Three Stars, plus Central Michigan's win over Eastern Michigan by the numbers
The Chippewas claimed a share of the Mid-American Conference West Division title with a 35-28 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Three Stars:
1. Running back Romello Ross
Ross had a breakout game on Friday. His 63-yard touchdown reception to open the third quarter swung the momentum in CMU's favor and was a pivotal point in CMU's comeback.
The true freshman came into Friday without a touchdown in his collegiate career, but scored four against EMU — three rushing and one passing.
2. Quarterback Cooper Rush
Rush finished Friday's game vs. EMU with 391 yards passing and two touchdowns on 25-of-39 passing. He broke the single-season passing record and needs four passes during CMU's bowl game to break Dan LeFevour's single-season touchdown record.
3. Safety Kavon Frazier
Frazier recorded seven tackles and blocked a punt that set up one of Ross' rushing touchdowns during CMU's second-half comeback. Frazier was one of 13 seniors the program honored before Friday's game.
By the Numbers:
6-2 — That's the best conference record CMU has had since 2009, when Butch Jones was the head coach. That mark is good enough to join in on a four-way tie for the MAC West Divisional title with Toledo, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. NIU wins the tiebreaker and will play Bowling Green next Friday in the MAC Championship.
583 — The Chippewas accumulated more than 550 yards of offense for the first time this season during Friday's win. Many of those came during a 14-point comeback as the second half rolled along.
8,049 — The announced attendance at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Black Friday. It was the lowest since Nov. 15, 2014 against Miami when the attendance was 7,689.
5 yards per rush — The highest average yardage per rush for the Chippewas this season. Junior Martez Walker was CMU's leading rusher with 119 yards.
4 — All purpose touchdowns for freshman running back Romello Ross. Three of them were on the ground, the most by an CMU rusher in a single game since Zurlon Tipton scored three against Akron in 2012.
5 — CMU has five different receivers that have caught for more than 500 yards this season. They are Jesse Kroll, Anthony Rice, Ben McCord, Mark Chapman and Corey Willis. All of them have 30 or more catches this year as well.
Dec. 6 — The day the Chippewas and their fans find out which of the six-plus bowl games allotted to the MAC they are invited to.
