Central Michigan University Athletics
Wednesday, November 11
DeKalb, Ill.
8 p.m.
Central Michigan University
at
Northern Illinois
Redshirt freshman Daniel Richardson looks downfield in the Chippewas' season-opening victory over Ohio last week.
Photo by: Steve Jessmore
NIU Preview: Chippewas Hit The Road For First Time
11/10/2020 5:28:00 PM | Football
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It's said that a football team makes its largest degree of improvement from its season-opening game to its second.
Certainly, there is plenty on which the Chippewas can improve when they go to DeKalb, Ill. on Wednesday (8 p.m./ESPNU) to take on Northern Illinois.
CMU topped Ohio, 30-27, in its opener last week. An important victory, to be sure, in light of the fact that the season is half as long as it would normally be due to COVID-19 and the pandemic.
As it is, all six of CMU's regular-season games are against Mid-American Conference opponents. The final five, beginning with Wednesday's game at NIU, are against MAC West foes.
"Now that you're in (divisional) play, if you take a loss it's like losing twice," said CMU coach Jim McElwain, who led the Chippewas to the MAC West title last season, his first at the helm of the program. "That's the nature of the beast."
No, the Chippewas weren't perfect against Ohio. But they were plenty good, particularly on defense in the second half, in coming back from a 27-20 deficit with 10 unanswered points.
"I think they were realistic about their play, once they looked at it," McElwain said of his players. "I think they were happy with the win, which they should have been. Wins are hard to come by – doesn't matter who it is. What we're able to get corrected going into this next ball game is going to show where we're at."
Test No. 2
Daniel Richardson, a redshirt freshman, impressed in his first CMU start last week. He completed 56 percent of his passes for 243 yards and a touchdown, a particularly impressive 50-yard dart to Kalil Pimpleton.
Perhaps most impressive about Richardson's performance was the fact that he did not throw an interception despite putting it in the air 41 times.
It had been 34 games – going back to Sept. 30, 2017 – that a CMU quarterback had thrown it more than 41 times in a game.
Richardson's performance against Ohio, not surprisingly, mirrored that of the Chippewas in general. It wasn't all good, but it was plenty good enough considering it was his first start and he'd thrown just three collegiate passes before the game.
"The second half I think he got rattled a little bit," McElwain said. "He didn't do a great job with his feet in the pocket. Some of the things that occurred, he was actually pushing himself into that, into those pressures, and into those situations based on setting his feet and delivering the ball.
"I thought the way he approached this past game and now that he has that under his belt, I think he's got a better understanding of what he needs to do to prepare week in and week out when you're in conference play like this. I'm hoping to see him play with a little more confidence in everything he's doing."
In the locker room after the Ohio game, junior running back Kobe Lewis lauded Richardson's performance in front of the entire team.
"I thought that was great to see the reaction of our guys in the locker room," McElwain said. "Here's another week and another opportunity and we'll see if he takes advantage of it."
Steady Production
The Chippewa offense produced 427 yards – 243 through the air, 184 on the ground – in the victory over Ohio.
Running back Kobe Lewis, a junior, carried the bulk of the load on the ground, gaining 112 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 28 carries. He was complemented by redshirt freshman Lew Nichols, who had 31 yards on a career-high nine carries, and junior Darius Bracy (three carries, 28 yards) who took direct snaps from the wildcat formation.
"I think (Nichols) did an outstanding job with his role and had a lot of plays, when you look at it, now we've got to get him a few more touches," McElwain said. "I think (Bracy) did a good job for only having a couple weeks of true training at running back. … And obviously Kobe's ready to take however many you give him. I feel good about that (position)."
More Fireworks
The Chippewas' longest rush against Ohio was a 17-yarder by Bracy and outside of the 50-yard Richardson-to-Pimpleton touchdown pass, their longest play covered 19 yards.
Looking for Improvement
The Chippewas surrendered three big plays to the Bobcats, two touchdown passes and a 93-yard kickoff return, the first surrendered by CMU since 2015.
CMU allowed 235 yards in passing to the Bobcats.
"We've got to eliminate the big explosive plays for us to be successful," McElwain said. "I've said I really like our secondary; I think we've got a lot of parts there. This will be a great challenge for those guys."
Scouting
The Huskies, who finished 5-7 a year ago, opened the season with a 49-30 home loss to Buffalo.
NIU committed five turnovers in the loss, three of which were turned into second-half scores by the Bulls. NIU trailed 21-16 at halftime and then Buffalo scored 28 consecutive points to pull away.
"Obviously the turnover bug bit them a little bit, but when you take that out of it, (NIU) went toe to toe and actually outplayed Buffalo in a lot of ways, both offensively and defensively," McElwain said.
Ross Bowers, a graduate transfer from Cal, made his 10th career start at NIU in the opening-game loss to Buffalo. He completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 202 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Bowers, who made 13 starts in 2017-18 at Cal, threw for 2,1300 yards a year ago. He was the MAC's fourth-ranked passer with 236.7 yards per game.
Harrison Waylee, a true freshman, was the Huskies' leading rusher with 66 yards against Ohio.
Next
The Chippewas entertain rival Western Michigan on Wednesday, Nov. 18 (7 p.m./ESPN2) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
The Broncos, who opened with a 58-13 drubbing of Akron, play host to Toledo on Wednesday. CMU, Western and Toledo enter their respective games on Wednesday tied for the top spot in the MAC West at 1-0.
Certainly, there is plenty on which the Chippewas can improve when they go to DeKalb, Ill. on Wednesday (8 p.m./ESPNU) to take on Northern Illinois.
CMU topped Ohio, 30-27, in its opener last week. An important victory, to be sure, in light of the fact that the season is half as long as it would normally be due to COVID-19 and the pandemic.
As it is, all six of CMU's regular-season games are against Mid-American Conference opponents. The final five, beginning with Wednesday's game at NIU, are against MAC West foes.
"Now that you're in (divisional) play, if you take a loss it's like losing twice," said CMU coach Jim McElwain, who led the Chippewas to the MAC West title last season, his first at the helm of the program. "That's the nature of the beast."
No, the Chippewas weren't perfect against Ohio. But they were plenty good, particularly on defense in the second half, in coming back from a 27-20 deficit with 10 unanswered points.
"I think they were realistic about their play, once they looked at it," McElwain said of his players. "I think they were happy with the win, which they should have been. Wins are hard to come by – doesn't matter who it is. What we're able to get corrected going into this next ball game is going to show where we're at."
Test No. 2
Daniel Richardson, a redshirt freshman, impressed in his first CMU start last week. He completed 56 percent of his passes for 243 yards and a touchdown, a particularly impressive 50-yard dart to Kalil Pimpleton.
Perhaps most impressive about Richardson's performance was the fact that he did not throw an interception despite putting it in the air 41 times.
It had been 34 games – going back to Sept. 30, 2017 – that a CMU quarterback had thrown it more than 41 times in a game.
Richardson's performance against Ohio, not surprisingly, mirrored that of the Chippewas in general. It wasn't all good, but it was plenty good enough considering it was his first start and he'd thrown just three collegiate passes before the game.
"The second half I think he got rattled a little bit," McElwain said. "He didn't do a great job with his feet in the pocket. Some of the things that occurred, he was actually pushing himself into that, into those pressures, and into those situations based on setting his feet and delivering the ball.
"I thought the way he approached this past game and now that he has that under his belt, I think he's got a better understanding of what he needs to do to prepare week in and week out when you're in conference play like this. I'm hoping to see him play with a little more confidence in everything he's doing."
In the locker room after the Ohio game, junior running back Kobe Lewis lauded Richardson's performance in front of the entire team.
"I thought that was great to see the reaction of our guys in the locker room," McElwain said. "Here's another week and another opportunity and we'll see if he takes advantage of it."
Steady Production
The Chippewa offense produced 427 yards – 243 through the air, 184 on the ground – in the victory over Ohio.
Running back Kobe Lewis, a junior, carried the bulk of the load on the ground, gaining 112 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 28 carries. He was complemented by redshirt freshman Lew Nichols, who had 31 yards on a career-high nine carries, and junior Darius Bracy (three carries, 28 yards) who took direct snaps from the wildcat formation.
"I think (Nichols) did an outstanding job with his role and had a lot of plays, when you look at it, now we've got to get him a few more touches," McElwain said. "I think (Bracy) did a good job for only having a couple weeks of true training at running back. … And obviously Kobe's ready to take however many you give him. I feel good about that (position)."
More Fireworks
The Chippewas' longest rush against Ohio was a 17-yarder by Bracy and outside of the 50-yard Richardson-to-Pimpleton touchdown pass, their longest play covered 19 yards.
Looking for Improvement
The Chippewas surrendered three big plays to the Bobcats, two touchdown passes and a 93-yard kickoff return, the first surrendered by CMU since 2015.
CMU allowed 235 yards in passing to the Bobcats.
"We've got to eliminate the big explosive plays for us to be successful," McElwain said. "I've said I really like our secondary; I think we've got a lot of parts there. This will be a great challenge for those guys."
Scouting
The Huskies, who finished 5-7 a year ago, opened the season with a 49-30 home loss to Buffalo.
NIU committed five turnovers in the loss, three of which were turned into second-half scores by the Bulls. NIU trailed 21-16 at halftime and then Buffalo scored 28 consecutive points to pull away.
"Obviously the turnover bug bit them a little bit, but when you take that out of it, (NIU) went toe to toe and actually outplayed Buffalo in a lot of ways, both offensively and defensively," McElwain said.
Ross Bowers, a graduate transfer from Cal, made his 10th career start at NIU in the opening-game loss to Buffalo. He completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 202 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Bowers, who made 13 starts in 2017-18 at Cal, threw for 2,1300 yards a year ago. He was the MAC's fourth-ranked passer with 236.7 yards per game.
Harrison Waylee, a true freshman, was the Huskies' leading rusher with 66 yards against Ohio.
Next
The Chippewas entertain rival Western Michigan on Wednesday, Nov. 18 (7 p.m./ESPN2) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
The Broncos, who opened with a 58-13 drubbing of Akron, play host to Toledo on Wednesday. CMU, Western and Toledo enter their respective games on Wednesday tied for the top spot in the MAC West at 1-0.
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