Central is missing something
Last Saturday represented a new chapter in the Mike DeBord era of CMU football.
The Chippewas lost another game, no strange feat for a team who has gone 4-14 under their two-year coach.
The difference Saturday was the Chippewas were the better team when they played the Northern Illinois Huskies.
They rolled out 313 yards of offense in the first half. They shut down the Huskie offense.
Derrick Vickers looked twice as sharp as his NIU counterpart Chris Finlen.
Vickers threw for 197 yards on 18 of 28 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Terrence Jackson rushed for 131 yards with 4.5 per carry average and a TD.
Rob Turner caught five balls and scored two td’s to go with his 121 yards receiving, this equals his entire freshman year production and just about double what he had last year.
This goes along with the eight other Chippewas who caught balls.
The trait this team needs to learn to grow further and succeed is translating the better performances into a win.
Perhaps the lone aspect in which the Huskies out did CMU was special teams.
Darrell Hill’s kick return to start the second half followed by a blocked field goal set the tone for the Chippewas self destruction vs. NIU.
The trend of two key plays leading to a CMU loss is nothing new. Against the mighty Spartans of Michigan State the Chippewas gave up 14 points on two plays one a run by T. J. Duckett another a TD reception by Roderick Maples which came off of a Chippewa helmet before he took it into the endzone.
Take those 14 points away and the final score is 21-21.
It is things like this that represent a inexperienced team’s folly.
The Chippewas are ultimately used to coming from behind. You can’t fault a team for not being able to do something they have never faced before .
Unfortunately for r CMU, this is what is expected of athletic teams.
It’s unfortunate because winning is something this particular team is not familiar with.
While there could be cause for concern, look where the Chippewas were three years ago.
Central was a program on the decline with no real future
Four years ago the Chippewas lost to a NIU team which snapped an unheralded losing streak in defeating the Chippewas. This game marked the decline of the Central program.
After that game the Chippewas went 11-24 overall and 9-17 in the conference since the loss to the then national basement Huskies.
It is no longer the case of those past teams who were not at the same talent level as most of their opponents. This Central team has the players to put themselves in a situation to win.
The Chippewas are a team which has the capability for winning they just have to find the finer details that make the difference between an up and comer and a champion.
