Bert Emanuel Jr's big day leads to MAC West Offensive Player of the Week honors
Looking like he was dropping back to pass, Central Michigan quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. broke free up the middle on a quarterback draw, blowing past the entire New Hampshire defense as he scored a 66-yard touchdown on the Chippewas’ opening drive on Saturday.
That wasn’t the only scoring Emanuel Jr. did as the redshirt freshman accounted for four out of the five offensive touchdowns the Chippewas had on the day.
Two of those touchdowns came on throws of 30+ yards, in which many people have questioned the young quarterback’s ability to make throws down the field especially after a less than ideal start to the season at Michigan State the week prior.
“I feel like this was a big growing game for me, especially since it’s a lot more throws, last year was a lot of runs this year... I’m throwing, I’m running and I’m doing a lot of different things. And I feel like it’s showing that I’m growing up a little bit,” Emanuel Jr said.
Against MSU he completed 11 of his 17 attempts for 87-yards while adding a touchdown and interception each. In his performance against New Hampshire, he completed only 37 percent of his passes but had 193 yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding a pair of interceptions.
But that was not the only offense Emanuel Jr. contributed, as he rushed for 137 yards on 21 carries (average of 4.8 yards per carry) while scoring twice on the ground.
A key play in the game was on the final drive when Emanuel Jr. got the carry where it appeared he was down, but it was never called. Emanuel Jr’s fight for more yards gave CMU a fourth and one where it would go for the next play.
“I didn’t think I was down, and I really didn’t hear a whistle,” Emanuel Jr. said. “Coach Pete preaches every day at practice, you better finish, you got to finish. He’s been preaching that since day one when I stepped foot on campus last year to finish, finish, finish. So that’s what I was thinking, I’m not down.”
The next play CMU would attempt to go for it on fourth down and a yard, as Emanuel Jr.’s name was called again with a QB sneak up the middle which allowed the team to continue the drive, setting up the eventual game winning field goal.
“... At that point I was like, do you want it? I was like, come on now, I got y’all, we practiced this we’re gonna execute it right here,” Emanuel Jr. said in the huddle before the big fourth down conversion.
Emanuel Jr.’s performance was good enough to earn him Mid-American Conference West Offensive Player of the week for the second time in his young career, with the first time being in last season’s win over Buffalo.
