Ohio survives a furious second half comeback by Central Michigan to stay perfect in MAC play.
The Ohio Bobcats (4-2, 2-0 MAC) took a big step in conference play with an important road win, holding on to spoil Central Michigan’s (3-3, 1-1 MAC) Homecoming in a bizarre, wild and and tense 27-25 victory with two halves which could not have been more different.
The game started with a bang for Ohio, as quarterback Parker Navarro pulled the ball from the belly of running back Anthony Tyus Jr. and bolted 53 yards on the ground to the CMU 20 on the first drive of the day. Aided by an Ohio penalty, CMU was able to hold the ‘Cats to a 35-yard Gianni Spetic field goal for the 3-0 lead.
After a Chips three-and-out and with the run game established, Ohio went to the air for multiple chunk plays, including a 20-yard catch by wideout Coleman Owen followed by a nifty sideline grab by wideout Chase Hendricks for 18 more yards. Ohio’s drive would end on a brilliant hustle play by CMU’s Lawai’a Brown, who caught up to Anthony Tyus III, stripped him of the ball, and allowed Elijah Rikard to recover the turnover to stop the scoring threat.
Central couldn’t do anything with the possession, however, which was a theme for much of the first half.
The Chips’ wobbling wheels in the first quarter eventually fell off the wagon in the second quarter, as Ohio’s solid play coupled by a glut of self-inflicted wounds and bad luck overwhelmed the home team.
The Bobcats got rolling at the beginning of the second on five QB runs by Navarro for 61 yards. The Chips seemed helpless to stop Navarro as he ran amok, capping off the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to extend the score to 10-0.
CMU was unable to overcome 68 yards of first-half penalties and things looked bleaker still for the Chips when on the third-down play before their fourth consecutive punt, quarterback Joe Labas injured his throwing arm on a hit from unprotected pressure. With backup Bert Emanuel Jr. in street clothes, the Chips went to inexperienced third-stringer Tyler Jefferson to turn things around. Jefferson, a lefty, came into the contest with only 13 passing attempts and eight rushing attempts as a Chip.
Ohio continued to pour it on and closed out the half with two touchdowns, the second of which— in keeping with the theme of the first half— was aided by a major penalty against CMU.
On the first drive, Navarro continued to dominate the chains with quarterback runs until Ohio advanced to the CMU 25-yard line. The Bobbies then struck through the air twice to wide-open wideout Coleman Owen, who took advantage of a lot of green to score on a five-yard pass from Navarro.
Deep in their territory and acclimating a new quarterback, Ohio forced the punt on a three and out after some conservative play calls.
The final touchdown of the half was sparked on an electric 56-yard catch and run by Ohio’s wideout Chase Hendricks on what appeared to be a tunnel screen. The Chips stiffened and looked like they had a game-changing play by blocking a Spetic field goal attempt on fourth-and-three— only to have the play nullified by a questionable illegal formation penalty against the Chips.
Armed with a new set of downs, Ohio converted its good fortune on a four-yard rushing touchdown by Duncan Brune to extend the lead to 24-0.
Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
The Chips offense, one of the most prolific in the MAC so far this year, only mustered 63 total yards in the first half and, in some ways, were fortunate to be down only 24 points.
The home team that went into the locker room for halftime came out a vastly different squad in the second half. Despite facing a lot of adversity in the second half, the Chips showed a lot of character in the comeback attempt.
At the start of the second half, CMU was able to stop the bleeding on defense and overcome their penalty woes on offense to get their best drive of the day. Behind determined running from B.J. Harris and Marion Lukes and a timely 20-yard pass from QB Tyler Jefferson to tight end DeCorion Temple, the Chips moved 67 yards in eight plays, capped by Lukes’ three-yard touchdown run. CMU added the two-point conversion to make the game 24-8.
The Chips stopped Ohio’s offense again and began another physical drive, leaning on the running game and a 30-yard toss from Jefferson to wideout Solomon Davis. Jefferson appeared to convert a fourth-and-two with a five-yard run, but the play was wiped out on a holding call— the 13th penalty of the afternoon for the Chippewas. It forced Central to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Tristan Mattson to claw back into contention at 24-11.
CMU continued to gain momentum into the fourth quarter as the defense shut down an increasingly conservative Ohio offense for the third-straight three-and-out of the second half— but as it had the whole game, misfortune reared its head to mash the Chippewas down again.
After a promising Donte Kent return was nullified by a procedural penalty on Ohio, CMU seemed to finally catch a break on a nifty 70-yard touchdown punt return by Donte Kent on the re-try, sending Kelly/Shorts Stadium into hysterics midway through the fourth quarter.
During the celebration, referees conferred and the score was ultimately called back on a questionable blindside blocking penalty.
Undaunted, Central Michigan went to work and appeared to have a 48-yard pass completion on third-and-eight from Jefferson to a streaking and diving Solomon. The speedy wideout seemed to have maintained possession by trapping the ball against his helmet but, upon review, the ball was moving in the act of completing the catch and deemed incomplete, dealing Central another blow.
At this point though, the tide of momentum had turned so completely that it seemed CMU would not be denied its Homecoming celebration.
On the next series, Dakota Cochran strip-sacked Parker Navarro, picking the ball up himself and gifting the offense the ball deep in Ohio territory. CMU converted the big play into six points on three hard runs by Marion Lukes to cover the 15 yards to paydirt, bringing the Chips within a touchdown, 24-18.
With things looking increasingly bleak for Ohio and CMU with full momentum, the Bobbies found a way to move the ball downfield, spearheaded by 36 yards on the ground for Navarro to extend the lead to nine points on a clutch 46-yard field goal by Gianni Spetic.
With under two minutes to go on the next possession, Marion Lukes would once again step into the moment, converting a fourth-and-one run from the Ohio 31-yard line to score his third touchdown of the day and get Central within two points.
Matthew Yeoman-Imagn Images
Needing one more defensive stop, the Chippewa defense took to the field after allowing just three second-half points to try and get the ball back— but Parker Navarro and Anthony Tyus III found the cracks created by the Ohio o-line to hold on for the win.
NOTES:
- Central Michigan showed a lot of character as a team coming out in the second half down 24 points with their third string QB as they continued to fight hard despite the circumstances.
- Despite being a BYE week-focus, the Chips had a number of critical self-inflicted wounds with 15 penalties for 133 yards.
- Chips running back Marion Lukes and the run blockers flipped the switch in the second half as Lukes finished 141 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
- Defensive back Donte Kent showed up like a Sunday player at times between the punt return and the team-leading eight tackles and two passes defensed.
- QB Tyler Jefferson may be the long-term guy now, as Labas appeared with his arm in a sling in the second half and second-stringer Bert Emanuel Jr. seems to be injured once again after being a late scratch. All things considered, Jefferson was solid in relief of Labas, throwing for 95 yards while adding 28 yards rushing.
- CMU’s defense was lights out in the second half against an albeit conservative Ohio offense, holding the Bobcats to nine yards passing and three straight three-and-outs.
- With the win, the Bobbies have beaten CMU in back-to-back years for the first time since 2001. This was also Ohio’s first win at Kelly/Shorts Stadium since 2011.
- Ohio’s Parker Navarro has found a new gear at times in the last two games. After sitting out the second half of the win versus the Morgan Bears and the entire game against Kentucky with an injury, Navarro has been a tour-de-force. Navarro rolled CMU for 264 combined yards in the first half (138 pass, 136 yards rush), accounting for two scores. It’s encouraging to see the continued sustained performance after setting a career best combined yards from scrimmage against Akron with over 300 yards just last week.
- Ohio was fortunate to win a road game after losing the turnover margin. The two fumbles raise their total to 10 turnovers in four games.
- The Bobcats continue to find a way to get it done despite all of their injuries. Losing both starting offensive tackles last week and trying to field their best five, six-foot, 300 lbs Davion Weatherspoon started at left tackle, helping to guide Ohio to 277 yards rushing.
- Bobcat running back Duncan Brune, a true freshman from Cologne, Germany, scored his first career touchdown for Ohio on a four-yard run.
The Bobcats head to Yager Stadium next week to take on rival Miami RedHawks at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN+ while Central Michigan heads to The Factory to tangle with Eastern Michigan at 2:00 PM ET on ESPN+. Both games are scheduled for Saturday.