Quick Lane Bowl Notebook
12/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
DETROIT - Central Michigan's 21-14 loss to Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday at Ford Field brought to an end a season that, for the Chippewas, ran the gamut of emotions, both on the field and off.
It began shortly after the 2014 season ended, when John Bonamego, a former CMU football walk-on, was named the Chippewas' coach on Feb. 8, realizing a lifelong dream.
Some four months later, CMU defensive back Derrick Nash succumbed to cancer. Within days, Bonamego learned of his own cancer diagnosis, and team physician Dr. Jason Davenport passed away shortly thereafter.
The Chippewas were picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the preseason poll of media who cover the league.
They ended up 6-2 in league play, sharing the division championship. They finished 7-6 overall, winning six of their final eight regular-season games.
"I'll always remember our seniors and how they bought in from day one and worked," Bonamego said. "With coaching changes, transitions are tough on programs … We'll hold up a championship trophy here in the very near future and (those seniors) won't be with us, but their fingerprints will be all over it."
One of those seniors, safety Kavon Frazier, articulated what the season meant to him and his teammates.
"Starting from the coaching change, we went through a lot of adversity," said Frazier, who wore the No. 21 jersey - Nash's number - an honor bestowed upon a different CMU player in each game this season. "I think our seniors played a big part in the resilience that we showed. We had some pretty good leadership out of our captains, Coop (Cooper Rush), Jumbo (Tim Hamilton) and (Nick) Beamish. I think that (leadership) played a big role in our resilience that we showed during the season."
Ground game
Freshman Romello Ross turned in a breakout performance Monday in front of a large contingent of family and friends in his hometown.
The Detroit Western High School product carried 19 times for 100 yards and scored a touchdown on a bullish 19-yard highlight-reel run early in the fourth quarter that gave the Chippewas a 14-13 lead.
He also caught four passes for 28 yards.
Ross was slated to redshirt this season, but was pressed into duty midway through the season because of injuries in the Chippewa backfield.
Coming into the bowl game, the 5-foot-10, 189-pounder had carried 35 times for 147 yards and had scored four touchdowns - all four in the regular-season finale, a 35-28 win over Eastern Michigan.
"Obviously he's a very talented young player," Bonamego said. "He had a great game against Eastern Michigan. He's only going to improve and get better. I'm very proud of him and he's a Chippewa.
"He plays the game the way you expect him to play and the way we expect everybody to play. He's got a very high degree of maturity about himself for a really young guy and how he carries himself. … Looking forward to a very promising future for him."
Defense
Junior safety Tony Annese led the Chippewa defense with 11 tackles, while outside linebacker Malik Fountain recorded eight stops, including one for a loss. Nathan Ricketts, another outside backer, had seven stops.
The Chippewas sacked Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner twice, one by Jabari Dean, the other by Mitch Stanitzek. End Chris Kantzavelos made two tackles-for-a-loss, and cornerback Josh Cox had an interception.
Kicking game
The Chippewa coaching staff was forced to make a major adjustment in the kicking game when punter Ron Coluzzi left the program prior to the bowl game for what Bonamego said were "personal reasons."
Three CMU players - Rush, Zach Oakley and Brian Eavey - handled the punting duties.
Oakley punted four times for an average of 48 yards - with a long of 56 - and had one of his punts downed inside the Minnesota 20-yard line. Rush's lone punt went for 55 yards and was downed inside the 20, while Eavey's went for 38.
The trio finished with an average of 47.5 yards on six punts with one touchback.
"I thought they all did an excellent job," Bonamego said. "I thought our guys really covered well. It was a challenge for our team and I think we rose to it, just like we rose to challenges all year long."
Eavey handled the kickoff duties, a job that Coluzzi performed throughout the regular season. Eavey averaged 62 yards on three kickoffs with two touchbacks.
Eavey, a junior, made both of his extra-point attempts and finished the season a perfect 38-for-38 in that department.
The crowd
The announced attendance at Ford Field was 34,217 and it was decidedly pro-CMU.
That was unquestionably due to the fact that the game was played in Detroit, just a 2 1/2-hour drive from Mount Pleasant, and the CMU roster includes 74 players who hail from Michigan, more than three dozen of whom attended high schools in the city of Detroit or its suburbs.
"It was an amazing turnout," said Frazier, a Grand Rapids native. "I think we had a pretty good number of fans here and I think that played a big factor in the game."
