Cody Kater struggles replacing Ryan Radcliff at quarterback Friday

Sophomore quarterback Cody Kater replaced senior Ryan Radcliff for the second time this season in Central Michigan’s 31-13 loss Friday against Navy.

Cody Kater

CMU went three–and–out late in the third quarter after the Midshipmen took a 31–13 lead, which led to the switch.

“We were trying to get a spark,” head coach Dan Enos said.  “We hit a lull there on two offensive possessions, and we wanted to play Cody.  He practices very well, and he gets better every week. And he went in there and wouldn’t set his feet and throw the ball a couple times either, so we’ll go back and look at the video of what he did, too.”

Kater completed his first throw, finding running back Tim Phillips on a short swing pass for a four-yard gain. But on his second play, he failed to get the snap on time, and CMU was called for delay of game.

On third–and–four, Kater rolled out to his right, but his pass was nearly intercepted by linebacker Brye French, and the Chippewas were forced to punt.

During his second drive, CMU had to call a timeout before the first play. Then, on third–and–five, his offensive line gave him time, but the sophomore was unable to find an open receiver, getting sacked for a loss of six.  Once again, the Chippewas were forced to punt.

Enos said the lack of offense was the main difference between Friday’s game and the 38–37 loss to Navy in 2010.

“Our defense played much better, but offensively, we did not execute like we did two years ago,” he said. “The reason we were in that game two years ago was because we were executing our passing game, and tonight we didn’t do that.”

Before being replaced, Radcliff completed 11 of his 19 pass attempts for 139 yards.

Navy had 372 offensive yards Friday, compared to the 221 by CMU.