Sign in Subscribe
Mitten Masterkey

Mitten Masterkey Week 5: UM travels for Little Brown Jug as EMU, MSU, WMU also hit road

It's looking like a bit of a sleepy slate for Week 5, which means it's poised to jump out and surprise with some good games.

Andrew Graham

— 4 min read
Share
Mitten Masterkey Week 5: UM travels for Little Brown Jug as EMU, MSU, WMU also hit road
(Via Michigan Athletics)

Week 5 has arrived, with a big top-of-MAC faceoff featuring Eastern Michigan in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the oldest trophy in college football at stake when Michigan travels to face Minnesota.

Those two games, plus Michigan State hitting the road to face Wisconsin, Western Michigan going to western New York to face Buffalo, and Central Michigan hosting Akron in a bit of a revenge game for homecoming.

It's a bit of sleepy slate, which often delivers the most interesting results. Let's dig in.

Subscribe to Mitten Football to support independent coverage of Michigan's FBS teams

Mitten Football will be at…

Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mt. Pleasant to try the new CMU-branded beer — and perhaps cover the Akron game vs. Central Michigan. 

The schedule and TV assignments

Games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.

  • Noon — Michigan at Minnesota, Fox
  • 12:30 p.m. — Michigan State at Wisconsin, BTN
  • 1 p.m. — Western Michigan at Buffalo, ESPN+
  • 3:30 p.m. — Eastern Michigan at UMass, ESPN+
  • 3:30 p.m. — Central Michigan vs. Akron, ESPN+

And for the uninitiated, this master schedule absolutely rocks (just be aware times are central).

Listen to “In The Pocket”

Mitten Football is doing a podcast, with Andrew Graham and the Detroit News’ Connor Earegood covering all the CFB news, notes, happenings and the like across the Mitten each week. 

Pregame, halftime reading from Mitten Football, others

Also worth noting the plethora of injuries across the state, which get covered below.

Notebook: Busy injury reports, WMU badly needs sacks, CMU starts October gauntlet
Conference play is in full swing for both the MAC and Big Ten, and a lot of injuries have cropped up four weeks into the season.
Mitten FootballAndrew Graham

Picks, preview

Read the full joint here with all the analysis and scores.

  • Michigan over Minnesota
  • Wisconsin over Michigan State
  • Western Michigan over Buffalo
  • Eastern Michigan over UMass
  • Central Michigan over Akron

A unit to watch: Eastern Michigan’s offensive line

This is a group that Chris Creighton has said for weeks will get some guys back and did in Week 5 in a win over Lindenwood, as Tyler McMillan got back on the field as a starter and Richardo Wourman, a third year transfer from Wayne State, finally got a start. There’s a few more coming, potentially, in the coming weeks as EMU gets its offensive line healthy and, ideally, humming. It’s got a big test this weekend, too, as UMass has been one of the top sack-getting teams in the country, with 11 so far. 

No single player for UMass had more than two, meaning it’s been a group project for the Minutemen. UMass also has the No. 10 rushing defense and gives up 12.8 points per game. It’s a distinct challenge for the EMU offensive line to show up and show out in this game. But if they do, the Eagles could roll out to a big win. 

A fun* prediction: Central Michigan finally gets a passing touchdown

There are 138 FBS teams, and only one of them hasn’t thrown a touchdown entering Week 5: Central Michigan. In fact, every other team has at least two, including the service academies. The Chippewas could’ve added on just before halftime vs. Wyoming in Week 3, but it’s been a slog through the air for this offense with minimal opportunity to find the end zone via the air — or much forward yardage. CMU ranks No. 138 nationally in total passing offense, too, with 68 yards per game. 

It’s just been mostly a non-starter for CMU, which funnily enough had its best passing game of the season this past weekend vs. a Miami team that looks like it could win a national title. And it’s not that it needs to be gangbusters for a team that plays solid defense and has established its ability to run the ball, but a viable passing game would be the catalyst to turn a functional offense into a potentially scary one. And not saying CMU goes wild through the air, but it’d be almost a feat to make it five weeks and not throw for a score.

(*OK maybe it's not fun to score a first passing TD in Week 5 but it's more fun than not doing that.)

Read more