Chippewas Stung In Home Opener

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The growing pains of a young offense.

Central Michigan struggled to find consistent production and turned the ball over six times on Saturday in dropping its home opener, 31-7, to Kansas in front of 18,127 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

CMU is 0-2 and goes to Northern Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 15, for its Mid-American Conference opener.

"Obviously very disappointed in today's outcome," CMU coach John Bonamego said. "Felt like we left a lot out on the field. Too inconsistent on offense, especially on third down. Too many three-and-outs."

Kansas (1-1), which lost to Football Championship Subdivision Nicholls State a week ago, snapped a 46-game road losing streak with the win.

"Honestly, that (streak) doesn't really make a difference to me," Bonamego said. "We lost a game that I felt like we should have won, and we lost it because we didn't play well. They outplayed us today, they earned a win and congratulations to them. We didn't play well."

The Chippewas sputtered in the first half, gaining just one first down before the break. They moved it more effectively in the final two quarters, but were forced to play catchup after falling into a 21-0 hole.

CMU quarterback Tony Poljan finished with efficient-looking numbers for the second straight week – he completed 18 of his 32 pass attempts for 177 yards. He threw four interceptions, and much of his yardage came late when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

"We have that many (interceptions) you always want to point the finger at one person and say it's this," Bonamego said. "The reality of it is, it's rarely just one person. It's usually a combination of several things going wrong. Obviously picks fall on the quarterback, he needs to process a little bit better.

"I think he was pressing there in the fourth quarter, desperately trying to make something happen. It's not atypical for a young quarterback and it's not atypical for an individual that is as competitive and wants to win as much as Tony does. He'll learn from this and he'll be better and we'll be a better team for it."

Poljan, a redshirt sophomore making his second career start, threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Jamil Sabbagh midway through the third quarter, cutting CMU's deficit to 21-7. It was also the first career touchdown for Sabbagh, a junior.

Shakial Taylor returned an interception 55 yards for a TD on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend Kansas' lead to 28-7 and end CMU's legitimate comeback hopes.

The highlights were few and far between as the Chippewas frequently self destructed.

"Penalties hurt us, we had some minus plays," Bonamego said. "We weren't in synch offensively until late in the game. Felt like we finally had some rhythm. Found some calls that were working well for us and that we were able to execute."

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Team Stats

Tony Poljan

Players Mentioned

Tony Poljan

Jamil Sabbagh

Players Mentioned

Tony Poljan

Jamil Sabbagh