Eastern Michigan Football: Offense will be key to bowl game in 2021

Eastern Michigan Football hopes defense can bounce back and get the Eagles back to contending for division titles and bowl games

Eastern Michigan Football coach Chris Creighton has done a wonderful job building the program up to where the Eagles are expected to contend for a division title every season now.

The Eagles went from being one of the worst teams in the conference and the country to being a team that you can consistently count on to be in games because they are so well-coached. 2020 was a tough season for the program though because one thing that Creighton relies upon heavily is being able to develop players in the offseason and COVID took that all away.

Eastern Michigan has been a team that has relied on their defense since Creighton took over in Ypsilanti, but the Eagles’ defense really dropped off last season and became one of the worst in the country.

The offense, which had been a work in progress the past few seasons, really stepped up and carried the load while the defense was figuring things out. EMU won its last two games of the season and they are hoping that momentum will carry over into 2021.

Creighton has been a successful program builder at every stop he has had as a head coach. Eastern Michigan was thought by some to be the worst division one job in the country and after a rough first couple of seasons, the Eagles were in their first bowl game since 1987 and have made three total since Creighton was hired.

The fact that he has not been hired away by a bigger program is a mystery, but one that the Eagles are glad for. I expect this team to bounce back and be a tough out for every team that they play, which is what EMU wants to be.