Football Wraps Up Busy Week of Bowl Prep
12/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - With final exams behind them, the attention has turned almost exclusively to football.
The Central Michigan football team will leave Saturday morning on a charter flight for the inaugural Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, wrapping up a busy week of practice in the team's indoor practice facility, where the thermostat was cranked up to simulate the weather conditions the Chippewas will encounter when they get to the island.
It will also bring to an end a busy week of sendoffs that has included a Wednesday night dinner/reception at Hunter's Ale House with 1100 Club members, and a similar event Thursday at O'Kelly's where Chippewa players and coaches met with fans, signed autographs, and received plenty of well wishes.
CMU will square off with Western Kentucky in the game at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau on Christmas Eve. Kickoff is scheduled for noon, and the game will be televised live by ESPN.
"I know we're going to the Bahamas, but people are really focused in on the game," junior defensive end Blake Serpa said Thursday after practice. "Like coach (Dan Enos) has said many times, the most memorable bowl games are the ones that you end up coming out with a win.
"Any time we're on the road we treat it like a business trip. Obviously when you get a bunch of friends together you're going to be messing around a little bit, but we know what the overall goal is and what we have to do to get to that goal. When we get down there we'll have some fun with some different stuff they have planned for us, but other than that we'll be all locked in."
Emotions are swirling around the Chippewas, particularly the seniors who know that less than a week from now, their football-playing days will be over.
There is also the matter of leukemia-stricken teammate Derrick Nash, who will accompany the team on the trip as an honorary captain.
"That's awesome, I'm happy for him," senior middle linebacker Justin Cherocci said of Nash, a freshman. "They announced that he was going with us (Wednesday) just before practice and we were going crazy. He's been going through a rough time and we've been trying to support him any way we can. He's our brother. He's part of the family.
"You think you've got it hard out here, when it's 85 degrees or you're in pain in practice, but he's got it hard. You kind of look back when you're going through some stuff and you go, 'I've got to pull it together.'
"He's one of the most-positive kids I know. You can't catch him down. That's the type of guy you want next to you in the trenches."
For a few Chippewa seniors, the game will not be the last time they strap on the pads and snap their chinstrap what with many harboring aspirations of professional careers. But for most, realistically, it is the end of something to which they have dedicated their lives.
"It definitely hit me this last week," Cherocci said, adding that it's the bond and camaraderie that develops with teammates over years of toil that he likely will miss the most. "It feels like just yesterday that I got here. It goes by quick.
"I already know what I'm going to miss in the future. When I look back I'm going to miss being with all these guys and going through all the stuff with them."
Enos, who is in his fifth year as CMU's coach, knows full well the mixed emotions his seniors are experiencing now, and will further experience next week.
"It's been a part of these guys' lives, for some of them, since they were in the fourth or fifth grade, and it's a difficult time when you have to hang 'em up, but it comes for all of us at some point," said Enos, who played quarterback at Michigan State. "I've just told these guys to try to cherish every moment and enjoy it, and enjoy the reward of going to a bowl game, and enjoy their time with their friends. It really does go by fast for them.
"Football's got to end for everybody at some point. I tell our guys all the time that when you get done playing you can't just go get a pickup game of football going when you're 40.
"For some of us, you get to go through high school and play and that's it; then, for the very fortunate, you get to play in college; then for the very, very select few they get to continue to play after that."
There will plenty more for the Chippewas between now and Wednesday when they kick it off against the Hilltoppers. The team will lodge at the exquisite Atlantis Resort for four days and return to Mount Pleasant immediately following the game.
Keeping the focus on football - at least while the Chippewas are on the practice field - is key. CMU will face a very good opponent in Western Kentucky, which features one of the most explosive offenses in the nation, and the game should draw plenty of national attention being that it will be carried on ESPN.
"That's going to be the challenge," Enos said. "We're going to try to set up a schedule where we're going to allow them time to enjoy the resort and Atlantis.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these guys. We've put a good two weeks of work here (in practice). We've got to handle (the distractions). We've got good senior leadership and I know these guys want to play well. I know it's important for them to play well."
That's a message that has been received, loud and clear, by the players, Cherocci said.
"You can't let your mind wander too much," he said. "There's a time to have fun and there's a time to lock in. Everyone's got to know what they've got to do."
