Eastern Michigan

Start with the number that actually stings: Eastern Michigan is the only MAC program that has never reached the conference championship game since it started in 1997. The program's lone conference title dates to 1987, when the Eagles upset a San Jose State team favored by 17.5 points in the California Bowl — their first-ever bowl win, and their only one for the next 35 years. It took until 2022 to get another, and it came against San Jose State again: a 41-27 win capped by a blocked extra point returned for two, part of a 9-4 season that was the program's best since 1977.

And yet, individually, this program has produced two of the more remarkable NFL stories in the MAC. Charlie Batch still holds every meaningful passing record in school history, went in the second round of the 1998 draft, and played 15 NFL seasons — mostly backing up Ben Roethlisberger in his hometown of Pittsburgh — picking up two Super Bowl rings along the way. Maxx Crosby got exactly one scholarship offer coming out of high school. He took it, became a two-time first-team All-MAC pass rusher, and by 2025 was a five-time Pro Bowler on a $106.5 million extension with the Las Vegas Raiders that briefly made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in football.

Then, in April 2025, Eastern Michigan named Crosby its assistant general manager — the first time any active NFL player has held that kind of title at a college program, anywhere. He's helping evaluate recruits and manage the NIL budget for his alma mater while still starting on Sundays in Las Vegas. Chris Creighton, in his 13th season as head coach entering 2026, has delivered six of the program's seven all-time bowl trips — consistency that's real, even if the one thing Eastern Michigan has never done is reach the title game its best players' NFL careers would suggest it should.