McElwain wins debut: Central Michigan defeats Albany in opener, 38-21
Central Michigan wide receiver Tyrone Scott celebrates after scoring the first touchdown of the season against Albany August 29 at Kelly Shorts Stadium.
Two storms rolled through Kelly/Shorts Stadium during Jim McElwain's debut - one literal, one figurative.
A series of thunderstorms rolled through Mount Pleasant and caused a 108-minute delay on Aug. 29. That series of storms gave way to the figurative storm - the Central Michigan offense.
In their first game under a new coaching regime, the Chippewas (1-0) were able to move the ball seemingly at will, though the offense had some hitches along the way in the CMU 38-21 victory over Football Championship Subdivision opponent, Albany.
The offense was moving in a hurry. Senior running back Jonathan Ward appeared to be a man on a mission in the first drive, accounting for 31 yards on three carries. However, the drive ended when Ward fumbled on the Albany 39-yard line.
CMU's defense was strong on its first drive, too. Forcing the Great Danes to go three-and-out.
Although, Dormady had the ball stripped from him on the ensuing drive, but was able to recover it before giving up another turnover.
McElwain and the offense showed some moxie in the middle of the first quarter.
After the Chippewas drive appeared to stall out at the 22-yard line, the first-year head coach put faith in Dormady and the offense and went for it on fourth down and four yards to go.
Dormady found redshirt freshman Tyrone Scott on the right side for a walk-in touchdown - the first of his career.
The connection between Dormady, the "old guy" and the young gun Scott was strong in the first half. Dormady was able to find Scott for the second time with a back-shoulder pass, again to the right side of the field for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
"He was good," McElwain said of Dormady. "He had a chance to do better on some things but he knows that and will learn. I'm glad he's here, he's a heck of a player."
Senior kicker Ryan Tice made his first special teams contribution of the season with a 50-yard missile midway through the second quarter to extend the Chippewa lead to 17-0.
Albany cut into that CMU lead by scoring on a 7-play, 88-yard drive capped by a 36-yard pass from Jeff Undercuffler to Juwan Green, who beat senior safety Da'Quaun Jamison, on a pass over the middle.
McElwain said that his guys showed a lot of resiliency, and he was proud of the way they responded.
"They had some times where they could get testy," McElwain said. "But they didn't, and that helped us get the win tonight."
After taking over with just over a minute to play in the half, Dormady led a 78-yard scoring drive, which included a pass over the middle to Scott and capped off by sophomore wide receiver Kalil Pimpleton's first career touchdown reception from four yards out.
"We ran that play a lot in practice," Pimpleton said. "(Dormady) got me the ball and I didn't even know what to do when I got it so I just kind of put my hands up."
The Chippewas carried a 24-7 lead into the halftime break.
Coming out of the break, CMU had another promising drive before another fumble from Ward.
"Great players don't do that," McElwain said of Ward fumbling the ball twice. "But he is a prideful guy and I can assure you he won't let it happen again."
After the third quarter began slowly, both teams traded touchdowns as Undercuffler found Green for a second time, then Ward countered with his first rushing touchdown of the season, the 14th of his career.
The 7-yard rushing score was set up by a 25-yard pass on the left sideline from Dormady the play before.
Turnovers cost the Chippewas a few times throughout the night. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Dormady was sacked and stripped. Great Dane linebacker Eli Mencer scooped the ball and rumbled 52 yards to cut the CMU lead down to 31-21 and make the game interesting.
Ward found the end zone again on a 12-yard sprint off a read-option play. He ended the night with 158 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns. Ward added 53 yards on three catches for 211 all-purpose yards – nearly matching his output from all of 2018.
Dormady had a strong night, outside of the fumbles. He went 27-37 for 285 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.
"This is the moment we practice for," Dormady said. "But this has been a good building block for this team."
Next week will be a huge test for CMU as it hits the road to face Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
The 19th-ranked Badgers face South Florida Aug. 31 to open their season.
