Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, September 19
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
vs
Wyoming
The Chippewas celebrate following Saturday's 13-10 win over Colgate.
Photo by: Ty Klopf
Football Preview: Chippewas' Evolution Continues as Wyoming Comes to Kelly/Shorts
9/17/2026 8:00:00 PM | Football
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Central Michigan hosts Wyoming on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Step back and take a wide-angle look at it.
It's a process, a college football season, and the idea is to build to hit on all cylinders when the Mid-American Conference games roll around in two weeks.
The best, from the optimist's standpoint, is yet to come.
Central Michigan enters Saturday's 1 p.m. nonconference home game with Wyoming at 1-1. The Chippewas struggled to a 38-7 loss at New Mexico in their opener and then came alive in the second half to claim a 13-10 win last week over Colgate at home.
"We have a much better understanding after two games of, 'These are the best 11 guys' (and we know) what they're really good at and we have a much better understanding of our identity now and can kind of attack that and run with it now," second-year CMU coach Matt Drinkall said. "You need to build a foundation, and then the next week it gets better.
"Everyone was so (angry) and frustrated from the first game we probably squeezed a little too hard to start out the second game. You want to do well in front of your home crowd and for a million reasons (and we) tried too hard. You could feel it on the sideline -- just needed one thing to happen so the guys could finally exhale."
Quarterback Angel Flores delivered the serum with a 50-yard touchdown run with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. That served to loosen up the Chippewas and they won the game with a dominant fourth quarter that, one would hope, serves as a springboard to better, more consistent performance, beginning with Saturday's game against the Cowboys (1-1).
And while Drinkall plans to stick with his have-them-ready-to-go approach to quarterback, Flores will start against Wyoming and, as his 122-yard rushing performance against Colgate showed, the senior from Case Grande, Ariz. is The Man.
"Angel will start this week and he'll be the leader moving forward, at least for now, as long as he's playing and healthy," Drinkall said. "And he's earned that right. Our big deal is stability and execution, and you're going to see Jadyn (Glasser) and Marcus (Beamon) be ready to go and get mixed in for sure just because of the nature of the beast and the style we play.
"Angel, he's a captain, he's a returning player, a veteran, he's played really well, he operates. As hokey and cliché as it might sound, the guys look up there in the huddle and see him, and it's a calming presence."
That said, two things are apparent through two games: CMU's offense needs to be more productive and the defense has, despite surrendering 38 at New Mexico, been good.
"We haven't been as productive as we have to be for a million reasons, but it's mostly self-inflicted things," said Drinkall, whose team ranks second to last among the 138 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total offense. "The longer we look in the mirror and the longer we get to attack it and practice, the better we're going to be.
"If you want to see big changes, look in small places. That's been our constant theme that we're talking about now. "
The Chippewa defense forced four Colgate turnovers and pitched a second-half shutout. It kept CMU in the game early while the offense struggled. CMU is second among MAC teams and a respectable 50th nationally in total defense.
That defense has "been doing a lot of heavy lifting, especially this past week," Drinkall said. "Those guys are really embracing that and taking ownership."
At first blush, Wyoming – CMU's second Mountain West Conference opponent of the season -- looks an awful lot like the Chippewas through two games. The Cowboys (1-1) rank 126th nationally in total offense, 97th in total defense. They topped Northern Colorado at home last week, 21-13, after a 35-13 season-opening loss at Colorado State.
It's a process, a college football season, and the idea is to build to hit on all cylinders when the Mid-American Conference games roll around in two weeks.
The best, from the optimist's standpoint, is yet to come.
Central Michigan enters Saturday's 1 p.m. nonconference home game with Wyoming at 1-1. The Chippewas struggled to a 38-7 loss at New Mexico in their opener and then came alive in the second half to claim a 13-10 win last week over Colgate at home.
"We have a much better understanding after two games of, 'These are the best 11 guys' (and we know) what they're really good at and we have a much better understanding of our identity now and can kind of attack that and run with it now," second-year CMU coach Matt Drinkall said. "You need to build a foundation, and then the next week it gets better.
"Everyone was so (angry) and frustrated from the first game we probably squeezed a little too hard to start out the second game. You want to do well in front of your home crowd and for a million reasons (and we) tried too hard. You could feel it on the sideline -- just needed one thing to happen so the guys could finally exhale."
Quarterback Angel Flores delivered the serum with a 50-yard touchdown run with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. That served to loosen up the Chippewas and they won the game with a dominant fourth quarter that, one would hope, serves as a springboard to better, more consistent performance, beginning with Saturday's game against the Cowboys (1-1).
And while Drinkall plans to stick with his have-them-ready-to-go approach to quarterback, Flores will start against Wyoming and, as his 122-yard rushing performance against Colgate showed, the senior from Case Grande, Ariz. is The Man.
"Angel will start this week and he'll be the leader moving forward, at least for now, as long as he's playing and healthy," Drinkall said. "And he's earned that right. Our big deal is stability and execution, and you're going to see Jadyn (Glasser) and Marcus (Beamon) be ready to go and get mixed in for sure just because of the nature of the beast and the style we play.
"Angel, he's a captain, he's a returning player, a veteran, he's played really well, he operates. As hokey and cliché as it might sound, the guys look up there in the huddle and see him, and it's a calming presence."
That said, two things are apparent through two games: CMU's offense needs to be more productive and the defense has, despite surrendering 38 at New Mexico, been good.
"We haven't been as productive as we have to be for a million reasons, but it's mostly self-inflicted things," said Drinkall, whose team ranks second to last among the 138 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total offense. "The longer we look in the mirror and the longer we get to attack it and practice, the better we're going to be.
"If you want to see big changes, look in small places. That's been our constant theme that we're talking about now. "
The Chippewa defense forced four Colgate turnovers and pitched a second-half shutout. It kept CMU in the game early while the offense struggled. CMU is second among MAC teams and a respectable 50th nationally in total defense.
That defense has "been doing a lot of heavy lifting, especially this past week," Drinkall said. "Those guys are really embracing that and taking ownership."
At first blush, Wyoming – CMU's second Mountain West Conference opponent of the season -- looks an awful lot like the Chippewas through two games. The Cowboys (1-1) rank 126th nationally in total offense, 97th in total defense. They topped Northern Colorado at home last week, 21-13, after a 35-13 season-opening loss at Colorado State.
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