Road woes no more.
707 days after Central Michigan beat South Alabama in Mobile thanks in part to Jase Bauer’s five-touchdown effort, the Chippewas ended their ignominious 10-game road losing streak on Friday night with a 16-14 victory over San Jose State— one which could be described with many an adjective.
Gritty, ugly, old-fashioned, lucky… Whatever your preference, the result stays the same.
The victory was not an easy one; the game fell twice onto the foot of San Jose State kicker Denis Lynch after the CMU defense gave up enough yardage to allow the Spartans to set up their own killshots.
Alas for San Jose State, the nature of Lynch’s kicks were closer to Eraserhead than Twin Peaks.
Central could do no wrong early on, as running back Nahree Biggins would scamper for 13 yards on the first play from scrimmage and Tulane transfer Trey Cornist would follow it up with a 27-yard gain of his own two plays later. The Chippewas failed to score on the drive due to a missed field goal, but the defense picked up the slack, with Brenden Deasfernandes getting in front of a Walker Eget scramble-drill pass in the endzone to kill SJSU’s first scoring threat.
The Chippewas would take the ball and score eight plays later, with Cornist running ruck-shod over the Spartans interior defense en route to a 29-yard rushing touchdown— the first points of the Matt Drinkall era— to put CMU up 7-0 with 3:14 left in the first quarter.
CMU’s momentum continued on defense three plays later, as Michael Heldman stripped Eget of the ball on a pass attempt and the Fernando Sanchez III, who was engaged in a block, managed to fall right under the errant ball and snag it one-handed, gifting the Chippewas another scoring opportunity.
Cade Graham would convert the turnover into points with a field goal from 34 yards out, giving Central the 10-0 lead right before the end of the first quarter.
After an exchange of three-and-outs, Eget’s pass would once again find the mitts of a Central defender, as an underthrown pass was intercepted by Elijah Rikard to give CMU the ball at the SJSU 33-yard line.
An 11-yard Nahree Biggins run and an ensuing penalty on the defense granted CMU first-and-goal at the SJSU eight-yard line with the possibility of going up three scores early in the second quarter.
Joe Labas would scan the field and find a wide-open Henry Dryden on a tight end flat route for a touchdown— but an illegal man downfield nullified the play, forcing the Chips to eventually opt for a field goal instead to take a 13-0 lead.
San Jose State made their presence felt on their penultimate drive of the half, as Eget would find Danny Scudero for a 36-yard pass down the middle of the field on second-and-four from their 42-yard line to set up what would eventually be an 11-yard connection between Eget and Purdue transfer receiver Leland Smith to get SJSU on the scoreboard at 13-7.
The Spartans would build on that drive to start the second half, with freshman quarterback Tama Amisone compiling 23 yards on the first four plays of the series before Eget and Scuderio would connect for another big gain— this one for a 45-yard touchdown to give the Spartans the 14-13 lead early in the third quarter.
Both defenses would settle in for some good ol’ slobberknocking football for the rest of the period, with both offenses combining for 21 yards on four possessions.
The Chippewas would finally break the stalemate to start the fourth quarter, first with Joe Labas firing a dart to tight end Decorion Temple to convert a first down, then with Angel Flores running a play action shot in the direction of Tommy McIntosh, who used all six-foot-five of his frame to come down with the 47-yard reception inside the SJSU redzone.
Unfortunately, the big play luck ran out there, as SJSU buckled down in the goal line package and stonewalled Angel Flores on a QB power look from shotgun on fourth-and-goal from the Spartan one-yard line.
The Spartans ran out of the gate with a start, with Eget and Scudero connecting once again for a 33-yard gain on third-and-three from their eight-yard line— but a holding penalty on second down soon after proved to be a killer, as SJSU once again had to punt the ball back to Central.
CMU found themselves in similarly choppy waters just three plays later, staring at a third-and-seven from their 23-yard line. The pocket around Joe Labas collapsed, and he had no choice but to scramble for six yards to try and convert. This made for an interesting decision by Drinkall and staff.
Earlier in the quarter, the Chippewas went on fourth down with a quarterback run and failed, but that was at the goal line. The situation was now at their 29-yard line, down one point with 9:53 remaining.
Drinkall opted to go, calling upon Jadyn Glasser to run the ball on a power look. Glasser got two yards, and Central was back in business. CMU would run down five more minutes of clock after that, eventually settling for another short field goal from Cade Graham after the drive stalled deep inside Spartan territory.
All hope felt lost twice for CMU on the ensuing drive: once when Egat and Scudero converted a third-down opportunity with 3:05 remaining and then again when Eget found Leland Smith down the sidelines for a 39-yard gainer with 1:54 remaining.
The defense, as they had for most of the night, bowed up in run support, with newcomer Korver Demma pulling down Toma Amisone for a loss of four to force a short field goal from 33 yards out. Demma’s hustle turned out to be the difference, as the harsh angle allowed a CMU defender to tip the ball and force it to sail no good.
Central’s efforts to run the clock down were stifled on the next possession, with Angel Flores unable to gain that last yard for a first-down conversion on third-and-one. CMU looked ripe to run the clock as far as they could and punt the ball, but Langston Lewis’ helmet fell off while blocking on the third-down play, forcing a stoppage in play.
Instead of giving the ball back with about 20 seconds remaining, SJSU would now have almost a full minute to try and set up Lynch for potential redemption. After an in-bounds six-yard pass to Scudero with 17 seconds remaining, the Spartans managed to spike the ball with one second left, giving Lynch a chance at a career-long field goal from 56 yards out.
The kick had the distance, but sailed wide right, providing for a dramatic end to Central Michigan’s first season-opening road win since 1996.
The pair of Nahree Biggins (100 yards rushing) and Trey Cornist (99 yards rushing, one touchdown) led CMU’s efforts on the day, with Angel Flores contributing 30 rushing yards to go with 59 yards passing on 3-of-3 attempts. Tommy McIntosh’s 47-yard catch highlighted his 61-yard performance, leading CMU’s receiving corps. Joe Labas finished 5-of-10 for 56 yards.
Linebacker Dakota Cochran and cornerback Kalen Carroll tied for the team lead with seven tackles each for the Chippewas, while Michael Heldman had the team’s lone sack. Aakeem Snell and Korver Demma each tallied a tackle-for-loss. Fernando Sanchez III was credited with a fumble recovery on the wacky strip play of Eget early on, joining Elijah Rikard and Brendan Deasfernandes (interception each) in the turnover department.
For SJSU, Walker Eget finished with 308 yards on 24-of-43 passing, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Danny Scudero led all receivers with nine receptions for 189 yards, scoring once. Leland Smith (two catches, 50 yards) was responsible for the other receiving score. Floyd Chalk IV led the Spartan rushing attack with 44 yards on 11 yards.
All-Mountain West linebacker Jordan Pollard led the way for the Spartan defense, with 15 tackles and a pass break-up. Noah McNeal-Franklin, Taniela Latu and Vili Taufatotua each tallied a tackle-for-loss. Pollard, Latu and Jalen Apalit-Williams each had a pass break-up.
Central Michigan now gets set to travel to Pittsburgh next Saturday to take on the Panthers. Kickoff is scheduled for noon Eastern time, with ESPNU carrying the broadcast.
San Jose State has a monumental task ahead of them, as they’re set to face off against preseason AP Poll #1 Texas fresh off their road trip to #2 Ohio State. Kickoff in Austin, Texas is scheduled for noon Eastern time next Saturday, with ABC or ESPN carrying the broadcast.