Hurricanes flood Chippewas in 52-3 defeat
Central Michigan University football helmets sit on the sideline during the game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (CM-Life | Alivia Cranick)
After forcing a stop against the Miami offense on its first drive of the game, Central Michigan football wasted no time getting into an early offensive rhythm that took the Chippewas down to the Hurricanes 31-yard line.
CMU was able to take a brief 3-0 lead after a 49-yard field goal from Caden VanHuis, but the momentum quickly swung back to the home team as Miami responded with five straight touchdown drives before halftime eventually leading to a 52-3 defeat for the Chippewas.
"That is an incredible opponent, an incredible staff, the culture, all of that is very, very impressive and not intimidating, but it gets you ready for league play," head coach Matt Drinkall said. "That was, on every front, a very challenging game for us but I am really happy with how our players fought the entire game and got ready to go."
Central Michigan falls to 2-2 on the season ahead of beginning Mid-American Conference play.
After the initial stop by the CMU defense, the offense was able to come up with a field goal settling into a rhythm as Angel Flores took to the air completing three passes on the first drive, one completion shy of last week's total against Wyoming.
However, Miami responded with a 10-play 71-yard touchdown drive that soaked up most of the first quarter to quickly take the lead.
"We played better in the first quarter against Miami than we did against Colgate," Drinkall said. "I didn't expect that to happen."
A fumble early in the second quarter allowed the Hurricanes to quickly take a 14-3 lead.
"We had two snaps that were snapped before we weren't even giving the cadence yet," Drinkall said. "I don't know if something was being said across the line of scrimmage or whatever but that has never been a problem not even in practice."
The Chippewas rotated quarterbacks throughout the second quarter between Flores, Jadyn Glasser and Marcus Beamon, the trio of quarterbacks showed flashes in the passing game finishing a combined 21 of 26 through the air.
The performance ranks third all-time in completion percentage for a CMU passing attack in a game.
Central Michigan trailed 35-7 going into halftime with Miami quarterback Darian Mensah rushing for a touchdown with six seconds left in the half.
"I will be totally transparent, obviously you know the quarterback [Mensah] is very good, seeing him in person is a completely different beast," Drinkall said. "He buried us, he does a tremendous job and it is easy to see. Whatever they are paying that guy, he is underpaid, I promise."
Coming out of halftime, Flores did not enter the game with Drinkall instead opting for Glasser to finish the game as well as giving Beamon a drive at the helm in the third quarter.
"Going into the game, we were not going to run Angel Flores, he didn't see us on any 'and-1's,' we really tried to protect him as much as you could," Drinkall said.
The Chippewas struggled to run the ball against the Hurricanes, finishing with 21 yards on the ground on 25 attempts, which opened opportunities through the air as CMU passed for 137 yards among the three quarterbacks, its best passing performance of the season so far.
"The reality is Miami's box players are so big and so long," Drinkall said. "Offensive football is trying to expand space however way you can, defensive football is about condensing space however way you can, so for us when you play players that are so long and heavy, during the course of a run block those guys can kind of choke it all out and squeeze it out."
However, according to Drinkall, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal had high praise for how CMU's offensive line was able to fare against the Hurricanes' pass rush.
"The offensive line has done a great job," Drinkall said. "Mario Cristobal, who is an o-line savant, and Alex Mirabal, their o-line coach who is the o-line savant, was incredibly complimentary of coach Mace [Hayden Mace] and the offensive line after the game on how well they have been playing up front."
Despite the defeat, Drinkall maintains that the team has made a step in mental preparation for road games going forward.
"I don't know that in game one this year with all the new moving parts, I don't know, if I'm being honest with you, that I did the best job at getting them emotionally prepared," Drinkall said. "Then you fast-forward three or four weeks later to this game, we are able to come out against the Miami Hurricanes, get a stop, move the ball, go operate a long field goal, all three phases really well."
"What we didn't do at all 11 positions and the staff, we didn't win all 11 consistently and that's what you've got to do against a really good team or they add up against you."
Central Michigan football returns to Mount Pleasant to take on Akron for CMU's homecoming game and MAC opener on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3:30 p.m.
