By Neil Rosan / @neilandsports
DETROIT, Mich. — Central Michigan’s successful first season with head coach John Bonamego came to a disappointing end in a 21-14 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Quick Lane Bowl.
It was an uncharacteristic game from the Chippewas, who were gashed by Gopher running backs on defense and struggled to find a rhythm in the passing game on offense.
“We were right there,” Bonamego said. “We didn’t have enough in the end. We had a few too many mistakes. Minnesota had a great game plan. They deserved to win, but we feel like we had the opportunities to win this game.”
As the fourth quarter was coming to a close, the game looked like a story line CMU fans had seen before. The Chippewas were trailing but still had one last chance on the final play. CMU nearly had a storybook ending last year in the Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl by lateraling their way to the end zone as time expired.
This season, it was not meant to be. Quarterback Cooper Rush was sacked on the final play to dash any come back hopes in the final game of his junior season.
Rush was held in check by the Golden Gopher secondary. He attempted 29 throws on the night and completed only 15 of them. His 145 yards were a season-low in a year where he was able to break Dan Lefevour’s single season passing record.
“It was well documented that they had a strong secondary,” Bonamego said. “We moved the ball against them well, but we stalled a few times. They played with more press coverage than they shown going into the game.”
An unlikely hero led CMU. True freshman Romello Ross served as a catalyst for the Chippewas by rushing for 100 yards on 19 carries. His highlight worthy 13-yard run was a pleasant surprise for an offense that hadn’t seen the best production from a depleted running-back position.
“The play was just blocked up,” Ross said. “It was well blocked up to the safety. As a running back, when you get to the safety, you’ve just got to keep your feet pumping. Everybody else got on board with it and we pushed the ball in.”
The run gave CMU a 14-13 lead with 11:08 left in the game.
The Golden Gophers came out composed on the following drive. 13 plays later, quarterback Mitch Leidner executed the perfect fake and ran 13-yards into the end zone. The Gophers went for two and took a 21-14 lead after burning 6:36 off the clock.
“Minnesota came out and did some things we weren’t expecting them to do,” senior safety Kavon Fraiser said.
CMU turned to Rush to try to tie the game. It took the Chippewas only two plays to get into Gopher territory, but a key mistake from Rush ended the drive.
Rush was pressured out of the pocket and was close to being sacked. Instead of taking the loss of yards, he forced a ball to Willis that was picked off by cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun.
“I probably should have (taken the sack) looking back on it,” Rush said. “I was just trying to make a play.”
Despite the loss, the Chippewas are looking forward to the future and for good reason. In a time of transition, Bonamego was to lead his team to a winning season and lost six games by a combined total of 49 points.
“Coaching transitions are tough on programs,” he said. “ We’ll hold up a championship trophy here in the very near future. Our seniors won’t be with us, but their fingerprints will be all over this program.”
