Central Michigan University Athletics
Football Notebook: Two Trophies, Win Streak Among The High Points
11/26/2021 7:21:00 PM | Football
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – They won't get the big prize, the one they most coveted, but the consolation tastes pretty good for the Central Michigan football team.
And the Chippewas aren't finished yet.
With their dominant 31-10 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, the Chippewas claimed the Michigan MAC Trophy for the first time since 2017. The trophy will sit in a case in the Chippewa Champions Center for the next 12 months, right alongside the Victory Cannon they reclaimed with a 42-30 win over Western Michigan earlier this season.
"I'm really excited to display it," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "We've got a couple spots picked out that we'll put both of those trophies in and that's an accomplishment; that's something this football team can be proud of."
Those baubles are tangible reminders for those in and around the program of just how far it has come in three years under McElwain; CMU was coming off a one-win 2018 campaign when he took over as head coach.
"It's a trust thing," said wide receiver JaCorey Sullivan, who caught two touchdown passes on Friday in his final game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. "You've got to believe in your coaches, you've got to believe in the people around you. Lean on them a little bit throughout the process and use your resources as best you can and come out and work every day.
"You come out here and work every day, you're going to see the end result, which is both trophies back at the crib for us, an 8-4 season, and a bowl game to go to."
The Chippewas are 8-4, 6-2 MAC and will await a bowl invitation.
Sullivan was one of a dozen Chippewas playing his final home game on Friday. Another was defensive end Troy Hairston II, who went from walk-on to MAC co-Defensive Player of the Year during his inspiring CMU career.
"It's bittersweet," Hairston said. "We got the trophy; I haven't seen that trophy since 2017. It was a long journey here from being a regular student all the way until now. It's hard. We walked out with a (win), but I'm looking back, and I don't want to leave the field. There's just a lot of emotions."
Certainly, there is plenty on which CMU can hang its hat: The Chippewas closed the regular season with four consecutive victories and won six of their last seven starts. Those final four wins came in dominant fashion as they outscored their opponents by a combined 164-87.
Their eight wins match the 2019 and 2017 teams for the most by a CMU squad since it went 12-2 in 2009, and one could argue that the Chippewas played as well in the second half of the season as any team in the MAC.
Alas, CMU won't play in the league championship game at Ford Field. Two league losses, 28-17 at Miami (Ohio) and a heartbreaking 39-38 defeat at home to Northern Illinois, did in those hopes.
"That hurts, and yet there's lessons to be learned and we'll learn them," McElwain said.
Said Hairston: "It is what it is. We're on to the next one, that bowl game. I haven't won a bowl game since I've been here. I think we're very talented and I think we had missed opportunities. Can't do anything about it. Just got to move forward."
Dominant Defense
The Chippewas held Eastern Michigan to 5 rushing yards and 226 yards total. It was the fewest of both categories by a CMU Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season, while the 10 points were the fewest CMU surrendered this season except in its 45-0 shutout of FCS member Robert Morris in the second game of the year.
"It was a dominant win," McElwain said. "But that's the expectation and that's what our guys believe they should do and for the most part went out and did it."
Middle linebacker George Douglas led the Chippewas with eight tackles, while Hairston had seven.
The Chippewas posted seven sacks, their second-highest total this season (they had eight in a 26-23 overtime win over Toledo), and added three quarterback hurries as they kept constant pressure on EMU quarterback Ben Bryant.
The Chippewas were also credited with six pass breakups, two by cornerback Rolliann Sturkey.
Nice in November
CMU is 10-1 in games played in the month of November under McElwain. The Chippewas were 3-0 in November games in 2019, 3-1 in 2020, and went 4-0 this season.
Lew Shines Again
CMU running back Lew Nichols III entered the game as the nation's leading rusher and he once again showed just how productive he is.
The reigning MAC Freshman of the Year rushed for 194 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 44 carries and caught two passes for 39, giving him 233 all-purpose yards. His 33-yard TD run with under three minutes remaining iced the game.
Nichols upped his season yardage totals to 1,710 rushing and 2,010 all-purpose, his TD total to 17, and his point total to 102.
Nichols' 1,710 yards are the second most in a season by a Chippewa running back, his 311 rushing attempts are third in program history, his 17 TDs are the sixth most, and his 102 points are the eighth highest. Fifteen of Nichols' TDs have come on the ground, which ties him for sixth in that category in program history.
Wicked Winds
Friday's game was played under cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 30s, and with a steady northerly wind that clearly had an effect.
CMU quarterback Daniel Richardson completed 12 of his 24 pass attempts for 130 yards and two TDs, both to JaCorey Sullivan. He was intercepted once.
Richardson, a native of Miami who is in his third season at CMU, has 23 TD passes and has been intercepted five times.
"We didn't handle the elements well offensively and yet did enough to kind of take care of it," McElwain said. "Could you tell he was from Miami? (The wind and cold) definitely affected him. We had guys wide open deep down the field (that) we knew we could take advantage of and yet weren't able to connect.
"I told him, and I'm a firm believer in this, the quarterback position is judged by wins and he's collecting wins. And you know what, he did what he needed to do to win the football game."
Kickoff Return
Freshman Marion Lukes returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a TD, becoming the first Chippewa to score on a kickoff return since Jarrod Davis went 98 yards on Nov. 14, 2017, in a 42-23 win at Kent State.
It was the first time that a Chippewa returned a kickoff for a TD at Kelly/Shorts Stadium since Courtney Williams' 83-yarder in 2013. Williams' score also came against Eastern Michigan – a 42-10 CMU victory – and it came on the second-half kickoff as well.
It was the first career TD for Lukes, who entered the game averaging 19.2 yards per kick return with a long of 30 yards.
And the Chippewas aren't finished yet.
With their dominant 31-10 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, the Chippewas claimed the Michigan MAC Trophy for the first time since 2017. The trophy will sit in a case in the Chippewa Champions Center for the next 12 months, right alongside the Victory Cannon they reclaimed with a 42-30 win over Western Michigan earlier this season.
"I'm really excited to display it," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "We've got a couple spots picked out that we'll put both of those trophies in and that's an accomplishment; that's something this football team can be proud of."
Those baubles are tangible reminders for those in and around the program of just how far it has come in three years under McElwain; CMU was coming off a one-win 2018 campaign when he took over as head coach.
"It's a trust thing," said wide receiver JaCorey Sullivan, who caught two touchdown passes on Friday in his final game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. "You've got to believe in your coaches, you've got to believe in the people around you. Lean on them a little bit throughout the process and use your resources as best you can and come out and work every day.
"You come out here and work every day, you're going to see the end result, which is both trophies back at the crib for us, an 8-4 season, and a bowl game to go to."
The Chippewas are 8-4, 6-2 MAC and will await a bowl invitation.
Sullivan was one of a dozen Chippewas playing his final home game on Friday. Another was defensive end Troy Hairston II, who went from walk-on to MAC co-Defensive Player of the Year during his inspiring CMU career.
"It's bittersweet," Hairston said. "We got the trophy; I haven't seen that trophy since 2017. It was a long journey here from being a regular student all the way until now. It's hard. We walked out with a (win), but I'm looking back, and I don't want to leave the field. There's just a lot of emotions."
Certainly, there is plenty on which CMU can hang its hat: The Chippewas closed the regular season with four consecutive victories and won six of their last seven starts. Those final four wins came in dominant fashion as they outscored their opponents by a combined 164-87.
Their eight wins match the 2019 and 2017 teams for the most by a CMU squad since it went 12-2 in 2009, and one could argue that the Chippewas played as well in the second half of the season as any team in the MAC.
Alas, CMU won't play in the league championship game at Ford Field. Two league losses, 28-17 at Miami (Ohio) and a heartbreaking 39-38 defeat at home to Northern Illinois, did in those hopes.
"That hurts, and yet there's lessons to be learned and we'll learn them," McElwain said.
Said Hairston: "It is what it is. We're on to the next one, that bowl game. I haven't won a bowl game since I've been here. I think we're very talented and I think we had missed opportunities. Can't do anything about it. Just got to move forward."
Dominant Defense
The Chippewas held Eastern Michigan to 5 rushing yards and 226 yards total. It was the fewest of both categories by a CMU Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season, while the 10 points were the fewest CMU surrendered this season except in its 45-0 shutout of FCS member Robert Morris in the second game of the year.
"It was a dominant win," McElwain said. "But that's the expectation and that's what our guys believe they should do and for the most part went out and did it."
Middle linebacker George Douglas led the Chippewas with eight tackles, while Hairston had seven.
The Chippewas posted seven sacks, their second-highest total this season (they had eight in a 26-23 overtime win over Toledo), and added three quarterback hurries as they kept constant pressure on EMU quarterback Ben Bryant.
The Chippewas were also credited with six pass breakups, two by cornerback Rolliann Sturkey.
Nice in November
CMU is 10-1 in games played in the month of November under McElwain. The Chippewas were 3-0 in November games in 2019, 3-1 in 2020, and went 4-0 this season.
Lew Shines Again
CMU running back Lew Nichols III entered the game as the nation's leading rusher and he once again showed just how productive he is.
The reigning MAC Freshman of the Year rushed for 194 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 44 carries and caught two passes for 39, giving him 233 all-purpose yards. His 33-yard TD run with under three minutes remaining iced the game.
Nichols upped his season yardage totals to 1,710 rushing and 2,010 all-purpose, his TD total to 17, and his point total to 102.
Nichols' 1,710 yards are the second most in a season by a Chippewa running back, his 311 rushing attempts are third in program history, his 17 TDs are the sixth most, and his 102 points are the eighth highest. Fifteen of Nichols' TDs have come on the ground, which ties him for sixth in that category in program history.
Wicked Winds
Friday's game was played under cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 30s, and with a steady northerly wind that clearly had an effect.
CMU quarterback Daniel Richardson completed 12 of his 24 pass attempts for 130 yards and two TDs, both to JaCorey Sullivan. He was intercepted once.
Richardson, a native of Miami who is in his third season at CMU, has 23 TD passes and has been intercepted five times.
"We didn't handle the elements well offensively and yet did enough to kind of take care of it," McElwain said. "Could you tell he was from Miami? (The wind and cold) definitely affected him. We had guys wide open deep down the field (that) we knew we could take advantage of and yet weren't able to connect.
"I told him, and I'm a firm believer in this, the quarterback position is judged by wins and he's collecting wins. And you know what, he did what he needed to do to win the football game."
Kickoff Return
Freshman Marion Lukes returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a TD, becoming the first Chippewa to score on a kickoff return since Jarrod Davis went 98 yards on Nov. 14, 2017, in a 42-23 win at Kent State.
It was the first time that a Chippewa returned a kickoff for a TD at Kelly/Shorts Stadium since Courtney Williams' 83-yarder in 2013. Williams' score also came against Eastern Michigan – a 42-10 CMU victory – and it came on the second-half kickoff as well.
It was the first career TD for Lukes, who entered the game averaging 19.2 yards per kick return with a long of 30 yards.
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