Zeitler: Wind, dominant rushing attack shifts game plan away from Quinten Dormady's arm
Central Michigan quarterback Quinten Dormady warms up before facing Eastern Michigan Oct. 5 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
For the first time since injuring his knee at Wisconsin on Sept. 7, senior Quinten Dormady returned to action for Central Michigan in its 42-28 homecoming win over New Mexico State.
On his very first drive back under center, Dormady launched a flawless deep ball that nestled perfectly into the hands of sophomore wideout Kalil Pimpleton, who took it the rest of the way for a 44-yard touchdown.
It appeared Dormady had already found his groove only six minutes into the game, but from that point forward, the former Tennessee and Houston quarterback showed the signs of a player still working on the adjustment back to full playing ability.
Don’t get me wrong -- Dormady wasn’t bad the rest of the game. He did what was needed of him to win comfortably. I’m just saying he looked a little out of sync with his receivers and even his own body at times.
When speaking of his starting quarterback, first-year coach Jim McElwain acknowledged that Dormady's return wasn't seamless.
“I thought he was rusty,” McElwain said. “I thought he missed a couple of throws.”
Dormady went 14 of 24 for 134 yards and two passing touchdowns on the Oct. 12 afternoon. Outside of the deep ball to Pimpleton in the first quarter, pretty much all of his completions were short, high-percentage balls. When called upon to throw more than 15 yards downfield, Dormady was often off-target.
As the game wore on, the Chippewas (4-3, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) leaned heavily on the ground attack, running the ball more than twice as many times as they threw.
With that said, McElwain was quick to assert that limiting Dormady in the passing game was not part of the game plan in the days leading up to the matchup against the Aggies (0-7).
Rather, the weather conditions were a big factor in the play-calling. A cold wind blew north at an excess of 20 mph for the majority of the game, discouraging any type of long throw going towards the south end zone.
“That wind probably psyched us out a little bit,” McElwain said. “Throwing into it kind of cut the game in half with some of the shots (downfield). But that being said, somebody told me when I took this job that the later the season gets, you better learn how to run the football in this league.”
After rushing for 308 yards in the previous week against Eastern Michigan, CMU proved yet again that it has the capability to move the ball on the ground by rushing 56 times for 352 yards.
Let me put that in perspective: the Chippewas have rushed for 660 yards over the past two games, which is almost half the yards CMU gained on the ground over the course of the entire 2018 season combined (1,392).
With that knowledge in mind, it makes a whole lot of sense as to why Dormady’s stats were nothing stellar -- they didn’t need to be, given the situation.
One of the cardinal rules of sports is this: if you're rolling with it, don't go away from it.
Both McElwain and Dormady understood this and adjusted the game plan accordingly; instead of airing it out, Dormady assumed the role of game manager against New Mexico State and let the running backs go to work with the offensive line carving big holes to drive through.
“He did a good job of commanding the game and took advantage of some of the things they gave him,” McElwain said.
The recent success in the rushing department also allowed McElwain and offensive coordinator Charlie Frye to dial back the creativity of play calls, meaning that new offensive packages and play designs can remain off the film clips opponents study.
And as far as McElwain is concerned, that will only help the Chippewas in future games.
“Here’s the good thing: we were able to save some stuff,” McElwain said with a mischievous grin.
CMU travels to Bowling Green next week to face off against the Falcons in a 2 p.m. Oct. 19 game at Doyt L. Perry Stadium.
BGSU (2-4, 1-1 MAC) struggled through its first five games and was outscored by a score of 201-27 over a span of four games, but the Falcons pulled off a huge win for the program against Toledo (4-2, 1-1 MAC) on Oct. 12. The Rockets were preseason favorites to win the MAC West Division and hold victories over the likes of BYU and Colorado State.
With the Falcons’ spirit is flying high after the victory over Toledo, CMU will attempt to bring them back down to Earth. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Chippewas draw from some of the more complex plays originally designed to beat the Aggies in order to overcome BGSU.
And with a game post-injury under his belt, I think Dormady will be ready to do whatever his team needs to notch another victory on the season.
