First-year CMU football coach Matt Drinkall looks on from the sidelines during the Chippewas' 45-17 loss to Pitt on Saturday.
Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia
Football Notebook: 'Our kids played really well and battled hard'
9/7/2025 9:07:00 AM | Football
Pitt puts clamps on Chippewa run game.
PITTSBURGH – Make no mistake, Pitt was the better football team on Saturday in its 45-17 victory over Central Michigan before 48,424 at Acrisure Stadium.
The Panthers (2-0) more than doubled the Chippewas' yardage total, 464-217, and nearly doubled CMU's first down total, 22-13l.
Still, there was mostly positivity in the Chippewa (1-1) camp after the game. After all, it's just the second game of the season and just second for first-year coach Matt Drinkall.
"I thought our kids played really well and battled hard," Drinkall said. "We obviously were too inconsistent. We have to play better, more disciplined football, and that starts with me as a head coach in getting these guys prepared to do that.
"I think it's easy when you lose games like this to immediately jump and say the players made this mistake or that. The reality is there's a lot of procedural things on the front end that we need to get cleaned up and that starts with me and I need to put us in a better position to be disciplined and be successful."
Time of Possession
The Chippewas finished with a 13-plus-minute advantage in time of possession, winning that statistical battle for the second consecutive week.
And while such a discrepancy in possession time generally signals that the holder of such an advantage won the game, not so in this case.
The reason? The Panthers used big plays, and plenty of them, in scoring quickly nearly every time they touched the ball.
Six Pitt possessions ended in a touchdown. The longest amount of game time that the Panthers held the ball in any one of those six drives was 2:58.
Run Game
The Chippewas rushed for just 7 yards in the first half and finished with 40 net yards rushing in the game.
That was a far cry from the 236 rushing yards the Chippewas gained in their season-opening win at San Jose State.
The Panthers brought their safeties up near the line of scrimmage and often put nine defenders in the box. That left things open on the flanks, which is where CMU had its most sustained success.
Three CMU quarterbacks – Joe Labas, Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser – combined for 177 yards on 20-of-27 passing. Much of that success came on short flare passes.
Fourth-Down Success
The Chippewas converted three of their five fourth-down attempts.
Two of those conversions, both on fourth-and-4, came during a third-quarter drive that ended in a touchdown, cutting the CMU deficit to 24-17.
On the first conversion, Glasser found DeCorionTemple for an 8-yard gain and a first down at the Pitt 33. On the second, Langston Lewis made a highlight-reel worthy stretching catch on a Labas aerial for a 21-yard gain to the Pitt 7.
Turnovers
The Chippewas committed their first turnover of the season when Labas fumbled on fourth down at the Chippewa 44-yard line in the fourth quarter.
The Chippewa defense got a takeaway on a Jordan Kwiatkowski interception late in the second quarter. Working with a short field, the Chippewas scored just before the break to cut their deficit to 24-10 at halftime.
It marked the CMU defense's fourth takeaway of the season. It had five throughout the entire 2024 season.
Graham Makes It 4 in a Row
CMU placekicker Cade Graham kicked a career-long 41-yard field goal to pull CMU within 7-3 early in the second quarter.
It was Graham's fourth consecutive field goal and his fifth in five attempts this season. He missed his first try, a 51-yarder, in last week's season opener at San Jose State.
Big Boot
CMU punter Declan Duley drilled a 71-yard punt in the first quarter, pinning Pitt on its own 15-yard line.
Duley's 71-yarder ranks as the 12th longest in program history and it ties for the longest collegiate punt in Acrisure Stadium history. The stadium, which Pitt shares with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, opened in August, 2001 when it was known as Heinz Field.
History
Saturday's game marked the first meeting between Central Michigan and Pitt. Central Michigan is now 0-18 all-time vs. current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Panthers (2-0) more than doubled the Chippewas' yardage total, 464-217, and nearly doubled CMU's first down total, 22-13l.
Still, there was mostly positivity in the Chippewa (1-1) camp after the game. After all, it's just the second game of the season and just second for first-year coach Matt Drinkall.
"I thought our kids played really well and battled hard," Drinkall said. "We obviously were too inconsistent. We have to play better, more disciplined football, and that starts with me as a head coach in getting these guys prepared to do that.
"I think it's easy when you lose games like this to immediately jump and say the players made this mistake or that. The reality is there's a lot of procedural things on the front end that we need to get cleaned up and that starts with me and I need to put us in a better position to be disciplined and be successful."
Time of Possession
The Chippewas finished with a 13-plus-minute advantage in time of possession, winning that statistical battle for the second consecutive week.
And while such a discrepancy in possession time generally signals that the holder of such an advantage won the game, not so in this case.
The reason? The Panthers used big plays, and plenty of them, in scoring quickly nearly every time they touched the ball.
Six Pitt possessions ended in a touchdown. The longest amount of game time that the Panthers held the ball in any one of those six drives was 2:58.
Run Game
The Chippewas rushed for just 7 yards in the first half and finished with 40 net yards rushing in the game.
That was a far cry from the 236 rushing yards the Chippewas gained in their season-opening win at San Jose State.
The Panthers brought their safeties up near the line of scrimmage and often put nine defenders in the box. That left things open on the flanks, which is where CMU had its most sustained success.
Three CMU quarterbacks – Joe Labas, Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser – combined for 177 yards on 20-of-27 passing. Much of that success came on short flare passes.
Fourth-Down Success
The Chippewas converted three of their five fourth-down attempts.
Two of those conversions, both on fourth-and-4, came during a third-quarter drive that ended in a touchdown, cutting the CMU deficit to 24-17.
On the first conversion, Glasser found DeCorionTemple for an 8-yard gain and a first down at the Pitt 33. On the second, Langston Lewis made a highlight-reel worthy stretching catch on a Labas aerial for a 21-yard gain to the Pitt 7.
Turnovers
The Chippewas committed their first turnover of the season when Labas fumbled on fourth down at the Chippewa 44-yard line in the fourth quarter.
The Chippewa defense got a takeaway on a Jordan Kwiatkowski interception late in the second quarter. Working with a short field, the Chippewas scored just before the break to cut their deficit to 24-10 at halftime.
It marked the CMU defense's fourth takeaway of the season. It had five throughout the entire 2024 season.
Graham Makes It 4 in a Row
CMU placekicker Cade Graham kicked a career-long 41-yard field goal to pull CMU within 7-3 early in the second quarter.
It was Graham's fourth consecutive field goal and his fifth in five attempts this season. He missed his first try, a 51-yarder, in last week's season opener at San Jose State.
Big Boot
CMU punter Declan Duley drilled a 71-yard punt in the first quarter, pinning Pitt on its own 15-yard line.
Duley's 71-yarder ranks as the 12th longest in program history and it ties for the longest collegiate punt in Acrisure Stadium history. The stadium, which Pitt shares with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, opened in August, 2001 when it was known as Heinz Field.
History
Saturday's game marked the first meeting between Central Michigan and Pitt. Central Michigan is now 0-18 all-time vs. current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Players Mentioned
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Joe Labas Post-Game Press Conference at Pitt
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