25 Questions About Who Loves Football

In 1974 CMU won the DII National Title.

What is their body of work?

Like BG, this is a proud program that is really suffering.  For the second straight week, BG is facing a team without an FBS win.  CMU is 1-9.  They have had some close conference games and have only lost one by more than 10.  Their coach is John Bonamego and there's chatter about getting rid of him on Twitter but nothing like what you would have seen searching "Mike Jinks" a month ago.  They are very, very young.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

They have 19 which is really low.  They have 3 true freshmen and 11 redshirt freshmen.

Who are their statistical leaders?

Ryan Tice is #17 in FG%
Mike Danna is #15 in sacks
Malik Fountain is #3 in tackles
Kobe Lewis is #19 in combined kick returns

What is their turnover ratio?

They are -4.  (Unless otherwise noted, all stats are MAC-only.)

Offense:

How is their QB play?

A struggle.  They started with Tony Poljan but he was benched in favor of Tommy Lazzaro, who struggled and was then injured for the season and they are back to Poljan.  They have one other guy (Austin Hergott) who could make his debut in support.  They are VERY last in pass efficiency, with a score of 78.  Akron is next at 104.  They have completed 45% of their passes (last) with 4 TDs (last) and 9 INT (last) and 9.5 yards per completion.

What is their scoring and yards per play?

They are last in scoring at 15 ppg and yards per play at 4 yards.  The next worst is 4.6.

Can they run the ball?

They are 10th at 3.7 yards per carry...even behind BG.  Their leading rusher is the injured QB.

Do they pass the ball?

Former Chip Star Gary Hogeboom on Survivor.

See above.  No receiver getting above 11 per catch.

How is their run/pass balance?
They run on 58% of their plays, which is run heavy in today's game.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

They are last in the MAC at 33% and last in the country.

Did they score in the red zone?

They are last, with four points per trip.

Did they protect the quarterback?

They do not.  They are sacked on 10% of their passing attempts.  (Overall, 14% of their pass attempts result in a sack or Int).

To put it simply, this is one of the lowest-performing offensive units we have seen in years.  If they are gobbling first downs up Saturday, it will be a problem.

Award-winning porn star Brandi Love returns to CMU where
she studied as Tracy Livermore

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

They are much better on defense.  They are 5th in scoring defense and 3rd in yards per play allowed.

Do they defend the run effectively?

Not bad.  They are right in the middle of the pack with 4.4 per carry allowed.

Can they be passed on?

They are 5th in pass efficiency defense.  They allow only 57% completions for 10.8 per reception.

Did they get off the field on 3rd down?

They are 7th at 39%.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They are not great, with 5 points per trip allowed.

Did they pressure the QB?

They do, getting sacks on 8% of attempts.

Special Teams:

Punting?

They are 11th in net punting, with only 2 return yards against, so they are kicking short, unreturnable balls.

Punt Return?

They are 10th in punt returns, no TDs.

Placekicking?

Tice is good at 7 of 9 with a season-long 53 yarder.

Kickoff?

Opponents start on the 25.

Kickoff Return?

They are average in kickoff returns, in the middle of the pack




Miscellaneous, Intangibles?

So, as Clawson used to say, this is a test of who loves football.  Our guys seem to be committed to fighting through to the end.  I have no idea about CMU.  For the second straight week, one of these teams is going to get their first FBS win of the year.

CMU is a 7-point favorite.