CMU football struggles to stop EMU running game

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Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos told his team on Friday that whichever team rushed for more yards would win the game this weekend.

He was right.

The Eagles gashed the CMU defense, totaling 350 yards to only 98 by the Chippewas.

“They had a mindset to run the ball and they did it,” said CMU safety Jahleel Addae. “We didn’t stop the run today and that was the biggest factor. We need to learn from this and correct our mistakes.”

EMU barely showed the threat to pass, only attempting eight passes.

EMU had two running backs over 100 yards on the day (Dominic White had 160), and Eagles quarterback Alex Gillett added 93 yards on the ground, including the winning touchdown on a 30-yard run with 37 seconds left.

“We were devastated,” Enos said of the touchdown. “We felt pretty dejected. I though we had the momentum.”

CMU’s defense was without four key players. Mike Petrucci, Leterrius Walton and John Williams were out with injuries and Armond Staten wasn’t at the game for unknown reasons.

“I don’t have a comment on Armond Staten,” Enos said. “Just talking about the guys there today. We have a lot of guys out. We have what we have and they’re young.”

Enos didn’t blame it all on youth. Some of the long runs came breaking through defensive misalignments.

“We had some misalignments and some of the guys were older guys,” Enos said. “The defensive ends in particular lost contain at times.”

The 350 yards on the ground are the most rushing yards CMU has allowed since last year against Navy.

Saturday, the Chippewas face a less run-oriented Ball State team. The Cardinals average 141 rushing yards per game and their quarterback isn’t a dual threat like Gillett.

As far as last Saturday though, the Eagles had their way.

“We got handled pretty good,” Enos said.