The swift kick of Karma
In both football and life, you get what you deserve.
For the second time this season, the Central Michigan University football team has followed up a statement victory with a deflating loss.
After the team went to Purdue and claimed the largest margin of victory over a Big Ten school in program history, they came home and were spanked by Syracuse.
Following last week’s upset of Northern Illinois, the Chippewas received another punch to the gut on Saturday.
A booming Ball State field goal sent a dagger through the heart of a second-half comeback handing the Chippewas their most heart-wrenching loss of the season.
Saturday’s loss created the most dangerous feeling a football team and its fanbase can have: Doubt.
Can this team handle the pressure that comes from winning consecutive games? More importantly, will this team win the games that it should?
With no teams with winning records left on CMU’s schedule, suddenly nothing is certain anymore.
Make no mistake about it: The Chippewas beat themselves on Saturday.
Five turnovers and nearly 100 penalty yards are not ingredients for a Mid-American Conference Championship team.
Even head coach Dan Enos was penalized for a sideline interference call against Ball State.
This is the man that preaches to his team about keeping “complacency pills” out of their mouths and what a standard of discipline should be.
Senior running back Thomas Rawls fumbled twice in the loss. The second came with CMU driving in BSU’ red zone and the Chippewas down by one score.
It was a crucial mistake that allowed BSU to have the final possession of the game and pull off the upset.
Losing in a powerhouse conference is unfortunate, but understandable.
Nothing about Saturday’s loss was explicable. If the Chippewas continue to play the way they did against BSU, they won’t win another game this season. A 12-point second half comeback is fun to watch, but Saturday, it ultimately meant nothing.
When you play as poorly as they did, losing is not just likely, it is absolutely deserved.
