A Tale Of Two Halves

Saturday, September 1

Lexington, Ky.

3:30 P.M.

Central Michigan University

0-1

Kentucky

1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Central Michigan

9/2/2018 12:46:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Chippewas drop opener at Kentucky, 35-20

By: A

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not a bad opener, in the grand scheme of things.

After all, Central Michigan went on the road on Saturday to open the college football season against a Power-5 opponent that returned 19 starters, including the leading rusher in the Southeastern Conference.

In the end, and considering that the Chippewas held a 20-14 lead late in the second quarter, it was not what coach John Bonamego might have hoped for.

Kentucky scored the game's final 21 points on Saturday in handing CMU a 35-20 loss before 49,138 at the Wildcats' Kroger Field. CMU plays Kansas in its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 8 (3 p.m.) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The Chippewas had visions of another major upset – just like the one they pulled off two years ago at Oklahoma State – after taking advantage of four Kentucky turnovers in seizing a 20-14 lead with just over a minute to play in the first half.

But Kentucky marched 71 yards in 41 seconds, scoring on a 24-yard pass with 14 seconds left in the half to go on top, 21-20, at the break.

"The first half we had the benefit of some turnovers, which our defense did a great job of creating," Bonamego said. "Second half Kentucky did a better job of taking care of the football and I think we really hurt ourselves with some critical penalties that eliminated some big plays."

The Chippewas committed 12 penalties for 106 yards in the game. Four of those penalties came in the third quarter when CMU was still very much in the hunt, but needing a spark to get something going.

An offensive pass interference penalty wiped out a first-down pass play; a penalty on a kickoff return backed up the Chippewas deep into their own terriotory; and two targeting calls cost CMU 15 yards apiece, and it got two Chippewas – Ty Swain and Trevor Apsey – ejected from the game.

All four of those flags came as Kentucky scored twice on short runs to put the game away.

"I would never ever, ever dispute anything related to player safety," Bonamego said. "I believe that they were called by the letter of the rule, which was accurate. But also think it's important to point out that those weren't dirty plays."

The game marked Tony Poljan's debut as the Chippewas' starting quarter. The redshirt sophomore completed 17 of 27 pass attempts for 137 yards. He was sacked twice, yet still led CMU with 49 rushing yards.

"He didn't turn the ball over and that's a positive," Bonamego said. "He made some big plays with his legs. I thought he did well. We're all going to look at this and know there's a lot to improve on across the board not just with Tony."

Kumennhu Gwilly scored on a 4-yard run and Devonni Reed scooped up a fumble and raced 20 yards for a score for the Chippewas, who also got two field goals from Michael Armstrong.

"When we play our best, when we play the way we're capable of, we can beat anybody," Bonamego said. "We weren't outclassed, we weren't outmatched today. We just didn't execute as well as we need to to beat a team like that."