Radcliff benched for fourth quarter, likely to start against Bowling Green

• Tweet
• 

DeKALB, Ill. — The Ryan Radcliff era may be ending before it ever really got going.

Given the dubious task of trying to pick up where Dan LeFevour left off last season, the sophomore quarterback has appeared to struggle at points under the new offense installed by first-year head coach Dan Enos.

His 2,210 yards passing leads the Mid-American Conference, but the numbers have not accurately reflected his full performance this season, which includes more interceptions (14) thrown than touchdowns.

And it all came to a head Saturday in CMU’s 33-7 loss against Northern Illinois when Enos benched Radcliff following his starter’s third interception of the game. Junior Brandon Fricke replaced Radcliff for the entire fourth quarter.

“At times, I think he’s improved dramatically, and then I think there’s times he’s taken steps back,” Enos said. “I thought he took a step back (Saturday).”

Enos called Radcliff’s performance, in which he went 17-for-25 for 178 yards for one touchdown and three interceptions, “very, very poor.”

Fricke, a junior college transfer who came to CMU over the summer, went 4-for-8 for 33 yards and an interception, highlighted by a 19-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Cody Wilson.

‘Shake it up’

Enos said he wanted to shake it up and send a message to Radcliff, while also giving Fricke an opportunity to show what he could do.

“Having played that position and coached it for a long time, sometimes you got to get yanked and take a different perspective for a little while,” Enos said. “He’s responded very well. We didn’t really put him in a position to give him two ways to respond. We told him he better respond one way.”

Radcliff began Saturday’s game 5-for-7, but could not sustain a drive to show for it. On CMU’s third drive of the game, he showed signs of good play, hitting senior Kito Poblah on two separate occasions, including the team’s only touchdown.

But a pair of sacks in the fourth drive and interception with less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter stifled the Chippewas defense and appeared to rattle Radcliff. He followed up on the next possession with his second pick of the game.

As of now, Enos said Radcliff is still the starter for Saturday’s game against Bowling Green, but the decision is not final and will be determined this week in practice.

“We’ll evaluate it and see who we feel gives us the best change to win, but it probably will be Ryan Radcliff,” he said.