Bahamas Bowl Preview: Chippewas vs. Hilltoppers projected to be a shootout
The inaugural Bahamas Bowl between Central Michigan and Western Kentucky University is underway. Follow @CMLifeSports on Twitter for play-by-play updates.
Player A threw for 4,344 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2014, both were NCAA FBS highs.
Player B threw for 3,783 yards and 38 touchdowns.
Player A: Western Kentucky University quarterback Brandon Doughty, who will lead the Hilltoppers on Dec. 24 in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl against Central Michigan Univeristy.
Player B:Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, who will quarterback the Oregon Ducks in the first ever College Football Playoff and is a projected Top Five pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
“I think he is the best we’ve played all year,” said CMU Head Coach Dan Enos of Doughty. “He’s very poised. He doesn’t get rattled. He gets hit a lot and you really can’t tell from play to play.”
Doughty is 16th in NCAA FBS history for most single-season passing touchdowns and 35th on the single season passing yards list.
Doughty sat on the bench when CMU edged WKU 24-21 in the 2012 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.
WKU Head Coach Jeff Brohm was the offensive coordinator at now-extinct UAB in 2012.
WKU (7-5) finished 2014 season with an exclamation point, rattling off four straight wins after beginning the season 3-5.The Hilltoppers proved worthy of a bowl game by finishing the regular season with a 67-66 overtime upset over No. 24 Marshall, the eventual Conference USA champions.
The Chippewas finished their regular season with an deflating 32-20 loss to rival Western Michigan Univeristy.
“We’ve got a lot to prove, especially after the Western game,” said senior linebacker Justin Cherocci. “It’s going to be a dogfight, that’s for sure.”
Enos said CMU’s win over the eventual Mid-American Conference Champions, NIU, shows his team’s potential in "the big game."
“(Something) unique about this game is they beat their conference champion and we beat our conference champion,” Enos said. “It just goes to show you that both teams on any given day can play with some of the best people around.”
To combat WKU’s high-octane offense, the Chippewas are planning to do what they’ve done best all season: Control the ball.
“I know it all starts with the running game,” said senior running back Thomas Rawls. “That’s one thing I want to do throughout the course of the game, is get my big boys going and also just telling the defense that we’re going to try to keep (them) off the field as much as possible.”
The Chippewas are on offense an average of 33 minutes and 28 seconds, the highest in the MAC and the eighth-best nationally. The No. 1 defense in the MAC will face a Hilltopper offense that posted 44.0 points per game this season.
CMU sophomore quarterback Cooper Rush takes on a struggling WKU defense that has allowed 39.3 points per game and ranks 122nd in the country.
With the weather projected to be in the upper-70s on gameday, Rush said executing a solid passing game will be easier for his receivers and him.
“(The) ball flies a lot better, it’s a lot more fun,” Rush said. “You can feel the ball better in your hands. That cold’s not good.”
Enos cranked the heat up to 84 degrees in CMU's indoor practice facility on Monday.
“When you play where we play, you don’t play a lot of warm-weather games,” Enos said. “Anything we can do that gives us a little bit of an advantage, we need to do it.”
Senior defensive tackle Leterrius Walton said he would have rather practiced outside in the mild temperatures Monday, but he’s looking forward to the heat in The Bahamas.
“We want that mid-70s weather,” Walton said. “We’re tired of this cold.”
The Popeyes Bahamas Bowl kicks off at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 24 and will be broadcast on ESPN.
