Eastern Michigan coach returns home to face Washington

There will be a lot of sentimentality for Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton in Saturday afternoon's game at Washington, the defending national runner-up.

Creighton grew up in Seattle and played quarterback at Roosevelt High School, so it will be a homecoming for him.

In his 11th season at Eastern Michigan, Creighton said he has never returned to the area as a head coach, so this will be a new experience for him as he relives some childhood memories.

"I went to Husky games as a kid," Creighton said. "We actually were close enough where I got sweatbands and dirty socks from guys as they were leaving the locker room. I thought I was hitting the treasure chest."

Creighton hopes his return home will result in a win against a Washington team that didn't experience any slip-ups last week in its season opener.

In its first game under first-year head coach Jedd Fisch and multiple new faces who transferred into or signed with the program as freshmen, Washington earned a 35-3 home win over Weber State.

Fisch said he will continue to throw younger players into the mix after playing nine of the 18 true freshmen on his roster last week.

"We don't really talk too much about redshirting," Fisch said. "That's not really part of our program. Our program right now is about playing the best players right now and seeing if we can develop them."

As for Eastern Michigan, Fisch said he was impressed by the play of its defensive line in a 28-14 win over UMass, a victory that will 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 post-I defense, so expect a lot of effort to stop the run, and we'll see how we respond to that," Fisch said.

One Eastern Michigan player who should be familiar with Washington is linebacker James Djonkam, who was named the Mid-American Conference's Defensive Player of the Week last week after registering 13 tackles and one sack.

Djonkam is a transfer from Arizona State, which played Washington last season before conference realignment took both teams out of the Pac-12.

--Field Level Media