Sweet symphony

On a rain-soaked field Saturday, the offense looked like it did in 2007 while the defense made the past few years a distant memory.

In Saturday’s 48-21 victory against Akron, its first Mid-American Conference opponent, CMU outgained the Zips 523-196 in offensive yardage at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

“I thought we did a great job and we didn’t let the weather control anything with us,” said coach Butch Jones.

Senior quarterback Dan LeFevour, who rushed for 140 yards on 19 rushes and passed for 197 yards, scored six touchdowns (two rushing, four passing).

“I think our offense is in a groove,” LeFevour said. “I don’t worry too much about stats. If we’re moving the ball as an offense and we’re getting things done, then that’s great.”

While LeFevour looked like the player that ran for 1,000 yards and passed for 3,000 in one season (2007), the defense continued to show it might be a strength after struggling the past few years.

CMU held Akron to one yard offensively at the end of the first quarter and was 11-for-12 on stopping the Zips on third downs (2-for-2 on fourth downs).

“I thought we flew around. I thought we made plays on defense,” Jones said. “And we got off the field — that was critical.”

Akron (1-3, 0-1 MAC), starting quarterback Matt Rodgers in place of a dismissed Chris Jacquemain, started the game with good field position, returning the opening kickoff to the CMU 33-yard line. However, the defense held the Zips to just two yards on the drive and junior Vince Agnew blocked the ensuing field goal attempt.

Junior wide receiver Kito Poblah catches a pass. (Chris Bacarella/Staff Photographer

“I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the day,” Jones said. “That was a great effort on Vince’s part, but also a great job of our defense again of stepping up.”

CMU scored first on a 27-yard pass from LeFevour to redshirt freshman Cody Wilson. The previous play, LeFevour scrambled for a career-long 53 yards.

The defense again set up the offense less than two minutes later when it forced a fumble and recovered it on the Akron 12-yard line. LeFevour connected with junior wide receiver Kito Poblah three plays later to make the game 13-0 (missed point after attempt).

CMU scored two more touchdowns before the half, one on a LeFevour two-yard run and another on a 9-yard pass from LeFevour to junior wide receiver Antonio Brown, to make the score 34-0.

Special teams woes

Akron opened the scoring in the second half, capitalizing off a shanked punt that put it on CMU’s 40-yard line. The Zips scored three plays later to make the score 34-14.

CMU controlled much of the clock in the second half after that score, however. The team’s next drive lasted for 6:30 and went 76 yards, culminating in a 13-yard touchdown pass from LeFevour to Brown. Sophomore running back Paris Cotton scored on a 3-yard run on the team’s next drive before the first string was taken out.

Cotton finished with 75 yards rushing and one touchdown. CMU outgained Akron 326-69 in rushing yardage.

While the offense and defense played well, the special teams struggled besides the early field goal block. CMU missed a field goal and had two punt plays go array. Both punt mishaps resulted in touchdowns for the Zips.

“We take great pride in our special teams and we’ll get that corrected,” Jones said. “The mishap on the punt is inexcusable … We spend way too much time and invest to much time to perform on some of those things that we did and we’ll get that corrected.”

Junior linebacker Matt Berning led the defense with 8 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Junior defensive lineman Sean Murnane also finished with 1.5 sacks.

The game also featured a total of 162 yards in penalties. CMU had 11 penalties, resulting in 110 yards.
CMU has not lost an opening MAC game since 2003.

CMU (3-1, 1-0 MAC) plays Buffalo (1-3, 0-1) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at UB Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.