Saturday, September 6
Pittsburgh, Pa./Acrisure Stadium
Noon
Central Michigan University
at
Pitt
Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia
Game Preview: Chippewas Need More of the Same at Pitt on Saturday
9/4/2025 7:34:00 AM | Football
Kickoff is at noon ET for a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Plenty to the good for Central Michigan in its season-opening 16-14 win at San Jose State.
The Chippewas ran the ball effectively, did not commit a turnover, forced three turnovers, and came up with stops when it most needed them.
They will likely have to all of that and more on Saturday when they visit Pitt (noon, ESPNU) for a nonconference game at Acrisure Stadium.
It's the second of three consecutive road games to open the Matt Drinkall era of CMU football. The Chippewas go to No. 15 Michigan next week before entertaining Wagner in their home opener on Sept. 20.
"They've got three things you can tell when you watch them on film," Drinkall said of the Panthers, who opened last week with a 61-9 victory over Football Championship Subdivision Duquesne. "One is that at every position they've got incredibly talented players, they are well coached, a very disciplined organization in all three phases, and the other thing is every player operates within their system at a very, very high level.
"This is what you're looking for in a challenge. They have no weaknesses, there's no weak spots and you have to play your absolute best to compete and that's what you want, that's what you get into this for."
The Panthers, who finished 7-6 a year ago, may not carry the pedigree of, say, Michigan, but they are a highly competitive program year in and year out. They captured the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 2021 and have earned a bowl berth in 14 of the last 17 seasons.
It's the first meeting between the two teams. CMU is 0-17 all-time against current members of the ACC.
Clearly, the Chippewas have their work cut out for them against a team that rolled up 460 yards last week against Duquesne as quarterback Eli Holstein threw four of the Panthers' five touchdown passes.
Keeping Pitt's explosive offense on the sidelines is critical for the Chippewas. To do that, CMU must control the ball with its own offense. It did that last week at San Jose State by rushing for 236 yards which contributed to a substantial time-of-possession advantage.
"It's the No. 1 most important thing to win games that there is, possession of the football," Drinkall said. "That's what we talk about all the time. We started so well; we need to continue to keep the consistency going throughout. That will be the next big challenge for us."
Nahree Biggins ran for 102 yards and Trey Cornist had 99 and a touchdown to lead CMU's rush attack a week ago. They combined to average 6.48 yards per carry.
It was the first game in a Chippewa uniform for Cornist, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Tulane. Cornist was in high gear right from the jump, ripping off a 27-yard gain on his first carry as a Chippewa. He bolted 29 yards for a TD to give CMU a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Knowing that Drinkall had been the offensive line coach at Army – the Black Knights led the nation in rushing yards per game in 2024 -- prior to being named the Chippewas' coach in December played a major role in Cornist's decision to transfer to CMU.
"If your head coach is coming from Army, he's going to want you to run the ball," Cornist said. "Coach Drinkall, he won the Joe Moore Award for the best O line in the country. That was a big thing in my recruitment."
Cornist said that he and Biggins became fast friends when he landed in Mount Pleasant in the spring. The two have a healthy competition and their running styles complement one another.
"We're locked in," Cornist said. "He's my No. 1 friend here. He was somebody I got close to really fast, and I could tell he's a great person and he really stands on what he believes.
"We both want to be great. We feed off each other and just being great teammates for each other."
CMU employed three quarterbacks, Joe Labas, Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser, against San Jose State. The Chippewas are likely to do that against the Panthers.
When and where Drinkall goes to the bullpen will depend largely on how the game evolves, he said.
"We have multiple quarterbacks who can play, who we think could be starters on other teams in our conference, and we like them a lot," he said. "Every game we use analytics and we treat those (games) completely independent of one another, so every game we'll get our analytics and meet with our staff to frame the game.
"Basically, it's this week against this opponent right now with everyone who is healthy."
The Chippewa defense forced three turnovers, all in the first half, leading to an early 13-0 lead against San Jose State. Elijah Rikard and Brenden Deasfernandes each had an interception and Fernando Sanchez III recovered a fumble forced by defensive end Michael Heldman.
The Chippewas had just five takeaways throughout the entire 2024 season. Only three teams – Maryland, Tulane and Arizona – created more turnovers than did the Chippewas last week.
San Jose State is in the rearview mirror and the Chippewas are focused solely on Pitt.
"We have the 24-hour rule," Deasfernandes said. "We enjoyed that win for 24 hours and we've moved on to Pitt and we're focused on winning that game.
"If we want to keep doing more of the same thing, we have to focus on the details and keep stacking good days each and every week."
One thing is for certain, Deasfernandes said, the morale and the demeanor on the field and on the sideline was consistent last week, when the Chippewas built the early lead, then fell behind, 14-13, before rallying with a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.
"I felt like we were always in a calm state," he said. "Coach Drinkall really does a great job of teaching us to control our emotions because emotions are everything.
"If your emotions go out the window, so does everything else -- your technique, your attitude. I felt like the team was in a calm mind set knowing that we could come back."
The Chippewas ran the ball effectively, did not commit a turnover, forced three turnovers, and came up with stops when it most needed them.
They will likely have to all of that and more on Saturday when they visit Pitt (noon, ESPNU) for a nonconference game at Acrisure Stadium.
It's the second of three consecutive road games to open the Matt Drinkall era of CMU football. The Chippewas go to No. 15 Michigan next week before entertaining Wagner in their home opener on Sept. 20.
"They've got three things you can tell when you watch them on film," Drinkall said of the Panthers, who opened last week with a 61-9 victory over Football Championship Subdivision Duquesne. "One is that at every position they've got incredibly talented players, they are well coached, a very disciplined organization in all three phases, and the other thing is every player operates within their system at a very, very high level.
"This is what you're looking for in a challenge. They have no weaknesses, there's no weak spots and you have to play your absolute best to compete and that's what you want, that's what you get into this for."
The Panthers, who finished 7-6 a year ago, may not carry the pedigree of, say, Michigan, but they are a highly competitive program year in and year out. They captured the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 2021 and have earned a bowl berth in 14 of the last 17 seasons.
It's the first meeting between the two teams. CMU is 0-17 all-time against current members of the ACC.
Clearly, the Chippewas have their work cut out for them against a team that rolled up 460 yards last week against Duquesne as quarterback Eli Holstein threw four of the Panthers' five touchdown passes.
Keeping Pitt's explosive offense on the sidelines is critical for the Chippewas. To do that, CMU must control the ball with its own offense. It did that last week at San Jose State by rushing for 236 yards which contributed to a substantial time-of-possession advantage.
"It's the No. 1 most important thing to win games that there is, possession of the football," Drinkall said. "That's what we talk about all the time. We started so well; we need to continue to keep the consistency going throughout. That will be the next big challenge for us."
Nahree Biggins ran for 102 yards and Trey Cornist had 99 and a touchdown to lead CMU's rush attack a week ago. They combined to average 6.48 yards per carry.
It was the first game in a Chippewa uniform for Cornist, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Tulane. Cornist was in high gear right from the jump, ripping off a 27-yard gain on his first carry as a Chippewa. He bolted 29 yards for a TD to give CMU a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Knowing that Drinkall had been the offensive line coach at Army – the Black Knights led the nation in rushing yards per game in 2024 -- prior to being named the Chippewas' coach in December played a major role in Cornist's decision to transfer to CMU.
"If your head coach is coming from Army, he's going to want you to run the ball," Cornist said. "Coach Drinkall, he won the Joe Moore Award for the best O line in the country. That was a big thing in my recruitment."
Cornist said that he and Biggins became fast friends when he landed in Mount Pleasant in the spring. The two have a healthy competition and their running styles complement one another.
"We're locked in," Cornist said. "He's my No. 1 friend here. He was somebody I got close to really fast, and I could tell he's a great person and he really stands on what he believes.
"We both want to be great. We feed off each other and just being great teammates for each other."
CMU employed three quarterbacks, Joe Labas, Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser, against San Jose State. The Chippewas are likely to do that against the Panthers.
When and where Drinkall goes to the bullpen will depend largely on how the game evolves, he said.
"We have multiple quarterbacks who can play, who we think could be starters on other teams in our conference, and we like them a lot," he said. "Every game we use analytics and we treat those (games) completely independent of one another, so every game we'll get our analytics and meet with our staff to frame the game.
"Basically, it's this week against this opponent right now with everyone who is healthy."
The Chippewa defense forced three turnovers, all in the first half, leading to an early 13-0 lead against San Jose State. Elijah Rikard and Brenden Deasfernandes each had an interception and Fernando Sanchez III recovered a fumble forced by defensive end Michael Heldman.
The Chippewas had just five takeaways throughout the entire 2024 season. Only three teams – Maryland, Tulane and Arizona – created more turnovers than did the Chippewas last week.
San Jose State is in the rearview mirror and the Chippewas are focused solely on Pitt.
"We have the 24-hour rule," Deasfernandes said. "We enjoyed that win for 24 hours and we've moved on to Pitt and we're focused on winning that game.
"If we want to keep doing more of the same thing, we have to focus on the details and keep stacking good days each and every week."
One thing is for certain, Deasfernandes said, the morale and the demeanor on the field and on the sideline was consistent last week, when the Chippewas built the early lead, then fell behind, 14-13, before rallying with a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.
"I felt like we were always in a calm state," he said. "Coach Drinkall really does a great job of teaching us to control our emotions because emotions are everything.
"If your emotions go out the window, so does everything else -- your technique, your attitude. I felt like the team was in a calm mind set knowing that we could come back."
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
DB
/ Football
LB
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