Central Michigan Chippewas

Chippewas Win GoDaddy.com Bowl, Beat Troy 20-17

January 5, 2014

Game Report Posted: November 04, 2013 16:18  

In what has been a dream season under first year Head Coach Rob Carlson, the Chippewas continued their winning ways with a 20-17 win over the Troy Trojans in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

CMU jumped out to an early 6-0 lead when Carlson decided to go for two and failed. "We had planned to go for two all along, we thought if we scored first and got the two point conversion we could really set the tone for the game, unfortunately we didn't convert." Troy would answer with a FG to cut the lead to 6-3 after the 1st quarter. CMU would increase their lead to 13-3 before a TD and missed PAT by Troy trimmed the lead to 13-9. The Chippewas were driving late in the half looking to increase their lead when an errant throw by Cooper Rush lead to a Troy INT. The Chippewas scored the lone TD of the 3rd quarter to increase their lead to 20-9. Troy really struggled to move the ball in the 2nd half, but was able to get a late TD and two point conversion to cut the CMU lead to three at 20-17. The Trojans decided to not attempt the onside kick and put their faith in their defense, unfortunately it turned out to be the wrong choice. CMU was able to get a couple key first downs and run the clock out to seal the victory.

"Just a great way to end the season for us" said Carlson. "Before the season we set our goals of what we thought we should do and I can say we met everyone of those goals. It was a tough to start to the season, realistically we could have started off 0-4, but the guys just continued to work and things started to turnaround. Once we started to put together some wins everyone bought in and we played up to our potential."

Zurlon Tipton, who was named as the recipient of the Doak Walker award as the Nation's best RB, had 93 yards on 20 carries and 1 TD. He caught 2 passes for 34 yards. The outstanding Senior finishes the season with 1,722 yards rushing and an astonishing 30 TD's. Junior WR Titus Davis again lead the team in receiving catching 7 passes for 109 yards and 2 TD's. The Junior from Chicago finishes the season with 94 catches for a CMU record 1,436 yards. He found the endzone 6 times this season. Freshman QB Cooper Rush limited his mistakes and helped lead CMU to the victory. He completed 14/19 passes for 182 yards and 2 TD's. He finishes the season with 2,329 yards passing 16 TD's and 12 INT's. The staff will look for the young QB to improve those numbers next year. It will be interesting to see if Senior Cody Kater can get back in the mix in the off-season.

It will be an interesting off-season for the Chippewas. The first order of business will be to get Coach Carlson a contract extension. His name has already been mentioned with numerous openings, but Carlson has denied that he is leaving the school. Carlson will be looking to get a raise for his staff as well. Both Offensive Coordinator Eric Taylor and Defensive Coordinator Danny Bryant, have been mentioned with a few head coach openings throughout the country. Carlson will want to make sure he does what he can to keep his staff intact.

Chippewas Win MAC Championship!

December 6, 2013

Game Report Posted: November 04, 2013 15:37  

The Chippewas claimed their 8th Mid-American Conference title and their first since the 2009 season, with a 28-18 victory over the Buffalo Bulls. The favored Chippewas struggled out of the gate and found themselves down 10-0 after the first quarter. CMU was able to rattle off 21 straight points in the 2nd quarter to head into halftime with a comfortable 21-10 lead. An early 4th quarter touchdown increased the lead to 28-10. Buffalo would cut the lead to 28-18 with a TD and 2 point conversion. The Chippewas recovered the ensuing onside kick and were able to run out the clock.

The win for CMU returns them to the top of the MAC. It's a place many fans wondered if they would ever return to after Dan Enos managed to win only 13 games in his three seasons as head coach. "I have spoken about the type of program we believe CMU is" said Carlson. "Coach Jones and Coach Kelly before him, had a tremendous amount of success here at CMU, there was no reason we couldn't do the same thing. I think the success we have had this year shows we are on the right track. I'm just really happy for the guys, especially the Seniors. This is something they will always remember. We just have to keep in mind that the work isn't over yet. We still have a bowl game to go win."

The CMU offense didn't put up the kind of numbers they are used to, but it was enough to get the job done. Cooper Rush managed the game well going 18/22 for 187 yards, he also had a rushing TD. The Buffalo defense was able to contain RB Zurlon Tipton to only 107 yards on the ground, but his 3 rushing TD's proved to be the difference. Tipton now has 29 rushing TD's on the season, shattering Dan LeFevour's record of 19. Titus Davis was once again Rush's favorite target. The Junior WR set the single season receiving record while catching 10 passes for 118 yards.

The Chippewas improve to 10-3 (8-1) on the season and will most likely be headed to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.