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Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton had one response on how his multiple-quarterback system worked in the opening week.
"Broke a school record for completion percentage in a game so that's always a good thing," Creighton said in his media conference Monday.
EMU (1-0) will likely arrive at Ross-Ade Stadium with the same plan as their home opponent of playing at least two quarterbacks this weekend.
"(EMU offensive coordinator Aaron Keen) did a great job with his plan of playing multiple guys and it worked out perfectly, the way we wanted it to," Creighton said. "I think that’s just going to continue to get better."
In his first game at EMU since transferring from Iowa, Tyler Wiegers completed 18-of-21 passes for 238 yards in a 51-17 win over Football Championship Subdivision opponent Monmouth. Wiegers had just six pass attempts in his four previous years at Iowa but arrived on the EMU campus ready to take the offensive reins from former school-record-holder Brogan Roback. The problem was junior Mike Glass III was more interested in making this a competition instead of a coronation for the Big Ten transfer. Glass III, a 6-foot and 212-pound athletic quarterback accounted for 67 total yards (37 rushing and 30 passing) and three total touchdowns last weekend. Glass III was forced to sit out the 2017 season as a redshirt after transferring from Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., but was able to show enough promise in the summer to earn playing time this season.
"I put a lot of time in the offseason and last year had to sit in the stands and watch," Glass III said. "It was exciting because I didn't know exactly how I would do in my first game with the limited amount of drives I'd get but it worked out well."
Purdue is planning on seeing both signal-callers Saturday when the Eagles try to knock off their second Big Ten opponent in as many years after defeating Rutgers 16-13 in the second week of last season. Last season Purdue faced an opponent using multiple quarterbacks just three times (home games against Ohio, Michigan and Illinois) but will likely see this dynamic in the first two weeks of the 2018 campaign.
In a game that could feature constant rain and high winds Saturday afternoon, Glass III's ability to change the game on the ground could become a major factor to a Purdue defense that gave up four rushes of 10 yards or more last week against Northwestern.
Boilermaker linebacker Markus Bailey, who is primarily responsible for making the defensive calls and the checks at the line of scrimmage, detailed Wednesday that EMU may run more read-option plays with Glass III and more traditional drop-back play-action offense with Wiegers. Purdue's veteran players know they'll have to get organized in terms of personnel and assignments for a slightly different philosophy depending upon who is behind center.
"We've got to know the personnel on the field because that could change the plays they run and how they look," Bailey said. "That's another thing we're going to have to be aware of early, along with our assignments this week."
Purdue's defensive line hopes to affect the quarterback more than it did last week against Northwestern when the Wildcats’ Clayton Thorson and TJ Green had lots of time to pick apart the opposing secondary. The new challenge this weekend is in the drastic style difference that Wiegers and Glass III present because Northwestern's duo didn't result in a philosophical offensive scheme change.
"The one thing is both of them can really throw it accurately so it's just one guy that is a better runner and we'll have to know who is in the game and train our guys to act accordingly," Purdue defensive coordinator Nick Holt said.