Defense, run game power Central Michigan past Sacramento State, 28-7

MT. PLEASANT — Safety Coen Ali planted his feet and drove his shoulder into a Sacramento State receiver coming across the middle of the field just 8:49 into what turned into a defensive showcase for CMU. 

The hit by Ali, coming on Sacramento State’s opening drive of the game, which at that point had marched down into the high red zone for CMU, jarred the ball loose and up into the air, right to fellow Chippewa defender Justin Taylor, who plucked it out of the air and got slung down at the CMU 9 yard line.

It’s an early play that cut out at the knees the Hornets’ chance to tie the game after CMU took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession, and set the tone for an evening of the Chippewas largely suffocating the Sacramento State offense, all despite a rash of injuries. 

“Shout out Coen,” Taylor said postgame, recounting his fourth interception of the season. “Without Coen, that play would have not been made. But yeah, they tried to do some RPO game in the red zone there. And, you know, I'm coming down to fit, fit the run, and I see the quarterback still has the ball, balls out, you know, you got to run the ball. Coen makes an amazing break on the route. He forces it up, and next thing you know, the ball was just kind of right there. It was a gift from God, to be honest.”

Central Michigan (5-5, 3-3 MAC) rolled over Sacramento State (2-9, 1-7 MAC), 28-7, with a complementary dose of defense and dominant rushing, holding the Hornets to 211 total yards and an opponent to seven points for a second-straight week as the offense rolled to 424 yards, with 319 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. 

“I mean, just phenomenal again and under a hundred yards rushing,” Drinkall said about the defensive performance. 

Nick Woodford led the charge on the ground, including on a seven play, 68 yard opening drive, with a 27-yard run through the middle taking the Chippewas across the 50, before Jayden Clerveaux took another inside run another 27 yards, this time for the opening touchdown. 

Woodford finished with 119 yards, going back-to-back over the century mark. Jayden Clerveaux added 100 and Brock Townsend had a pair of touchdowns. Clerveaux also had a rushing score, as did Vaughn Blue. 

CMU out-possessed Sacramento state nearly 40 minutes to 20 and ran 30 more offensive plays than the Hornets.

Central Michigan’s next two drives after the first crossed into Sacramento State territory, with more rushing success — and a converted 4th and 1 on the ground, a bit of a speciality for CMU at this point — but turned it over on downs as a short Jadyn Glasser completion to Jayden Clerveaux got stopped a yard short on the first drive then missed a 50-yard field goal on the next. 

But it was drives before and after halftime for the Chippewas that swung the game firmly into its favor. 

Central Michigan managed a near perfect procession before halftime, bleeding off almost all of the clock to get Vaughn Blue across the goal line running to the left with :19 left in the half. CMU got some help on what appeared to be a third down stop when Sacramento State got flagged for a questionable personal foul. 

And then after forcing a quick stop on Sacramento State’s opening possession in the second half, the Chippewas started at the minus 3, then marched 97 yards for a touchdown, one of the 10 longest touchdown drives in CMU history. 

That drive was keyed by Glasser scrambling for 27 yards on 3rd and 8 from the CMU 5, dodging blitzers to emerge from the pocket into wide open space. Brock Townsend paid it off a handful of plays later, burrowing through the middle of the line and spitting out the other side to scamper 40 yards for a touchdown that put CMU up, 21-7. 

“So that one was just a little bit circumstantial,” Drinkall said of how the play unfolded for Glasser to scramble and keep the drive alive. “But it was great pocket mechanics by Jadyn to be able to step, funnel up in the pocket and then puncture vertically. It was awesome.”

All told, CMU finished with 56 carries for 319 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. 

“It's kind of just like the box group,” Drinkall said. “It's like it's the tight ends, it's the offensive line. It's all 4 of those backs. 
When they're not carrying the ball, they do a tremendous job blocking. I don't know — coach [Hayden] Mace, that group, and coach [Derek] Fulton, they just do a really good job. They're really steady, they're really consistent.”

Clerveaux put it more simply. 

“They were giving their hearts out there,” Clerveaux said. 

And from there, a defense that has allowed 388 yards and 14 points across the last 120 minutes of football — both wins for Central Michigan — showed up in a big way. 

After CMU took the 21-7 lead, Jaion Jackson came up with a third down sack on a corner blitz, sending the Hornets punt unit on to the field

“I think it was Week 3 when we played Wyoming,” Taylor said.
”When I sat up here and I talked to the guys, in our team meeting, it was player-led, and I told them, like, we've yet to really play complimentary football, and now you start to see how all those things go hand in hand together. That's how you win football games in any league. You have to play complementary football, special teams, offense and defense. 
And that's exactly what we did today.”