Opponent Q&A: Previewing Washington and Eastern Michigan's Showdown with Ypsilanti Eleven's Alex Alvarado
Opponent Q&A: Previewing Washington and Eastern Michigan's Showdown with Ypsilanti Eleven's Alex Alvarado
Washington Huskies Prepare for Eastern Michigan Challenge: Insights on EMU's Key Players, Strengths, and Potential Upset Factors Ahead of Saturday’s Matchup
The Huskies continue their non-conference schedule against the MAC’s Eastern Michigan on Saturday. To preview this weekend’s game, I chatted with Alex Alvarado from the Ypsilanti Eleven, a Substack covering Eastern Michigan football.
KC: Eastern Michigan pulled out a 28-14 road victory over UMass to open their season last weekend. What did you learn about this season’s team in the win?
AA: For as transfer-heavy as this team is on offense, this side of the football gave a strong first impression of playing like they’ve all been together for years now, so I’d say I learned that. QB Cole Snyder (Buffalo transfer) had completions of 40, 33, and 32 yards to three different receivers, and those receivers are all in their first or second years as transfers. This unit was super home-grown last year and never found any sort of offensive rhythm until maybe the 12th game of the season.
Snyder wasn’t a name that moved the needle for many people when they saw he would be coming to EMU as a graduate transfer, but on Saturday he played like the kind of QB that hypothetically could’ve won more games for last year’s 6-win team.
KC: Who is the player to watch on Eastern Michigan? What did you see from them in their performance against UMass?
AA: On offense, WR Oran Singleton is going to get a lot of looks, so I’d watch for him. He’s a smaller dude, he doesn’t have a lot of production to speak on from his true freshman year at Akron, he did play well at his junior college last year. So far at EMU, he’s already gotten the #2 jersey honor (the first to receive the honor without having spent a season at EMU first), and he had 89 receiving yards on 8 catches with 1 TD at UMass.
Defense has a number of candidates, but my personal favorite guy to watch is cornerback Josh Scott. He broke out with the team as a junior college transfer, basically won his starting role throughout the season, and had an insane interception in EMU’s bowl win in 2022. However, last year he only played for a couple minutes in one game, and was an early exit against UMass. Assuming he came out early to give JUCO transfer Jamarian McNulty and true freshman Jordan Toney – who is pretty much taller than any receiver or tight end he’ll have to guard this year – some more game reps against UMass, I think Scott will have a true first-game-back party against Washington. I thought his cornerback ability was very obviously good in 2022, and teammates rave about how much better he makes them during practice.
KC: In your view and understanding only one game has been played, what do you see as Eastern Michigan’s areas of concern or weaknesses to start the season?
AA: Last year’s biggest issues were QB play and pass rush. The QB situation seems off to a better start this season with Snyder’s play, so put a check there. And the pass rush issue was largely due to EMU having very few defensive linemen, especially on the edge, to play the season. Justin Jefferson had himself a very strong, breakout year at the position, but he’s 5’10”, I don’t think having play defensive end was the plan for last season until it happened. Let’s put a check next to that issue, too.
This year, the clear area for concern is O-line. Over the last two seasons, it has had guys like Sidy Sow (now starting for the New England Patriots) and Brian Dooley graduate after having 58 and 60 career starts played, respectively. This year’s leading returning O-lineman has 15 career starts. The starting center has battled injuries that kept him from playing the past couple of seasons. The new right tackle is making the jump from Division-II. There were three players that rotated in at right guard vs. UMass, including one player who positionally flip-flopped from offense to defense last year and is apparently back on offense this season.
KC: At least one preseason publication called Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton, “one of the top coaches” in the MAC conference. Do you agree? And if so, what makes him effective?
I agree that he’s been a great coach at EMU. He’s had to endure a lot of criticism just for believing in his job in the first place, and getting EMU to a place where it’s always in bowl games kind of speaks for itself. Kalen DeBoer, who was hired by Creighton to be the offensive coordinator for his first staff at EMU, has even said he models some of his coaching after Creighton, saying that he’s a “leader of men”.
Of what I’ve been able to know of him, he’s a great model for his players for sure. He’s also a good, tough football coach, which is evident by the records. But I think what makes him uniquely solid is that he has a great eye for talent. Maxx Crosby only had the one EMU offer out of high school. DeBoer’s FBS coaching breakthrough happened at EMU. Once upon a time, he hired Tom Allen, Penn State’s defensive coordinator, out of the high school ranks and into his first college job at Wabash (Division III).
I’ll say it here because I know people like to ask “well if he’s so good, why is he still at EMU?” which I totally get. I think there’s more to college football than getting a Michigan State job (just saying as an example) to recognize the good work you did at your last job. I don’t know how much of Creighton being at EMU this long means that no bigger schools find his work all that impressive or how much of it is Creighton actually not wanting to look for more. I don’t think Creighton’s ever indicated that he’s trying to play the same long-term coaching games like so many others who get chewed up and spat out of the Big Ten and SEC. I ultimately think that he accepted maybe the hardest FBS head coaching job in America and he’s smart enough to know that what he wants to accomplish and the way he wants to accomplish it at EMU wouldn’t take just a couple of years. I think he has a vision for himself and the work that's still ahead of him, and he's very dialed-in on that vision.
KC: How has the shifting landscape of the FBS — conference consolidation, transfer portal, NIL, etc. — impacted Eastern Michigan’s football program? Are you seeing these changes as a net positive or negative for Eastern Michigan moving forward?
AA: There’s never been a wide-sweeping change in the history of college football that’s ever been for the benefit of Eastern Michigan, or the likes of. Under all of the old rules and even back when Rutgers was still in the Big East, EMU was still really bad at this football stuff. Even when the team won 10 games and its first-ever bowl victory back in 1987, it’s not like this team had a turnkey operation of success.
The conference stuff, it’s too early to tell how that’ll all shake out. Adding UMass to the MAC next year doesn’t seem like a complete picture for what the league wants for itself, so I’m interested to see who else the MAC wants to join in future years. I think whatever decisions to separate or include Eastern Michigan in tougher levels of competition can only be helped out (maybe) by its recent and near-future results, and if it can have an improved image across the sport. There’s no rich history of success at EMU, so this program can really only focus on how it can best-manage all of these other changes that are coming to the sport.
I think the transfer portal is annoying at times, but it’s probably a net positive for the sport, and EMU’s found ways to be successful through the portal by properly addressing some roster needs over the years.
KC: Moving to this week’s matchup, what are the keys for Eastern Michigan to come to Montlake and pull off an upset?
AA: Building their roster this year, EMU needed to stack its D-line positions with new transfers and guys coming off injuries that sidelined them all 2023. The secondary features some returning talent, and over the years they’ve been able to find young dudes from high school or by transfers to have immediate success. Combine those two things, and to me the keys for success (against the pass at least) are pretty simple on defense. Get as many fresh bodies rotating through the D-line, and have them all create some pressures to throw the offense off-rhythm. The defensive secondary really prioritizes its ball skills, so if the wins they want to be able to there can come in one of two ways throughout the game. The pass rush is hopefully good enough to cause some poor throws for the DBs to make a play on, and the coverage is hopefully good enough to give D-linemen time to get through the UW O-line.
Offensively, I think Snyder needs to make clutch throws when they matter. And to me, clutch doesn’t have to be when you’re down four points with thirty seconds in the game. I think he can be clutch in some of the game’s early moments to keep this offense on-script and avoid blowout situations. He’s gonna need some guys around him to really click and have breakout performances around him, sure. But Snyder’s a quarterback that Creighton seems to really trust, and that’ll be on full-display Saturday.
KC: What’s your prediction?
AA: I think EMU will put up a good fight. I think it’ll be better than what a lot of people expect. I think all the moving pieces at UW might play into Creighton’s hand, now in his eleventh season at EMU. I don’t think I’m saying this to save my butt either: I won’t be surprised one bit if EMU, a team that’s never won a Mid-American Conference championship game, shows up to Creighton’s hometown to beat the runners-up of last year’s national championship game in a nail-biter. I think there are certainly some positions that need to play at a very high level and exceed a lot of people’s expectations (including my own), but the transfer portal era just might help invite this possibility to 2024.
I hate picking scores so I’ll do it two ways. If the turnovers are minimal and Washington wins, then I say the score is 34-24.
But my crystal ball says that if EMU gets to a hot start and ends up making a difference in the turnover-takeaway battle, then a 30-22 upset could be in the cards.
You can follow Alex Alvarado’s coverage of Eastern Michigan on X (@ARAlvarado13) and at The Ypsilanti Eleven.
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