Central Michigan drops tight game to Toledo 28-23

On a beautiful mid-November evening in Mount Pleasant, Michigan the CMU Chippewas would host the Toledo Rockets in a key West Division match-up.  The game would be broadcast nationally on ESPN for the entire nation to see the good play in the Mid American Conference.   Toledo came into the game with a 7-1 record having lost their first game last week dropping them out of the top 25 in the nation.   Central Michigan came into the game with a 4-1 record in Conference play.

Central Michigan's quarterback Cooper Rush came into the game ranked high as a top quarterback in the country.  For the first quarter and half it was all Toledo Rockets jumping out to a 21-0 lead.   Rocket quarterback Phillip Ely would have a big day by completing 23 out of 40 passes for 339 yards and 2 touchdown passes.   In front of a small crowd at Kelly Shorts Stadium the Chippewas would fight back to make it a 21-10 game at the half.

Central Michigan came out and scored first in the 2nd half on a 27 yard touchdown pass to Corey Willis from Cooper Rush.   The strangest moment of the game came when Referee gave CMU a warning on too much crowd noise to the band and cheerleaders even though there wasn't much of a crowd left.   The announced attendance of 13,490 saw the Chippewas score late in the fourth quarter on a 5 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Rice from Rush again to make it a 28 - 23 game.  A two point conversation was missed.   That would be all of the scoring for the game.   CMU drops to 4-2 in the Western Division and now need a win in their final two games to become bowl eligible.  They will play Kent State and Eastern Michigan University who have a combined record of 4-15.