The Chippewas traveled to Southern Miss to open the 2016 season against the Golden Eagles. The meeting wrapped up a home and home series AD Dave Heeke signed during the 2014 season. It was all business for defending National Champions Central Michigan, as the Chippewas jumped out to a 38-0 lead before cruising to a final score of 48-14. The game was closer than many expected entering halftime as CMU held a 17-0 lead. The Chippewas used 21 straight 2nd half points to put the game out of reach before Southern Miss was able to get on the scoreboard. "This is obviously how we hoped to start our season," said Carlson. "We have a target on our back from last season and we know we're going to get every teams best shot. We obviously have a huge game coming up next week, but we made sure that our guys understood we had to take care of business this week before we focused on next week and that is exactly what we did."

QB Cooper Rush picked up right where he left off last season, completing 19 of 24 passes for 245 yards and 3 TD's. Highly rated Freshman WR Mike Lee, was Rush's favorite target, catching 9 passes for 108 yards. TE Joe Porter, WR Eric Cooper and RB Maurice Shoemaker all caught TD passes. Shoemaker led all rushers carrying the ball 13 times for 55 yards. Carlson has added some packages for his dual threat backup QB Aaron Smith, and it paid off this week. Smith ran for 47 yards on 9 carries and scored 2 TD's. He adds a different dimension to this offense and it will be interesting to see how involved he is as the season moves on.

The Chippewas, 1-0, will travel to Oho St. next weekend in a rematch of last year's National Championship game. Ohio State is ranked #5 in the country and the game will have huge implications on the season.