Yes! No. Maybe? Week 5 sees Michigan MAC go 3-0 as EMU, CMU shine in wins

Week 5 delivered wins for all three of the Michigan MAC teams, as Western Michigan survived a trip to Buffalo while Eastern Michigan rolled at UMass and Central Michigan plastered Akron on homecoming.

As for Michigan and Michigan State? Dark times on the road vs. former Big Ten West teams. Here's a run down of a week that ran the gamut.

Let's dig in.

Yes!

Eastern Michigan’s MAC contention after big win: A big win in Amherst over UMass means the Eagles are the lone 2-0 team in the MAC, having picked up a Week 0 win over new conference foe Sacramento State. And how Eastern Michigan played in dispatching the Minutemen is cause for a lot of confidence, as all three phases contributed to victory just how the coaching staff envisioned. Bottling that up for a stretch run that includes games against Toledo, Central Michigan and Western Michigan, will all appear to be relevant players in the conference race — and the Eagles have a chance to shape their fate in the MAC race and end up playing for the league title in Detroit for the first time. 

Central Michigan flexing an identity in MAC opening win: The Chippewas, when it’s clicking, can run, as head coach Matt Drinkall said post game, in a straight line through the opponent to the end zone. To wit: 332 yards and four rushing touchdowns in a beatdown of Akron on Saturday. Pair that with punishing defense and now a passing game that is, at a minimum, a credible threat, and Central Michigan has something of an identity to lean into. And it’s a mode of play that will make the Chippewas a hard out in MAC play. An old, experienced offensive line is a great core to build around, and the rest seems to be falling into place at the right time for CMU. 

Western Michigan’s goal line stand: From an absolute, practical standpoint, defending four plays from the 2 yard line with the game on the line is borderline impossible. As hard as it is for offenses to operate in those tight spaces, it takes one lapse, one gap lost or one man uncovered for the offense to find the end zone. So for Western Michigan’s defense to stand up, push back and deny Buffalo a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of a stirring MAC opening win by parrying away four straight plays is nothing short of fantastic. And the final play is a fantastic example of pursuit and a heads up play by cornerback Josh Franklin, who fights through his man to cut down Buffalo QB Jason Wright short of the end zone on 4th and goal. When head coach Lance Taylor talks about grit, he’ll forever be able to point to that goal line stand in western New York. 

Jaxon Cherry, Central Michigan’s pass rush: Three sacks barely tells the story, as Cherry, Max Van Fleet, JJ Douglas, Korver Demma and myriad others — like linebacker Xavier White with half a sack — mauled the Akron line and disrupted quarterback Brayden Roggow for much of the game. At one point in the second half, Roggow had completed fewer than five passes as Akron was in the process of getting blown out. The defensive line also played the run well for most of the game, save for a few gashes by star Akron running back Jordan Gant. Cherry helped lead the charge, finishing with 1.5 sacks as the CMU pass rush got into the backfield for much of the afternoon, decimating Akron’s ability to play offense. 

EMU’s OL, run game: 192 yards on 39 carries (4.9 a carry) with three touchdowns is a great rushing performance no matter how one slices it, and a particularly promising one for an Eastern Michigan team trying to get the ground game rolling. Roll it did, as three backs combined for 162 of the yards: Amareon Blue (66 yards), Joey Mattord (54) and Braydon Bennett (42). All three scored touchdowns. And the offensive line also did not allow a sack as Noah Kim played surgically and threw for a pair of scores and 219 yards behind his pass protection. Eastern Michigan has shown flashes of running the ball like this, and an ability to protect Kim, and it all came together in a picturesque performance Saturday.

No.

Michigan State’s chances to be competitive in conference play: It was always going to be slim margins for this MSU team to compete and win games in the Big Ten, but the path was there when healthy. It’s just the nature of the beast for a staff pulling together the roster they could with the resources at hand. Then about the worst rash of injuries imaginable happened. And as Wisconsin demonstrated on Saturday, this Michigan State team simply does not have the depth to make do with so many players hurt. Pat Fitzgerald and Co. won’t be caught making any excuses, and fans are reasonable to be dispirited by what’s shaping up to be another season fighting to be competitive and relevant. And yes, it is possibly good for the future in getting so many players experience. But right now, this season, the outlook is bleak. 

The vibes around Michigan, Kyle Whittingham: This won’t be a message board rant (nor will that really be the flavor at this publication), because, as frustrating as Michigan has been to watch this year, five games is too small a sample size to be cutting diss tracks. However, when the vibe from so many people who should be excited about UM is this bad five games into a tenure, it cannot be ignored. And while it’s not the head coaches job to address this stuff — the restless distaste among the fanbase for the product on the field — directly, Whittingham and Co., for their own sake and the sake of this experiment in Ann Arbor, should probably start winning and putting a better team out there week to week. Whittingham himself hasn’t been obtuse about all this in his public comments, but it’s winning and good play, not acknowledgement, that can clear up whatever cloud there is around Michigan. 

Michigan’s offense: Well why is the vibe so bad in Ann Arbor? With Bryce Underwood reverting to the bad version of himself, and the run game continuing to struggle, Michigan put up a shambolic offensive showing in a 20-14 loss to Minnesota on Saturday. UM is dealing with a number of notable offensive line dings, yes, but the mistakes, sloppy moments and outright bad play from the offense is hard to watch. And Underwood, after playing under control and stacking good games the past two weeks, played the sort of frenetic, rushed, turnover-prone football that’s doomed him and Michigan plenty of times before. It was just a difficult watch on Saturday vs. the Gophers, for too many of the same reasons that have been around all season. 

Michigan State’s offense: Cue the jokes about “the battle of Mid” at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 7. But MSU’s offense was more or less DOA vs. the Badgers. MSU finished with 235 yards, passing for just 108 while completing fewer than 50 percent of its passes. The Spartans gave up two sacks and rushed for 2.8 yards a carry. With injuries to boot, this group couldn’t run very well, protect the quarterback very well, or get the ball out to receivers when the protection did manage to show up. In two games against Big Ten teams, MSU’s offense has scored 16 combined points. Illinois, coming to visit this Saturday, at least fired its defensive coordinator after Week 4. But the offense needs to find some lifelines for the Spartans. 

MSU pass rush, run defense: It’s looking like another year where MSU’s defense is going to struggle to get after opposing passers in conference play. The Spartans mustered no sacks and two tackles for loss on Saturday while the Badgers marauded for more than 200 rushing yards. Eli Coenen has some juice on the interior and Kenny Soares will make some plays, but this front just can’t affect the game the way MSU needs it to. And with so many injuries on the back end of the defense, particularly at corner, MSU might have to start getting to opposing passers to have a shot. 

Maybe?

Central Michigan’s passing offense: It’s still last nationally in yards per game, but rather than being very far behind the pack, the Chippewas are just a shade behind Rice after back-to-back games going over 100 yards. And while 71 yards came on one play as CMU finished with 149 on Saturday, the passing offense showed up as a credible threat. And the first two passing touchdowns of the season got cashed in for CMU, as Angel Flores connected with Shawn Foster for a short catch and then a long run for a 48 yard score. Langston Lewis took a screen from Jadyn Glasser 71 yards late in the game. The Chippewas didn’t light it up through the air, but the passing offense appears to be showing up in a significant way. 

Western Michigan’s goal line stand, as a catalyst: For a team that needed some success to latch on to after a lopsided loss to Boise State, the balance of Saturday’s win over Buffalo wasn’t the best place to look for WMU. A solid day, but not a sterling one, either. Then the Broncos came up with a goal line stand that seasons can turn on, an adrenaline shot of confidence and in practical matters, a front foot to play off in conference play at 1-0. The offense played pretty well despite the frustrating lack of scoring for WMU, and the defense did, too — but that can maybe all get seized upon and parlayed forward by the way Western Michigan won it in the end. 

Western Michigan's defense finding a championship form: The big plays were of concern on Saturday, including a one-play TD drive to allow Buffalo to equalize at 7-7 early. But the overall performance on Saturday from WMU's defense was promising. Buffalo rushed for 2.9 yards per carry and had 305 total yards, as quarterback Jason Wright went 11-of-18. Buffalo went 5-of-14 on third downs, too. WMU made it hard, the Bulls pulled some magic out, and punished a bust or two. But the down-to-down defensive performance from the Broncos was solid, and they bowed up in a major way at the end. And Buffalo tends to have some weird voodoo home magic. Regardless, this WMU defense still is giving up just 19.4 points per game and finding a footing in MAC play.

Michigan’s defense being enough: This is somewhat contingent on the offense not doing self destructive things like a trio of second turnovers, but Michigan played one of the most shambolic offensive games it’s had in a decade-plus and lost by six, in part because the defense shoved MInnesota around much of the day. The defense also had to do some Herculean stuff like give the offense a short field and get a pick six of its own. In general, that’s too much to ask. But if this defense can take the ball away and pass rush opposing offenses into hellish days, all the offense needs to do is not start drilling holes in the boat. It’s a really good defense, and Michigan still has a chance to avoid squandering it. 

EMU WR Kozy Isaac: Isaac flashed in his EMU debut in the opener, catching a 40-yard touchdown pass. He had another catch in EMU’s Week 1 loss to San Jose State. Then the second-year wideout missed three straight games before returning to the lineup vs. UMass. And he delivered with three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. The TD was a nice early shot play that connected as a DB fell. It’s not a massive amount of production over the course of three games — five catches for 86 yards — but two are touchdowns as Isaac has shown some big play potential. And with Nick Devereaux out for a while still, Isaac could have a key role to help fill.