Injuries, slow start lead first loss
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Central Michigan football team went into Saturday’s non-conference game at Virginia without two defensive starters, end Mitch Stanitzek and safety Tony Annese, because of injuries.
The injury bug bit the Chippewas on the other side of the ball during CMU’s 49-35 loss.
Right tackle Derek Edwards and wide receiver Jesse Kroll both left the game in the first half and did not return. There was no post-game update on the extent of their respective injuries, or a timetable for their return.
Another starting receiver, Mark Chapman, appeared in the game only as the holder on placekicks.
“Injuries always affect you,” CMU coach John Bonamego said. “Guys are starters because they are the best at their position, but we expect the next guy to come in and pick up the slack. The biggest difference between the starter and the non-starter should be experience.”
Stanitzek has not played since leaving the Chippewas’ second game of the season, at Oklahoma State. Saturday marked the first time that the durable Annese, a senior captain, has sat out.
Next: Western
All week long leading up to Saturday’s game, Bonamego and the players insisted that their focus was solely on Virginia and not next week’s opponent, Western Michigan.
Now, they can turn their attention to their archrivals.
The Chippewas (3-1) entertain Western at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. The Broncos are 4-0 after a 49-31 win Saturday over Georgia Southern.
This week’s game is the Mid-American Conference opener and it very likely will go a long way in determining the West Division champion.
“It’s the beginning of the (conference) season and (our goals) are still in front of us,” CMU quarterback Cooper Rush said. “It’s time, when you have the rival coming to your place. It’s going to be a huge game. We will bounce back. We have a strong team, strong leadership.
“Losses hurt, but just like a win you have to hang on and keep going. Knowing that it’s the Western game will make that easy.”
Slow out of the gate
Bonamego was adamant that CMU’s slow start against Virginia – the Chippewas trailed, 28-0, early in the second quarter – was not at all related to his Chippewas looking ahead to Western.
“We haven’t talked about Western yet,” he said. “All that talk comes from the media. Inside our locker room, no one has talked about that.
“We just didn’t play well. This is a game of execution, and when you drop balls, miss tackles and let people behind you in (pass) coverage, that’s when you get beat. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing or what their record is. That’s (Virginia) a much better football team than their record shows.”
The Chippewas have started relatively slowly in each of their four games this season. They led Football Championship Subdivision Presbyterian, 14-3, at halftime before putting together a strong second half en route to a 49-3 win; they trailed early at Oklahoma State, 14-0; and a week ago against UNLV, they found themselves down 7-0 and then 21-14 only to win going away.
The Chippewa offense struggled early against Virginia, and the CMU defense was on the field for long stretches.
“It’s something that we stress, that we have to start fast,” Rush said. “It’s something we haven’t executed yet. We (offense) have to stay out there longer, early on, and stop putting our defense in a position like that. It’s tough on them to be out on the field the whole first quarter.”
Rush’s numbers
Rush completed 25 of 45 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his career yardage total to 10,713.
He moved into ninth place on the Mid-American Conference all-time yardage list, passing former Marshall great Chad Pennington.
It was Rush’s third career 400-yard passing game and his third-highest total, after his 493-yard effort against Western Kentucky in the 2014 Bahamas Bowl and his 430-yarder last season at Syracuse.
The defense
Linebacker Malik Fountain and safety Winslow Chapman led the Chippewa defense with eight tackles apiece, while end Joe Ostman and cornerback Amari Coleman added six each. Otis Kearney, starting in place of Annese, finished with four tackles.
Coleman returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, drawing the Chippewas to 28-21.
It was Coleman’s second pick-six of the season and career. His first came in the season-opener against Presbyterian.
The Chippewas surrendered 569 yards to the Cavaliers, by far the season-high by a CMU opponent.
“Defensive football is about taking angles, getting off of blocks and getting to the football, but we weren’t getting off of blocks crisply enough,” Bonamego said.
Run game
The Chippewa run game produced 93 yards, one week after rushing for 147 against UNLV.
Devon Spalding led CMU with 48 yards on 12 carries, while Jahray Hayes and Jonathan Ward added 33 and 27 yards, respectively. Rush was sacked three times for a loss of 20 yards.
Eavey struggles
CMU placekicker Brian Eavey missed a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter. It was his fourth consecutive miss, the first three of which came last week in CMU’s 44-21 victory over UNLV.
“I think it was on the hold,” said Bonamego, explaining that Chapman, the holder, is nursing a sore ankle and Eavey’s “foot clipped Mark’s toe. The spot was too close to his foot, so when Brian swung through, they clipped toes, so that’s why the ball came off the way it did.“It happened once earlier in the week (in practice), but we thought it was corrected. It didn’t show up on any of the extra points, it just came up on that field goal.”
Eavey made all five of his extra-point kicks against the Cavaliers, and is a perfect 21-for-21 in that department this season. Eavey had made just one of his five field goal attempts on the season. He averaged 55.7 yards with two touchbacks on his six kickoffs against Virginia.
CMU punters Jack Sheldon and Cooper Mojsiejenko combined to averaged 37.4 yards on seven punts, with two inside the Cavaliers’ 20-yard line.
Depth finder
The Chippewas are deep at receiver, and that depth was tested against Virginia.With Chapman not playing on offense, the Chippewas were further hampered when Kroll left the game. Those two are listed as the starters on the Chippewas’ depth chart, though in truth, the likes of Corey Willis and Anthony Rice could easily be listed as the starter.
Chapman and Kroll entered Saturday’s game as the leaders of the receiving corps, Chapman with 13 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns on the season, and Kroll with 12 for 205 and one TD.
Willis and tight end Tyler Conklin filled the void, as did several others, including freshman Brandon Childress and junior Eric Cooper.
Willis made six catches for a career-high 145 yards and two touchdowns. His first TD reception went for a career-long 85 yards. His six catches and two TD receptions matched his career highs.
Conklin, a former walk-on who earned the John Mackey Tight End of the Week Award for his performance two weeks ago against Oklahoma State, made six catches for 97 yards. One of Conklin’s catches went for a career-best 28 yards, and his 97 yards is also a career high.
Childress and Cooper made three receptions apiece – as did fullback Joe Bacci – with Childress picking up 52 yards, Cooper 30 and Bacci a career-best 41. One of Bacci’s receptions went for 24 yards, also a career-best.Coming into the game, Childress and Cooper each had one catch on the season.