Central Michigan University Athletics
Western Notebook: Chippewas Will Face Another Test
10/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - As much as anything, a football season is a test of character.
Central Michigan was tested Saturday in its 41-39 Mid-American Conference loss to Western Michigan at the Broncos' Waldo Stadium.
The next test comes this week, when first-year coach John Bonamego sees how his team rebounds from an emotional loss to its archrival.
"We'll find out," Bonamego said. "We'll see what kind of character we have."
He got a look at that character on Saturday in Kalamazoo, when the Chippewas (2-4 overall, 1-1 MAC) found themselves on the short end of a 34-16 score early in the third quarter. They responded with a field goal three fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull within striking distance.
In the end, though, it wasn't quite enough.
"That's what this game's about," Bonamego said. "It's a gut-check game, it's a rivalry game. Our guys, there was no quit on the sideline and I thought we took the momentum in the second half and I thought we were rolling pretty good."
The Chippewas are at the mid-way point of their season, and they begin the second half, if you will, next Saturday (1 p.m.) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium against Buffalo.
All six of CMU's remaining games - three at home, three on the road -- are against MAC foes.
"I don't think anybody in the West is going to be going undefeated so we just have to keep doing our thing and keep rolling week to week," senior defensive end Blake Serpa said. "Go out there tomorrow, correct what we did wrong, and move on to Buffalo."
Since going to the two-divisional alignment in 1997, a period of 18 football seasons, nine of the 36 divisional champions have gone unbeaten in league play.
Both Serpa and quarterback Cooper Rush pointed to last season, when the Chippewas defeated Northern Illinois during the regular season before the Huskies went on to win the MAC West and the league championship game. Only once (2012) in the 18-year history of the MAC title game have two unbeaten teams played for the crown.
"Every year there are teams with one loss that end up (in the title game)," Rush said. "We've just got to keep winning. Take care of your business. One-loss teams always win this conference. We've just got to come back ready to go, have a good week against Buffalo."
The Bulls (2-3, 0-1) lost to Bowling Green, 28-22, on Saturday.
"You want to go win, get this taste out of our mouths," Rush said. "We'll come in tomorrow, ready to go, have a good week and beat Buffalo."
Run game
The Chippewas finished with a season-high 161 rushing yards against the Broncos, and it marked the first time CMU has surpassed the 100-yard mark.
Jahray Hayes was CMU's top ground-gainer with 52 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. His TD came on a 15-yard run in the fourth quarter, and it was his longest run as a Chippewa.
Rush was CMU's second-leading rusher with 39 yards on five attempts, much of it coming on a 26-yard scramble inside the Bronco 10-yard line. He was sacked just once.
CMU averaged 5.2 yards per carry.
Passing game
Rush completed 23 of 32 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns.
His longest completion of the day went for 52 yards to Mark Chapman, who finished with four catches for a team-high 92 yards. The 52-yard reception was a career-long for Chapman, a sophomore, who also rushed for 32 yards on two carries.
Jesse Kroll led CMU with six receptions, marking the fifth consecutive game that he has made at least five receptions, and bringing his season total to a team-leading 32. He finished with 75 yards.
Anthony Rice and Ben McCord also made four grabs. Rice finished with 66 yards, and McCord with 41 for two TDs. It was the first career two-TD game for McCord, a senior tight end who has 389 yards in receptions this season and leads all CMU pass-catchers with four TDs.
Rush's 32 pass attempts ups his career total to 924, and moves him past Derrick Vickers and into fourth place on CMU's all-time list.
Vickers attempted 907 passes from 2000-03. Third on the list is Jeff Bender (1988-91) with 960.
Miscues
The Chippewas were flagged eight times for 75 yards in the game, and committed two turnovers, one fumble and one interception.
Three of those penalties on CMU came before the game was four minutes old, including a personal foul on outside linebacker Nathan Ricketts on Western's first offensive play of the game.
Ricketts was ejected for targeting.
Bonamego said "there really wasn't one" when asked after the game if the officials had an explanation for their determination that Ricketts had targeted Western wide receiver Corey Davis.
"They just saw it and they called it," Bonamego said. "That's not something that you can debate. All you can ask is that they review it and when they reviewed it they upheld the call. That's the way it goes."
Western scored on the next play, a dazzling catch-and-run by slippery and speedy receiver Daniel Braverman. CMU was flagged for a personal foul on the extra-point kick, but that flag was nullified by a personal foul call on the Broncos. CMU was flagged for another personal foul on the kickoff.
The penalties may have been a byproduct of the emotional nature of the rivalry between the two teams, Serpa said.
"I think it's a mixture of that and kind of how the refs were calling the game, whether it was the right call or not," he said. "You can't be doing that as a team if we want to come out with a win."
Hamilton injured
Chippewa middle linebacker Tim Hamilton, the reigning MAC West Defensive Player of the Week, left the game in the second quarter with an injury.
Bonamego said after the game he didn't know the nature or the extent of the injury to the senior captain, who came into the game as CMU's second-leading tackler.
Sophomore Jeff Perry and freshman Alex Briones were called upon to fill the void. Sophomore Tyree Waller filled in for Ricketts at outside linebacker.
Waller finished with seven tackles, Briones made three, and Perry had two.
Defense
Safety Kavon Frazier led the Chippewas with 11 tackles and a pass breakup, while fellow safety Tony Annese made nine stops. It marked the fifth time in six gams this season that Frazier has paced the defense.
Cornerback Amari Coleman recovered a fumble, which was forced by linebacker Malik Fountain.
The Chippewa defense recorded a second-quarter safety, which drew CMU to 20-16 when Serpa was held in the end zone. The penalty for holding by the offense in the end zone is a safety.
Ostman returns
Junior defensive end Joe Ostman returned to the field for the Chippewas after missing the last four games with an ankle injury, which he suffered in the season-opener against Oklahoma State.
Ostman did not start, but he saw extensive action and finished with five tackles, four of them solos.
Specialists
CMU place-kicker Brian Eavey made a 22-yard field goal. He is 10-for-14 on the season. He was good on all four of his extra-point kicks.
Chippewa punter Ron Coluzzi averaged 52 yards on four punts, including a career-long 61 yarder, which came on the final play of the first half.
Coluzzi, a junior, kicked off seven times for an average of 58.1 yards with two touchbacks.
CMU return man Emmitt Thomas, a freshman, returned five kickoffs for an average of 22.8 yards.
Big number
The combined 80 points was a record for a Central-Western game, surpassing the 79 the teams combined for in the 1995 matchup, won by Western, 48-31.
