Central Michigan Chippewas

Chippewas Win Second Consecutive National Title with Strong Defensive Effort Against Texas A&M

January 6, 2017

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:44  

More of the Same as Chippewas Win Second Straight Over Texas 35-18

December 10, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:42  

Chippewas Use Big Second Half to Defeat Texas 49-24

November 26, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:40  

Chippewas Knock Off Notre Dame 49-20, Clinch Big 12 North Division

November 19, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:39  

Chippewas Play with Fire Again, Need Late Touchdown to Beat TCU 46-42

November 12, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:38  

Chippewas Need Last Second Field Goal to Beat Iowa State 55-52

November 5, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:37  

Chippewas Take Care of Business Against Kansas State with 50-23 Victory

October 29, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:35  

Chippewas Cruise to 49-14 Win Over Jayhawks

October 22, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 23, 2013 22:34  

Chippewas Outlast West Virginia, Win 41-28

October 15, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 20, 2013 18:26  

For the second straight week the Chippewas played a Top 25 opponent, and for the second straight week that opponent gave them everything they could handle.

In a back and forth game the two teams traded TD's as they were tied 14-14 in the 2nd quarter. A late half drive allowed CMU to get into FG territory and head into halftime with a 17-14 win. The two teams would trade the lead four times in the 3rd quarter as CMU maintained their 3 point lead, 31-28, heading into the final quarter. The Chippewa defense had been frustrated by WVU all afternoon. WVU had picked the secondary apart for over 400 yards passing nad Head Coach Dana Holgorsen refused to punt the ball as WVU went for it on five 4th down plays. Both defenses toughened up on D as neither team could get much going in the 4th quarter. CMU would finally find the endzone to increase their lead to 38-28. WVU continued to struggle on offense as the Chippewa defense was able to force a turnover on downs on their next possession. CMU would capitalize on the turnover as a FG with under 30 seconds to go ensured the win.

Carlson was happy to get the win, but was not pleased with the overall performance. "We need to be better on defense. This is the 2nd week in a row we have given up over 400 yards passing. The no huddle causes some issues, but I know we can play better than that. It's tough to win on the road, so we are happy to head home with the W, but we still have work to do."

Senior QB Cooper Rush continued his terrific season passing for 382 yards and 4 TD's. Freshman WR Mike Lee continues to be a dominat force, catching 11 passes for 130 yards. WR Eric Cooper caught 3 passes for 83 yards and 2 TD's. Carlson continues to rely heavily on dual-threat QB Aaron Smith in the running game. The speedy QB rushed for 157 yards on 13 carries and scored 1 TD.

The Chippewas improve to 6-0 (3-0) and will host the struggling Kansas Jayhawks next weekend.

Chippewas Defeat Baylor 52-44 in a Wild Game

October 8, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 20, 2013 18:11  

The Chippewas hoped to continue their stellar play as the hosted the Baylor Bears this weekend. However, Baylor had other things in mind early on in this game. The Chippewas dug themselves a major hole in the 1st quarter as they fell behind 28-7. The outcome didn't look good as CMU really had no answer to the high powered Baylor offense, but the team refused to give up and started to chip away at the lead. A Cooper Rush TD pass cut the lead to 28-14. On the ensuing drive, CMU would intercept a Baylor pass and return it 74 yards for the score. All of a sudden it was 28-21 and CMU was right back in the game. The defense fed off the turnover as the forced Baylor to punt on their next drive. Cooper Rush continued to have the hot hand as he drove CMU down the field and capped off the drive with a 16 yard TD pass to TE Joe Porter with under a minute to go. The CMU defense once again forced a Baylor punt and gave the ball back to CMU with under 20 seconds to play. CMU needed only two plays as Rush hit Anthony Rice for a 54 yard TD as time expired. The TD capped off 28 straight 2nd quarter points and gave CMU a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Chippewas would score 17 more unanswered points in the 3rd quarter to increase their lead to 52-28. The score capped off 45 unanswered points for CMU. Baylor was in disbelief, but was not ready to give up. The Bears scored two TD's in less than a minute and converted both two point conversions to trim the CMU lead to 52-44. Fortunately for the CMU faithful the Chippewa offense was able to run out the final two minutes as Baylor had no response on defense.

It was certainly one of the more entertaining games to be played at Kelly/Shorts stadium and Carlson was happy with his teams resolve. "It's pretty clear that wasn't our best game, but anytime you get down 21 points in the 1st quarter and not only erase the deficit, but take the lead at halftime you have to be happy. Baylor has a very good offense and they run a terrific hurry up no huddle. We struggled with it early on, but made some adjustments. On offense early turnovers hurt us, but Cooper corrected his mistakes and played a record setting game. It wasn't pretty, but we'll take the win."

The aforementioned Rush set the single game CMU Passing TD record as he threw 6 TD passes, surpassing Dan LeFevour's record of 5. Rush completed 23 of 28 passes for 344 yards. WR Mile lee had 8 catches for 80 yards and WR Nick Holley had 4 catches for 53 yards and 2 TD's. QB Aaron Smith rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries.

The Chippewas 5-0 (2-0) will be back on the road next weekend as they travel to Morgantown to face #13 West Virginia.

Chippewas Destroy Cowboys 59-14 to Earn Their First Big 12 Conference Victory

October 1, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 20, 2013 17:51  

For anyone who is close to the Chippewa program, it was a known fact that the Chippewas wanted to make a statement in their first Big 12 game and that is exactly what they did. CMU would struggle out of the gate holding a 7-3 lead after the 1st quarter and found themselves trailing 10-7 early in the 2nd quarter. From there, CMU would score 21 straight to head into halftime with a 28-10 lead and would increase their lead to 38-10 before Oklahoma State scored again. For the 2nd time in the game, the Chippewas would score 21 points in a row as they cruised to the 59-17 win. "We knew we wanted to make a statement to everyone," said Carlson. "There were a lot of people who thought we didn't deserve to be in the Big 12 and that we would have no success in this conference. We have a lot of games to go, but I think we proved that we belong in the Big 12. We will continue to prove that point the rest of the season."

The Chippewas had an extremely balanced offense as they passed for 259 yards and rushed for 280 yards. QB Cooper Rush completed 17 of 25 passes for 259 yards and 4 TD's. Rush continues to target Freshman WR Mike Lee as the young playmaker caught 7 passes for 130 yards and 1 TD. WR Anthony Rice made the most of his 4 receptions turning 3 of them into TD's. The CMU rushing attack was led by dual-threat QB Aaron Smith as he rushed for 164 yards on 9 carries and scored twice. RB Maurice Shoemaker surpassed 100 yards as well, carrying the ball 11 times for 104 yards and scoring 2 TD's.

The Chippewas 4-0 (1-0) return home to face the #14 Baylor Bears next weekend.

Chippewas Struggle to 35-14 Win Over South Florida

September 24, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 18, 2013 20:59  

The Chippewas finally got to play a game in front of their home crowd as South Florida made the trip up to Mt. Pleasant. USF was looking to pull off an early season upset and they gave CMU a pretty tough fight.

Both teams were held scoreless in the 1st quarter and it was the Chippewas who struck first in the 2nd quarter to jump out to a 7-0 lead as QB Cooper Rush found TE Joe Porter for the TD pass. USF would answer with a TD of their own to tie the game at 7-7. A one yard TD run by QB Aaron Smith and a 15 yard TD pass from Rush to WR Mike Lee provided a little comfort as CMU went to halftime with a 21-7 lead.USF would score the lone TD of the 3rd quarter to cut CMU's lead to 21-14. The fans became restless as they expected a blowout, but CMU didn't blink. The Chippewas would add two more TD's as Smith ran for his 2nd TD of the day and Rush connected with WR Anthony Rice on a 5 yard pass to ensure the 35-14 victory.

It wasn't the prettiest game for the Chippewas, but there was bound to be some rust as CMU had been off for the past two weeks. "It's definitely a strange schedule early on as it's rare to have back-to-back weeks without a game, but the change of conference obviously caused some issues," Said Carlson. "That's no excuse though, we need to play better. Our run game was pretty much non existent and we had to rely heavily on our passing attack. I thought Cooper played terrific for us and really helped lead us to a victory. We'll take the win and move on to the next one." The next one is a big one, as the Chippewas will play their first Big 12 conference game.

CMU was led by QB Cooper Rush's 319 yards passing and 3 TD's. Freshman phenom Mike Lee continued to show he is a legit receiving threat as he hauled in 9 passes for 163 yards and one TD. WR Anthony Rice and TE Joe Porter each had a receiving TD as well. Backup QB Aaron Smith led all rusher with 41 yards on 10 carries and 2 TD's.

The Chippewas 3-0 will travel to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State in the schools first ever Big 12 Conference game.

Chippewas Take Down Buckeyes 24-21 With Last Second Field Goal

September 3, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 14, 2013 15:05  

In a rematch of last years National Championship game, the Chippewas and Buckeyes went head-to-head down in Columbus. It was an early season game featuring two teams that have a National Championship on their minds and the game certainly lived up to the hype.

It was all Ohio State in the early going as the Chippewas struggled to get anything going on offense. Those struggles saw CMU fall into a 14-0 hole in the 2nd quarter. CMU was able to finally get a drive going at the end of the first half and Maurice Shoemaker found the endzone from a yard out to cut the lead to 14-7.

CMU would receive the ball to start the 2nd half and was able to continue their momentum. QB Cooper Rush put together another good drive capped off by a 4 yard TD pass to TE Joe Porter to tie the game 14-14. The Buckeyes were not phased by the Chippewas pulling even as they answered back just 20 seconds later with a 63 yard TD pass to pull back in front 21-14. The Chippewas would once again return serve. Rush continued to pick up his play and Carlson utilized dual threat QB Aaron Smith to get the run game going. The Chippewas capped off the drive with an 11 yard pass from Rush to WR A. Rice. Trailing 21-20, Carlson lined up to go for two points and the lead, but a false start on the offensive line pushed CMU back 5 yards and forced Carlson to settle for the extra point to tie the game 21-21. Both defenses would pick up their play with neither team able to get much going in the 4th quarter. CMU was able intercept a Buckeye pass to get the ball back with a few minutes remaining in the game. Rush hit on some key passes to move the Chippewas down field and Carlson opted to run the clock and attempt the FG to win the game. Senior K Ron Coluzzi hit the 36 yard FG to seal the 24-21 victory for the Chippewas.

In a game that arguably had more drama than the National Championship, Carlson was obviously a happy coach after the game. "I'm really proud of these guys for pulling this one out. We dug ourselves a hole early on and we're playing a hostile stadium, but nobody let the atmosphere get to them. They stuck to the game plan and we were able to get the victory here today." Carlson was pleased with how his QB handled the adversity. "Cooper is a 5th year Senior and he has played a lot of games as our QB. I know he would be the first to admit he wasn't happy with the two INT's he threw early on, but he bounced backed and led this team to the win. That's what leaders do."

Rush completed 20 of 27 passes for 210 yards, 2 TD's and 2 INT's. Rush spread the ball around to his WR's as four guys each had over 40 yards receiving. Anthony Rice and Joe Porter each caught a TD pass. Dual threat QB Aaron Smith was effective running the ball, rushing for 65 yards on 10 carries. RB Maurice Shoemaker rushed for 55 yards on 11 carries and scored 1 TD.

The Chippewas improve their record to 2-0 on the season. CMU will be off for the next two weeks before hosting South Florida in the home opener at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Chippewas Start Season Off With 48-14 Win Over Southern Miss

August 27, 2016

Game Report Posted: December 11, 2013 15:33  

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.