Chippewas postgame: Three stars, by the numbers from Central Michigan's win over Northern Illinois
Stefon Armstead celebrates after Central Michigan's 29-19 victory over Northern Illinois Oct. 3.
The Chippewas rallied back to claim their first conference win of the season against defending Mid-American Conference Champion Northern Illinois 29-19 on Saturday.
Three stars from today's game:
1. Senior safety Kavon Frazier
Frazier recorded 12 tackles, including one for a loss and forced a fumble during Saturday's win.
Frazier proved he is one of the best open-field tacklers on the team this season, busting through the line of scrimmage as part of a designed run-blitz during several key defensive stops for CMU down the stretch.
Frazier was named the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week after CMU's home-opening loss to Oklahoma State.
2. Senior wide receiver Jesse Kroll
Once junior quarterback Cooper Rush got settled and found his grip on the soggy football, he knew exactly where he could go with it. Kroll caught five passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns during Saturday's win.
Kroll's touchdowns came from nine and 23 yards out respectively and were good enough for the game-tying and go-ahead scores.
With slot receivers like Anthony Rice and Corey Willis getting more touches, Kroll could get more room to operate as the MAC season continues.
3. Kicker Brian Eavey
On a dreadfully wet, cold and windy day in Mount Pleasant, Eavey had the best game of his CMU football career. The walk-on junior made a career-high three field goals. One from 44 yards, 41 yards and 28 yards away.
The 44-yarder was his longest field goal in his college career. Saturday's big game comes off the heels of last week's loss to Michigan State, during which Michigan State blocked two Eavey field goal attempts in the first quarter.
By the Numbers:
4 — The amount of turnovers the Chippewas forced on Saturday. Three of these came during the game-changing third quarter and all three led to points for CMU at the other end
2 — First-year Head Coach John Bonamego got the second win of his college football coaching career with Saturday's victory. The win was extra special, coming on Homecoming for the CMU alum.
17,380 — The attendance at Saturday's game. It was the poorest-attended Homecoming Game CMU has hosted since 2012, when 14,081 fans watched the Chippewas lose to Ball State.
2.7 — CMU's average yards per rush on Saturday. CMU's leading rusher against NIU was junior college transfer Jahray Hayes, who carried the ball 29 times for 92 yards and one touchdown.
1 -- CMU committed just one penalty during Saturday's win for five yards. This has been a point of emphasis for Bonamego and his staff since the beginning of the season. CMU committed eight penalties for 78 yards in a Week 4 loss to Michigan State, many of which came in key situations as the Chippewas were attempting to pull off the biggest upset in program history.
134 — The number of miles between Mount Pleasant and Kalamazoo, home of the Western Michigan Broncos. Bonamego, a Paw Paw native, and the Chippewas head to Waldo Stadium next week for a clash with the Broncos, who are 1-3 and were off this week.
