The Central Michigan football team ranked 11th in the Mid-American Conference in total defense last season, allowing 428.8 yards per game. Teams scored an average of 33.3 points per game against the Chippewas, also ranking 11th in the MAC.

Defense was a focus during the 2012 recruiting process. Thirteen of the 25 newest recruits are from the defensive side of the ball.

A majority of those defensive players play up on the defensive line or in the secondary.

“We felt that we had to get better there,” Enos said about the secondary. “We wanted to get bigger and we did that. We felt like we had to get faster, we felt like we had to get bigger and also, we’re planning for the future.”

Enos said that he has heard from other people that you need to outscore opponents to win in the MAC, but he doesn’t believe that.

“The identity is that we want to be the best defense in this league,” Enos said. “I think that you can play good defense and win, and that’s what we’re going to do. I think that offensively, obviously we still have improvements that we still have to make there. We’re a little ahead personnel wise than we were defensively and we made a huge emphasis that we’re going to get better on defense, and what better way to do that than to change the personnel.”

Enos said he wanted his defensive to get bigger and faster.

Six of the seven defensive backs from the recruit class are six-feet or taller. Also, four defensive linemen are 250-plus pounds.

Defensive emphasis was a priority for this recruit class, no doubt.

The Central Michigan gymnastics team (7-1, 3-0) split over the weekend but won its Mid-American Conference match over Eastern Michigan.

On Friday, CMU competed in a tri-meet at EMU along with Texas Woman’s University.

The Chippewas were able to hold off EMU 193.325 to 192.725. Texas Woman’s University placed third with a score of 190.550.

The same Texas Woman’s University pulled off an upset on Sunday in Mount Pleasant.

After performing well on the vault, the bars proved to be a complete disaster for the Chippewas.

Freshman Rebecca Druien landed awkwardly and was unable to continue the rest of the meet. Senior Kristen Teubner also struggled maintaining momentum on bars, which led to the team’s final score being 46.175.

Sophomore Brittany Petzold scored a 39.300 all-around score. A score of 39 or higher has eluded CMU this season until this point.

“I was really excited on how I did,” Petzold said. “I felt like I didn’t let the pressure get to me. There was a lot of pressure on me, because we had a few mistakes on the past events.”

If there was any blame to be passed around, head coach Jerry Reighard is asking to take it.

“I take full responsibility of what happened today,” Reighard said. “I had totally changed my approach to this meet. I wasn’t Jerry Reighard, I was low key.”

CMU did some experimenting this meet to find out who is comfortable in which events. The results were not pleasing.

“We made some line-up changes, put people in different positions to see where they will compete best,” Reighard said. “That did not seem to work in our benefit. We are having a real difficult time putting 24 positive things together in a meet.”

While the loss stings CMU, it doesn’t hurt them in the MAC standings, in which they are still undefeated.

Reighard believes Druien’s injury might be a torn ligament in her elbow.

The injury forced freshman Kylie Fagan to perform on the floor. The timing gave Reighard and Fagan 10 minutes to make up a routine.

Fagan ended up scoring a 9.650, a great score for just making the routine up.

“Bless her heart, she came to me and said if you need someone to go on floor I’m here,” Reighard said. “We made the tumbling up in 10 minutes.”

The team has not performed up to the standards of scoring 196s during the meets.

Reighard was surprised that a day where the team struggled hasn’t happened earlier.

“To be honest, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before this,” Reighard said. “We have been competing very well, but perhaps we were due.”

Win at EMU

Druien continued her strong season with the top all-around score of 38.775, scoring a 9.725 in three out of four events.

Petzold notched the top score of the meet with a 9.850 on bars.

The floor exercise proved to be the Chippewas toughest event. The team had two falls counted against them and scored a season low 47.800.

The victory over EMU marked the 25^th consecutive win for the Chippewas over the MAC.

Although things looked grim for the Chippewas when they were down 13-0 and Donnie Corby was losing 2-0 in his match, they battled back.

Corby tallied five unanswered points to win a 5-2 decision to gave CMU a spark at Kent, Ohio.

Fast forward to Chad Friend’s match against KSU’s Keith Witt and the Chippewas losing 16-13 with the score 1-1 with less than two minutes left in the third period.

But the CMU comeback attempt was foiled when Witt snagged a takedown with seconds remaining.

“I knew the (last) two were both going to be pretty close” CMU wrestler Ben Bennett said. “I felt like we had a pretty good chance.”

No. 12 Chippewas wrestler Peter Sturgeon closed out the dual against No. 20 Brendan Barlow and lost in riding time after four overtimes.

Bennett put the Chippewas within striking distance by earning a pin to narrow the deficit to three.

‘(Bennett) wrestled really good today,” Chippewas Coach Tom Borrelli said “He was dominant.  He really controlled the match (and) hand fighting.”

The Golden Flashes wanted no part in being second fiddle any longer.

Their five MAC losses since 2005 have all been dealt by the Chippewas.  It was the first KSU win against CMU at home since 1996.

The two programs have finished in the top two every season since 2005-06. KSU only has two first place finishes in the MAC to show for it, because of the Chippewas.

CMU has won at least a share of the MAC regular season championship for two straight years and 12 of the past 13 seasons.

For the Chippewas to finish tied in first this season the Golden Flashes will have to lose to Buffalo or Eastern Michigan.

CMU is done with the MAC regular season. The Chippewas face George Mason and Old Dominion next week.

What if the team didn’t cough up the ball in its zone? What if it didn’t foul on that play? What if it took advantage of its scoring opportunities? But after the game, there is nothing that can be done to change the outcome.

The women’s soccer team has not had to dwell on many what-ifs so far this season — at least not yet. CMU has jumped out to a 10-1-3 start, including impressive non-conference wins against Wisconsin, Louisville and Pittsburgh.

But of the Chippewas 10 wins, five have been by one goal. Not saying this is an alarming statistic, considering that soccer is a relatively low-scoring game, but with the dominant performances it has displayed this season, CMU should be winning games by a larger margin.

The team statistics through the first 14 games have been mind-boggling. It has outshot its opponents 216-136, while holding an advantage in corner kicks, 90-38.

CMU fired 16 shots in the first half against Bowling Green Sunday, but could only muster one goal.

It was able to sustain pressure in the offensive zone throughout the half, but could not capitalize on scoring chances. On Friday, the Chippewas ringed two shots off the crossbar and squandered multiple other opportunities to build their lead.

With only five games remaining before the Mid-American Conference tournament, CMU needs to concentrate on making the most of its chances.

I do not want CMU to look back at a game in the MAC or NCAA tournament and say, what if we could have buried just one or two more scoring opportunities? Don’t get me wrong, the Chippewas are an exciting team to watch. They are quick, disciplined, possess strong ball movement and are once again one of the top teams in the MAC.

But come tournament time, teams tend to elevate their game to the next level. It will only get harder to score from here on out. Even if CMU outplays its opponent, in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Offensively, CMU needs a player to step up and be that primary goal scorer to carry the team. I’m not calling for the offense to revolve around one player, but I want to see that player take advantage of the opportunities.

Right now, no player has more than three goals, but 11 different players have scored this season – which is a tribute to CMU’s depth. This is what makes them so dynamic. The opposition cannot target just one player, which opens up more scoring chances for everyone.

However, the question is: Who will be the one to capitalize most effectively?

The two inevitably go hand-in-hand because, after all, how does one measure greatness? Most of the time, at least in sports, it’s with numbers.

In baseball, it’s the number of home runs and strikeouts that count, in football its touchdowns and yards, and in hockey its goals and saves.

But one numerical stat carries the same amount of importance, regardless of what sport it is. That’s a streak.

Cal Ripkin Jr. played 2,632 consecutive games, Wayne Gretzky had 51-straight games with a point and Joe DiMaggio had 56 games in a row with a hit.

But for the girls on the Central Michigan women’s soccer team, it’s the lack of numbers that made their streak.

Before the 73rd minute of Sunday’s game against Bowling Green, the Chippewas had not allowed a goal in 599:53 minutes of play.

That works out to more than six games. In fact, before BGSU midfielder Kenzie Schlemitz put the ball past CMU goalkeeper Grace Labrecque, the Chippewas had not allowed a goal since the 63rd minute of CMU’s 2-1 victory over Wisconsin on Sept. 14th.

So for those of you who like numbers, check these out.

Bowling Green’s goal was the first allowed by CMU against a Mid-American Conference opponent this season. During CMU’s shutout streak, the other 11 teams in the MAC have given up 88 goals combined. CMU goalkeepers have had to make just 16 saves and the team’s goals against average in conference play is 0.16.

But as the saying goes, streaks were made to be broken and this one is no different. The Chippewas shutout streak now sits at 18:57, a far cry from what it once was.

Nonetheless, people need to recognize the significance of what CMU has done. We often get caught up with goals, assists and points.

But as another saying goes, defense wins championships, and few play defense better than CMU.

The Chippewas are 7th in the country in goals against average and are tied for 12th in shutout percentage.

Defense isn’t glamorous, it’s not pretty and it’s not what people usually look at. In fact it’s quite boring, but that shouldn’t take away from what the Chippewas have accomplished.

If CMU is going to go deep into the tournament this season, it will be its defense that’s going to lead them.

Its understandable why numbers are a part of sports and usually the bigger the better. But for the the Chippewas, only one number matters, and that’s zero. After all, it’s pretty hard to lose when you don’t allow a goal.

Over the summer, the PAC-10 introduced Colorado and Utah into its conference this season, now renamed the PAC-12.

With uncertainty surrounding the Big 12, Nebraska joined the Big Ten, beginning this season.

All these movements have resurfaced with changes to the ACC and Big East, but Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher says the conference is set, at least for the short term.

“I think it’s undetermined on what it means in both the short and long term,” Steinbrecher said. “In the short term I don’t think there’s a big change.”

However, the long term is a different story, all depending on the Bowl Championship Series contract.

“As we head to a new BCS contract, what does that mean and how does it change that organization?” “We’re in the second year of a four-year deal,” Steinbrecher said.

With the University of Massachusetts joining the MAC, conference realignment should be announced in the not-to-distant future according to Steinbrecher.

CMU Athletics Director Dave Heeke is confident CMU’s isn’t going anywhere.

“We’re very comfortable in the MAC,” Heeke said. “The MAC is a solid league that fits our profile very, very well.”

Steinbrecher supported Heeke’s comments, saying the conference is very stable.

He believes it has the most similiarity in budget, geography and program offerings.

“Those are a lot of things that help make us a stable league,” he said. “The steps we took in the past year were because we thought there would be movement down the road, so we wanted to strengthen the conference and provide some security.”

Heeke said the Chippewas were a part of “Hypothetical conversations,” but it was speculation with names thrown around.

Despite “Hypothetical conversations,” Heeke said a move to a ‘super conference’ such as the Big Ten is financially unrealistic.

“We could not move to the Big Ten and be competitive in our current budget structure,” Heeke said. “It’s probably a $30 to $40 million difference that would need to be committed.”

CMU’s sports budget is $20 million. In comparison, he said Ohio State was at $128 million, Michigan State at $80 million and Michigan is more than $100 million.

A MAC team moving to a ‘super conference’ is unlikely in the near future, but the conference continues to schedule BCS conference schools and occasionally home-and-homes against high-tier schools.

No. 4 Boise State played at Toledo last week and Michigan State travels to CMU next season.

“I really commend our athletics directors on how hard they work to put together really attractive schedules, and it’s not easy,” Steinbrecher said. “At the same time, I commend the opponents, specifically the high-profile opponents, that are willing to do so. Those for us are great opportunities for us to showcase our programs.”

Junior quarterback Ryan Radcliff threw two long touchdown passes, but also threw two interceptions right into coverage.

“Our quarterback didn’t play very well,” CMU head coach Dan Enos said. “He’s got to find a way to get into rhythm.”

Radcliff finished 14-for-27 for 168 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Freshman wide receiver Titus Davis caught his first reception for CMU on a deep post, then made his defender miss, running it in for a 67-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, making it 14-3 CMU.

“Feels great,” Davis said. “Line blocked, Radcliff made the throw, I have the easy job.”

The freshman came back to catch the ball as two defenders’ momentum took them right by him. He then paused and cut up field, avoiding both mixed up defenders.

“You got a glimpse of what he can do,” Enos said.”

Radcliff threw interceptions on back-to-back drives following the touchdown. A Bulldog corner jumped a hitch route for an interception, leading to South Carolina State’s second field goal.

“That’s on both of us getting on the same page,” said attended receiver Cody Wilson.

The second interception was from a linebacker that stepped in front of a seam route.

“He under threw it,” Enos said. “He tried to throw it through him and not project it. Those are going to happen.”

The Chippewas started out fast. Four plays into the game they scored a touchdown. Radcliff went 3-3, highlighted by a 45-yard touchdown pass to Cody Wilson.

“I didn’t think I ran a good route,” Wilson said. “Most of the credit goes to Ryan, he threw a great ball.”

South Carolina State answered right back with a nice drive into the CMU red zone, but only got three points out of it.
After the two teams scored on their opening possession a string of three-and-outs went on through to the second quarter.

Sophomore running back Zurlon Tipton put CMU up 21-6 on the first possession in the third quarter with a one yard run.

That first drive after halftime the Chippewas were committed to the run game, rushing all but once in the 12-play drive.

“That drive was huge,” Enos said. “We were hoping to put together two more like that.”

The Bulldogs strung together a nice drive halted by a poorly thrown football on third down with an open receiver, eventually missing the ensuing 47-yard field goal.

Tipton led the team with 18 rushes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

“We liked the way he was running,” Enos said. “We’re going to give it to the hot guy.”

Starting linebackers Mike Petrucci and Shamari Benton both didn’t return after halftime with injuries. Senior linebacker Armond Staten was injured as well, leaving the CMU linebacking core with all substitutes. CMU is waiting to hear back from doctors on their situation.

“Felt good, got the win,” Tipton said. “But few things we can fix. We’ll enjoy this tonight. We were sloppy at times but we played good.”

CMU was selected fourth in the Mid-American Conference, which has been a recurring prediction for the last four years.

“That’s probably where I expected the other coaches to put us,” CMU field hockey coach Cristy Freese said. “The coaches tend to put people in where they finished the year before.”

Following a MAC Tournament championship in 2005, the Chippewas have finished in fourth place for five consecutive seasons.

CMU finished last year with an overall record of 6-14, while tallying three wins in 10 conference matches.

The Chippewas season was marked by losses at the beginning and end of the season.

They suffered a 9-0 loss to Louisville in the second game of the season and they lost 8-1 to Kent State toward the end of the season.

But last season was also filled with many thrilling finishes.

CMU won two of three matches that ended after regulation, including a victory via penalty strokes. They lost two of three games decided in the last 7 minutes of the match.

Freese points to not always beating teams it’s supposed to beat as a reason why it hasn’t moved past the top four.

The Chippewas .500 record against Ball State and Missouri State, teams that finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the MAC last season, were evidence of that.

Scoring goals was also a cause for concern for Freese last year. CMU’s average of 1.25 goals per game was sixth in the MAC last season.

After tallying 25 goals, Freese put the benchmark at 40 to 50 goals this year.

“That’s certainly a big goal. We’ve set the bar high” Freese said. “I told the team that the closer to 50 goals scored in a season we can get, certainly the higher the chances we are going to being successful.”

With 13 of 17 letterwinners returning, Freese has hopes of an upswing after five years of stagnancy.

“Were so much further ahead than last year because we got so many returning players,” she said. “Those are the type of things that are going to translate to more consistency on the field.”

CMU was ranked No. 1 in the MAC West Division and at the time brought in its third straight nationally-ranked recruiting class.

The Chippewas were up and down all season, starting off 6-6 going into conference play. Once conference play began, the record got worse. They began conference play 1-5, but recovered, with a 7-3 record to finish out the regular season — giving them the No. 6 seed. However, the post season didn’t last long because CMU was upset by No. 11 Miami in five games.

So why should followers expect anything different?

CMU is considered a veteran team lead by senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz, but also has a mix of youth, with its fourth straight nationally ranked freshman class lead by outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre.

But most of all they have a non-conference schedule that could lead them to a great start heading into MAC play.

After non-conference play comes the battle for the MAC West.

Having a good non-conference start and a few tournament championships under its belt could be a great confidence builder against what will be a tough start to MAC play at division favorites, Northern Illinois and in-state rival Western Michigan.

Then the team opens up McGuirk Arena against rivals Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Ball State and Toledo. Opening up a new arena could be huge for the team. Helping them overcome their tough schedule.

After the home stand, they return to the road against Bowling Green and Miami. The Chippewas should handle the Falcons easily and should come out and beat Miami after the upset loss they suffered last season.

Wins against Akron and Buffalo are obtainable right before Western Michigan comes to town. If the team is playing like they can, they will draw a big crowd for WMU and a big crowd supporting the team can help motivate and push them to get over the Broncos, maybe even enough to propel them past preseason favorite NIU.

After another home stand, it’s back on the road against Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Toledo and Ball State. Wins against EMU and Ohio will be tough, but can be done.
If the Chippewas stay healthy, this team will find itself in the NCAA tournament.

For the men, this winter will include a three-day trip to Alaska, along with trips to Minnesota, Iowa State and Nebraska on the non-conference slate.

After Mid-American Conference play kicks off for CMU on Jan. 7 against Toledo, four of its first six games are on the road.

“Our non-conference schedule gives us a lot of different types of adversity, playing on the road and playing in neutral sites,” head coach Ernie Zeigler said. “Our non-conference games should toughen us up on the road.”

The Great Alaska Shootout will host seven other teams during Thanksgiving break. It’s the second long-distance, ­— tournament in the past two years – last season the team played in Hawaii.

“It’s extremely important for us to make a valiant effort to play in a tournament far from town every year,” Zeigler said.

The big name non-conference matchups will play two key roles for the program this winter.

“It’s good for our guys to play against BCS types of schools because that’s who you’ll play in the postseason,” Zeigler said. “And they’re games we have to play for our budget.”

Zeigler said depending on the negations, the three top matchups (Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska) could make the program $75,000 to $100,000 per game.

Following the first four games, two of which are exhibition and another is against Ferris State, the Chippewas play 10 of 11 either on the road or at a neutral site to finish off the non-conference schedule.

“It’s very difficult to schedule home non-conference games,” Zeigler said. “So we tried to get a lot of neutral site games where it wasn’t a true road game.”

The Chippewas are coming off a 10-21 record (7-9 MAC) and lost their second leading scorer, Jalin Thomas.

“There’s great anticipation for this year,” Zeigler said. “I’m excited about this team as a hole. Last year’s freshmen had great summers. I’m excited about some incoming guys.”
Trey Zeigler will return for his sophomore year after scoring a team-high 16.3 points per game last season.

“I’m really excited about the talent level we have, but we’re also really young and need to improve on both sides of the ball,” Zeigler said.

Women’s schedule

The CMU women’s basketball team has a challenging non conference schedule, highlighted by Northwestern and Louisiana State.

“I think it’s a very challenging schedule and there’s a lot of different styles of basketball from different conferences,” head coach Sue Guevara said. “It’s one that I think our kids are really looking forward to playing.”

CMU opens the season Nov. 11 against Northwestern at McGuirk Arena.

The Chippewas lost 92-84 against the Wildcats last season in Evanston, Ill.

LSU comes to McGuirk Arena on Nov. 13 in the second game of the season.

The first road game is Nov. 18 against Robert Morris. The next game will feature a matchup at Pittsburgh against the Panthers.

Purdue is also playing at McGuirk Arena this season. CMU will face the Boilermakers on Dec. 11.

The Chippewas will be a part of three regular season tournaments next season.

It opens MAC play Jan. 5 against Northern Illinois, and its first conference home game is just six days later against in-state rival Western Michigan.

Every conference road game this season is scheduled for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday and Guevara is glad it worked out that way.

“I really like the face that our farthest away trips are on weekends, so we aren’t missing a lot of class time,” she said.