Western game presents opportunities, challenges
This is what a lot of fans have been waiting for.
Here it is.
This is it, but it’s really not.
The season is only halfway through, but the memory of this season is already on the line.
Not the season itself or the chances for at a Mid-American Conference title, but the the memory of the season is on the line.
Forget the conference implications and the big games this Central Michigan team has already won and be realistic.
The Chippewas are on a five-game winning streak and have on their side a win over a Big Ten, in-state rival.
While they have blown out three of their previous four opponents, it makes you wonder why Vegas even has a spread for the game.
But what if the team loses?
The Role of Public Opinion
This game means a lot things to a lot of people in and around Mount Pleasant and all over the state.
This is the game — not Michigan State and not Homecoming last week against Eastern Michigan.
This is the weekend that can figuratively make or break the season even though it’s only in the middle of October.
Sure, the Chippewas are undefeated in the MAC in three tries and are off to their best start since before most of the student population was born — one loss wouldn’t kill their chances at a shot for the MAC Championship in December.
On a rain-soaked Saturday in November of 2006, the Chippewas defeated Western 31-7 and, three weeks later, were led by a freshman quarterback to a conference title. A win like that had the power and impact to motivate a team to achieve through the rest of the season.
But just the opposite is true as well. If this team should lose, the impact of that loss has the power to sink it — to hang over it the rest of the season.
And it would make all its accomplishments thus far and any other it might obtain this season be seem less fruitful if it came back from Kalamazoo with a loss.
You wouldn’t have to look that far back. Last season, the Chippewas (6-0 in the MAC at the time) lost a thriller to Ball State. The following week, they lost to an obviously inferior Eastern Michgan team and missed out on even a chance to play for their third consecutive MAC title.
Being Perfect
Senior quarterback Dan LeFevour entered this season already with a lot to live up to in his final season.
He doesn’t have to be perfect on Saturday, but he has to be close.
The defense doesn’t have to be perfect against Western quarterback Tim Hiller, but it has to be close.
This is that game where records don’t mean a thing to either team. It wouldn’t matter if one team enters winless and the other comes in undefeated.
Rivalry games change everything. Players rise to the occasion and play on an entirely different level to where the game will come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes and allows their opponent less chances.
Coach Butch Jones is as much of a perfectionist as there is out there. He has already said this week that it’s going to take everything they have and more to beat this Western team.
He’s said all season that the next game is the most important game simply because it is the next game on the schedule.
And although his point is well intended — this is Western week. Don’t think for a second that he wants to be remembered as the coach that beat Michigan State but lost to Western.
