Football Preview: CMU Eyes Second Straight Win as Buffalo Comes to Town

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Leg No. 2 of Central Michigan's run-the-table mission comes in the form of a Buffalo team that has plenty to play for, plenty to be angry about.

The Chippewas and Bulls will tangle on Wednesday (7 p.m.) in a Mid-American Conference game on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

CMU is 3-6, 2-3 MAC and coming off a 35-22 win last week at Northern Illinois. The Bulls are 5-4 and share the MAC East lead at 4-1 with Ohio and Bowling Green. Buffalo lost last week at Ohio, 45-24.

The Bulls almost certainly have to win Wednesday in order to remain in the hunt for a berth in the MAC Championship Game in Detroit.

"This will be the best opponent we've played, probably since Toledo, no doubt about it," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "They're playing for something; they're playing to get to Detroit."

The Chippewas are playing to get somewhere during bowl season. They need to win each of their final three games to be bowl eligible.

History is on their side. CMU is 11-1 in games played in the month of November under McElwain, who is in his fourth season in charge of the program.

"Every team's different," McElwain said. "We'll see where these guys' minds are as far as carrying that tradition forward."

"It takes a little grit and secondly it takes toughness, and it's not just the physical toughness, you've got the mental toughness to sustain and overcome later in the year."

A bowl game is a tangible carrot. But just as important is pride and perseverance, and digging deep to show what's inside, McElwain said.

"Do you look for excuses?" McElwain said, "or do you look to really be proud of what you do and what you put on film and are capable of handling the details and that's where the mental part comes in. Those are kind of the stress points."

Trending Trio
McElwain said the Chippewas will again use the three-quarterback rotation they employed, quite effectively, last week in the win at NIU.

"There may be times you see all three of them on the field at one time," McElwain said. "Based on where you're at personnel wise, you've got to do some things to shake up the batting order. It forces the opponent to burn a little chalk and see some things different. Who knows?"

Daniel Richardson, who has started all nine games at quarterback this season, threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 13-of-22 passing last week; Jase Bauer completed three of his four pass attempts and ran for 109 yards and two scores; freshman Bert Emmanuel, Jr. ran six times for 30 yards.

Richardson and Bauer split the majority of the snaps. Emmanuel took a handful.

McElwain said that any of the three are capable of utilizing the entire playbook.

"They can run the total offense and they will," he said. "You try to play to their strengths as young guys, obviously, until they get total command of everything. They've been running the plays since they've been here."

Tight End Injury
The Chippewas will be without tight end Joel Wilson for the remainder of the season.

Wilson, who was in the midst of a breakout season, injured his ankle while catching a 23-yard TD pass from Richardson in the victory at NIU.

McElwain said Wilson is out for the season. Senior Bryant Kieft, a transfer from Northwood, and redshirt freshman Marcus Young, figure to get most of the snaps at the position.

"I think anytime you lose a really good player like that, the people who are coming into play, they've got to pick up those things," McElwain said. "Now they've just got to step up and have a more prominent role. We've got trust in them and now it's going to be their opportunity to go out and make some of those plays."

Wilson finished the season with 44 catches, six of them for TDs for 446 yards. He ranks second among tight ends nationally in catches, fourth in receiving yards, and tied for fifth in TD receptions.

Injury Bug
Wilson is the latest Chippewa to miss significant time with an injury. CMU has been his significantly hard in the backfield, where starter Lew Nichols III missed two games before returning against Northern Illinois and Nichols' top two backups, Marion Lukes and Myles Bailey, are out for the season.

Another running back, Christian Brown, has also missed significant time because of injury and that has prompted McElwain and his staff to use defensive back De'Javion Stepney in the backfield.

"I haven't been through (a season) where you lose that many key guys or even a position room being kind of drained," said McElwain, who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Eastern Washington, in 1985. "But that's part of playing the game and I've got to be able to figure out how to get us to play good enough to go win."

Nichols Back
Nichols, a sophomore who last year led the nation in rushing and all-purpose yardage, finished with 92 yards on 28 carries against NIU. That brought his career rushing total to 3,006 yards, which ranks sixth in program history.

Nichols needs 117 yards to move into fifth place on that list. That spot is occupied by Eric Flowers, who rushed for 3,122 yards from 1996-99.

Nichols has scored 29 touchdowns in his career; he needs five to crack to the top 10 in program history.

"We're a different team and a better team with him on the field," McElwain said. "Lou's one of those guys who's proven that he can carry the load. There's no reason to think any different about that."

Among the Best
The CMU defense is second in the MAC with 27 sacks and tied for second nationally with 76 tackles-for-loss. The Chippewas' TFL yardage, 341, is second in the country behind Liberty's 342.

Chippewa defensive end Thomas Incoom leads the league in both sacks (8.5) and TFLs (13).

Incoom has twice worn the hero cape this season, the first at Akron when he returned a fumble 63 yards with 1:50 remaining for the game-winning touchdown; the second when he sacked the NIU quarterback in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble that was recovered by teammate Kyle Moretti for a touchdown that put CMU up two scores.

McElwain fully appreciates and respects Incoom's talent and play-making abilities; but he also recognizes that a good part of his individual success springs from his teammates doing their jobs.

"He gets that hero status because of what the other guys are doing," McElwain said. "I think that's a credit to the strength of that (defensive line) room and the ability to rotate guys in and out. I'm really proud of those guys. They understand their roles and what they're doing."

That do-your-job mentality is a two-way street.

"I think you see the plays that Moretti and (Justin) Whiteside are able to make because (offensive) guys aren't getting on them because the front line's doing their job as well," McElwain said of his two middle linebackers, who rank first and third, respectively, on the team in tackles. "That's big."

Scouting
Buffalo's loss at Ohio last week ended the Bulls' win streak at five games. It was costly not only because it dropped them into a three-way tie for first place, but they lost the tie-breaker (head-to-head result) to the Bobcats.

Buffalo holds the tie-breaker over Bowling Green by virtue of a 38-7 win over the Falcons on Oct. 8.

The Bulls are holding opponents to 27 points per game, which ranks fourth in the MAC and are scoring a 30.1-point-per-game-clip, which is third best in the league.

Buffalo ranks first in the league with a plus-7 turnover margin and is first in possession time. The Chippewas rank 12^th in the MAC and 131^st – last among Football Bowl Subdivision teams – at minus-13.

Buffalo quarterback Cole Snyder has completed 58.9 percent of his passes for 2,145 yards and 14 touchdowns against six interceptions.

Next
Sometime around 10:30 p.m., when the final gun sounds on CMU's game with the Bulls, on Wednesday it becomes Western Week.

The Chippewas welcome their archrival, Western Michigan, on Wednesday, Nov. 16. The game will kick off at either 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.

Football Preview: CMU Eyes Second Straight Win as Buffalo Comes to Town

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