Last week’s matchup
Eastern Michigan University is now 0-3 after falling short in their matchup against the University of Kentucky Wildcats, which ended in a final score of 48-23.
The Eagles have begun to show their hand as a team over the past three weeks. Eastern Michigan now ranks second in the Mid-American Conference in offensive yards, averaging 387.7 yards per game.
While the offense is highly ranked within the conference, the story for the defense is much different. The Eagles are allowing more yards than any other team in the conference, allowing a conference high of 525.7 yards per game.
The offensive charge has been led by quarterback Noah Kim, who now has 767 passing yards, with his favorite target being Terry Lockett Jr.
On the ground, Dontae McMillan continues to shine, ranking second in the Mid-American Conference in rushing with 219 yards and an average of 7.3 yards per carry.
Eastern Michigan’s defense will need to pick up the pace moving forward, as they allowed four rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns to Kentucky. Over the past three weeks, the team had only one sack, which was from the defensive lineman Messiah Blair.
The team has also failed to get any interceptions. The defense will need to make big strides if they want to give their offense a scoreboard that they can work with.
This week’s matchup
This week is homecoming for Eastern Michigan, and the energy will be high as they play the Sun Belt Conference’s University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns at Rynearson Stadium.
ULL is 1-2 as they are coming off a blowout 52-10 loss to the No. 25 ranked University of Missouri.
The passing game for the Ragin’ Cajuns is much different from Eastern Michigan’s. The team utilizes two quarterbacks, and both of them rank poorly for passing yardage within their conference, with their quarterback room combining for only 178 total passing yards after three games.
The ground game in Louisiana seems to be making up for the lack of passing yards, as they have accumulated 583 total rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns throughout their first three games. That may prove to be a big issue for Eastern Michigan as the defensive line is showing itself to be one of the team's weak points.
“We’ve given up, like [against] LIU, some mega explosives, and we certainly have to prevent that from happening,” said Eagles Head Coach Chris Creighton on his defense’s struggles so far.
Eastern Michigan’s best chance at a homecoming win will come if the offense keeps pace and the defense finally shores up against the run.
ESPN is expecting this game to be close, with the betting odds showing the Ragin’ Cajuns as just 2.5-point favorites.
Viewers can tune into ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, to watch the Eastern Michigan Eagles face off against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for this year's homecoming game.
