Week 1 of the college football season is upon us and it brings non-conference action when the MAC travels to the Sooner State to face a program from the Big 12. The Central Michigan Chippewas are on the road as they make the trip to face the #12 Oklahoma State Cowboys Thursday night. Central Michigan finished the 2021 season with a 9-4 record and capped the year with a 24-21 win over Washington State in the Sun Bowl. Oklahoma State finished the year 12-2 last season, reached the Big 12 title game and then knocked off Notre Dame 37-35 in the Fiesta Bowl. These two programs have split two previous meetings with the Chippewas stunning then-#22 Oklahoma State 30-27 in Stillwater in the most recent meeting on September 10, 2016.
Central Michigan put together a solid campaign in 2021, going 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the MAC. The Chippewas closed the year with seven wins in their final eight games and triumphed in each of their last five games. Jim McElwain’s group has plenty of offensive weapons back as they return seven starters from a season ago. Replacing a pair of first-team All-MAC offensive linemen will be a challenge, as will replacing wide receivers Kalil Pimpleton and JaCorey Sullivan. Defensively, the Chippewas have a lot of work to do in order to make things happen as they have only three starters back from last season’s unit.
Last season, the Chippewas were 29th in the nation in passing offense with 265.4 yards per contest while they finished 51st in the nation with 178 yards per game on the ground. Central Michigan was 35th in the FBS in scoring offense with an average of 32.3 points per game while they were tied for 60th in scoring defense by allowing 25.8 points per contest on the year. Daniel Richardson (191 of 316, 2,633 yards, 24 TD, six INT) is back to run the offense as Jacob Sirmon transferred to Northern Colorado in the offseason. Lew Nichols III is the lead back in the ground game after leading the nation in rushing last season with 341 carries for 1,848 yards plus 16 scores. Myles Bailey (30 carries, 114 yards) and the returning Kobe Lewis, who ran for 1,074 yards in 2019, will be in the mix as well. In the passing game, Dallas Dixon (45 catches, 701 yards, eight TD) is the team’s top returning receiver. Nichols III (40 catches, 338 yards, two TD) and tight end Joel Wilson (31 grabs, 367 yards, six TD) are going to be valuable options as well. Marshall Meeder hit 49 of 51 extra point attempts and 17 of 26 field goal attempts last season with a long of 52.