2023 MAC football: Western Michigan 'hungry' in first season under coach Lance Taylor
The Eastern Michigan Eagles, your next Mid-American Conference football champions?
It's not so far-fetched — after 18 straight seasons without a winning record prior to the arrival of veteran head coach Chris Creighton in 2014, the Eagles are fresh off a 9-4 season in which they narrowly missed out on the MAC championship game. (EMU finished tied with Toledo at 5-3 in league play, but lost to the Rockets head-to-head, 27-24, in late October.)
The question this year: Can they take the next step and make it to the championship, slated for Dec. 2 at Ford Field in Detroit?
SPUD LIGHT: Eastern Michigan football storms back from early deficit, tops San Jose State in Potato Bowl, 41-27
"We always wanna go after our best and then sometimes you don't know what that is, what you're capable of, but that is what we wanna go after," Creighton said Thursday at the MAC's media day. "If we're able to become our best, then you can't argue against that being successful. I will also tell you that our guys wanna win a championship and we believe that if we're able to play our best, week in and week out, that our best will be good enough to go after that."
Despite the failure to make the conference title game, the Eagles' 2022 season ended on a high note, as EMU beat San Jose State, 41-27, in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho. The victory was EMU's first bowl victory since the 1987 California Bowl. That was also the last time EMU won the MAC title.
EMU finished second in the West Division in the MAC coaches' 2023 preseason poll, released by the conference on Thursday. The Eagles received 55 points, including a first-place vote, in the balloting, behind only Toledo (66 points, 11 first-place votes). It's EMU's highest preseason pick in 25 years, and just the sixth time EMU has been picked in the top four in the West over that span. Central Michigan was picked third, with Western Michigan last in the West. In the East Division, Ohio was the coaches' pick, with Miami (Ohio) and Buffalo also nabbing first-place votes.
Senior linebacker Chase Kline said that after having a taste of success last year, the team is hungry for more and that they're ready to take the jump and compete for a championship.
"Eastern Michigan today is not Eastern Michigan of the past, and, I mean, I think there's just a lot of talent out there and good football to be watched," Kline said.
The Eagles open the season at home against Howard on Sept. 1.
Western Michigan: 'Hungry' under new coach
The WMU Broncos are entering the 2023 season with a chip on their shoulder.
First-year head coach Lance Taylor is tasked with rebuilding a program that finished 4-4 in the MAC and 5-7 overall. The Broncos have a tough schedule this year including nonconference matchups against Iowa, Mississippi State and Syracuse before starting the conference slate.
"They're hungry," Taylor said Thursday. "I think that they were disappointed with how things went last year, and they've read and seen some of the polls and preseason predictions and it adds fuel to the fire. Honestly our goals and dreams are gonna be matched by our work ethic and we'll settle it on the field. We'll settle those things out, but they do play with a chip on their shoulder."
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland likes what he's seeing so far from his new coach. The veteran missed the first four games of 2022 with a stress fracture and contusion on his fibula, but after working his way back, he's ready to give it his all this year.
"Coach Taylor is a very good coach," Keeland said. "Obviously we haven't gone through a whole season yet with him, but just as far as I've seen, just the discipline, his energy, not being afraid to call people out and let them know they're doing wrong and not just letting it slide is huge, so people aren't just lackadaisical and, like, 'Oh, you know I'm here.' It's a privilege, it's not just mandatory for you to be here, so I think he's really instilled, like, you can be here or you can be great."
The Broncos open the season at home against FCS-level Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) on Aug. 31.
Central Michigan: A tough test early in MSU
The Central Michigan Chippewas open the season with a tough road contest against Michigan State.
Things don't get much easier after that for a team trying to improve from a 4-8 season. After a home date with FCS-level New Hampshire, the Chips travel to South Bend, Indiana, to take on Notre Dame — which finished 18th in last season's final USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll — before jumping into a tough conference schedule.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity," head coach Jim McEIwain said. "I thank both Notre Dame and Michigan State's administration and their head coaches for the opportunity to play at two great venues. For me personally, it's gonna be exciting to go back to East Lansing, where I spent four or five years."
EARLY START: Michigan State football's season opener vs. Central Michigan moved to Friday, Sept. 1
McElwain, an assistant coach at MSU from 2003-05, said his team didn't show the toughness it needed last season, which he takes responsibility for. But McElwain isn't introducing any slogans or mottos as motivation: Instead, he's opting to keep the motivation simple and just get better everyday.
Senior offensive lineman Deiyantei Powell-Woods sees the need to work together as a team to bring that toughness for the upcoming season.
"I'd like to say our toughness would be better than it was last year," Powell-Woods said. "I say that because, in past years that I've been here, after the games the coaches go up and talk to each other and shake hands and whatnot. After some of those games, coaches win or lose, will be like 'Man, that team was tough.' He (McElwain) said it didn't really get that last year, so that was disappointing to hear, so really wanna be a tough team."
The Chippewas open the season in East Lansing on Sept. 1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2023 MAC football: No mottos for Central Michigan, just motivation
