Football Preview: Home Opener, At Last

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Home sweet home.

At last.

The Central Michigan football team entertains Wagner on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN Plus) in its 2025 home opener and first-year coach Matt Drinkall's first game on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The Chippewas are 1-2 with all three games on the road, the first time they have opened with three straight away from Mount Pleasant since 1972.

Those three road games unquestionably gave Drinkall and his staff a good barometer of where their program is as they won at San Jose State and then bowed to a pair of Power 4 programs, including Michigan, 63-3, last week.

"We've gotten everybody on the team game experience, we've gotten everybody reps against Power 4 teams in front of Power 4 crowds and picked up some really, really valuable experience," said Drinkall, whose team dropped a 45-17 decision at Pitt two weeks ago. "There's a lot of positive things to take away from the last two games for sure."

Yes, there has been growth. The Chippewas were flagged for just one penalty at Michigan after they committed nine (for 75 yards) at Pitt.

"Operationally and culturally, I feel like we're in very, very good shape," Drinkall said. "The biggest challenge I would say at this point is just the sense of urgency we have with issues that we have to get fixed. Meaning that there's a consequence for it – not everything is like the practice environment where it's like, 'It's alright; my bad; I'll get the next one.'"

To be sure, Wagner is a different animal than was Michigan or Pitt or even San Jose State, which CMU beat, 16-14, in the season opener. The Seahawks, who play in Football Championship Subdivision, are 0-3 after losses to Kansas, Georgetown and Marist.

CMU is 16-1 all-time against FCS opponents and has won 16 straight against such foes.

"I don't know who thinks the Wagner game is going to be easy for us," Drinkall said. "I don't know why anybody would think that is the case. The way talent is distributed in college football right now I don't understand why anyone would ever think any game is easy."

"Michigan, Wagner," CMU cornerback Brenden Deasfernandes said, "they're both collegiate football programs. All of these guys are good. We can't doubt any of our opponents. Wagner may have some guys who have NFL talent, and we can sleep on them in any way, shape or form.

"We respect our opponent and treat everyone the same. If you look down on an opponent and then you go into a game and boom, upset. Now you look bad as a player, as coaches, as a program. We always try to treat our opponents the same."

The Chippewas have taken a consistent and disciplined approach on both side of the ball, something Drinkall has preached since he arrived in Mount Pleasant in December.

They are committed to the run game on offense, though it hasn't been nearly as productive the past two weeks as it was in the season opener at San Jose State. An understandable turn considering the opposition.

"The record isn't where we would want to be after three games, but I think as a team we've improved a lot and we're learning and we're continuing to grow as a unit and as a team," offensive tackle Martin Koivisto said. "Whoever it is, whoever lines up against us, whether it's Michigan, Wagner, whoever we're going to play, we're going to try to execute our brand of football."

Drinkall employed a three-quarterback system through the first two games until a season-ending injury to one those signal-callers, Jadyn Glasser. Drinkall said the Chippewas will adjust with quarterbacks Joe Labas and Angel Flores, taking the snaps.

Deasfernandes made his second interception of the season in the loss at Michigan. The Chippewa defense has made a Mid-American Conference-high four picks this season among five forced turnovers.

They rank 32^nd in the nation in turnovers gained after ranking 133^rd – second to last – a year ago.

"It's not a good thing that we lost by 60 (at Michigan), but it is a good thing that we got exposed to so many things that we missed out on as far as mistakes and mental errors and things of that nature," Deasfernandes said. "It's a good outlook on things to know where we are, how we can fix things, how good we can be.

"I feel like we all feel pretty good about where we are. We don't feel good about the losses that we took, but we're heading in the right direction and things are aligning for us. Whether it may look good right now or it may look bad right now, all of it will pay off and we're moving in the right direction."

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Players Mentioned

Brenden Deasfernandes

Angel Flores

Jadyn Glasser

Martin Koivisto

Joe Labas