Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, November 16
Muncie, IN
3:30 p.m.
Central Michigan University
at
Ball State
Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf
Chippewas Continue West Title Chase On Saturday At Ball State
11/15/2019 7:40:00 PM | Football
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan football team will look to keep its hopes of a Mid-American Conference West Division championship alive on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) when it goes to Ball State.
The Chippewas and Cardinals are two of three teams in the six-team West with two losses. CMU is 4-2 in league play, Ball State is 3-2, while front-running Western Michigan is 5-2.
The Chippewas can guarantee themselves a title share with a win over Ball State and a victory over Toledo (Nov. 29) in their regular-season finale. Western, with one conference game remaining at Northern Illinois (Nov. 26), holds the tiebreaker over CMU.
The Broncos defeated the Chippewas, 31-15, on Sept. 28. If the Chippewas and Broncos share the top spot, Western would receive the berth in the Dec. 7 MAC Championships game based on the tiebreaker.
Of course, Ball State has its sights set on the crown as well and has two more conference games remaining after Saturday.
"It'll be one of those deals with two teams scrapping for something, and well see who comes out on top," CMU coach Jim McElwain said.
Back at It
The Chippewas are coming off a bye week and have won four of their last five starts to get to bowl eligibility at 6-4.
CMU played perhaps its best game of the season its last time out, a 48-10 drubbing of Northern Illinois at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
"Now the maturity of your team," McElwain said, "the young guys have got to figure out what it's going to take, moving forward, to capitalize on that. So we will see."
CMU rolled through the Huskie defense to the tune of a season-high 615 yards and did not commit a turnover after giving it away five times the previous week in a 43-20 loss at Buffalo.
Numbers
The Chippewas rank third in the league in scoring at 30 points per game, while the Cardinals are second at 32.8. CMU is third in total offense at 439.1 yards per game, while Ball State (437.9) is fourth.
CMU is second in the conference in total defense. The Chippewas are holding opponents to an average of 354.5 yards per game; Ball State is sixth at 410.1.
Ground Game
The Chippewas have shown vast improvement since the 2018 season on the offensive side of the ball and against NIU, they had two 100-yard rushers in Kobe Lewis and Jonathan Ward. Lewis ran for 143 yards, while Ward finished with 138.
It marked the third time this season that the duo had surpassed the century mark in the same game, marking the first time in the last 20 years that CMU has accomplished that feat.
Ward ranks fifth in the MAC with 863 rushing yards, while Lewis (788) is seventh. Ward is averaging 107.9 yards rushing per outing and ranks third in the conference in that category. Ward is first in the league with 139.6 all-purpose yards per game.
Back on the Road
The Chippewas won at Bowling Green, 38-20, on Oct. 19, breaking a nine-game road losing streak. CMU is 5-0 at home, the first time the program has accomplished that feat since 2009, and 1-4 on the road.
"You have to fight through some things that aren't great when you play on the road and we've only done that once this year," McElwain said. "It'll be interesting to see when we go into this game. I think it'll be a great test and see how far we have come as a program and as a team."
Scouting
After a promising mid-season run during which they won three consecutive games, the Cardinals have lost two straight, 34-21 to Ohio at home and 35-31 at Western Michigan last week.
Junior Caleb Huntley is Ball State's feature back. He is sixth in the league with 843 rushing yards. Ball State quarterback Drew Plitt has completed 64.8 percent of his passes with 17 touchdown passes against six interceptions.
Ball State ranks first in the MAC in turnover margin (plus 6).
On Defense
The Chippewas have been outstanding against the run this season, allowing 110.6 yards per game on the ground and ranking second in the MAC. CMU surrendered just 22 rushing yards to NIU. It marked the fewest yards rushing allowed by a Chippewa defense since they surrendered 21 to Eastern Michigan in 2014.
With 24 sacks, the Chippewas rank third in the MAC; they have 70 tackles-for-loss, which is second best in the league and 27th nationally.
CMU linebacker Troy Brown leads the conference with 12 tackles-for-loss.
Next
The Chippewas will entertain Toledo on the day after Thanksgiving. The kickoff time has yet to be announced. The Rockets are 6-4, 3-3 after falling, 31-28, on Wednesday at home to NIU.
The Chippewas and Cardinals are two of three teams in the six-team West with two losses. CMU is 4-2 in league play, Ball State is 3-2, while front-running Western Michigan is 5-2.
The Chippewas can guarantee themselves a title share with a win over Ball State and a victory over Toledo (Nov. 29) in their regular-season finale. Western, with one conference game remaining at Northern Illinois (Nov. 26), holds the tiebreaker over CMU.
The Broncos defeated the Chippewas, 31-15, on Sept. 28. If the Chippewas and Broncos share the top spot, Western would receive the berth in the Dec. 7 MAC Championships game based on the tiebreaker.
Of course, Ball State has its sights set on the crown as well and has two more conference games remaining after Saturday.
"It'll be one of those deals with two teams scrapping for something, and well see who comes out on top," CMU coach Jim McElwain said.
Back at It
The Chippewas are coming off a bye week and have won four of their last five starts to get to bowl eligibility at 6-4.
CMU played perhaps its best game of the season its last time out, a 48-10 drubbing of Northern Illinois at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
"Now the maturity of your team," McElwain said, "the young guys have got to figure out what it's going to take, moving forward, to capitalize on that. So we will see."
CMU rolled through the Huskie defense to the tune of a season-high 615 yards and did not commit a turnover after giving it away five times the previous week in a 43-20 loss at Buffalo.
Numbers
The Chippewas rank third in the league in scoring at 30 points per game, while the Cardinals are second at 32.8. CMU is third in total offense at 439.1 yards per game, while Ball State (437.9) is fourth.
CMU is second in the conference in total defense. The Chippewas are holding opponents to an average of 354.5 yards per game; Ball State is sixth at 410.1.
Ground Game
The Chippewas have shown vast improvement since the 2018 season on the offensive side of the ball and against NIU, they had two 100-yard rushers in Kobe Lewis and Jonathan Ward. Lewis ran for 143 yards, while Ward finished with 138.
It marked the third time this season that the duo had surpassed the century mark in the same game, marking the first time in the last 20 years that CMU has accomplished that feat.
Ward ranks fifth in the MAC with 863 rushing yards, while Lewis (788) is seventh. Ward is averaging 107.9 yards rushing per outing and ranks third in the conference in that category. Ward is first in the league with 139.6 all-purpose yards per game.
Back on the Road
The Chippewas won at Bowling Green, 38-20, on Oct. 19, breaking a nine-game road losing streak. CMU is 5-0 at home, the first time the program has accomplished that feat since 2009, and 1-4 on the road.
"You have to fight through some things that aren't great when you play on the road and we've only done that once this year," McElwain said. "It'll be interesting to see when we go into this game. I think it'll be a great test and see how far we have come as a program and as a team."
Scouting
After a promising mid-season run during which they won three consecutive games, the Cardinals have lost two straight, 34-21 to Ohio at home and 35-31 at Western Michigan last week.
Junior Caleb Huntley is Ball State's feature back. He is sixth in the league with 843 rushing yards. Ball State quarterback Drew Plitt has completed 64.8 percent of his passes with 17 touchdown passes against six interceptions.
Ball State ranks first in the MAC in turnover margin (plus 6).
On Defense
The Chippewas have been outstanding against the run this season, allowing 110.6 yards per game on the ground and ranking second in the MAC. CMU surrendered just 22 rushing yards to NIU. It marked the fewest yards rushing allowed by a Chippewa defense since they surrendered 21 to Eastern Michigan in 2014.
With 24 sacks, the Chippewas rank third in the MAC; they have 70 tackles-for-loss, which is second best in the league and 27th nationally.
CMU linebacker Troy Brown leads the conference with 12 tackles-for-loss.
Next
The Chippewas will entertain Toledo on the day after Thanksgiving. The kickoff time has yet to be announced. The Rockets are 6-4, 3-3 after falling, 31-28, on Wednesday at home to NIU.
Players Mentioned
Football Insider - 10.24.25
Friday, October 24
Jordan Kwiatkowski Post-Game Press Conference at BGSU
Sunday, October 19
Angel Flores Post-Game Press Conference at BGSU
Sunday, October 19
Michael Heldman Post-Game Press Conference at BGSU
Saturday, October 18