Hey there, Chippewas. Brynn Haverkamp here, blaze-orange beanie on, snowmobile trailer in the driveway and a fresh stack of sack tags on the kitchen table. If you're new, here's how my season works. Every sack is a tag. You fill a tag, you holler, "Ope, sack!" You go home happy. Some weeks you come back with a full freezer. Some weeks you come back with a story and a sandwich.
Last week was a sandwich week. This week, I've got my eye on a bird.
Part 1: Three Quiet Quarters and a Loud Fourth
Western Michigan beat Central Michigan 21-14 on Saturday in Mount Pleasant, in front of 25,352 people. We're 3-4, 1-2 in the MAC. I'll be honest with you, because I'm always honest in the deer stand: the first three quarters were rough.
Western's Jalen Buckley ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Broc Lowry threw for only 48 yards, but he didn't have to, because the Broncos ran for 224. It was 21-0 after three quarters, per AP. Western Michigan now leads the series 55-40-2, according to AP, in the 97th meeting.
But then the fourth quarter showed up wearing its good boots. Angel Flores led a 93-yard drive and finished it with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jaden Allen. Later, Jadyn Glasser scored from 2 yards out with 44 seconds left. 21-14. We couldn't get the onside kick, but the Chippewas made it a game.
Flores carried it 31 times for 117 yards and went 14 of 25 for 162 yards. That's a quarterback who wants the ball every play, and I respect a grinder. Langston Lewis caught four passes for 74 yards, including a 44-yarder. Xavier White made 11 tackles, Mayson Hitchens made 10 and shared a sack, and Jaion Jackson and JJ Douglas made nine each.
Now, the tag report. One shared sack. Half a tag. Ope. We'll need more of those.
And the honest field notes: we went 4-for-15 on third down and 3-for-7 on fourth, and Caden VanHuis missed a field goal. Western's Scoop Gardner Jr. had two sacks on us. That loss also matters beyond the standings. Wikipedia says the Western game decides the Cannon Trophy, and it counts toward the Michigan MAC Trophy, which goes to the best of Michigan's three MAC teams: Central, Western and Eastern. Western has the Cannon for another year. We still have Eastern on Nov. 4 to keep the bigger trophy hunt alive.
The bigger season has some good hunting in it. We beat Akron 41-17 on Oct. 3, beat Wyoming 24-10 and beat Colgate 13-10. And AP's preview ranks our rushing offense 44th in FBS, at 184.3 yards a game, and our pass defense 26th, at 174.3. That's a team built for cold-weather football.
Part 2: The RedHawks Come North
Saturday, 1 p.m. Eastern, ESPN+, Miami (Ohio) visits Mount Pleasant.
Let me give Miami its credit, because it's earned. The RedHawks are 4-3 and 2-1 in the MAC, and AP says they just won back-to-back games for the first time this season. They intercepted Akron four times on Saturday and ran for 324 yards. Rodney Nelson had a career-high 142. Grant Lyons has four sacks this year, and Malcolm McCain has 58 tackles. AP ranks Miami's run defense 24th in FBS. That's a real defense.
But here's where I sit up in the stand, folks. AP ranks Miami's pass defense 132nd in FBS. It gives up 276.9 passing yards a game. AP also ranks Miami 126th in red zone defense, letting opponents score on 94.1% of trips. And on offense, Miami converts 34.2% of its third downs, 113th in FBS.
I hear you. "Brynn, our passing offense is 135th." I know. I keep the stats on the fridge. But if there was ever a week to load up the passing game, it's against a defense ranked 132nd against the pass. Lewis just caught a 44-yarder. Allen just scored from 32 yards out. Give Flores a little time, and let's see what happens when a run-first team catches a pass defense napping.
And Miami's record has some soft spots. The RedHawks lost 24-20 at home to Bowling Green. They needed a one-point win at UMass, 20-19. They lost 59-14 at Pittsburgh. Their wins came against Holy Cross, UConn, UMass and Akron.
I'll admit the history isn't kind to us lately. CollegeFootballData.com says Miami has won the last five meetings. But CMU beat Miami 34-27 in Mount Pleasant in 2014, and 21-9 in Oxford in 2013. We've filled this tag before.
Now let me talk about their famous nickname, the "Cradle of Coaches." Wikipedia says Miami is known for producing high-profile head coaches: Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian and plenty more. There's even a set of statues of many of them at 120% of life size. And look, that's impressive. But think about it. Miami's whole claim to fame is coaches who left Miami. They built statues of the ones who got away. Up here, we call that the one that got away, and we just tell the story at the bait shop.
And one more note from the scouting trail: Akron opened its game against Miami on Saturday with an 11-play, 97-yard touchdown drive, per AP. Miami's defense can be moved on.
Meanwhile, Central Michigan won the 1974 NCAA Division II national championship, per Wikipedia, and we've won seven postseason games. We drew 60,624 fans to the 2007 Motor City Bowl. And in 2021 we beat Washington State in the Sun Bowl.
Tales From Two Towns
Mount Pleasant. This is home, the county seat of Isabella County, a city of 21,688 with the Chippewa River running right through it. Wikipedia says large amounts of oil were found here in 1928, and Mount Pleasant became known as the "Oil Capital of Michigan." The city seal still has an oil drill on it, and the high school teams are the Oilers. Our town opened its first library in 1879. Central Michigan's main campus here is the largest of eight CMU locations across the state, with just over 10,000 undergraduates living on campus or in campus-affiliated housing in the fall of 2022. When the snow comes, the sleds come out, and when the leaves fall, the stadium fills up. That's Mount Pleasant.
Oxford. Oxford, Ohio, is a nice little college town of 23,035. But here's what I found out. Wikipedia says Oxford was founded in 1810 to serve as the home of Miami University. So the whole town was built to hold a college. That's not a town. That's a dorm with a zip code.
And let's talk about the name, kindly. Miami University is in Oxford, Ohio. It's not in Miami. It's not in Florida. Oxford isn't in England, either. That's two names, and neither one matches where you are. We're Central Michigan, and we are, in fact, in central Michigan. Ope, but it's true.
Brynn's Tag Checklist
1. Fill at least three sack tags. I'm leaving the freezer open. 2. Take some shots downfield against the 132nd-ranked pass defense. 3. Finish drives. Red zone scores are the trophy buck.
Ope, sack. Fire up, Chips.
My call: Miami (OH) RedHawks 24, Central Michigan Chippewas 23.