Central Michigan University Athletics
2010 Football Season Review
12/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Watch: Football Insider Season Review
MOUNT PLEASANT - The 2010 football season was a year of transition under first-year head coach Dan Enos.
A young, inexperienced squad fought through adversity and injuries throughout the season. The roster listed just 13 seniors, 19 different Chippewas made their first career start during the 2010 season and in 12 games CMU started five different combinations of players on the offensive line.
Regardless, CMU found itself in six games decided by seven points or fewer. The Chippewas were just 1-5 in those contests, but the lone win marked the highlight of the 2010 season: a 26-22 Senior Night victory over Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. In front of a national television audience on ESPNU, the Chippewas scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to rally from a 22-13 deficit, then forced a turnover inside their own 5-yard line with less than two minutes left to seal the victory.
"I was really happy for our team and our seniors in particular," Enos said. "It's obviously a very important game for everyone here, and for our seniors it was important for them to play well. We showed great resolve through the game, and I was really proud of how we played and competed."
The win kept two traveling trophies in Mount Pleasant: the Victory Cannon, presented to the winner of each year's CMU-WMU matchup, and the Michigan MAC Trophy, awarded to the winner of the round-robin competition between Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. The Chippewas won at Eastern Michigan, 52-14, on Sept. 18.
Despite a 3-9 overall record, the Chippewas were out-scored by a total of just 19 points—312-293—for the season. The five narrow losses were each heartbreaking in their own fashion: CMU missed a short field goal and threw an interception in overtime at Temple, a field goal and two extra points were blocked in a five-point loss at Northwestern, Miami and Bowling Green both scored touchdowns in the final minute of regulation, and the Chippewas scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns at Navy before missing on a two-point conversion with 4 seconds remaining.
"We're obviously very disappointed that we weren't able to win some of those games, but we took some good from the season as well," Enos said. "We had 19 guys who made their first college start this year, so we're hoping that experience pays dividends over the next few years."
The 2010 season saw a number of Chippewas reach individual milestones. Linebacker Nick Bellore saw his streak of consecutive games started end at 51, but his 52nd career start—in the season finale at Toledo—tied Andrew Hartline's school record. Bellore finished his career with 472 total tackles, third most in school history.
Receiver Kito Poblah caught a pass in each of the final 36 games of his career. He finished his career eighth in school history in career receptions (154), ninth in receiving yards (1,908) and tied for seventh in touchdown receptions (15).
Quarterback Ryan Radcliff posted one of the top passing seasons in school history, completing 282-of-466 passes for 3,358 yards and 17 touchdowns. He threw the second most passes in school history, completed the third most and threw for the third most yards. His 17 touchdown passes are tied for the seventh most in school history.
Nationally, entering the bowl season, Radcliff ranked ninth in both total passing yards and yards per game (279.8) and 11th in completions (23.5 per game).
Radcliff's top target was sophomore Cody Wilson, who caught 83 passes for 1,137 yards and five touchdowns. Wilson's yardage total, just the sixth 1,000-yard receiving season in school history, ranks third all-time at CMU, while his 83 receptions are the fifth most in school history.
Entering the bowl season, Wilson ranked 11th nationally in receiving yards per game (94.8), tied for 11th in receptions per game (6.9) and 12th in total receiving yards. Wilson was named the team's Herb Deromedi Most Valuable Player for the 2010 season.
"Cody Wilson was tremendous for us week-in and week-out," Enos said. "Ryan Radcliff played his best football over our last two-and-half games, and I think you could really see him getting more comfortable in the offense late in the season."
Eight Chippewas were named to the All-MAC team: Bellore (first team), linebacker Matt Berning (first team), center Colin Miller (second team), offensive lineman Jeff Maddux (second team), Wilson (second team receiver/third team punt returner), defensive lineman Sean Murnane (third team), defensive back Jahleel Addae (third team) and defensive back Vince Agnew (third team).
Bellore became just the sixth player in program history to earn All-MAC first team honors in three different seasons.
Berning was the first Chippewa since Dan Bazuin in 2006 to earn Academic All-America honors. He was a second team selection. Berning, Murnane and Wilson all were named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District IV first team.
MOUNT PLEASANT - The 2010 football season was a year of transition under first-year head coach Dan Enos.
A young, inexperienced squad fought through adversity and injuries throughout the season. The roster listed just 13 seniors, 19 different Chippewas made their first career start during the 2010 season and in 12 games CMU started five different combinations of players on the offensive line.
Regardless, CMU found itself in six games decided by seven points or fewer. The Chippewas were just 1-5 in those contests, but the lone win marked the highlight of the 2010 season: a 26-22 Senior Night victory over Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. In front of a national television audience on ESPNU, the Chippewas scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to rally from a 22-13 deficit, then forced a turnover inside their own 5-yard line with less than two minutes left to seal the victory.
"I was really happy for our team and our seniors in particular," Enos said. "It's obviously a very important game for everyone here, and for our seniors it was important for them to play well. We showed great resolve through the game, and I was really proud of how we played and competed."
The win kept two traveling trophies in Mount Pleasant: the Victory Cannon, presented to the winner of each year's CMU-WMU matchup, and the Michigan MAC Trophy, awarded to the winner of the round-robin competition between Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. The Chippewas won at Eastern Michigan, 52-14, on Sept. 18.
Despite a 3-9 overall record, the Chippewas were out-scored by a total of just 19 points—312-293—for the season. The five narrow losses were each heartbreaking in their own fashion: CMU missed a short field goal and threw an interception in overtime at Temple, a field goal and two extra points were blocked in a five-point loss at Northwestern, Miami and Bowling Green both scored touchdowns in the final minute of regulation, and the Chippewas scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns at Navy before missing on a two-point conversion with 4 seconds remaining.
"We're obviously very disappointed that we weren't able to win some of those games, but we took some good from the season as well," Enos said. "We had 19 guys who made their first college start this year, so we're hoping that experience pays dividends over the next few years."
The 2010 season saw a number of Chippewas reach individual milestones. Linebacker Nick Bellore saw his streak of consecutive games started end at 51, but his 52nd career start—in the season finale at Toledo—tied Andrew Hartline's school record. Bellore finished his career with 472 total tackles, third most in school history.
Receiver Kito Poblah caught a pass in each of the final 36 games of his career. He finished his career eighth in school history in career receptions (154), ninth in receiving yards (1,908) and tied for seventh in touchdown receptions (15).
Quarterback Ryan Radcliff posted one of the top passing seasons in school history, completing 282-of-466 passes for 3,358 yards and 17 touchdowns. He threw the second most passes in school history, completed the third most and threw for the third most yards. His 17 touchdown passes are tied for the seventh most in school history.
Nationally, entering the bowl season, Radcliff ranked ninth in both total passing yards and yards per game (279.8) and 11th in completions (23.5 per game).
Radcliff's top target was sophomore Cody Wilson, who caught 83 passes for 1,137 yards and five touchdowns. Wilson's yardage total, just the sixth 1,000-yard receiving season in school history, ranks third all-time at CMU, while his 83 receptions are the fifth most in school history.
Entering the bowl season, Wilson ranked 11th nationally in receiving yards per game (94.8), tied for 11th in receptions per game (6.9) and 12th in total receiving yards. Wilson was named the team's Herb Deromedi Most Valuable Player for the 2010 season.
"Cody Wilson was tremendous for us week-in and week-out," Enos said. "Ryan Radcliff played his best football over our last two-and-half games, and I think you could really see him getting more comfortable in the offense late in the season."
Eight Chippewas were named to the All-MAC team: Bellore (first team), linebacker Matt Berning (first team), center Colin Miller (second team), offensive lineman Jeff Maddux (second team), Wilson (second team receiver/third team punt returner), defensive lineman Sean Murnane (third team), defensive back Jahleel Addae (third team) and defensive back Vince Agnew (third team).
Bellore became just the sixth player in program history to earn All-MAC first team honors in three different seasons.
Berning was the first Chippewa since Dan Bazuin in 2006 to earn Academic All-America honors. He was a second team selection. Berning, Murnane and Wilson all were named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District IV first team.
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