When he looks at Eastern Michigan, Joe Harasymiak sees many of the things he wants UMass to become.
The Eagles have an established culture, an experienced head coach and a history of winning games in the MAC, making Saturday another measuring stick for the Minutemen.
UMass enters the matchup at McGuirk Alumni Stadium at 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Eastern Michigan is 2-3 and also 1-0 in the MAC.
Harasymiak has plenty of respect for what Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton has built during his tenure with the Eagles.
“Coach Creighton’s been here for 13 years. He’s got 200 career wins,” Harasymiak told reporters Monday. “The guy’s established a program. They have a culture.
“I think this is the best-coached team we’ve played so far on tape.”
Eastern Michigan’s record this season requires some context.
The Eagles have made trips to Michigan State and Wisconsin, losing 35-7 and 54-10, respectively. They opened the season with a 28-17 victory over Sacramento State before losing 27-21 to San Jose State and are coming off a 29-3 win over Lindenwood.
Harasymiak sees a team whose structure reflects the stability Creighton has established.
“You just see how they’re structured,” Harasymiak said. “They have a plan. Their defense, as a defensive guy, they’re sound. They play what they play. They have their changeups. They tackle well. They communicate.”
That consistency extends to special teams. Eastern Michigan kicker Rudy Kessinger made three of four field-goal attempts against Lindenwood, including a career-long 51-yarder.
For Harasymiak, those details help illustrate the difference between an established MAC program and a UMass team still trying to prove itself within the conference.
“They’ve won a lot more games than we have in the MAC,” he said.
Eastern Michigan has also shown an ability to win away from home during Creighton’s tenure. Harasymiak specifically pointed to 2022, when the Eagles went 5-1 on the road during a nine-win season.
“When you have a program that has a coach there for a long time and they’re coached well, they travel well,” Harasymiak said. “They’re going to come in here. I think in 2022, they went 5-1 on the road when they won nine games. So they’re going to be ready to go and we have to make sure that we’re ready to go.”
The immediate challenge for the UMass defense begins with Eastern Michigan quarterback Noah Kim.
Kim has thrown for 968 yards and six touchdowns through five games. He completed 23 of 38 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns without an interception in the victory over Lindenwood.
In Kim, Harasymiak sees a quarterback capable of making things difficult for a pass rush before it has much opportunity to get started.
“The biggest thing right off the bat is he gets rid of the ball very, very quickly, which does kind of two things for me as a defensive backgrounded person,” Harasymiak said. “It can frustrate you as coaches, it can frustrate the d-line, not being able to create a pass rush.”
Kim’s ability to quickly distribute the football puts additional pressure on the rest of the UMass defense.
“What he does a great job is getting the ball in space to all their athletes,” Harasymiak said. “I think open-field tackling will be huge in this game. They can push the ball down the field. He makes really, really good reads pre-snap.”
Kim’s ability to diagnose before the snap will make it imperative for the Minutemen to keep him off balance.
“I think pre-snap disguise for us is going to be huge,” Harasymiak said. “He’s got weapons around him. Their o-line has done a really good job establishing the run. Tight end group. I mean, it’s just an overall really, really good operation.”
One of those weapons, Benson Prosper, caught 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown against Lindenwood.
UMass will look for ways to make Kim uncomfortable, even if the quarterback’s quick release makes doing so more complicated.
“We have to affect him in ways that we can,” Harasymiak said. “We have to put him certainly in situations where we can get after on a rush.”
For Harasymiak, the Eagles represent the kind of established conference opponent UMass will have to beat if it wants to continue its unbeaten start.
“Just watching the tape since we’ve been back, this is going to be a big challenge for us.”
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