CMU won its third . . .
"That's a heck of a win," first-year CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "Our guys had to learn how to win at home, and we've kind of done a decent job of that. The next step in the program was to go on the road and figure out how to get a win.
"That's a happy locker room in there and it should be. I'm really proud of those guys. Kind of got a little bit of a monkey off our back."
The Falcons returned a CMU fumble 100 yards to tie the game 7-7 late in the first quarter. Minutes later, the Chippewas were back in front after a 7-yard Ward TD run. The Falcons scored on a 75-yard drive to open the third quarter, drawing to 21-14. Again, the Chippewas responded with another Ward TD run, this one from nine yards, less than two minutes later to restore their lead to two TDs, 28-14.
That spelled the beginning of the end for Bowling Green (2-5, 1-2) as once again, Ward and Lewis proved to be a potent one-two punch. Chippewa quarterback Quinten Dormady, in his second game back after missing four with an injury, was relatively sharp and efficient, completing 22 of 36 pass attempts for 295 yards and one touchdown.
The Chippewas finished with 553 yards, 299 through the air, 254 on the ground and held a 10-plus minute possession time advantage.
"The offense is starting to play with some confidence," McElwain said. "The big key there is we stay balanced again. Probably could have thrown it a little bit more, but we didn't have to. You kind of like that."
The Chippewas contained Bowling Green's Grant Loy, holding the dual-threat quarterback to 166 passing yards and 67 on the ground. He was intercepted three times.
The Falcons finished with 344 total yards, and converted on just one of their 11 third-down opportunities. CMU also stopped the Falcons on three of their five fourth-down tries.
Loy had been the catalyst in Bowling Green's 20-7 victory last week over rival Toledo. It was the Falcons' first win over their archrivals in a decade.
The key to slowing Loy, as it is with any dual-threat signal-caller, is to take away one aspect. The Chippewas chose to limit his running, and take their chances with the junior's arm.
"Their quarterback is a great competitor and they're a good overall team," said safety Da'Quaun Jamison, who had two of the Chippewas' interceptions. "We knew they were coming in with momentum. We knew if we could make them one dimensional we would have a chance to win."
(Courtesy of CMU Athletics)