Buffalo Notebook: Penalties, Turnovers Raise Coach's Ire

Linebacker Alex Briones (21) makes one of his 11 tackles in the Chippewas' 34-24 loss to Buffalo at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday.

10/7/2018 8:46:00 AM | Football

Briones equals career best with 11 tackles

By: Andy Sneddon

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Yes, the Chippewas are young. Yes, there are growing pains. And, yes, there will be aspects to build upon going forward.

Still, fourth-year Central Michigan football coach John Bonamego was in no mood to look on the bright side after Saturday's 34-24 Mid-American Conference loss to Buffalo before 14,044 on homecoming at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Penalties – 10 of them for 60 yards – and turnovers in particular raised Bonamego's ire as the Chippewas slipped to 1-5, 0-2 MAC. CMU quarterback Tommy Lazzaro was picked off four times and the Chippewas shot themselves in the foot on several occasions.

"Bottom line, we dropped passes, turned the ball over, we didn't tackle," Bonamego said. "We had penalties and we beat ourselves."

Bonamego, who is in his fourth year as the head coach at his alma mater and his 30^th in the coaching business, was clearly displeased with his team's performance.

"The only way I know how to do things right is to go back to work the next day," he said. "I ask myself what I have to do better and challenge everyone to do the same. I've been in this business a long time, long time. I've seen the highest of highs and every damn thing in between. They're not (happy), and I don't expect anyone who follows this team to be happy. And, I'm not happy."

GROUND GAME
The top concern for CMU's defense entering Saturday's game was Buffalo quarterback Tyree Jackson, who had displayed a season-long knack for completing long passes while scrambling.

Jackson completed just 10 of his 20 pass attempts for 127 yards and a touchdown. Instead, it was Buffalo's ground game that did in the Chippewas. Buffalo finished with 307 rushing yards, the highest output by a CMU opponent this season.

There were no surprises in what the Bulls did offensively, Bonamego said. Instead, it was a matter of the Chippewa defense not performing up to standard.

"Obviously we're disappointed as a team," senior linebacker Alex Briones said. "We felt coming in we were the better team, but we made some mistakes in the first half. Any time you make mistakes and (commit) penalties like that and turn the ball over you're not going to win many games, so just got to clean it up and once we clean it up we're going to win games.

"We focused on the quarterback all week because he hasn't been sacked (and) we wanted to do that. We missed some gaps, we missed some tackles that sprung them loose for big yardage and stuff like that. … We just didn't play well."

KEY TURN
Down 17-3 at halftime, the Chippewas drove 80 yards for a touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter, cutting their deficit to 17-10 and, it appeared, gaining some momentum.

But that spark fizzled when Buffalo's Kevin Marks bolted 70 yards for a TD on the Bulls' next play from scrimmage.

"It definitely hits hard, but the thing is you have to turn around and score," CMU offensive tackle Clayton Walderzak said. "The biggest thing is we need to execute better on the offensive line, and we just had too many turnovers."

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Briones and fellow linebacker Malik Fountain led the Chippewa defense with 11 tackles apiece.

Briones was credited with a team-high eight solo stops, among those was a sack, his first of the season. He also forced a fumble. Briones wore jersey No. 21 in the game in honor of the late Derrick Nash. As per the game-to-game No. 21 honor, Briones served as a captain.

The 11 total tackles and eight solos tied Briones' career highs in both categories.

It marked the fifth-consecutive game that Fountain has recorded a double-digit tackle total.

Chippewa cornerback Sean Bunting made an interception in the end zone. It was his second pick of the season.

FIRST SACK
Chippewa defensive end Mike Danna sacked Jackson late in the first quarter, forcing a fumble, which Jackson recovered. It was the first sack the Bulls have allowed this season.

TICE'S BEST
CMU kicker Ryan Tice booted a 40-yard field goal to give the Chippewas a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. He missed from 43 yards in the second quarter.

It was Tice's first miss of the season. He has made five field goals, three of them from 40 yards and another from 41, which came in the Chippewas' 17-5 win two weeks ago over Maine. It was the longest field goal by a Chippewa since Brian Eavey hit a 45-yarder at Miami (Ohio) in 2016.

Tice spent three seasons at Michigan and then transferred to Tennessee as a graduate in May. The Saline native made the decision to return to his home state in mid-August and was granted a waiver to play the day before the Chippewas' season opener at Kentucky.

LAZZARO LEADS
Quarterback Tommy Lazzaro led the Chippewas' rushing attack with 102 yards on 18 carries, a 5.7-yard average. CMU's 168 yards rushing was a season high.

Lazzaro became the first CMU quarterback to break the 100-yard plateau since Dan LeFevour ran for 128 yards in a 24-10 win over Bowling Green on Oct. 24, 2009.

ROSS RETURNS
Junior running back Romello Ross carried the ball for the first time in 2018, providing a highlight when he scored a touchdown on a 10-yard run to cut CMU's deficit to 17-10 with under six minutes to play in the third quarter.

Ross finished with 14 yards on three carries. He did not appear in CMU's first four games of the season, and then played briefly a week ago in CMU's 31-20 loss at Michigan State.

Ross broke out in the second half of his freshman season in 2015, highlighted by a four-TD performance against Eastern Michigan and 128 all-purpose yards against Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl.

He missed the entire 2016 season with an injury, and then finished 2017 with 197 yards as Ward emerged as the Chippewas' feature back.

The return of a healthy Ross is encouraging, particularly in light of CMU's run-game struggles and the uncertainty around a potential injury to Ward.

"There is only one ball, Romello is a great player, he's a quality player," said Bonamego, who was in no mood for compliments after Saturday's game. "We have a lot of good backs. We have to stop jumping offsides on first down, stop dropping passes, we need to block better."

POLJAN AT QB
Redshirt sophomore Tony Poljan returned to quarterback and led the Chippewas on a fourth-quarter scoring drive. Poljan completed five of his 10 pass attempts for 55 yards. He connected with Julian Hicks on a 9-yard TD pass with under two minutes to play.

Poljan began the season as CMU's starting quarterback before being replaced by Lazzaro in the third quarter of a 24-16 loss at Northern Illinois in the third game of the season.

Poljan had since been used exclusively as a wide receiver. He has two catches for 52 yards and a TD this season.

STEADY SHELDON
CMU's Jack Sheldon punted three times on Saturday, averaging 47.7 yards per. One of his punts was downed inside the Buffalo 1-yard line.

CARRY ON
Briones: "At this point, we know we have a lot of young guys on the team and we know that their heads are going to be down, we have to pick them up. We as seniors have to lead them. We've been around teams where we've had great senior leadership and really showed us the way, and we have to show the young guys and we can't give up. We know there is a lot of football left and every game is winnable."

NEXT
The Chippewas play host to Ball State on Saturday, Oct. 13 (3 p.m.). The Cardinals are 2-3, 1-1 MAC after dropping a 24-16 decision at home to Northern Illinois on Saturday.

The Chippewas entertain archrival Western Michigan the following week. The Broncos defeated Eastern Michigan, 27-24, on Saturday, improving to 4-2, 2-0.