Central Michigan University
3-3 , 1-1
Ohio
1-5 , 1-1
Digging Deep For A Big Road Win
10/9/2021 9:35:00 PM | Football
Football rallies past Ohio for first MAC win
Lew Nichols ran for 186 yards, Kalil Pimpleton scored two touchdowns, and Marshall Meeder kicked three field goals to lead the Chippewas, who bounced back from a loss last week at Miami (Ohio) and improved to 3-3, 1-1 Mid-American Conference.
"Can't tell you how happy I am for our kids," third-year CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "They hung in; it wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination. We came out ahead on a tough road trip. Our guys figured out a way to win and that's really what it's all about."
Quarterback Daniel Richardson threw for 257 yards and the Chippewas finished with 204 yards on the ground. They overcame a 27-20 fourth-quarter deficit.
Meeder booted a 40-yard field goal with just over 10 minutes to play to cut Ohio's lead to 27-23, and then Pimpleton caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Richardson with 3:55 to play to put the Chippewas in front for good.
The CMU defense then stiffened when it had to, holding the Bobcat offense to one first down and never letting Ohio cross midfield on its final two possessions.
"They just kept hanging in and I thought that was big," McElwain said of his defense. "We didn't (give up) a lot of those huge explosive plays. We did wrap up fairly well and got guys to the ground and more than anything made them earn it. And that's really what we needed to do."
Nichols' rushing total and carries (30) were season highs, and his big-time performance came one week after he was held to 21 yards on 12 attempts at Miami. He ripped off a pair of long first-half runs and then in the second half became a ball-protecting workhorse as the Chippewas kept it on the ground to grind out the final four minutes.
CMU took over with 2:34 remaining and milked the clock, handing it to Nichols on six consecutive plays.
"Just get a first down, hold onto the ball, put the team on my back and win the game for us," Nichols said of his mindset in the waning game-clinching moments. "Last week we didn't have the game we wanted to have offensively. We just took the initiative this week to start fast, finish strong, and that's what we did. That was my mindset and the whole offense's mindset going into this game."
Pimpleton caught five passes for 78 yards and ran 7 yards for a late-third-quarter TD that put CMU up, 20-19.
"I believe (the win) does a lot for this team, just coming off the loss that we took (last week) and knowing that we kind of beat ourselves and that that was a team we could beat," Pimpleton said. "Every game is important, but this one right here, facing adversity, overcoming it, sticking together … And us trusting in ourselves that we can go out here and do this. Moving forward I think that gives us a big energy boost and confidence."
Team Stats
CMU 7, OHI 0
CMU - Nichols,Lew 3 yd run (Meeder,Marshall kick), 7 plays, 70 yards, TOP 03:19
CMU 7, OHI 3
OHI - Johnson,Stephen 29 yd field goal 10 plays, 57 yards, TOP 04:52
CMU 10, OHI 3
CMU - Meeder,Marshall 34 yd field goal 11 plays, 70 yards, TOP 04:10
CMU 10, OHI 10
OHI - Rogers,Armani 4 yd run (Johnson,Stephen kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:17
CMU 13, OHI 10
CMU - Meeder,Marshall 35 yd field goal 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 02:08
CMU 13, OHI 16
OHI - Tuggle,De'Montre 2 yd run (), 3 plays, 45 yards, TOP 01:04
CMU 13, OHI 19
OHI - Johnson,Stephen 44 yd field goal 11 plays, 24 yards, TOP 06:04
CMU 20, OHI 19
CMU - Pimpleton,Kalil 7 yd run (Meeder,Marshall kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:13
CMU 20, OHI 27
OHI - Bangura,Sieh 40 yd run (Luehrman,Adam pass), 8 plays, 60 yards, TOP 04:02
CMU 23, OHI 27
CMU - Meeder,Marshall 40 yd field goal 7 plays, 48 yards, TOP 01:46
CMU 30, OHI 27
CMU - Pimpleton,Kalil 28 yd pass from Richardson,Daniel (Meeder,Marshall kick) 7 plays, 83 yards, TOP 02:43
