Game Preview - Central Michigan
Sitting at 3-6, Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos’ job appeared to be in serious jeopardy following the large amounts of success that both Brian Kelly and Butch Jones had enjoyed over the previous six seasons. Central ripped off 4 straight victories to close the season, including an exciting Motor City Bowl win over a solid Western Kentucky squad. All that is well and good, but quite honestly, this game shouldn’t be anything but a warm-up for the Notre Dame game next weekend (insert App State joke here).
When Michigan has the ball:
Michigan is going to pound, pound, and pound some more. The Wolverines will work to establish their interior offensive line and get Fitz Touissant some much needed confidence heading in to Week 2. Expect Fitz to eclipse the 100 yard mark in this contest. It will be interesting to see if Michigan attempts to switch up their interior offensive line or if they stick with the original starters for the entire time that the game is in question.
Devin Gardner and the passing offense will see some opportunities early, but expect things to stay pretty vanilla. I would suspect that Jeremy Gallon will get the bulk of the opportunities early while Gardner learns who else he can trust on Saturdays. Look for the coaches to rotate a combination of Joe Reynolds, Jehu Chesson, and Jeremy Jackson at the other outside receiver spot to see who might take the lead for that job.
When Central has the ball:
Central loses a 3 year starter at quarterback but returns a dynamic running back in Zurlon Tipton. Tipton is a 6’, 221 pound senior from Detroit. Tipton ran for nearly 1,500 yards this past season while posting a 5.9 yard per carry clip. In the last six games of the season (of which CMU won 5) Tipon never failed to carry the ball more than 20 times or gain less than 100 yards.
Breaking in a new quarterback, while having a dynamic returner at the running back position, expect the Chips to look to try and manage the game and control clock early on. Michigan’s defensive front is relatively inexperienced and it will be a good opening week test for them to go up against a likely NFL-quality running back. The CMU offensive line will be starting a new left tackle after Jake Fisher was taken #1 in the NFL draft. Expect Greg Mattison to try and “Rush 4” and avoid having to blitz too extensively (if possible) in the opener.
Michigan has not lost a game at home under Brady Hoke. Michigan will not lose this game at home under Brady Hoke. This is the season opener, with a lot of young guys looking to prove themselves and cement their spot in the playing rotation. Michigan will overwhelm Central on both sides of the ball at the point of attack. There is no reason for this game to be close. If possible, Michigan will try to get their two deep as much playing time as possible.
