Know Your Foe: Kentucky football aims to rebound vs. struggling Eastern Michigan
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky faces Eastern Michigan aiming to rebound from SEC loss.
- Eastern Michigan has lost seven straight games and allows 542.5 yards per game.
- UK head coach Mark Stoops holds a 12-0 record versus Mid-American Conference teams.
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Preview: Eastern Michigan at Kentucky football
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Eastern Michigan game at Kroger Field.
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Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
Game details
Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC) will face Eastern Michigan (0-2, 0-0 MAC) on Saturday, Sept. 13, at Kroger Field (seating capacity of some 61,000) on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST and be telecast by ESPNU.
Coach Chris Creighton’s Eagles lost to FCS member Long Island University 28-23 on Saturday night in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
It was Eastern Michigan’s first loss to a Football Championship Subdivision opponent since falling 31-14 to Illinois State in 2012.
Kentucky-Eastern Michigan history and trends
• Kentucky leads the all-time series with EMU 2-0.
• Eastern Michigan closed last season by losing its final five games. In addition to falling to Long Island last week, EMU also lost 52-27 at Texas State two weeks ago in its 2025 season opener.
That makes seven losses in a row for Eastern Michigan.
• EMU is 0-11 all-time against current Southeastern Conference schools — 0-2 vs. all of Florida, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt and 0-1 against Arkansas, LSU and South Carolina.
• As Kentucky head coach, Mark Stoops is 12-0 against teams from the Mid-American Conference. The Wildcats already have a win this season over a MAC foe, vanquishing Toledo 24-16 in the season opener.
• Since losing 44-35 to Southern Mississippi in the 2016 season opener, Kentucky has gone 16-0 against teams from the Group of Five conferences.
Most recent Kentucky-Eastern Michigan meeting
Kentucky backup quarterback Sawyer Smith came off the bench to replace an injured Terry Wilson and threw two touchdown passes to help the Wildcats seal a 38-17 victory against Eastern Michigan on Sept. 7, 2019, at Kroger Field.
Late in the third quarter, Wilson ripped off a 19-yard run only to be taken to the ground from behind by what was ruled to be an illegal horse collar tackle by Eastern Michigan defensive lineman Turan Rush.
Wilson did not get up following the hit, and eventually had to be carted off the field. Subsequently, it was learned he had suffered a torn patellar tendon in his left knee that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Pressed into duty, Smith hit Ahmad Wagner with a 54-yard touchdown pass and threw a 2-yard TD toss to Lynn Bowden.
Kentucky-Eastern Michigan: Three things to know
1. If either the shoulder injury suffered by UK starting quarterback Zach Calzada in last week’s 30-23 loss to No. 20 Mississippi or Kentucky’s generally inconsistent offensive play through two games this season leads Stoops to insert redshirt freshman Cutter Boley as the Wildcats’ starting QB against EMU, it would give the former Lexington Christian Academy star a chance to get his feet on the ground against a defense that has not fared well so far in 2025.
In the losses to Texas State and LIU, EMU has given up an average of 542.5 yards a game. The Eagles have especially struggled to stop the run, surrendering an average of 311.5 yards rushing. Eastern Michigan is giving up 231 yards a contest through the air.
2. Eastern Michigan quarterback Noah Kim started five games at QB for Michigan State in 2003. A 6-2, 185-pound senior from Centreville, Virginia, Kim is completing 65.3% of his passes so far this season for EMU and is averaging 218.5 passing yards a game.
Kim has yet to throw either a touchdown pass or an interception in 2025.
3. Eastern Michigan starting tight end Tanner Lemaster played for Kentucky in 2023 and 2024. He appeared in only one game during his two seasons in Lexington.
Listed at 6-foot-5, 241 pounds when he signed with UK in its 2023 recruiting class out of Washington Court House, Ohio, Lemaster picked the Wildcats over offers from Central Florida, Indiana, Kansas and Tulane, among others.
Now listed at 6-6, 247, Lemaster has three catches for 53 yards in his first two games playing for EMU.
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
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