The Central Michigan Chippewas (1-5, 2-3-1 ATS, 2-4 O/U) meet with the Akron Zips (1-5, 2-4 ATS, 3-3 O/U) in a MAC battle on Saturday afternoon. The Chippewas remained winless in conference play after a home loss to Ball State. The Zips have also yet to win a MAC game after losing to Ohio last week. The Chippewas beat the Zips by a 45-24 score in the previous meeting in 2019.
The Central Michigan Chippewas enter this one looking to end a three-game slide. Their lone win occurred against Bucknell of the FCS. They have since lost three in a row beginning with a road loss to Penn State and a 38-17 defeat to Toledo in the MAC opener. Last week, CMU was labeled as 7.5-point favorites in a surprising 17-16 home loss to Ball State. They have covered the spread in two of their six games.
Daniel Richardson will attempt 40 + passes per game. The sophomore QB has surpassed 300 passing yards once this season and has collected 1586 passing yards accompanied by a 12:4 TD to INT ratio. He only has a 55% completion efficiency. The Chippewas don’t run often. Lew Nichols II rushed for 97 yards last week and has recorded a team-best 460 rushing yards.
Chippewa t ouchdown. Lew Nichols. Are you surprised?#FireUpChips?????? pic.twitter.com/0NWVOyXURq
— CMU Football (@CMU_Football) October 8, 2022
The Chippewas feature two players with at least 300 receiving yards led by Carlos Carriere. The senior WR has made 24 receptions in his last three performances and has registered 379 receiving yards on the season. The Central Michigan offense has underachieved so far and needs to find more offense if they want to win games, they have scored just 17 and 16 points in their last two bouts.
The Chippewas defense rebounded with a solid effort last week after playing against strong offensive opponents most of the season. They only conceded 237 total yards including just 122 passing yards. The pass defense is placed 88th while the rush defense is 68th. Central Michigan is averaging 26 points on the year, pegging them 88th. The defense is squandering an average of 30.7 points, positioning them 99th in the FBS.