Home » Featured »

WITH VIDEO: Toledo wins 44-17 in CMU season finale

By Matt Thompson on November 18, 2011 9:36 pm in Featured, Football / 17 comments

 

Toledo junior wide receiver Eric Page runs the ball and is tackled by CMU junior line backer Shamari Benton during the first quarter Friday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Toledo led 20-10 at the half. (Jeff Smith/Photo Editor)

The Toledo offense rocketed through the Central Michigan defense to win 44-17 in front of 12,741 people at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The Chippewas finished with the same record as last season 3-9.

“We fell short of our goals and that’s going to hurt for awhile,” said quarterback Ryan Radcliff.

Toledo jumped out to an early lead with two rushing touchdowns from Adonis Thomas.

But CMU started a comeback after a score on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Radcliff to Titus Davis. It was the seventh time those two hooked up for touchdowns. After a David Harman field goal the score was 14-10 Toledo, but that was the closest it got.

Toledo scored the next 23 points with two passing touchdowns from Terrence Owens and three field goals.

Toledo’s offense score more than 60 points the past two games. Enos thought the CMU defense did a good job containing them outside of a blown coverage for a long touchdown.

“I thought the defense played well and the offense on third down played horrible,” Enos said.

CMU Defensive Coordinator Joe Tumpkin speaks with players on the sidelines during the first quarter Friday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. (Jeff Smith/Photo Editor)

The CMU offense sputtered, much to do with only picking up one first down on 11 third-down attempts.

“One-for-11 on third down, that’s the key to the game,” Enos said. “It’s nothing they did, we just didn’t execute.”

Toledo’s offense stayed balanced throughout the game gaining more than 200 yards both rushing and passing. The Rockets finished with 511 total yards. CMU threw for 233 yards with Radcliff and rushed for 113.

Radcliff and Davis connected again in the fourth quarter for a touchdown. Radcliff threw over numerous receivers throughout the night including one for an interception.

“I don’t think Ryan played very well,” Enos said. “He was out of sync. He missed a couple of open receivers that he hasn’t missed this year.”

Owens added a rushing touchdown for a three score game. The Rockets are tied at the top of the MAC East division at 6-1 in conference play.

Junior wide receiver Cody Wilson played through a foot injury and made a reception to extend his streak to 29 straight games with one.

Toledo freshman kicker Jeremiah Detmer finished the first half with a 50-yard field goal.

Senior linebacker Mike Petrucci played in his last game for the Chippewas. He recorded a career high 13 tackles.

Many seniors who saw limited time during the year got to see more of the field.

Cotton had a 48 yard run as time expired but was pushed out of bounds by the last Toledo defender. He fell to the ground with emotion after his last career play for the Chippewas.

“(Cotton) came in with me so it’s weird to see him leave,” Radcliff said.

 
 

Tags

, , , , , ,

Related Posts

About the author

Matt Thompson is Sports Editor and former Assistant Sports Editor and Staff Reporter at Central Michigan Life.

 
  • Trendsup

    Pathetic. The gap between the two programs is comparable to the Grand Canyon. Oh what might have been…

  • Trendsup

    Pathetic. The gap between the two programs is comparable to the Grand Canyon. Oh what might have been…

  • Nomore

    How much longer do CMU fans have to put up with Dan Enos as head coach? Send Sparty packing, Heeke.

  • Nomore

    How much longer do CMU fans have to put up with Dan Enos as head coach? Send Sparty packing, Heeke.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_42MFPDI4SGO4OZSMUQ2VKLNGYM frmatmn2ashes

    I seriously considered making the trip for this game, as I’m up for a job in Texas and am not sure when the next time I’ll be able to see them play will be. But you know what? It’s simply not worth the time or the money to see this mess of a program. No way was there 12k people there, the student section was a whopping 2 rows deep.

    We are now Eastern Michigan of yesteryear, as sad as it is to admit.

  • Michmediaperson

    To Dave Heeke and Dan Enos:

    Penn State is hiring!  Plenty of positions available.  President, Athletic Director, Head Football Coach, assistant football coaches.  A lot of career opportunities.

    We’ll all give you good references!

    I can’t believe how far we’ve fallen since Brian Kelly and Butch Jones.

    They’ll be sending us postcards from their bowl games in sunny tropics while we’re freezing our rear ends off in Mt. Pleasant!

    Let’s hope an offensive position openings at MSU soon so Dantonio can bring Dan back

    Dan blames it on all those guys who graduated when Butch left but Roy Kramer and Herb Deromedi
    always gave us competitive teams year after year after year.  When players graduated, they had the next group ready to go.  Then, the next group.

    I don’t see anything to be optimistic about next season.

    And, the other MAC schools will pick-up additional days of practice for their bowl games while we’re sitting around.

    Heeke doesn’t know how to hire a football coach.

  • Chipalum

    The program is headed in the right dircetion. I
    Would compare this to the Mike. Years. The selves were empty when he got here and he built the talent level back up. Let’s not forget Kelly won with mostly his guys. (Staley, Bezin, etc) I wish the performance were better too but it hasn’t. Dan should be judged on who his guys do which are still a couple of years away. CMU was outstanding in the 70′s 80′s and halfway through the 90′s because of continuity of the program. Let’s hope we can do that again with Dan!

  • Chipalum

    The program is headed in the right dircetion. I
    Would compare this to the Mike. Years. The selves were empty when he got here and he built the talent level back up. Let’s not forget Kelly won with mostly his guys. (Staley, Bezin, etc) I wish the performance were better too but it hasn’t. Dan should be judged on who his guys do which are still a couple of years away. CMU was outstanding in the 70′s 80′s and halfway through the 90′s because of continuity of the program. Let’s hope we can do that again with Dan!

  • Deegodschild

    I feel sorry for the seniors who had to end there season like this….. I really feel sorry for the rest of the team who have to come back for another losing season with Dan Enos as head coach. The moral is low…. Whatever happened to Fire Up Chips!

  • Deegodschild

    I feel sorry for the seniors who had to end there season like this….. I really feel sorry for the rest of the team who have to come back for another losing season with Dan Enos as head coach. The moral is low…. Whatever happened to Fire Up Chips!

  • Central 87

    This program is NOT headed in the right direction.  We finished 3-9 two seasons in a row.  The team lost several tight games last year, but we were blown out nearly every game this year.  The same record, but getting blown opposed to being in the game is not a positive direction.  We have some nice looking freshmen coming back next year, so the recruiting is looking good, but the coaching is sad.

  • Central 87

    This program is NOT headed in the right direction.  We finished 3-9 two seasons in a row.  The team lost several tight games last year, but we were blown out nearly every game this year.  The same record, but getting blown opposed to being in the game is not a positive direction.  We have some nice looking freshmen coming back next year, so the recruiting is looking good, but the coaching is sad.

  • CE

    Good thing you aren’t an economist.  Petty minds go famously well with petty hearts.  If this is the “right direction,” they’ll be shooting Ricola commercials in K/S Stadium!

  • Logical Chip

    What happens now?
    Do we accept two consecutive .250 winning percentage seasons and forgive the clock mismanagement, whining by coaches, a total lack of preparedness by the coaches (translating to poor performance by players), and poor play calling?  Do we make even more excuses, such as the schedule was unkind, the referees missed a call, players were injured or players graduated?  Do we accept a team that is 59th in FBS in total offense and 95th in total defense (both out of 120). Average offense, swiss cheese defense…sound familiar?  It is a recipe for failure.  Give Dan a handshake and a bus ticket back to East Lansing.  The only way he should be allowed back at Kelly/Shorts Stadium next year is when the sparties come up 127 to our field. 

  • Logical Chip

    The difference is that the “selves” were not empty when Dan took the job.  He and his staff have trashed a winning program with their incompetence and indifference.  You probably don’t want to have Dan judged on “who his guys do”, but rather on how his recruits perform on the field during games.  If you are truly an alum, please learn how to spell check, proofread, and end all sentences with some form of punctuation.  By not doing so, you do not represent the rest of us very well.

  • Bill Caldwell 84′

    Why do we have to say anything here. It’s been the same the whole year. I don’t blame Radcliff, he hasn’t been taught the correct way to check off. How can the defense look as bad the last game of the year and they did the first game. I don’t blame the players. Players do what they are told. Guys..IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT!!  The Defense had huge gaps. And all year the Offense stalled in the redzone. Dan Enos may be recruiting for the future. But, if you can’t  coach them, what good does it do?

  • Bill Caldwell 84′

    I agree but nobody is listening to us. Dave won’t listen. He still believes Dan Enos is the guy!! How can you be blind to the fact that nothing improved!!