Central Michigan University Athletics
Upset, Drama: It's A Whirlwind For Bono, Chippewas
9/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
CMU stuns Oklahoma State | More Chippewa dramatics | A unique perspective
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - They received a hero's welcome upon their return to Mount Pleasant on Saturday night. John Bonamego didn't get a wink of sleep. The text messages and interview requests continued to stream in early Sunday afternoon.
Now, find some semblance of normalcy in all that and begin preparing for another game, six days hence.
It was back to business on Sunday for the Central Michigan football team, less than 24 hours after its 30-27 upset of No. 22-ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.
"It's time to hit the re-set button and get to work on UNLV," said John Bonamego, CMU's second-year coach who was visibly worn but on a yet-to-land high on Sunday afternoon while sitting in his office at the CMU Indoor Athletic Complex, his players working out in the weight room some 20 yards down the hallway. "There are a lot of corrections we have to make (from) the game film. There always is. It's important that we recognize that we're not a finished product yet. We can still be a lot better."
Hard to get any better, from an emotional and excitement standpoint, than the previous 20-odd hours for Bonamego, whose team is 2-0 and entertains UNLV (1-1) in a non-league game on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Kelly/Shorts Stadium (3 p.m.).
Bonamego did an estimated two dozen telephone interviews from late Saturday afternoon until he attempted to go to sleep early Sunday morning.
He'll trade sleep for wins any time.
"We're running on adrenaline," he said. "It's a good feeling. I'd like to do it as often as I can."
A Mid-American Conference school knocking off a ranked team out of the Big 12, one of college football's Power 5 conferences, is big news along the David vs. Goliath variety. How it ended - on a 51-yard desperation pass with no time remaining - produced a made-for-TV/internet/social media powder keg.
Add to it controversy, and it became the biggest national sports story of the weekend - though don't expect that to last long with this weekend marking the opening of the NFL season.
Oklahoma State was penalized on what appeared to be the final play of the game for intentional grounding when quarterback Mason Rudolph threw the ball, on fourth down, out of bounds as time expired.
The intentional grounding results from two factors: (1) There was no eligible receiver in the vicinity of where the pass landed; (2) The quarterback threw from inside the tackle box, an imaginary area behind the line of scrimmage and in line with where the interior offensive linemen would normally line up. In short, you can't throw to a non-existent receiver from the pocket.
The officials - erroneously, as it turned out - assessed the penalty and gave CMU one final play from its own 49-yard line with no time on the clock. By rule, the game should have been over, despite the penalty.
"I think that's a bad rule," Bonamego said. "I don't think the game should end like that. We have that same play, the difference is we have a split receiver, and we throw it in the vicinity of that receiver.
"The clock starts on the snap, and it will run until the ball hits the ground. It doesn't have to hit in the field of play, it can be out of bounds, but it needs to be in the vicinity of a player. It was the correct call.
"I did not realize that we should not have been given an extra down until afterward. To me, the way I look at it, it doesn't change anything from what took place. We had an opportunity to go and execute a play. We did. They didn't."
Bonamego estimated he received some 400 texts by Sunday at noon. On the charter flight from Oklahoma City back to Michigan, he commandeered the flight attendant microphone and read some of the messages.
Among them were CMU President Dr. George E. Ross and legendary former Chippewa coach Herb Deromedi, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame who coached Bonamego when the latter was a walk-on at CMU in the mid-1980s.
The texts came fast and furious from the likes of Bonamego's coaching brethren, most of whom are in management or coaching positions in the NFL. He also received messages from former Chippewas who are now playing in the NFL, including Joe Staley, Nick Bellore, Eric Fisher, Jahleel Addae and Frank Zombo.
"I couldn't answer them fast enough," said the affable Bonamego, who, it seems, wouldn't have an enemy in the world. "The more that went out, the more that kept coming in. It was pretty amazing."
When the Chippewas arrived Saturday night at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, they were welcomed by 300 to 500 supporters, including members of the Chippewa Marching Band.
"It was incredible," Bonamego said. "In one word, it was incredible. It was very flattering and very much appreciated. The kids that showed out, the students, thank you again, you guys were awesome. And as always, a shoutout to the greatest marching band in the land, the Chippewa Marching Band."
There will, without question, be a number of ramifications, both in the long term and short, from Saturday's win and the fashion with which it ended.
The positive publicity from the myriad times the final pass from Cooper Rush to Jesse Kroll and Kroll's lateral to Corey Willis has been and will continue to be replayed will certainly raise the program's, and the university's, profile.
Simply beating a program the caliber of Oklahoma State doesn't hurt, either.
"I think it's moving us in the direction from a national recognition standpoint of where I feel like we are already in a lot of aspects and where we want to be," Bonamego said. "We have a tremendous amount of pride and tradition here. Regionally that's known, it might not be known nationally, but amongst people in football circles it's highly recognized. To be able to, in our own way, add to that tradition is special.
"I think when it's something that you've talked about and you've worked for, and when it comes to fruition, you gain confidence from that and you gain confidence in the process that you've committed yourself to get to that end result."
But it isn't an end at all, as Bonamego - or anybody else in the program - sees it.
"We now re-focus, re-energize and re-commit ourselves to the process," Bonamego said. "We have a lot of season left to play starting with a very important game for us at home next Saturday against a very good opponent."
