For the Cardinals, 2009 has been a season in humility. One victory so far, countless games that have just slipped away, and a growing portion of the fanbase that is transitioning from faithful supporter to angry patron, or in the worst cases, apathetic.
Central Michigan has been quite the opposite. CMU was dubbed the MAC front runner from essentially moment one of 2009, and the Chips have certainly delivered. Undefeated in the MAC at 6-0, and 8-2 overall, the Chips’ only blemishes this season have come at the hands of FBS opponents Arizona and Boston College, both on the road. The Chips also knocked off Michigan State while scoring over 50 twice this year in conference play. To call CMU the odds on favorite to not only win the MAC but also this game would be an extreme understatement. Time to better know them…
Team: Central Michigan Chippewas
Record: 8-2 (6-0 MAC)
Head Coach: Butch Jones
Series: 21-19-1, CMU has the advantage
Last Meeting: A 31-24 win in Mt. Pleasant for the Cardinals
Central Michigan Head Coach Butch Jones
. . . Coach Jones (Ferris State ‘90) is in his third year as the head coach at Central Michigan and his third season as a head collegiate mentor
. . . Jones owns a 24-13 career coaching mark and is the first head coach in CMU history to lead the Chippewas to back-to-back bowl games
. . . Jones came to Central Michigan after spending the 2005 and 2006 seasons as the wide receivers coach at West Virginia
. . . From 1998-2004, he was an assistant at CMU.
A CMU Win Over Ball State Would …
. . . make the Chippewas 7-0 in the MAC for the second time in program history (1979).
. . . give CMU its ninth season in school history with at least nine victories.
. . . tie a school record for road victories in a single season.
. . . Improve the Chippewas’ record against MAC opponents to 20-3 under coach Butch Jones
. . . improve the Chippewas’ record in MAC road games under Jones to 11-1.
For the CMU Slant, Check Out:
Fellow Rountable participant Kyle Warber’s blog Fire Up Chips
For the fan perspective, look no further than the Scout.com messageboards under CMU’s page. Good perspective, semi-rational thoughts, and a great passion for the Chips.
CMU Fun Facts
. . . CMU has defeated each of the other 12 MAC programs during Jones’ tenure. He is one of just two active MAC coaches with wins over every other program in the conference.
. . . CMU is 19-3 against MAC opponents during Jones’ tenure, including a victory in the 2007 MAC Championship Game.
. . . The Chippewas are 11-1 in MAC road games under Jones.
. . . Dan LeFevour is the fourth quarterback in Mid-American Conference history to reach 11,000 career passing yards.
. . . LeFevour enters Saturday’s game with 2,783 career rushing yards. He is the 20th player, and first quarterback, in school history to rush for 2,802 yards in a career. He is 34 yards shy of cracking the school’s career rushing yardage top-10 list.
. . . LeFevour is the first player in NCAA history to reach 11,000 career passing yards and 2,500 career rushing yards.
. . . Since the start of the 2007 season, CMU is 13-5 in 18 appearances on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Regional).
. . . Speaking of ESPN, they employ a CMU grad in Ray Bentley. Bentley, you may remember, was the commentator for last year’s BSU-CMU game, drawing the ire of all, and the death threats of some.
Filed under: Ball State, Better Know, MAC |
Over The Pylon 
Hey Ball State,
Is Stan Parrish taking the snaps this week? What happened to that BSU juggernaut from last year? Did Hoke realize what was in the cupboard and take any job to avoid this, or is Stan Parrish living up to his abilities as the D coach who was fired from his previous head coach position? EMU we understand. They are 15 minutes from UofM. BSU schedules New Hampshire, SEMO, Liberty, etc. How do you end up 1-11? Before your ship grows barnacles sitting on the bottom of the MAC West, get a real headcoach and rejoin the fray. Your players deserve it, your fans deserve it, and people who donate funds might want to see it before they dig deep into their fastly emptying pockets. Maybe Dave can advertise on his nightly show for a talented head coach.
Don’t settle for 110% effort from your athletes. Get a coach who can utilize that effort and put up some W’s. Unless, no, you wouldn’t be applying to join IL State and SEMO in their league would you…
BentleyLuvr10-
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. However, we are certainly aware of our issues with this season. Our record, while on paper is bad, is almost certainly directly related to our graduates/losses in the offseason. Hoke knew it too, and he got out. Smart move. Not all of this is Stan Parrish, you have to be able to see that, especially if you keep tabs on Ball State any closer than the box scores
But saying BSU is dragging down the MAC is kind of … well, stupid. My first impression is that you Chippewas go worry about yourselves. You want to boost the MAC? Go schedule some BCS opponents and beat them. We are rebuilding, and while it is severely frustrating, we have to accept the fact we’ll be working our way back up. But bringing down the MAC? No. Does Vanderbilt bring down the SEC by playing and beating only Western Carolina and Rice?
Truth of the matter is we do play Purdue and Iowa next year, and one of those isn’t exactly a slouch. I’m a little irritated we have two FCS schools on our schedule, but until you guys scratch your FCS opponents and beat more than Michigan St. in OOC, you really can’t say too much.