[jpfine]

Rittenberg Roundup: Central Michigan handle the Panthers in Chambers' first game

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
August 31, 2013
-------------------------------------------
Mount Pleasant, MI - The first game in charge as the Chippewas head coach went exactly as planned for Andrew Chambers. During the blackout, Central Michigan beat FCS-opponent, Northern Iowa, by a score of 38-19.

In the first quarter, after a defensive stop, the Chippewas marched down the field and started right away feeding the ball to James Mitchell. On the first drive, he rushed five times. Even though they were trying to give Mitchell the ball, they ended up scoring the first touchdown in the Chambers regime by passing the ball. Marcus Jackson threw a 0-yard pass to Garrett Ward for the score.

Even with the first drive going so well, the defense allowed a couple first downs by the Panthers, and Northern Iowa ended up scoring a 52-yard field goal. Although points were allowed on the drive, Freshman Linebacker Justin Crum really showed up for the defense. Filling in for Junior Landon Phillips, who tore his ACL and is out for the season, Crum was expected to leave open his side of the field and make mistakes that you'd think freshmen would. However, he did the exact opposite of most (including myself) expected and did his job on defense. The two teams exchanged field goals to finish the half off at 10-6.

In the second half, the Chippewas took a two-minute drive to score a 37-yard pass to Ward for his, and Central Michigan's, second touchdown of the season. It took a stick play and Ward to outpace the defender to grab another touchdown. After a drive that led to nothing for the Panthers (and another defensive stop led by Crum), the Chippewas set up shop in their own territory. They took the ball all the way to the one-yard line before they went for it on fourth down, and failed to score.

After the mishap, the Panthers were able to capitalize and score a touchdown. At the time of the score, UNI was trailing the Chips, 17-12, and they decided to go for two to make the game a 3-point game. However, the Chips defense came up big and picked off the throw. After that failed 2-point conversion, the momentum was with Central Michigan for the rest of the game.

Mitchell scored twice from within the three-yard line within a matter of a minute, making the score, 31-12, in favor of Central Michigan. After allowing a heart-wrenching touchdown run for Edgar Miller, the Chips offense marched down the field and scored one more touchdown to make the final score of the game, 38-19.

Northern Iowa Panthers at Central Michigan Chippewas
Aug 31, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Northern Iowa Panthers (0-1)	0	6	0	13	19
Central Michigan Chippewas (1-0)	7	3	7	21	38

Team Stats Comparison
	UNI	CMU
Total Offense	272	418
Rushing Yards	124	122
Passing Yards	148	296
First Downs	11	21
Punt Return Yards	0	21
Kick Return Yards	126	49
Total Yards	398	488
Turnovers	1	2
3rd Down Conversion	2-9	6-8
4th Down Conversion	0-1	0-1
2-Point Conversion	0-1	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2-1-1	6-4-1
Penalties	2-30	0-0
Possession Time	10:12	13:48

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		UNI	CMU
1:24	(CMU) TD: G. Ward, 0 Yd pass from M. Jackson (T. Webb kick)	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		UNI	CMU
4:49	(UNI) FG: T. Sievertsen, 52 Yd FG	3	7
1:50	(CMU) FG: T. Webb, 29 Yd FG	3	10
0:00	(UNI) FG: T. Sievertsen 31 Yd FG	6	10
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		UNI	CMU
3:23	(CMU) TD: G. Ward, 37 Yd pass from M. Jackson (T. Webb kick)	6	17
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		UNI	CMU
4:04	(UNI) TD: D. Johnson, 1 Yd run (2-pt failed)	12	17
2:13	(CMU) TD: J. Mitchell, 2 Yd run (T. Webb kick)	12	24
1:14	(CMU) TD: J. Mitchell, 1 Yd run (T. Webb kick)	12	31
0:41	(UNI) TD: P. Wright, 45 Yd pass from B. Carnes (T. Sievertsen kick)	19	31
0:15	(CMU) TD: J. Dowdell, 8 Yd pass from M. Jackson (T. Webb kick)	19	38

Northern Iowa Panthers

Central Michigan Chippewas PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Marcus Jackson 21/31 296 3 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD James Mitchell 26 107 4.1 2 Marcus Jackson 2 9 4.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Garrett Ward 8 109 13.6 2 James Mitchell 5 49 9.8 0 Jarvis Dowdell 3 48 16.0 1 Joe Brown 3 61 20.3 0 Jermaine Harris 1 24 24.0 0 Fred Floyd 1 5 5.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Steve White 2 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Justin Crum 6 2.0 0 0 Jason Miller 5 0.0 0 0 Antonio Butler 4 0.0 0 0 Art Wilkerson 3 0.0 0 0 Richard Lemon 2 0.0 0 0 Kevin Robinson 2 0.0 0 0 Sean Ingraham 2 0.0 0 0 Carlos Sullivan 2 0.0 0 0 Greg Galloway 2 0.0 0 0 Cedric Mann 2 0.0 0 0 Aaron Sharpe 2 0.0 1 0 Roger High 2 0.0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Tim Webb 1-1 5-5 8 30 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Joe Brown 2 42 21.0 0 Greg Galloway 1 7 7.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Joe Brown 4 21 5.2 0

The first game for Chambers was amazingly executed and, without leaders such as Reed, Peterson, and Fisher, the Chippewas were able to pull out an astounding win. Although it does nothing for them in the tier, it is a great confidence booster and a great start for the first year coaching staff.

Central Michigan 2013 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Aug 31	vs Northern Iowa Panthers (Home Opener/Blackout)	Won, 38-19
Sep 7	vs Eastern Michigan Eagles (Rivalry)
Sep 14	at Michigan State Spartans
Sep 21	at Northern Illinois Huskies
Oct 5	vs Ball State Cardinals
Oct 12	vs Georgia State Panthers (Homecoming)
Oct 19	at Miami University RedHawks
Oct 26	at Kentucky Wildcats
Nov 9	at Western Michigan Broncos (Rivalry)
Nov 16	vs Vanderbilt Commodores (Maroon Out)
Nov 23	vs Massachusetts Minutemen (Senior Night)
Nov 30	at Notre Dame Fighting Irish

After the win against Northern Iowa, Central Michigan look to face rival Eastern Michigan on September 7.
-------------------------------------------
Update
I wanted to give you all an update on this project (I know, I've already given you two updates). After my first game, I have decided to change the quarter length from 6 minutes to 7 minutes. I felt that the game was too short and that there should be more plays, yards, etc.

Also, after tomorrow, I will be posting sporadically until Winter Break. I'm a freshman in high school and I have more first Finals next week, and I need to take time to prepare for those (obviously). I said this earlier on in the thread, but I just wanted to reiterate. Once Winter Break starts, I'm gonna try to get a lot of games done (hopefully the first season) to make up for the lack of posting this week and the next.

And that is all. I hope you are enjoying the thread and I can't wait to see how this ends up!