Football Notebook: Run Game Hums; Game Ball Goes to Safety Justin Taylor

Photo by: Kailey Hill '26 - @rahsignz

Photo by: Matthew MacPhee '28 - @mattsvisuals_

Photo by: 2026 Matt's Visuals, LLC

Photo by: Matthew MacPhee '28 - @mattsvisuals_

Photo by: Kailey Hill '26 - @rahsignz

CMU Football vs. Wyoming (September 19, 2026)

Photo by: Addison Glascock '29 - @aglascock.photography

Photo by: Katrina Shammami - @mediabykat

Football Notebook: Run Game Hums; Game Ball Goes to Safety Justin Taylor

9/20/2026 10:35:00 AM | Football

Matt Drinkall Post Game Press Conference Angel Flores Post Game Press Conference Justin Taylor Post Game Press Conferencee Brock Townsend Post Game Press Conference Xavier White Post Game Press Conference Full Game Book (PDF)Game Recap

Linebacker Xavier White: 'We’ve got to keep stacking. This is not the highest we’ll go'

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Methodical. Tidy. Efficient. Businesslike.

Choose the adjective. They all fit.

The Central Michigan run game was all that on Saturday in the Chippewas' 24-10 nonconference victory over Wyoming on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The Chippewas rushed for 339 yards and controlled the game from the opening kick, coming away with points on three of their first four possessions for a 17-0 halftime lead.

It goes without saying that that doesn't happen without the big boys up front getting it done, and it doesn't happen without a coaching staff sussing out who should haul the mail.

Angel Flores as that man on Saturday, as the senior quarterback toted it 28 times for 163 yards, an average of 5.8 yards per carry.

Both the number of carries and the yardage totals are career highs for the quiet leader of CMU's offense, a graduate of Casa Grande (Ariz.) High School who transferred to CMU before the 2025 season from Northern Arizona.

"Physically, I feel pretty good right now," Flores said in the postgame press conference, adding that he had never carried it 28 times, not even in high school. "I'm sure I'll feel a little bit of it tomorrow, but overall, I feel pretty good right now.

"The lineman did amazing. They were out there blocking extremely well; and the running backs, on the perimeter too, like those guys don't get as much love and they're kind of heroes but they're out there blocking, making things extremely easy to get on the perimeter or to run up the middle."

Flores split time last season with the now-graduated Joe Labas. Flores was viewed as a run-first option, which has proven to be an astute choice by CMU coach Matt Drinkall. Drinkall vowed from the day he arrived in Mount Pleasant to establish a strong, physical run game and Saturday's outcome was as close as the Chippewas have come to a truly dominant performance.

Flores shared the quarterbacking duties with Jadyn Glasser and Marcus Beamon through a game and a half this season. In the Chippewas' 13-10 win over Colgate last week, it was Flores who took the majority of the snaps as CMU waged a second-half comeback.

Against Wyoming, Flores took all 66 of CMU's snaps.

"Angel, he's like having an extra coach on the field," Drinkall said. "I mean, he just gets you into the right plays. You don't run bad plays with him. He makes the right reads all the time.

"It's crazy. I'm not kidding you when I say this. If you go grab his notebook from his locker right now, it looks like it is printed by a computer. Every word in it. There's not a typo. There's not bad penmanship. There's nothing crossed out. It's perfect. … And he's the hardest-working, most mature guy you've got. We talk in our program a lot, the thing that gets you on the field is trust. That is the No. 1 word that gets you into games. And you trust that guy with everything.

"Those other (quarterbacks) are great. But Angel just has kind of that calming presence. (Offensive coordinator Jim) Chapin and Angel see everything eye-to-eye and perfectly. Coach Chapin called as perfect of a game as I've watched in 25 years of doing this. And he and Angel just understand it, understand each other so well."

Flores' presence and influence is obvious to his teammates.

"He's not always the loudest guy in the room, but he still speaks with volume," junior running back Brock Townsend said. "When he says something, you listen.

"I don't know if there's any other quarterback that's willing to do what he just did. To take that many hits, to run the ball that much, and he's like, 'This is my role this game, and I'm going to play. He's a great leader, great guy, and I'm happy to have him on this team."

Flores' number of rushes is the most by a Chippewa since Lew Nichols carried it 31 times in a 17-16 loss to Ball State on Oct. 8, 2022. Nichols also carried it 28 times in a 35-22 win at Northern Illinois on Nov. 2, 2022.

Breakthrough
The Chippewas' rushing total, 339 yards, was their highest since they rolled up 352 in a 42-28 home win over New Mexico State on Oct. 12, 2019.

The run-game success wasn't all the doing of Flores. Jayden Clerveaux had 81 yards on 12 carries, Vaughn Blue had 55 on 15, and Townsend had 41 on just two, including a 38-yard third-quarter TD run. Combined, they averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

Game Ball
The Chippewas handed out a game ball to senior safety Justin Taylor, who played last season at Wyoming after beginning his collegiate career at Wisconsin.

Taylor finished with a career-high nine tackles and returned an interception, his first as a Chippewa, 18 yards. His pick came at the Chippewa 12-yard line with CMU leading, 24-10.

"I thank our D-line for the pick in general because without that pressure (the quarterback is) probably rolling down the field and probably creates an explosive play for them," Taylor said. "So shout out to the D-line, shout out to the front seven for that, putting the pressure on him and then he forced one up."

Taylor called the win "very satisfying" and said he did not speak with any of his former teammates before or after the game, and did not exchange any phone calls or text messages with them in the week leading up to the game.

"It's all about the (CMU) team," he said in the press conference, which was held in the team room of the Chippewa Champions Center. "It's all about the guys that are going to be taking seats in this team room, coaches included. I didn't really do any talking this week to any guys on that side or any guys after the game. Just didn't feel the need to."

After the game, Taylor and his teammates, as is custom, headed to the east bleachers where the Chippewa Marching Band is positioned. They then face the band and players take a turn on the podium, leading the band in the school's fight song.

"That was definitely something new," he said. "It was pretty fun though. I did not know what to do when I first got up there. The guys told me, 'Hey, you're going to go up and do the thing.' I'm like, 'OK, what do I do?' And I had to look down at the (band) director and he told me, 'One, two, you know what to do.'"

The importance to Taylor of playing, and beating, his former team was not lost on the Chippewas.

"He shared his feelings about Wyoming," CMU linebacker Xavier White said. "He shared how he felt, and this was a very big game for him and how much it meant to him, and that breathed life to all of us. We felt the same as him, as a whole, to play as one. It's just a brotherhood. So if you see one of your brothers, and what it means to him, you've got to take it seriously."

A Deeper Look
The Chippewas' success running the ball left them with a decided advantage in two very important categories: possession time and field position.

CMU held the ball for more than 35 minutes; Wyoming had it for under 25.

Of Wyoming's nine possessions, six started at the Cowboy 26-yard line or worse.

Key Drive
The Chippewas established control on both sides of the ball throughout the first half, and the staggering blow came late in the second quarter.

The Chippewas stopped Wyoming on downs at the CMU 13-yard line when Wyoming completed a pass for a 3-yard gain on fourth-and-4.

Beginning with 5:07 remaining in the half, CMU went 90 yards in 17 plays – the Chippewas' longest drive of the year in both number of plays and yards – with Flores plunging in from a yard out on fourth down with 2 seconds remaining.

That made it 17-0 and completed the Chippewas' first-half domination.

Kicking Game
Chippewa punter Declan Duley did more than his share to help the cause.

The senior from El Paso, Ill. averaged 36.8 yards on four punts. One of his punts went out of bounds at the Wyoming 9-yard line, and another was downed at the Cowboy 1.

Sophomore placekicker Caden VanHuis made his first collegiate field goal, a first-quarter 35-yarder that gave the Chippewas a 3-0 lead. He was perfect on all three of his extra-point tries.

VanHuis handled kickoff duties in the absence of Zac Chapeau. VanHuis averaged 60.2 yards on four kickoffs.

I'll Pass
Flores threw for 32 yards on 4-of-7 passing, all in the first half. The Chippewas did not attempt a pass in the second half, mainly because they did not have to.

Conversions
For the second consecutive game, the Chippewas converted on all three of their fourth-down tries, and all three came during first-half scoring drives.

The Chippewas have converted eight of their nine fourth-down attempts on the season.

Defense
The final statistics look respectable from a Wyoming standpoint. The Cowboys finished with 342 yards (CMU had 371), but a good amount of that yardage came on Wyoming's final possession, which began at the Cowboy 1-yard line with 4:01 to play.

The drive ended with just over a minute remaining when Chippewa freshman safety Kameran Hayward made an interception in the end zone with 1:07 left.

Linebacker Xavier White led the Chippewa defense with a career-high 11 tackles, while Taylor had nine, and Brent McCalla had seven.

CMU vs. Wyoming
The Chippewas evened the all-time series with the Cowboys, 2-2.

Central Michigan is 38-33-1 against current members of the Mountain West Conference. That total includes a 33-26-1 mark with Northern Illinois, which left the MAC after the 2025 season to join the Mountain West.

CMU is scheduled to play at Wyoming on Sept. 25, 2027.

Next
CMU goes to No. 5 Miami (Fla.) on Saturday, Sept. 26. The defending national runnerup, Miami (3-0) obviously will pose a stiff test for a Chippewa team that appears to be finding its footing after struggling in the season-opener at New Mexico and having a battle with Football Championship Subdivision Colgate in the second game.

The Chippewas and Hurricanes have met once, in 2019, with Miami taking at 17-12 win in Miami.

Final Word
White, on what the win means to the Chippewas: "I think today was a great showing of putting all three phases together, but obviously we've got to keep stacking. This is not the highest we'll go. We've just got to keep stacking from here."