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Nate Schneider: Baffling how a fourth-place MAC West finish considered a ‘very good season’ in CMU head coach Dan Enos’ fifth year
Sun Photo by Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis - Central Michigan fifth-year head coach Dan Enos scans the field Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, during a 32-20 loss to rival Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
By Nate Schneider, The Morning Sun
Posted: 11/23/14, 3:39 PM EST | Updated: 1 min ago
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Perspectives are important.
If Western Michigan had finished this regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference, that would be considered a fantastic season.
That’s because last year under incoming head coach P.J. Fleck, the Broncos stumbled and bumbled and rowed their way to a 1-11 record.
But instead of just a six-win improvement, Fleck in his second year has WMU rolling with an 8-3 record and 6-1 in the MAC following Saturday’s 32-20 win at Central Michigan. The Broncos still have an outside shot at a MAC title as they take on Northern Illinois next weekend and as strong as a 10-win season is still poss
That’s called an extremely successful season.
If Western Michigan had simply compiled the record CMU currently has, you’d still have to give all due credit because of how far the program has come along and how young the Broncos are under the eccentric but incredibly savvy direction of Fleck.
Conversely, a seven-win regular season and 5-3 MAC record does not look nearly as good under Chippewas fifth-year head coach Dan Enos.
Enos still did what he apparently felt he had to do when asked if he felt CMU’s regular season ended in average fashion. He defended it to the core.
“I thought we had a very good season,” Enos said. “The schedule we played, no one had a tougher schedule than us in the whole league. We had to play Tennessee-Chattanooga, which is 8-3 or 9-3 now. We played a Big Ten team, an ACC team, a Big 12 team. Then we had our first five games in the MAC against teams that went to bowls last year. Thank you very much. We won at Northern Illinois on the road and nobody’s done that in 28 tries. There are times this year when we were outstanding. We had two days in my opinion, today and the Ball State game, that kept us from being a 7-1 team in this league. That’s the difference. But I thought we had a very good season and accomplished some very good things.”
Good seasons are when a team does not allow two home losses happen like the ones CMU suffered at the hands of the Cardinals and the Broncos.
No one doubts Enos’ passion in wanting to win a MAC Championship, but when the MAC West Division is so wide-open this year having that goal fall so far short is inexcusable.
Central Michigan arguably had the top skill players on offense in the MAC this year in wide receiver Titus Davis and running back Thomas Rawls, plus a defense that returned nine starters and lived up to its billing much of the season.
All that did for the Chippewas was earn a fourth-place MAC West finish for a third straight year, while in the five years under Enos that is still their best conference finish.
Let’s take a minute to remember that there are only six teams in the MAC West.
Enos can gripe all he wants about the schedule, but CMU fans would gladly take a 1-3 or 0-4 non-conference record if the Chippewas can still win a MAC Championship.
And it isn’t like those major conference opponents were powerhouses anyway.
No one can take the 38-17 victory over Purdue away from CMU as it played an outstanding game that day and most certainly deserved that decisive of a victory. But the Boilermakers are now a 3-8 football team with eight of those nine losses being by double digits.
Kansas was so bad that Charlie Weis was fired as head coach of the Jayhawks eight days after his team defeated Central Michigan 24-10. The Jayhawks did make top headlines Saturday when they allowed Oklahoma true freshman running back Samaje Perine set a Division I record with 427 rushing yards.
As for Syracuse, the team that looked like world-beaters during its 40-3 throttling of Central Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium – yup, another 3-8 team that is going nowhere in the ACC.
Doesn’t look like such a brutal schedule does it?
Northern Illinois played at Northwestern and at Arkansas. Toledo hosted Missouri while playing at Cincinnati and Iowa State. Western Michigan squared off with Purdue and Virginia Tech on the road.
Enos is correct that CMU had a difficult beginning to its MAC schedule, but everyone in the MAC West has to play each other at one time or another.
The Chippewas could not take care of business in 2013 when they hosted Toledo and Northern Illinois, so no one is going to feel sorry for them when they go on the road for those games.
And when CMU did pull off the upset at NIU, it left open a world of possibilities for what could follow including a MAC West title.
In true Enos fashion, Central Michigan put up a clunker the next week at home against Ball State.
Leading up to the game against Western Michigan, Enos said that quick turnarounds are possible in the Mid-American Conference in some situations.
While Enos has his Chippewas progressing from year to year in a sloth-like fashion, Fleck has the Broncos on the fast track to Mid-American Conference supremacy in the next couple of years.
Fleck has received plenty of flak for his “Row the Boat” slogan and all the other marketing gimmicks he has used to infuse life into a Western Michigan football program that was close to flat-lining before he arrived.
It’s all worked.
When Brian Kelly arrived at Central Michigan a decade ago, he turned a losing program into a consistent winner in the blink of an eye.
Kelly was CMU’s Fleck.
Enos, on the other hand, is staying the course and ending up with fourth-place finishes.
Ho-hum same old stuff often leads to same old results.
The no-handshake
Also making the news in the fallout of the CMU loss Saturday is the Chippewas senior captains refusing to shake the hands of the Western Michigan players following the coin toss.
In a story on MLIve.com, Western Michigan senior cornerback Donald Celiscar explained what transpired while he was at midfield.
“We were trying to shake hands,” Celiscar said to MLive. “We got class and we were trying to shake hands with them, but they didn’t want to do that. I guess they’re being Central I guess. That’s all I can say.”
Fleck also weighed in with his two cents.
“Everybody has their beliefs,” Fleck said. “I do know this: It’s a man’s game. You might not respect your opponent. I was taught a long time ago by Joe Novak, Jerry Kill, Mike Nolan, Dennis Erickson to be classy. Be you, but be classy. They didn’t shake our hands. That’s OK. I just know this: Our players are always going to respect the game. You always have respect for your opponents, but respect the game.”
If Central Michigan’s captains were trying to get in the heads of Western Michigan’s players before the game even started, it certainly did not work.
After that lack of class, the Chippewas probably got what they deserved.
Bowl game possibilities
Sources close to the Central Michigan program say that the Bahamas Bowl or the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl could be among the destinations for the Chippewas next month.
The Bahamas Bowl is in its first year of existence and pits the MAC versus a Conference USA opponent. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl would be versus a Mountain West Conference team.
The bowl selection show will air Dec. 7 on ESPN.
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Nate Schneider
Nate Schneider: Baffling how a fourth-place MAC West finish considered a 'very good season' in CMU head coach Dan Enos' fifth year
Perspectives are important.If Western Michigan had finished this regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 in the Mid-American Confer...
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