September 9, 2023; MINNEAPOLIS, MN; Eastern Michigan Eagles head coach Chris Creighton watches the second quarter against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton will likely be feeling a lot of emotion as he faces Washington on Saturday afternoon. He’s playing against a team ranked second in the nation.
Creighton grew up in Seattle and played quarterback at Roosevelt High School, so this visit will be a return home for him.
Creighton is in his 11th season at Eastern Michigan, but said he has never returned to the area as a head coach, so this visit will be a new experience that brings back childhood memories.
“I went to Husky games when I was a kid,” Creighton said. “We were actually pretty close. When I left the locker room, guys would give me sweatshirts and dirty socks. I thought I was knocking over a treasure chest.”
Creighton is hoping to return home against Washington, which won its season-opening game without a hitch last week.
In its first game under first-year head coach Jed Fisch and several new players who transferred or signed with the program as freshmen, Washington won 35-3 at home against Weber State.
Fish said he will continue to include younger players on the team after starting nine of the 18 freshmen on his roster last week.
“We don’t talk about redshirts that much,” Fish said. “That’s not part of our program. Our program right now is about taking the best players we have and seeing if we can develop them.”
Fish said he was impressed with the defensive line’s play in Eastern Michigan’s 28-14 win over UMass. That win should put Washington quarterback Will Rogers and the offensive line on high alert this week.
The Eagles recorded six sacks against the Minutemen in Week 1.
“They play a lot of defense after I, so I expect it’s going to take a lot of work to stop the run, and we’ll see how we respond,” Fish said.
One Eastern Michigan player who should be familiar with Washington is linebacker James Dionkam, who was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week last week after recording 13 tackles and a sack.
Djonkam is an Arizona State product who played Washington last season before conference realignment caused both teams to be eliminated from the Pac-12.
–Field level media
