Chippewas Look To Rebound At Eastern Michigan

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Bounce-back time.

The Central Michigan football team has no time to lick its wounds after a 52-44 loss last week to rival Western Michigan. The Chippewas are set to play another in-state, Mid-American Conference rival on Friday (4 p.m./CBS Sports) when they go to Eastern Michigan.

"Every loss is tough, especially against Western," senior offensive tackle Derek Smith said. "We've got to move forward. The rearview mirror's small, the windshield's big."

CMU is 2-1 both overall and in the MAC. Its chances of repeating as the West Division champion and earning a berth in the MAC Championship Game hinge on several factors.

First among those is that CMU almost certainly must win its final three games. There is a precedence, albeit one based on far different circumstances. Last season, the Chippewas lost early in the season at Western Michigan. The following week, they blasted Eastern, 42-16, which touched off a streak during which CMU won six of seven games and won the division.

The big difference? CMU has just three games remaining in the season that is 2020.

"I think it's something that we can look back on and reflect on, and yet understand that this is a totally different football team – year-to-year makeup, the guys on the team, it's different," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "For us it goes back to what is that standard or quality that we expect from each other and that's really going to be the test this week."

The Chippewas will have to be better defensively – no matter the opponent – after surrendering 628 yards and 52 points to the Broncos.

"We're taking that very personal," sophomore defensive lineman Tico Brown said. "That's just not us at all. Giving up 52 points – we don't take that lightly. We pride ourselves on playing well on defense and last week we didn't really get that job done. We're pushing real hard this week to clean up those things we made mistakes on last week."

Western scored 38-consecutive points in building a 38-14 lead on the Chippewas. CMU made a valiant late charge, scoring a touchdown with under three minutes to play to make it a one-score game.

"Had some guys, and really the whole team, who did a great job of hanging in and doing what they could to play until the last whistle," McElwain said. "I thought that was good. I've got a lot of belief in our team. These kids, they're fun to be around and we're excited to go play a game and move forward."

Scouting Eastern
The Eagles are 0-3 after a 45-28 loss to Toledo last week. They opened with a 27-23 loss at Kent State, and then fell, 38-31, at Ball State.

While Toledo rolled by the Eagles (the Rockets led 38-7 in the third quarter), Eastern was quite competitive in its losses to Kent State and Ball State. Eastern held a fourth-quarter lead against Kent State, and Ball State scored the game-winning touchdown against the Eagles with six seconds remaining.

Eastern ranks in the top half of the MAC in only two statistical categories, first downs and passing offense. The Eagles are fifth in both, averaging 245 yards through the air and 20 first downs.

Dual-threat quarterback Preston Hutchinson has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 740 yards and seven touchdown against three interceptions.

Hutchinson is also Eastern's leading rusher with 112 yards on 43 carries. He has scored all four of the Eagles' rushing TDs this season. The Eagles are allowing 3.33 sacks per game, which is among the most in college football.

Chippewa Standouts
Two Chippewa wide receivers have emerged as standouts – one expected, another as a pleasant surprise.

Junior Kalil Pimpleton has delivered on the promise he showed a year ago, his first at CMU after transferring from Virginia Tech. He has 348 all-purpose yards – 139 receiving, 142 rushing, 39 in punt returns, and 28 in kick returns. He is averaging 116 all-purpose yards per game, second best on the team to running back Kobe Lewis (132).

Pimpleton scored three rushing TDs and caught a two-point conversion pass last week against Western. He finished with 165 all-purpose yards and he completed a 30-yard pass, earning a spot on the weekly Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll. The Hornung Award winner, which is named at the end of the season, goes to the most versatile player in college football.

"Take the football part out, he's a guy that elevates everybody around him, whether it's on the field or not, because that to me is a true measure of a player," McElwain said. "He's just a positive, positive influence. A guy that really enjoys what he's doing and is good at it.

"I think the things that truly separates him is his love of competing, his love of the game, the way he approaches each game, and more importantly each meeting, each practice, each meal … every part of it measures up. The guy's just a joy to be around; let alone being a great player."

The other receiver who has shined is junior Dallas Dixon, a transfer from Northern Michigan who hails from Arizona. A walk-on, Dixon leads the Chippewas with 180 receiving yards and is tied for second on the team with 10 receptions.

"He's become a guy that we can count on," McElwain said. "I think it's a great story about a kid who chose to come down here and give it a chance and walk on and carry jobs outside of football to be able to pay for his education, all that kind of thing. It's really refreshing. Here's a guy who truly gave up a lot of things to be able to do something that he really loves and he's really helping the Chippewas."

Point of Emphasis
The Chippewas rank in the top five in the MAC in several statistical categories, including rushing defense (second) and total offense (sixth) and total defense (sixth).

One area in which McElwain would like to see massive improvement is third-down conversions. The Chippewas are converting just 23.1 percent of the time in those situations, ranking 11^th in the MAC and ahead of only two teams in all of college football.

"By not being good at that you in turn put your defense back out on the field (for) extra series," McElwain said. "We've got to get back to playing team football and helping both sides of the ball be successful."

Among the Leaders
Several Chippewas are at or near the top of the MAC varied statistical categories.

• Middle linebacker George Douglas leads the league with 7.0 solo tackles per game.

• Defensive end Troy Hairston is No. 1 with 2.2 tackles-for-loss per game and ranks second with nine sacks.

• Safety Willie Reid is first in the MAC and fourth nationally with two fumble recoveries.

• Running back Kobe Lewis is third in rushing TDs (five), fifth in rushing yards (285), and fifth in points per game (10).

• Redshirt freshman punter Luke Elzinga is third in punting average (43.2 yards per game).

• Defensive tackle Mohamed Diallo is fourth with 1.7 TFLs per game.

• Diallo, Hairston, Reid and Donte Kent are tied for second with two forced fumbles each.

The Series
CMU leads the series with Eastern, 61-30-6 and is 26-15-4 in games played against the Eagles in Ypsilanti. The Chippewas have won eight of the last 11 meetings.

CMU has more wins against the Eagles than any other MAC opponent.

Next
The Chippewas play host to Ball State on Saturday, Dec. 5. It is CMU's final home game of the season. The Cardinals are 2-1, 1-1 MAC. They defeated Northern Illinois, 31-25, last week and are scheduled to play at Toledo on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Tico Brown

Mohamed Diallo

Dallas Dixon

George Douglas

Luke Elzinga

Donte Kent

Kobe Lewis

Kalil Pimpleton

Willie Reid

Derek Smith