2026 MAC Football Week 10 Game Preview: Eastern Michigan Eagles vs. Central Michigan Chippewas

Two teams in desperate need of a win travel east to Detroit on Wednesday night, as the Eastern Michigan Eagles (4-5, 3-2 MAC) and Central Michigan Chippewas (3-5, 1-3 MAC) meet for an exceedingly rare neutral-site conference game.

Wednesday night's clash is the first of two scheduled games in what is being referred to as "Motor City MACtion". Eastern is the de-facto home side for the inaugural edition, with Central serving as host in 2027.

Both teams are on losing streaks heading into this game, with EMU losers of their last two games, while CMU has lost three-straight.

The last time the MAC saw a conference game decided on neutral ground was back in 2016, when Northern Illinois and Toledo played at what is now called Rate Field in Chicago. In that game, NIU broke a six-game losing streak to Toledo.

Fast forward to now, and both CMU and EMU look to get back on track with a potential path to the postseason on the line, as each team carries five losses onto the gridiron.

Game notes

• Date and Time: Wednesday, November 4th, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time
• Location: Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan
• TV options: The game will be on ESPN2, part of the ESPN family of networks. A valid cable subscription is required for viewing.
• Streaming options: The game will be available for streaming on the ESPN App, ESPN Unlimited, or on applicable cable/satellite services. A valid subscription is required for viewing on any platform. Other streaming carriers include Sling, DirecTV Stream, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, or YouTube TV.
• Eastern Michigan radio: Tom Helmer (play-by-play) and Rob Rubick (color) will provide the EMU call for WEMU-FM 89.1.
• Central Michigan radio: Adam Jaksa (play-by-play) and Brock Gutierrez (color) will provide the CMU call for WUPS-FM 98.5.
• Gambling Considerations: Eastern is a 2.5-point favorite on neutral ground; over/under is 43.5-44.5 by book, per Covers.
• All-time series: Central leads the all-time series by a commanding 65-32-6 margin, with games dating back to 1902. CMU won the 2025 edition of the rivalry, taking a 24-13 victory in Mt. Pleasant.

Central Michigan outlook

Central has struggled over the last month, opening October with a blowout 41-17 win over Akron before dropping three-straight games– two of which were by a combined eight points.

Against Western, they needed to muster a large second-half rally to even get close, while their Miami game found Central blinking first in a back-and-forth contest.

"If I'm being totally honest, it's exciting and frustrating," Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall said during media availability this week when asked about the team's emotions heading into the last part of the season. "We're obviously not where we wanted to be and where we want to be. We're very frustrated because we played some really good teams here lately and we've played them really, really close and done some great things that have not come out on the right side of the scoreboard so... Frustrated with that part of it, but at the same time like that we recognize that there are a lot of great things going on."

Now with their backs against the wall in terms of making the postseason, they've taken on even more water, losing do-it-all starting QB Angel Flores (ankle), leading tackler Xavier White (ACL) and defensive line rotation piece James Reinbold (hand) for the season due to injury, while leading receiver Langston Lewis was suspended by the team for an OWI arrest over the weekend.

Additionally, defensive linemen Kormer Demma and Max Van Fleet are considered questionable, while linebackers Jeremiah Alston and Victor Earl could return– though they aren't listed on this week's two-deep.

Central, facing the best-ranked rushing defense in the MAC last week, threw the ball around the yard with new starting QB Jadyn Glasser installed after being a primarily run-based look over the prior seven games.

Glasser did what he could considering the game state, with 221 yards and a passing touchdown, finishing 58 percent of his passes. He'll be challenged once again, as EMU has been one of the best ballhawking defenses in the MAC with seven recovered fumbles and four interceptions. Down Lewis (24 rec., 379 yards, two TDs), Glasser will have to rely on the inexperienced trio of Braylen Naves (96 yards), Shawn Foster II (77 yards, TD) and Justin Ruffin (68 yards) to move the ball downfield.

Speaking of the game state, the Chips ran for only 64 yards last week, a season-low output. The hope is that they'll be able to lean a bit more on the ground game to help dictate the pace of the game with their stable of rushing contributors. Holy Cross transfer Jayden Clerveaux (50 carries, 271 yards, two TDs) has emerged as the favorite to carry the ball with a 5.4 yard-per-carry average. Vaughn Blue carries at about the same rate (43 rushes)m with 196 yards and a score, while Nick Woodford (25 rushes, 135 yards) has three rushing touchdowns.

CMU's defense is wounded overall, suffering especially in the front seven, but still shows some individual promise.

Mayson Hitchens leads the team with 62 tackles and also has an interception from the linebacker spot, and is joined by fellow backer Brett McCalla (56 tackles, two TFLs, 1.5 sacks, INT) atop the charts

Defensive tackle Jaxon Cherry has 27 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss and three sacks from the interior, while ends Nathan VanTimmeren (four TFLs, three sacks) and JJ Douglas (three TFLs, sack)– both former tight ends– have picked up the injury slack admirably.

CMU's strength on defense is the secondary; safety Justin Taylor has three interceptions, four pass break-ups and 1.5 TFLs to go with 44 tackles, while cornerback Jaion Jackson leads the team with six PBUs. Matthew McKenzie has emerged opposite Jackson and has three PBUs, while DB Darrell Bryant Jr. has an interception and two PBUs.

Placekicker Caden VanHuis hasn't been called upon often, with only six attempts. He's made four of those, with two coming last week against Miami. They were his first makes since September 26th against Miami.

Punter Declan Duley averages 43.78 yards per boot, with only four touchbacks on 37 attempts.

Eastern Michigan outlook

The Eagles are in the midst of weathering the toughest part of their conference schedule, taking losses to both Toledo and Ohio prior to this week, with Western Michigan awaiting them after a BYE week.

Last week against Ohio, the Eagles put the Bobcats on the ropes with just under five minutes remaining, as backup QB Brogan McCaughey strung together back-to-back explosive passes to give EMU a critical 20-17 lead on the road. Unfortunately for them, Ohio's Darren James-Hamilton solidified his all-MAC case with a 100-yard return touchdown to reclaim the lead for good on the ensuing kickoff.

It was a brutal loss to take, but fans can at least take heart in a performance like they put up last weekend after the clunker they had against Toledo the weekend prior.

The question surrounding this week's game will be the availability of starting QB Noah Kim. Kim is one of the MAC's best QBs by statistics, sitting second in the league in both passing yards (1,678) and touchdowns (11), with his senior leadership valued by the staff.

Kim missed last week's game due to an unknown injury, pushing McCaughey into duty late. McCaughey, a fifth-year from Yale, went for 197 yards, a touchdown and a pick on 69 percent completion against Ohio, and served at Yale as a primary back-up, so this will be a familiar spot if he does have to go once again.

Both QBs have a plethora of options to choose from in the pass game. Tight end Joshua Long has been one of the best receivers in the conference, hauling in 42 catches for 383 yards and two touchdowns. Both Harold Mack (34 catches, 367 yards) and Benson Prosper (34 catches, 346 yards, TD) average over 10 yards a catch, with Mack's four touchdown catches leading the room. Nick Deveraux, who has been dealing with injuries, could be back in the fold as well. 2025 was a break-out season for Deveraux, with 34 catches for 510 yards and seven touchdowns. In five games in 2025, he sits at 19 catches for 171 yards and two scores.

The Eagles have three halfbacks over the 200-yard mark, with five-foot-six Amareon Blue leading in carries (79), yards (405), touchdowns (three) and yards per carry (5.1). Blue, Braydon Bennett (63 carries, 280 yards, two TDs) and Joey Mattord (60 carries, 265 yards, TD) each average 4.4 yards per carry and see consistent action as rotation backs.

On defense, the Eagles have been one of the MAC's better turnover units, as previously discussed. They're also one of the better rushing defenses in the MAC, third in the league with an average of 135.1 yards allowed per game. While they're not the best in pass defense (241.6 yards per game; 12th in the MAC), they've got 43 TFLs, 36 QB hits and 14 sacks as a unit, making them a hard unit to play against.

Quincy Byas is the star of the front seven, with 7.5 TFLs and five sacks (both team leads) while also clinching 26 tackles from the interior. Ronn Hardin (3.5 TFLs, two sacks) and Elgin McDuffey (four TFLs, sack) have also been excellent at generating pressures.

Zach Mowchan leads the team in tackles (59), while reeling in five pass break-ups and passes defensed (second on team in both) from the linebacker spot; All-MAC safety Bryce Llewellyn leads the team with 29 solo tackles (29) and is second in total tackles (53), with four PBUs, four passes defensed, two QB hits and a fumble recovery. Both players have 2.5 TFLs.

Rudy Kessinger is 11-of-14 in placekicking for the Eagles, with a long kick of 51 yards and a blocked kick. His 78.6 percent make rate is third in the conference. Daniel Hull has settled in at punter after a shaky start, with a 44.8 yard per punt average (fourth-best in MAC).

Game outlook

Drinkall spoke to the unique circumstances around the game earlier this week, saying it was "a weird time of year" and that you have to think about the season being 0-0 at this point in the campaign.

"Crowds might not be huge... You'll play at neutral sites or in the middle of the week. Maybe your season's going great. Maybe it's not. Maybe guys are banged up. Maybe they aren't. Maybe they're talking to other agents about leaving already, and maybe they're not," Drinkall said. "It's just it's own kind of unique world in our conference this time of year."

Keeping distractions to a low and focusing on putting the best foot forward will be crucial for both sides in their hopes of preserving the postseason.

This will once again be a game where Central's offensive tendency is met by a defense whose best strength is the run game; whether they can find new wrinkles to neutralize the situation will be the intrigue for Chippewa fans.

For Eastern, the challenge will be if they can keep up the offense's usual pace in the pass game. CMU's secondary has hounded opponents in 2026, and sit atop the MAC with eight interceptions and have scored off the pick-six once.

The winner of this game will be the one who can be more efficient with the offensive possessions they do get. Considering both teams will likely start backup QBs with limited FBS starting experience, the teams around them will have to step up.

The books initially had this as a 1.5-point game in EMU's favor, which has since opened up to 2.5 points. The more you look at how the teams match up, the more it feels as if this game could be a matter of who can finish more drives– even if it's with field goals.