Western Michigan survives whirlwind ending to retain Victory Cannon, outlast Central Michigan
The Victory Cannon will stay in Kalamazoo for another year as CMU's frenetic comeback efforts were turned back by the Broncos.
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Mt. Pleasant — There were nine seconds on the clock, and Western Michigan was going to need to defend two throws to the end zone late against Central Michigan, nursing a one-score lead in the fourth quarter.
And if that’s sounding eerily familiar, just know the Broncos felt it too, standing on the sideline at Kelly/Shorts Stadium six weeks removed from a fateful last-second loss at Michigan Stadium in the season opener. But the Broncos, as it turned out, had learned more than a few lessons from that searing ending in Ann Arbor.
“There were nine seconds left on the clock here,” Taylor said. “The Michigan game, there was nine seconds left on the clock. And we know how the Michigan game ended. We defend the first one, and we know what happens on the second one with the plus one second. And I think our team, because of the way that we handled that adversity, that loss, that failure, in Michigan, that gut punch, it allowed us to finish the game here. We were in the same scenario and we defended two plays to win the game here.”
Western Michigan (5-2, 3-0 MAC) survived a whirlwind ending to retain the Victory Cannon Trophy and beat bitter rival Central Michigan, 21-14, at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Broncos survived a frenetic push from CMU (3-4, 1-2 MAC) as the Chippewas cut a 21-0 margin down to a touchdown within the final minute, recovered an onside, and had a chance to tie or go for a win at the end with throws to the end zone from just inside WMU territory.
But instead of a crushing loss at the last second, Western Michigan didn’t blink and defended both throws to the end zone — and the preceding harried plays from Central Michigan’s offense — capped by a Daeh McCullough interception on the final play, to hold on for the win and the Victory Cannon for another year.
“Made a few errors, made a few mental errors, that allowed them to get back in the game,” Taylor said postgame. “Listen, in these rivalry games, on the road, crazy wild things happen. We all know about the Iron Bowl and the Kick Six, and, you know, I mean, Ohio State and Texas, Ohio State's got a 20, 21 point lead, and, you know, Texas storms back. And so, listen, our team found a way to win at the end, and I'm proud of that.”
As Jalen Buckley bullied into the end zone with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter to put WMU up 20-0, then quickly 21-0 on Dieter Kelly’s PAT, it looked like Western Michigan was about to get to putting the finishing touches on a lopsided rivalry win.
To that point, WMU held on to the shutout with a defensive effort that, while not dominant, made CMU earn every yard. The Broncos came up with a handful of fourth down stops, and saw several Chippewa drives end on the WMU side of the 50, with a missed field goal by CMU and a number of fourth down stops.
But CMU, at last, managed a response, largely moving down the field to finally get into the end zone on two long passes by Angel Flores. The first was a 44 yard post/seam bend to Langston Lewis that ended the third quarter and took CMU across the 50. A few plays later, Flores half rolled left, reset, and took a massive shot from KJ Burley as he delivered a 32 yard touchdown pass to tight end Jaden Allen.
A 21-7 lead meant the Broncos probably shouldn’t have sat back and been conservative with the offensive plan, especially as the slightly more aggressive footing had delivered three-straight touchdown drives spanning from the tail end of the first quarter to the 5:51 mark in the third.
“We changed a little bit, went conservative,” Taylor said. “And I think we’ve got to stay aggressive, and that's on me as the head coach.”
Andrew Graham
Central Michigan forced two straight punts on ensuing WMU drives, the first since an opening series three and out. Western Michigan muffed a punt that was going to set up another drive as WMU still led, 21-7. The Broncos stood tall in that spot, though, forcing another big turnover on downs.
WMU quickly punted on the following series, and CMU mounted a 3:31 long touchdown drive covering 67 yards and taking 15 plays, ending with a Jadyn Glasser rushing touchdown with :44 left on the clock. That cut the margin to 21-14, and set CMU up with a chance to kick an onside and go for the tie or win.
Glasser was only in the game because Flores had sustained a targeting hit from WMU safety Joey Pope on a 4th down keeper that took CMU down to the Western Michigan 7 yard line. And while that scoring drive had 15 official plays, there were a handful of plays in the goal line sequence wiped out by penalty.
The entire end game sequence, covering one minute and eight seconds of game clock, from Flores getting knocked out of the game with 1:08 left to McCullough’s interception with time expired, took more than 23 minutes of real time.
“I would say the last couple of minutes of that game took many years off my life,” Taylor said. “I don't know how many will find out at the end of the year. I think, listen, our team, the thing that I just told them in the locker room that I was proud of is, they believed that we were gonna win that game the whole time.”
After the touchdown and PAT, an onside was coming. And true to rivalry weirdness, the Chippewas came up with it, starting its last-gasp chance at the WMU 48 yard line, recovered by linebacker Brett McCalla.
But as it felt like the world was ending around them, with CMU making critical plays and coming up with the miraculous onside recovery, the Broncos didn’t lose their nerve.
“Even before they received the onside kick, our coach is already, ‘Defense ready, defense ready,’ WMU edge Scoop Gardner Jr. who had two sacks, said. “And, you know, preparing us for that moment.”
And in the WMU huddle after the onside recovery, the Broncos kept their nerve by focusing on the next play. Central Michigan still had 48 yards to go in less than a minute with no timeouts. A good defensive series was all WMU needed.
“‘Let's just go to the next play’ mentality,” Taylor said. “We've got a chance to win the game. Let's go out and win the game. If you told us before the game that we were gonna be in that scenario with a chance to win, up seven, absolutely, on the road against a rival, you would take that. And so it doesn't matter how you got there. We were there, and I think it was time to reset and refocus. I thought they did a really nice job of that.”
The Broncos came up with the eventual stop they needed, defending two both final desperation plays properly, and left victorious and with the Victory Cannon in tow.
