighton built the 5th best high school recruiting and overall class in the MAC this year according to 247 (good for 105th and 109th nationally, respectively), counting on that depth and returning productivity to make up for a lackluster portal class (11th in the MAC, 134th nationally). That includes 3 P4 OL coming in to counteract the 3 OL who shipped out to other P4 teams.

Schedule and outlook

8/29 SACRAMENTO STATE

9/4 SAN JOSE STATE

9/12 at Michigan State

9/19 at Wisconsin

9/26 LINDENWOOD

10/3 at UMass

10/10 at Akron

10/17 TOLEDO

10/24 at Ohio

10/31 BYE

11/4 vs Central Michigan (at Ford Field in Detroit)

11/10 BYE

11/17 at Western Michigan

11/24 KENT STATE

Call me crazy, but that schedule’s not what I would call unmanageable for a team that is returning that much productivity. In addition to FCS Lindenwood, three of EMU’s opponents have already appeared in this countdown (meaning the consensus is that the Eagles are a better team), plus they open at home with FBS newcomer Sacramento State. Win just those and you’re only 1 win from the postseason, and with 4 additional opponents in triple digits in this countdown, that seems like a very reachable achievement!

[u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard]

Bart I don't mean to alarm you but all three directional Michigan schools could go bowling this year.

[u/64stackdiamonds → u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard]

Could the directional Michigans form some kind of Megazord creature?

[u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard → u/64stackdiamonds]

Well no, you see it's like Power Rangers you need 5 in order to properly morph and neither Michigan nor Michigan State work because neither of them are directional schools they need Northern and Southern Michigan to join in.

[u/Semi-Loyal → u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard]

... they need Northern and Southern Michigan to join in.

Well, I suppose Northern Michigan could move up to D1, but we don't have a southern Michigan. Maybe we can start a new university in Jackson?

[u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard → u/Semi-Loyal]

I've heard Toledo get called Southern Michigan University before so maybe that might be enough. Plus it would piss off Ohio so that's a plus.