Chippewas Host East-Leading Ohio on Senior Day
11/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (5-5, 2-4 MAC) vs. OHIO (7-3, 5-1 MAC)
Tuesday, November 15 • 7 p.m. • Kelly/Shorts Stadium • Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Game Notes: Central Michigan | Ohio
Watch: ESPN2/ESPNU/WatchESPN
Listen: Central Michigan IMG Sports Network
Live Stats:
Twitter: @CMU_Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - At one point this season, the Central Michigan football team was 5-2, in the hunt for a berth in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game, and bowl eligibility almost assured.
Three weeks on, the Chippewas are 5-5 after having lost three consecutive games, its MAC title hopes a distant memory, and it needs a win in one of its final two regular-season games to become bowl eligible.
And it won't be easy.
The Chippewas start their two-game run to the regular-season finish line on Tuesday (7 p.m.) when Ohio comes to Kelly/Shorts Stadium. CMU closes the regular season one week later at Eastern Michigan, the surprise team of the MAC in 2016 at 6-4 and bowl eligible for the first time since 1995.
Ohio, 7-3 overall, 5-1 MAC, leads the MAC East and can clinch a trip to the league championship game, their first since 2011, with a win over the Chippewas. The Bobcats have won three straight games.
CMU is coming off a 37-17 loss at Miami (Ohio), 37-17 11 days ago. Second-year Chippewa coach John Bonamego said he hopes the long layoff between games helps to rejuvenate his team.
"It was great to have some time off to kind of recharge and get some guys healthy," he said. "We're a pretty banged up football team, which I don't think is atypical at this time of year, but we've kind of had more than our fair share.
"We had a chance as coaches to kind of evaluate everything, talk to the team about where we are. Our focus really is on just winning this game. We've more or less wiped the slate clean and we're looking at this as a brand-new season. The attitude's good. Guys are excited to play."
It is Senior Day for CMU, the last home game for the seniors on the roster, and that could give the Chippewas an emotional boost, Bonamego said.
"It's definitely one you remember, but I think once you start playing it's more impactful before the game and afterwards," said Bonamego, who played at CMU from 1983-86. "Once you start playing you make plays and you're trying to win. Definitely we want to do everything we can to send our seniors out the right way."
"You worry a little bit about that, the emotions and everything. I don't know how you truly control that."
Among that group of seniors is Cooper Rush, a four-year starter at quarterback who will leave the program as one of its all-time best, along with the likes of safety Tony Annese, wide receiver Jesse Kroll, kicker Brian Eavy, defensive linemen Kelby Latta and Jabari Dean, fullback Joe Bacci, and linebacker Nathan Ricketts.
"I'll always remember them by how they've worked and how they've maintained the course and really embraced the culture change here and done the very best that they could to carry it forward," Bonamego said of the senior class. "They've been a good example to a lot of the younger players."
Ohio poses a stiff test, particularly on defense. The Bobcats have recorded 36 sacks on the season, far and away the best in the MAC. The Chippewas have surrendered 32 sacks, the second-highest in the league.
"We've got to protect the passer," Bonamego said. "You can try to control some of those things with formations and play-action, but to have balance and not get yourself into predictable passing situations is even more important this week against an opponent like this."
Ohio ranks fifth in the MAC in total defense (the Chippewas are fourth) and is plus-9 in turnover ratio, which is second in the league. Part of Ohio's success in rushing the passer stems from the fact that the Bobcats are stingy against the run, allowing at league-best 114.8 yards per game on the ground, which tends to put its opponents in obvious passing situations.
"You try not to get yourself into holes where everybody in the stadium knows we're trying to throw the ball," Bonamego said. "The focus for us offensively always is going to be to make sure we take care of the football and defensively is to hustle, run, hit and be opportunistic."
