John Bonamego got his first Gatorade bath as a head coach Saturday as Central Michigan University football defeated Monmouth 31-10 in front of 21,092 fans at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

CMU senior linebacker Tim Hamilton said the win was important to the team, but more so for Bonamego.

“It was definitely in the back of our minds before the game started,” Hamilton said about getting Bonamego his first win. “We really wanted to get him his first W, and was cool at the end we got to dump the Gatorade on him.

“It was just a nice moment for everything he’s been through, and how hard he’s worked. Just to get him his first win, we’re grateful for that.”

Saturday was Monmouth's first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision team, and it showed in the first half as the Hawks look frazzled and over matched with 27 total yards, in large part due to CMU’s play.

Bonamego said although it was his first win, it didn’t feel any different than he expected.

“It feels like a win,” he said. “It’s great, I love the feeling. George Allen said that ‘When you lose, you die, and then when you win you’re reborn. It’s good to be a little bit reborn.”

It was an improved performance for the Chippewas passing game as junior quarterback Cooper Rush threw for 301 yards in the first half alone against the Hawks. The Charlotte native ended the game 25-for-36 for 328 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

“I just saw guys open, so I threw it this week,” Rush said. “They were loading the box on us and it was tough to run the ball. We were able to find holes and make plays.”

It was the running game that got CMU on the board first when sophomore wide receiver Mark Chapman took a hand-off from Rush, 11 yards to the end zone, which capped a 14-play, 73-yard opening drive to give the Chippewas a 7-0 lead with 9:04 remaining.

CMU made it tough for Monmouth to move the ball, at one point holding the Hawks to negative four total yards in the first half. It had seven first quarter yards.

Although CMU took a 31-3 lead into the half, Monmouth didn’t mail it in.

The Hawks found an offensive rhythm at the start of the third quarter when backup running back Zach Welch muscled his way into the end zone from seven yards out, cutting CMU’s lead to 31-10.

The running game got going early, but for the second week in a row, the Chippewas struggled to find consistency on the ground as CMU was held to 74 total rushing yards on 34 carries.

“About the only thing we didn’t do was run the football,” Bonamego said. “It was a little bit better, we showed some spurts, but overall we still need to be able to run the ball better.”

Monmouth had little room for mistakes, and missed opportunities to stay in contention early in the game which proved to be the difference.

The Chippewas took advantage of the Hawks miscues numerous times with Rush connecting with Corey Willis, Ben McCord and Joe Bacci for touchdowns in the first half.

It took all of two plays and 55 seconds for the Chippewas to put the game out of reach when Rush escaped a sack and found McCord for an 83-yard touchdown pass, giving CMU a 24-0 lead with 7:08 left to play in the half.

Monmouth’s quarterback Cody Williams finished the game 19-for-33 for 114 yards and an interception. The Hawks amassed 181 yards of total offense and tallied 67 yards rushing.

CMU looks to avenge its 40-3 loss to Syracuse last season, next Saturday.

“We’re just going to keep this thing rolling,” Hamilton said. “We got Syracuse coming up, and we owe them from last year, so we’ll be ready to go.”