The Central Michigan Chippewas will be facing the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on Saturday afternoon. This marks the fourth time these programs have faced off, with Michigan winning all three contests so far with the last being a 59-9 Michigan win in 2013.
Central Michigan has a new regime in charge in 2025. The Jim McElwain era fizzled out, with McElwain retiring after a 4-8 season in ’24.
Here’s a look at Central Michigan ahead of the tilt versus the Wolverines.
An up-and-down start to the season
Central Michigan had an 11-game
road losing streak, but ended that in its season-opening 16-14 win over San Jose State. However, things got ugly in Week 2 against Pitt on the road, losing 45-17. Now, CMU heads on the road for the third consecutive week to start the season.
A new head coach
Matt Drinkall comes to Central Michigan after spending six seasons at Army. Drinkall began as a quality control coach there, then moved to tight ends coach, then to co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Prior to Army, Drinkall was a high school head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and had a 43-18 record.
Jim McElwain is still involved (sort of)
McElwain may have retired, but he still lives in Mount Pleasant and has been in communication with Drinkall. Drinkall says he calls McElwain for schematic things and running the program as a head coach.
Drinkall plans to show CMU film of the 2019 Michigan-Army game
Drinkall was coaching at Army in 2019, a game that wound up being a nail-biter and a 24-21 Michigan win. Army was up 14-7 at halftime, and the game went into double overtime.
“There are certain situations of it worth showing because obviously the Army team, we had opportunities in that game to change the outcome,” Drinkall said. “But some of the mistakes that were made were self-inflicted. … You play really good opponents, like this Michigan team, anybody’s margin of error is so slim.”
A 3-quarterback system
Yes, you read that right, Central Michigan plays three quarterbacks — Joey Labas, Angel Flores, and Jadyn Glasser.
All three quarterbacks have played well through two games.
- Labas: 16-of-24 for 145 yards with one passing touchdown
- Glasser: 7-of-9 for 78 yards
- Flores: 5-of-6 for 69 yards
“The cool part is that (Labas, Flores, and Glaser) don’t come in and do one thing or like three things,” Drinkall said. “Each of them runs the whole offense, but each of them has their own personal way they operate it, their own flavor to it.”
Two running backs to watch for
Nahree Biggins has rushed for 112 yards this season on 27 carries, while Trey Cornist has also rushed for 112 yards on 22 carries with one rushing score. Biggins has three catches this season, while Cornist has yet to record one. Most of Biggins and Cornist’s production came in Week 1 against San Jose State; both runners failed to gain traction in Week 2 against Pittsburgh — Cornist ran the ball nine times against Pitt for 13 yards while Biggins rushed nine times for 10 yards.
A leaky pass defense
Central Michigan has tallied three interceptions this season, but it’s giving up a lot of passing yards to the opposition. San Jose State had 308 passing yards versus CMU, and Pitt had 340.
Rushing defense has been vulnerable
In the Week 2 loss to Pitt, CMU gave up 124 yards on the ground and two rushing scores. Pitt averaged 4.8 yards per carry against the Chippewas.
The Chippewas haven’t generated much pressure
CMU has only recorded two sacks this season. A week after Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood was pressured constantly by Oklahoma, this will be welcomed news for the Wolverines.
Predictions
Central Michigan’s offense is interesting with its three quarterbacks and should keep Michigan’s defense on its toes after struggling against Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer. However, this is a game Michigan is a 27.5-point favorite to win and should pull away early and comfortably. Bryce Underwood should have a bounce-back game against the CMU pass defense, and Michigan’s running backs should have some explosive plays against the rushing defense.
