Central Michigan earns bowl eligibility with win over Northern Illinois
Central Michigan defensive back Demarcus Governor, left, and Devonni Reed celebrate with teammates after beating Northern Illinois Nov. 2 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
People gathered within one of the Central Michigan football team's meeting rooms in the Indoor Athletic Complex and grew quiet. Some hushed urging others to keep quiet.
Then, a loud round of applause.
The man at the center of the applause?
Jim McElwain.
He had just finished coaching the Chippewas a 48-10 win over Northern Illinois in Kelly/Shorts Stadium and secured them bowl eligibility. CMU is now the first team in the Mid-American Conference to reach the mark of bowl eligibility.
While reaching six wins does not guarantee that they will play in one, the Chippewas (6-4, 4-2) are officially qualified to.
The first-year coach with tons of experience said he was happy for his team.
"It's awesome," McElwain said. "I really can't tell you how happy I am for that locker room. That team in that locker room at the beginning of the season was picked dead last in this conference. I think we proved that we're getting better."
CMU had been just one win away from earning bowl eligibility after defeating Bowling Green on the road Oct. 19, and faltered the following week against Buffalo, again on the road.
McElwain said that he was happy for the university, the people and the players. Especially this season, the Chippewas have played a 10 week stretch of games to open the season. That stretch is the longest in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
CMU will now have a bye week before hitting the road to Ball State on Nov. 16. The Chippewas are 1-4 on the road this season.
"We've done a great job," McElwain said. "Now, we've got to heal up during the bye week. We've got to have good practices and make sure we're sharp to go play a road game.
"I know this, I want our guys to enjoy it, I want them to feel good about it. I want them to learn, too."
Linebacker Michael Oliver finished the game against NIU with five tackles (four solo) and his assisted tackle was for a loss. The senior also intercepted NIU quarterback Ross Bowers to begin a sequence of four-straight turnovers forced by the Chippewas.
Oliver said that just playing the game is a blessing and he is enjoying the fact that CMU is bowl eligible and adding the fact that it is in the division race, especially given last season's record.
"It's a major improvement," Oliver said. "But we're trying to figure out a way to get down to Detroit before we're thinking about a bowl game."
The way to the MAC Championship Game, Oliver said, is by finishing strong and by putting a strong emphasis on communicating. He added that the team has stressed communication during the week on the defensive side of the ball.
Quinten Dormady was strong from an offensive standpoint. He commanded the offense and finished the game with 288 yards and three scores on 18 of 24 passing.
The senior graduate transfer quarterback recognized the scale of his team's victory at home.
"It's a huge step from last year," Dormady said. "Me coming in trying to bring this program back to what it has been in the past, obviously that's a huge step.
"We have a couple of more games that we think we can win, we have to focus on the details, especially through the bye week."
While Central Michigan has secured bowl eligibility, there is still plenty to play for in its final two games.
The Chippewas have a bye week this week before playing at Ball State (Nov. 16), they have another bye the next week before finishing out the season at home against Toledo (Nov. 29).
Both games are important in the West Division race for CMU, which sits just one game behind the Cardinals. Ball State faces Western Michigan, which holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over CMU, Tuesday in Kalamazoo.
A Cardinal win over the Broncos would make the game against CMU a showdown to win the division.
McElwain said that winning games late in the season is an important piece of the puzzle that is championship-caliber football.
“When you’re playing in November and games kind of having something to them,” McElwain said. “That kind of means you’ve had a pretty decent season so far. That’s huge.”
