Chippewas Pick Up Momentum With 38-13 Win Homecoming Over UMass

Saturday, October 25

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

3:30 PM

Central Michigan University

5-3 , 3-1

Massachusetts

0-8 , 0-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Massachusetts

Central Michigan

Chippewas Pick Up Momentum With 38-13 Win Homecoming Over UMass Image

CMU's Brock Townsend (22) celebrates one of his three touchdowns on Saturday in the Chippewas' 38-13 win over UMass on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography

Chippewas Pick Up Momentum With 38-13 Win Homecoming Over UMass

10/25/2025 9:08:00 PM | Football

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CMU tied for second place in the MAC heading into showdown next week at Western Michigan

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The more they win, the bigger the games get.

Joe Labas tossed two touchdown passes and Central Michigan rolled up 502 yards in total offense on Saturday as the Chippewas took care of business to the tune of a 38-13 Mid-American Conference victory over Massachusetts before a homecoming crowd of 20,000 plus on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The win, CMU's fourth in its last five starts, lifted the Chippewas to 5-3, 3-1 MAC. They are tied for second place, one game behind Miami (Ohio), which improved to 4-0 MAC with a 26-17 win over Western Michigan on Saturday.

The Chippewas go to Western Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 1 (4 p.m.). The Broncos are 4-4, 3-1 and one of three teams tied with CMU for second place.

"We haven't really talked about (Western) at all, to be honest with you, just because every game in this league, if you don't take every week like it's the Super Bowl, you will lose," first-year CMU coach Matt Drinkall said. "I don't think there's going to have to be a whole lot of motivation coming from the staff for (Western).

"And the way you win big games is do everything the exact same as you were doing. The circumstances might change around it, but the game itself never ever changes."

The Chippewas turned in their second consecutive solid performance on both sides of the ball in dismantling the Minutemen (0-8, 0-4).

CMU scored on its first four drives in building a 24-7 lead, and then scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half to extend its advantage to 38-10 midway through the third.

The Chippewa defense surrendered one big play, a 43-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that tied the game, 7-7.

Aside from that, CMU held the Minutemen in check. UMass finished with 292 yards in total offense, the second lowest total for a CMU opponent this season.

CMU has surrendered just one touchdown in its last nine quarters and held its last two opponents, Bowling Green and UMass, to 19 total points.

"I think we're in a really good spot defensively," said defensive end Michael Heldman, who on Saturday set a program record with four quarterback hurries. "We can definitely grow, obviously, especially with Western coming up. But we're in a really good spot and we have a lot of juice.

"And we're going to bring the juice regardless. No matter if we're down or we're up (on the scoreboard). We're still going to have the same juice, and we're going to bring it every time."

CMU redshirt freshman Brock Townsend continued to emerge as a star, scoring a career-high three touchdowns and finishing with a career-best 131 total yards – 78 through the air, 34 on the ground, and 19 on kick returns.

He scored on a 1-yard run to cap CMU's first drive and then scored on a 5-yard run and on a 51-yard pass play where he took a short pass from Labas, turned upfield, broke a tackle, and then picked up two blocks en route to the end zone.

Labas was his normal efficient self, throwing for 148 yards on 10-of-11 passing. His second TD pass went for 19 yards to Nasir Williams.

Angel Flores, CMU's other signal-caller, completed both of his pass attempts for 75 yards and carried eight times for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Flores did not play in the second half because of an injury. Drinkall said he was "assessed by the whole medical staff right away and should be good to go" moving forward.

Nahree Biggins led CMU's ground game with 94 yards on 10 carries.

The Chippewas finished with 279 yards on the ground, 223 through the air. CMU's 502 total yards were its second highest total of the season behind the 506 it put up in a 49-10 win over Wagner.