Central Michigan University Athletics
Football at Northern Illinois Notebook
10/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2014
DeKALB, Ill. - Opposing defenses know a key to stopping Central Michigan is to slow the run game, specifically Thomas Rawls.
And while Northern Illinois managed to do that -- to a degree -- early in Saturday's matchup with the Chippewas, CMU did what any good offense should: It found another way.
That, early on, was on the arm of quarterback Cooper Rush, who completed 11 of his first 12 passes in engineering two long scoring drives that put CMU up, 14-7, after the first quarter of what eventually became a 34-17 win.
Rush threw for 200 yards on 15-for-21 passing in the first half, after which, CMU, 21-7. He finished 20-of-31 for 269 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
And he did it with poise against a Northern Illinois defense that entered the game ranked first in the Mid-American Conference.
"He played very, very well," CMU coach Dan Enos said of Rush, a sophomore who has made 17 consecutive starts. "He's such a competitor, he's such a student of the game. I know that's such a cliché. He prepares each and every week like an NFL quarterback. It's very important to him to play at a high level.
"He's only a sophomore and I have to remind myself of that sometimes, that he's only 19 or 20 or whatever he is. He's very, very bright. He's very tough. He's got a chance, I think, to be a really good player and he played very well today against a very good defense."
Rush was an efficient 5-of-10 passing with one TD in the second half when the Chippewas emphasized an ever-increasingly successful run game, which did exactly what it is designed to do: Grind out the clock, keep the opposing team's offense sidelined, and protect - and add to - the lead.
The Chippewas finished with 283 yards on the ground - 270 courtesy Thomas Rawls - and held a near 2-to-1 advantage in time of possession. CMU had 199 rushing yards after halftime.
Spreading the wealth
Rush effectively employed his arsenal of receivers as eight Chippewas caught passes in the game, seven in the first half.
Jesse Kroll, who did not catch a pass last week in CMU's 28-10 win over Ohio, was his top target with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Titus Davis had four catches for 54 yards while drawing a significant amount of the NIU defense's attention, which is to be expected given Davis' 10-catch, 181-yard performance last week against Ohio and is on the Biletnikoff Watch List.
"That's just the way it was working today," Enos said. "(Rush) was getting balls to him, (Kroll) was getting open. We don't try to force feed anyone. That's why we want to be balanced. We want to get it to the backs, we want to throw it to the tight end.
"That way you don't get people keying on one person or one part of your offense. Hopefully we can remain very diversified and balanced that way."
Rush connected with Kroll, Davis, Mike Kinville, Saylor Lavallii, Deon Butler, Courtney Williams, and Joe Bacci in the first half. His second-half TD pass went to Ben McCord.
That's three tight ends (Kinville, Butler, McCord), two running backs (Lavallii and Bacci), and three wideouts (Kroll, Williams and Davis).
CMU's offensive line did a superb job of giving Rush time to throw as it did not allow a sack.
Rush has completed 123 of his 191 pass attempts (64.3 percent) for 1,499 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has been intercepted four times. He ranks fifth in the MAC in passing efficiency at 143.4 and seventh with 214.1 yards passing per game.
Kroll leads the Chippewas in receptions (25) and yards (386), while Davis has 21 for 374.
Getting defensive
It took Northern Illinois less than two minutes to seize a 7-0 lead, as the Huskies took just five plays to go 71 yards on the game's opening drive.
But after that, the Chippewas' defense clamped down.
CMU held the Huskies to a season-low 110 yards on the ground. No small feat against an NIU team that entered the game averaging a MAC-best 256 rushing yards per game.
Linebacker Justin Cherocci finished with 10 tackles to lead the Chippewas, while defensive backs Brandon Greer and Kavon Frazier had eight apiece.
Safety Tony Annese added seven stops and an interception, his third of the season and the fifth of his career. It was CMU's ninth pick of the season, which leads the MAC. Annese's three interceptions ties him for second in the league
CMU recorded two tackles-for-a-loss, one by linebacker Cody Lopez, the other by end Joe Ostman. The secondary was credited with seven pass breakups, two each by Annese and Dennis Nalor.
CMU limited the Huskies to a season-low 19 first downs and 341 total yards, more than 125 below their season average.
Cherocci ranks fourth in the MAC with an average of 10.1 stops per game.
Rawls in the record book
Rawls' 270-yard effort ranks as the sixth-highest total for a single game in CMU history.
Rawls moved past CMU Hall-of-Famer Jim Podoley, who had 258 yards against Northern Iowa in 1954. Podoley's No. 62 is the only uniform number in CMU football history to be retired. Robbie Mixon holds the single-game rushing record, 377, which he set in a 2002 game against Eastern Michigan.
Rawls' total is also a high for a MAC ball carrier this season, eclipsing the 229 that he amassed a week ago against Ohio.
Rawls has 840 yards rushing on the season and is averaging a MAC-best 168 per game. He also leads the league in all-purpose yardage at 183.4 per game. His rushing total is third in the league.
Rawls scored two touchdowns on Saturday, bringing his season total to nine. He is second in the league in scoring at 10.8 points per game.
Time of possession
The success of the CMU run game led, for the second straight week, to a lopsided advantage in time of possession.
The Chippewas held the ball for 39 minutes, 1 second, to NIU's 20:59. Last week against Ohio, the Chippewas held the ball for more than 42 minutes while the Bobcats had it for less than 18.
The Chippewas are second in the league in average possession time at 33:27.
Few flags
The Chippewas were penalized three times for 29 yards in the game.
Through seven games, CMU has been flagged 31 times for 266 yards, an average of 38 yards per game, which is the best in the MAC.
Kicking game
CMU's Ron Coluzzi punted five times for an average of 39.8 yards with a season-long of 57. Two of his punts were downed inside the Huskies' 20-yard line, and one went for a touchback.
Coluzzi averaged 63.6 yards on his seven kickoffs. Two went for touchbacks.
CMU placekicker Brian Eavey made all four of his extra-point attempts to remain perfect on the season, 18-for-18.
He was two-for-three in field goal attempts, making a 25-yarder and a 23-yarder. His 50-yard attempt late in the third quarter was short. It was his first miss of the season.
Eavey, a redshirt freshman, has made five of his six field goal attempts on the season with a long of 37 yards.
Streak snapper
NIU entered the game riding a 28-game win streak in its home stadium, a 24-game MAC regular-season win streak, and a 17-game MAC home win streak.
CMU ended all of that with its victory on Saturday.
The Chippewas hold the distinction of having been the last MAC team to win in DeKalb and the last team to hand the Huskies a regular-season league loss. Central Michigan won at NIU, 33-30, in overtime on Nov. 12, 2008, and it posted a 48-41 win over the Huskies in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 1, 2011.
Enos is 2-3 in his five years at CMU against the Huskies, who have won four consecutive MAC West titles and have captured two MAC championships during that span.
Rod Carey, in his second year as the Huskies' head coach, is 16-5 at the school.
Enos opened his post-game press conference with praise for Northern Illinois and Carey.
"First thing, I just want to commend Northern Illinois," Enos said. "Coach Carey's a man of great integrity and they do an outstanding job and I can't say enough about them and their program and the way they do their business. They're a very good football team, they're very well coached, they're very sound in what they do. We have a ton of respect for them."
Said Carey: "The final result, you give Central Michigan a ton of credit. They came in here and really executed really well in all three phases and made the plays that were crucial to the game. They made a lot of them, and you have to give them a ton of credit with that."
The Chippewas lead the all-time series, 26-23-1, and has won five of the last eight meetings. The schools first met in 1939. CMU is 10-14-1 all-time in DeKalb.
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
DeKALB, Ill. - Opposing defenses know a key to stopping Central Michigan is to slow the run game, specifically Thomas Rawls.
And while Northern Illinois managed to do that -- to a degree -- early in Saturday's matchup with the Chippewas, CMU did what any good offense should: It found another way.
That, early on, was on the arm of quarterback Cooper Rush, who completed 11 of his first 12 passes in engineering two long scoring drives that put CMU up, 14-7, after the first quarter of what eventually became a 34-17 win.
Rush threw for 200 yards on 15-for-21 passing in the first half, after which, CMU, 21-7. He finished 20-of-31 for 269 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
And he did it with poise against a Northern Illinois defense that entered the game ranked first in the Mid-American Conference.
"He played very, very well," CMU coach Dan Enos said of Rush, a sophomore who has made 17 consecutive starts. "He's such a competitor, he's such a student of the game. I know that's such a cliché. He prepares each and every week like an NFL quarterback. It's very important to him to play at a high level.
"He's only a sophomore and I have to remind myself of that sometimes, that he's only 19 or 20 or whatever he is. He's very, very bright. He's very tough. He's got a chance, I think, to be a really good player and he played very well today against a very good defense."
Rush was an efficient 5-of-10 passing with one TD in the second half when the Chippewas emphasized an ever-increasingly successful run game, which did exactly what it is designed to do: Grind out the clock, keep the opposing team's offense sidelined, and protect - and add to - the lead.
The Chippewas finished with 283 yards on the ground - 270 courtesy Thomas Rawls - and held a near 2-to-1 advantage in time of possession. CMU had 199 rushing yards after halftime.
Spreading the wealth
Rush effectively employed his arsenal of receivers as eight Chippewas caught passes in the game, seven in the first half.
Jesse Kroll, who did not catch a pass last week in CMU's 28-10 win over Ohio, was his top target with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Titus Davis had four catches for 54 yards while drawing a significant amount of the NIU defense's attention, which is to be expected given Davis' 10-catch, 181-yard performance last week against Ohio and is on the Biletnikoff Watch List.
"That's just the way it was working today," Enos said. "(Rush) was getting balls to him, (Kroll) was getting open. We don't try to force feed anyone. That's why we want to be balanced. We want to get it to the backs, we want to throw it to the tight end.
"That way you don't get people keying on one person or one part of your offense. Hopefully we can remain very diversified and balanced that way."
Rush connected with Kroll, Davis, Mike Kinville, Saylor Lavallii, Deon Butler, Courtney Williams, and Joe Bacci in the first half. His second-half TD pass went to Ben McCord.
That's three tight ends (Kinville, Butler, McCord), two running backs (Lavallii and Bacci), and three wideouts (Kroll, Williams and Davis).
CMU's offensive line did a superb job of giving Rush time to throw as it did not allow a sack.
Rush has completed 123 of his 191 pass attempts (64.3 percent) for 1,499 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has been intercepted four times. He ranks fifth in the MAC in passing efficiency at 143.4 and seventh with 214.1 yards passing per game.
Kroll leads the Chippewas in receptions (25) and yards (386), while Davis has 21 for 374.
Getting defensive
It took Northern Illinois less than two minutes to seize a 7-0 lead, as the Huskies took just five plays to go 71 yards on the game's opening drive.
But after that, the Chippewas' defense clamped down.
CMU held the Huskies to a season-low 110 yards on the ground. No small feat against an NIU team that entered the game averaging a MAC-best 256 rushing yards per game.
Linebacker Justin Cherocci finished with 10 tackles to lead the Chippewas, while defensive backs Brandon Greer and Kavon Frazier had eight apiece.
Safety Tony Annese added seven stops and an interception, his third of the season and the fifth of his career. It was CMU's ninth pick of the season, which leads the MAC. Annese's three interceptions ties him for second in the league
CMU recorded two tackles-for-a-loss, one by linebacker Cody Lopez, the other by end Joe Ostman. The secondary was credited with seven pass breakups, two each by Annese and Dennis Nalor.
CMU limited the Huskies to a season-low 19 first downs and 341 total yards, more than 125 below their season average.
Cherocci ranks fourth in the MAC with an average of 10.1 stops per game.
Rawls in the record book
Rawls' 270-yard effort ranks as the sixth-highest total for a single game in CMU history.
Rawls moved past CMU Hall-of-Famer Jim Podoley, who had 258 yards against Northern Iowa in 1954. Podoley's No. 62 is the only uniform number in CMU football history to be retired. Robbie Mixon holds the single-game rushing record, 377, which he set in a 2002 game against Eastern Michigan.
Rawls' total is also a high for a MAC ball carrier this season, eclipsing the 229 that he amassed a week ago against Ohio.
Rawls has 840 yards rushing on the season and is averaging a MAC-best 168 per game. He also leads the league in all-purpose yardage at 183.4 per game. His rushing total is third in the league.
Rawls scored two touchdowns on Saturday, bringing his season total to nine. He is second in the league in scoring at 10.8 points per game.
Time of possession
The success of the CMU run game led, for the second straight week, to a lopsided advantage in time of possession.
The Chippewas held the ball for 39 minutes, 1 second, to NIU's 20:59. Last week against Ohio, the Chippewas held the ball for more than 42 minutes while the Bobcats had it for less than 18.
The Chippewas are second in the league in average possession time at 33:27.
Few flags
The Chippewas were penalized three times for 29 yards in the game.
Through seven games, CMU has been flagged 31 times for 266 yards, an average of 38 yards per game, which is the best in the MAC.
Kicking game
CMU's Ron Coluzzi punted five times for an average of 39.8 yards with a season-long of 57. Two of his punts were downed inside the Huskies' 20-yard line, and one went for a touchback.
Coluzzi averaged 63.6 yards on his seven kickoffs. Two went for touchbacks.
CMU placekicker Brian Eavey made all four of his extra-point attempts to remain perfect on the season, 18-for-18.
He was two-for-three in field goal attempts, making a 25-yarder and a 23-yarder. His 50-yard attempt late in the third quarter was short. It was his first miss of the season.
Eavey, a redshirt freshman, has made five of his six field goal attempts on the season with a long of 37 yards.
Streak snapper
NIU entered the game riding a 28-game win streak in its home stadium, a 24-game MAC regular-season win streak, and a 17-game MAC home win streak.
CMU ended all of that with its victory on Saturday.
The Chippewas hold the distinction of having been the last MAC team to win in DeKalb and the last team to hand the Huskies a regular-season league loss. Central Michigan won at NIU, 33-30, in overtime on Nov. 12, 2008, and it posted a 48-41 win over the Huskies in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 1, 2011.
Enos is 2-3 in his five years at CMU against the Huskies, who have won four consecutive MAC West titles and have captured two MAC championships during that span.
Rod Carey, in his second year as the Huskies' head coach, is 16-5 at the school.
Enos opened his post-game press conference with praise for Northern Illinois and Carey.
"First thing, I just want to commend Northern Illinois," Enos said. "Coach Carey's a man of great integrity and they do an outstanding job and I can't say enough about them and their program and the way they do their business. They're a very good football team, they're very well coached, they're very sound in what they do. We have a ton of respect for them."
Said Carey: "The final result, you give Central Michigan a ton of credit. They came in here and really executed really well in all three phases and made the plays that were crucial to the game. They made a lot of them, and you have to give them a ton of credit with that."
The Chippewas lead the all-time series, 26-23-1, and has won five of the last eight meetings. The schools first met in 1939. CMU is 10-14-1 all-time in DeKalb.
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