Central’s Key to Victory
The Central Michigan Chippewas enter Saturday’s game as 14-point favorites against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at a 2-4 record and are looking to bounce back from a slow start. CMU is last in the East division of the Mid-American Conference. The Chippewas have many things to accomplish if they look to defeat EMU.
CMU has not yet performed consistently on offense, as it is ranked 95th out of 120 teams in points scored per game. The main cause of this inconsistency is the lack of balance. The CMU passing attack is ranked 58th in the country, but the running game is 94th.
The Chippewas will need to be balanced in order to defeat the visiting Eagles, who gave up 54 points last week to Toledo. The pass rush for the Eagles has proven fierce so far, as they had an eight-sack performance against Alabama State, so protection will be key for the passing game. With the Eagles expecting to go after the quarterback, CMU might try to call plays to get a spark in the run game or a couple of screens to slow down the pass rush.
Defensively, CMU has performed poorly, allowing opponents to score 33.5 points per game, which is 101st in the country. EMU has lacked a passing game all season, but the rushing attack is ranked 25th in the nation. The Chippewas’ job will be a little easier than it would of been at the beginning of the season because EMU’s top-two rushers Dominique Sherrer and Javonti Greene are still questionable due to knee injuries.
Dominique White has stepped up for the Eagles in the running game, but the offense for EMU has been very inconsistent. That still doesn’t give CMU an easy job on defense because its defense has performed worse than the EMU offense. Stopping the run, however, is the key for the Chippewas if they hope to defeat EMU.
CMU has two victories on the season, with one being an Football Championship Subdivision opponent and the other being a 48-41 shutout victory against Northern Illinois. If the Chippewas hope to defeat the visiting Eagles, they must have a balanced offensive attack and a good defensive performance.
EMU’s Key to Victory
The Eagles go into Mt. Pleasant to face the Chippewas a week after being dominated by Toledo 54-16. The Eagles yielded 542 yards to the Rockets. The Chippewas have proven to be a little weaker this season than the Rockets, but Eastern must not overlook CMU.
The keys for this MAC showdown for the Eagles, who are 3-3 and 1-1 in the MAC, are to attack a Chippewa defense that is ranked 101st in points allowed. CMU is 2-4 (1-1 MAC) this season, and all of its losses are by double digits. Last week, the Chippewas gave up 41 points in a shootout win against Northern Illinois.
The Chippewas are dreadful rushing.
Chippewa quarterback Ryan Radcliff has thrown 10 interceptions and 10 touchdowns with a rating of 119.5. He has completed 53 percent of his passes for 1,397 yards. The Chippewas’ leading rusher, Paris Cotton, has 294 yards on 40 carries for a 7.4 yard average. But 77 of those yards came on a touchdown run earlier in the season.
But CMU hasn’t run as effectively as EMU has this season, the defense must be prepared to attack the line of scrimmage and keep containing so the Chippewas don’t run the ball right past the pass rush and gain yardage.
Overall, the keys to an EMU victory on the road are to keep attacking CMU’s defense and get a pass rush while containing the running game.
