Third quarter kings: Football wins first conference opener since 2009
Stefon Armstead celebrates after Central Michigan's 29-19 victory over Northern Illinois Oct. 3.
For the first time since the Butch Jones era in 2009, Central Michigan football won its conference opener on Saturday, taking down Northern Illinois 29-19 on a sloppy day at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
The Huskies have won the Mid-American Conference West Division five years in a row and are 35-0 in MAC regular season play against teams other than CMU since Nov. 27, 2009.
Against Central Michigan in that span, the Huskies are now 3-4.
“This one feels real good,” said junior quarterback Cooper Rush. “To go 1-0 in the MAC, defeat the defending champs and a very good football team that’s going to be in it right until the very end, this one feels good.”
The victory catapults the Chippewas to the top of the MAC West alongside the 24th-ranked Toledo Rockets. Toledo comes to Mount Pleasant for some Tuesday night MACtion on Nov. 10.
The Chippewa offense was out of sync in the first half, with wet and windy weather conditions playing a factor in the Homecoming matchup. The CMU offense had the wind at its back in the third quarter with slightly less miserable conditions, Head Coach John Bonamego said.
“It was an ugly day,” Bonamego said. “Hands get cold. (The) ball gets wet. It’s windy. It’s really challenging to throw into it. I think it was more of a factor in the first half of the football game than it was in the second half. It wasn’t as bad throwing into it, it kind of died down.”
With the help of three NIU third quarter turnovers, Rush took advantage of the Huskies’ sloppy play.
The Chippewas scored 23 points in the third quarter, which gave them a 26-13 lead. Rush was 8-for-12 with 120 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter, while only going 8-for-19 with 62 yards and an interception in the other three quarters.
“We got some good scoring chances,” Rush said. “We were able to take advantage of going downwind, it didn’t rain in the third quarter. We were able to capitalize.”
Senior linebacker Tim Hamilton, who had 11 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception, said Saturday’s showing was not CMU’s best work.
“We know we could have played a lot better than we did today,” Hamilton said. “We really just rallied together and realized we could pull this off and just kept fighting.”
Rush agreed, and said salvaging a win on a rough day is what good football teams do.
“I think we learned something about our team, to pull through when you’re not playing well,” he said. “That was big for us, I think. That’s what good teams do. To be able to beat a good opponent on an ugly game and just make enough plays.”
With Western Michigan on deck, the Chippewas have a chance to come out of their grueling first-half schedule at .500.
“It’s important to get off to a good start and it was important for these kids to win a game,” Bonamego said. “These kids have put a lot into it the last four weeks and come up short. To earn a win against a quality opponent in conference, it’s great for them to see the fruits of their labor.”
