Football Preview: Chippewas Eye Fresh Start in MAC Opener

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It may be too early in the season to call it a must-win, or that the Chippewas are at a crossroads.

Still, Central Michigan's football game with Ball State on Saturday (1 p.m.) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium is big in that it is the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.

And for the Chippewas, it's a who are we game. After rolling to a 66-10 win over Football Championship Subdivision Central Connecticut State in its season opener, CMU has fallen on the road, first to Florida International and then to Illinois by a combined 82-25.

Turnovers and an inability to cash in in the red zone have been CMU's two biggest issues. The Chippewas turned it over six times at Florida International and settled for three field goals in the red zone against the Illini.

"The field position piece, we've lost those battles the last couple of weeks," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "We've given the opponent some short fields."

To the good, McElwain said, the Chippewas "didn't back down and gained respect a little bit from a very physical opponent" last week at Illinois.

"For us now carrying that piece over to our conference opener is so important. Our guys know that anytime you lose in conference it's like losing twice. For us, it's about defending our home field and coming out and playing the way we should."

The mood in the locker room?

"Really irritated," junior defensive lineman Michael Heldman said. "We do have a great defense, a great team, and we know that. We showed it in Week 1 even though it was against an FCS opponent.

"We know we can play good all the time, we just have to go show that."

The Chippewas did, in fact, move the ball against Illinois just as they did the previous week at FIU. Twice they settled for field goals when they drove inside the Illini 10-yard line, and another time had a touchdown nullified by a penalty and settled for a field goal.

The Chippewas turned the ball over just once against Illinois after their six-turnover disaster at FIU. The one turnover at Illinois proved extremely costly as it ended a third-quarter CMU drive when the Chippewas were still very much in the game.

The Chippewa defense, despite the number of points it has surrendered the past two weeks, has, on the whole, played well. CMU is ranked third in the MAC in total defense, but has not forced a turnover since the opening win over CCS.

"Our defense there's some really good things there," McElwain said. "You're able to (build on) when we do it right and even sometimes when it's wrong we've got some guys who are maybe able to make up for some mistakes, which is big.

"Really now it comes down to consistency and ball security and getting the ball back (creating turnovers). Those are a couple of things in the last couple of games we haven't done."

Ball State (1-1) last week dropped a 62-0 decision at then-No. 8 Miami (Fla.) after opening with a 42-34 win over Missouri State.

Ball State quarterback Kadin Semonza has completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 373 yards and four touchdowns against two interceptions. He is not a run threat.

Semonza is the Cardinals' clearcut starter after sharing time with two other players at the position last season, when Ball State finished 4-8. One of those wins came over the Chippewas, 24-17, in Muncie, Ind.

Ball State has won the last two meetings with the Chippewas and the last three times the teams have met in Mount Pleasant. CMU's last home win over Ball State came in 2016.

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Players Mentioned

Michael Heldman