Saturday, September 16
South Bend, Ind./Notre Dame Stadium
2:30 p.m. ET
Central Michigan University
at
Notre Dame
Sophomore wide receiver Chris Parker had three catches for 124 yards as the CMU offense was clicking in a 45-42 win last week over New Hampshire.
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Football Preview: College Football Heavyweight Next for Chippewas
9/15/2023 8:09:00 AM | Football
Central Michigan Game Day PageWatch Live on Peacock NetworkListen LiveLive StatsCentral Michigan Game Notes (PDF)Notre Dame Game Notes (PDF)CMU Ticket Central2023 Statistics2023 Schedule
Chippewas to take on No. 9/11 Notre Dame on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET at Notre Dame Stadium.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Back on the road, back to punching up.
This time, it's college football royalty, arguably the most-storied program in the land.
The Central Michigan football team takes the field on Saturday at Notre Dame – yes, that Notre Dame – in the first meeting between the two programs. They kick off at 2:30 p.m. (ET) at historic Notre Dame Stadium.
The Chippewas are 1-1 after a 45-42 home win over New Hampshire last week. No disrespect to the Wildcats; they are a good, very good, Football Championship Subdivision team.
But Notre Dame is Notre Dame, and any opponent knows that the battle is against more than the 11 players on the other side of the ball. The Irish carry with them an unmistakable mystique and to ignore that would simply be naïve.
"Their helmets are really shiny," fifth-year CMU coach Jim McElwain quipped earlier this week. "They've got really shiny helmets with really good players in those shiny helmets.
"It's a great place to play. For our university, for our brand, to be able to be on the same field as Notre Dame, thanks to them for giving us the opportunity. The biggest piece for me is for our university, our fanbase, this community, to compete in the same environment as Notre Dame, that's something that's really, really special."
The Chippewas opened the season with a 31-7 loss at Michigan State. Having played in front of more than 70,000 at Spartan Stadium is an experience that ought to help the Chippewas better handle the atmosphere on Saturday in South Bend. The Irish (3-0) are ranked ninth by the Associated Press and 11th in the coaches poll.
"It's all about how you take it," CMU sophomore defensive end Michael Heldman said. "You can either go in and be scared, or you can go in and be like, they're the same type of person; they bleed like me. They play football just like I do and I'm going to try to play better than them and that's the mentality we've got to have going into this game.
"You kind of want that student section, you want to be around that student section because they hype you up more than anything; hearing them boo you, hearing them talk smack, it just really hypes you up more than anything."
CMU still faces plenty of questions, and has a lot of growing to do, through two games. The Chippewas indeed rebounded from the loss at MSU to beat New Hampshire, but they found themselves in a fourth-quarter dogfight with the Wildcats, who are ranked 11th in FCS.
The Chippewas won on Tristan Mattson's first career field goal, a 47-yarder, as time ran out after UNH scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes to tie the game.
"Figuring out how to win a game, really, for me, is what's so important for our program," McElwain said. "No one was satisfied. Whether it's a win or a loss you're never satisfied. You go back and you correct things.
"I know one thing our guys are playing really hard and that's what I want them to do. Now we've got to go in with the same mental effort as we are the physical effort."
That the Chippewas' offense got it rolling and had plenty of explosive plays was encouraging. Surrendering more than 500 yards and 42 points?
"We have a very high standard and that game was not to the standard that we want to play at all," Heldman said. "We were very, very grateful for that win, but as a defense we talked that this is not acceptable, this is not us.
"We have played a lot better games and this is not going to be us going into any game in the future."
Redshirt freshman quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. had by far his best all-around game of the six (three starts) he has played in a Chippewa uniform
He threw for a career-high 193 yards and two touchdowns, the first two TD passes of his career, and he ran for 101 yards and two scores and was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week.
"Bit by bit, he's seeing (things) every time we get back in the film room," McElwain said of Emanuel. "It's just a continual study and growth of being a quarterback."
This time, it's college football royalty, arguably the most-storied program in the land.
The Central Michigan football team takes the field on Saturday at Notre Dame – yes, that Notre Dame – in the first meeting between the two programs. They kick off at 2:30 p.m. (ET) at historic Notre Dame Stadium.
The Chippewas are 1-1 after a 45-42 home win over New Hampshire last week. No disrespect to the Wildcats; they are a good, very good, Football Championship Subdivision team.
But Notre Dame is Notre Dame, and any opponent knows that the battle is against more than the 11 players on the other side of the ball. The Irish carry with them an unmistakable mystique and to ignore that would simply be naïve.
"Their helmets are really shiny," fifth-year CMU coach Jim McElwain quipped earlier this week. "They've got really shiny helmets with really good players in those shiny helmets.
"It's a great place to play. For our university, for our brand, to be able to be on the same field as Notre Dame, thanks to them for giving us the opportunity. The biggest piece for me is for our university, our fanbase, this community, to compete in the same environment as Notre Dame, that's something that's really, really special."
The Chippewas opened the season with a 31-7 loss at Michigan State. Having played in front of more than 70,000 at Spartan Stadium is an experience that ought to help the Chippewas better handle the atmosphere on Saturday in South Bend. The Irish (3-0) are ranked ninth by the Associated Press and 11th in the coaches poll.
"It's all about how you take it," CMU sophomore defensive end Michael Heldman said. "You can either go in and be scared, or you can go in and be like, they're the same type of person; they bleed like me. They play football just like I do and I'm going to try to play better than them and that's the mentality we've got to have going into this game.
"You kind of want that student section, you want to be around that student section because they hype you up more than anything; hearing them boo you, hearing them talk smack, it just really hypes you up more than anything."
CMU still faces plenty of questions, and has a lot of growing to do, through two games. The Chippewas indeed rebounded from the loss at MSU to beat New Hampshire, but they found themselves in a fourth-quarter dogfight with the Wildcats, who are ranked 11th in FCS.
The Chippewas won on Tristan Mattson's first career field goal, a 47-yarder, as time ran out after UNH scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes to tie the game.
"Figuring out how to win a game, really, for me, is what's so important for our program," McElwain said. "No one was satisfied. Whether it's a win or a loss you're never satisfied. You go back and you correct things.
"I know one thing our guys are playing really hard and that's what I want them to do. Now we've got to go in with the same mental effort as we are the physical effort."
That the Chippewas' offense got it rolling and had plenty of explosive plays was encouraging. Surrendering more than 500 yards and 42 points?
"We have a very high standard and that game was not to the standard that we want to play at all," Heldman said. "We were very, very grateful for that win, but as a defense we talked that this is not acceptable, this is not us.
"We have played a lot better games and this is not going to be us going into any game in the future."
Redshirt freshman quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. had by far his best all-around game of the six (three starts) he has played in a Chippewa uniform
He threw for a career-high 193 yards and two touchdowns, the first two TD passes of his career, and he ran for 101 yards and two scores and was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week.
"Bit by bit, he's seeing (things) every time we get back in the film room," McElwain said of Emanuel. "It's just a continual study and growth of being a quarterback."
Players Mentioned
DL
/ Football
PK
/ FootballJordan Kwiatkowski Post-Game Press Conference at Pitt
Saturday, September 06
Joe Labas Post-Game Press Conference at Pitt
Saturday, September 06
Matt Drinkall Post-Game Press Conference at Pitt
Saturday, September 06
Trey Cornist Insider 9.4.25
Thursday, September 04