Central Michigan defense swarms Buffalo in 38-19 win, bowl eligible for 1st time since 2021
The Chippewas defense came up with five sacks along with five takeaways and a pair of defensive scores in a dominating effort.
Mt. Pleasant — Central Michigan’s defense didn’t wait long to be thrown into the fire on Wednesday night.
Less than five minutes into a weeknight #MACtion game against Buffalo at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, quarterback Joe Labas threw an interception which got returned to the CMU 10 yard line. The defense came out, pushed the Bulls back two yards, and held for a field goal.
And it only got better from there.
“For whatever reason, we really start playing better after something terrible happens to us,” head coach Matt Drinkall said. “And for it to happen right away and it only cost us three points and it was like right — basically you're just starting out down 3-0 with a little bit of smelling salts, now. And those guys just responded.”
Central Michigan’s (6-4, 4-2 MAC) defense put Buffalo (5-5, 4-2) in a blender on Wednesday night, creating five takeaways and eventually knocking Bulls quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson out of the game with five sacks and countless hits, all while scoring a pair of defensive touchdowns in a 38-19 win. The win keeps the Chippewas firmly in the MAC title race for another week and got Central Michigan bowl eligible in Year 1 under Drinkall.
“Sean Cronin and his defensive staff did an unbelievable job,” Drinkall said, lauding his defensive coordinator.
Outside of a 55-yard catch and run on a smoke screen to Nik McMillan for a touchdown where multiple defenders slipped and fell or overran an angle, the Central Michigan defense otherwise made life hell on the Bulls.
On top of five takeaways (plus nearly a sixth on a muffed punt), CMU came up with five sacks, and made it irrelevant that the Bulls outgained them. It’s the first time Central Michigan has had five takeaways in a game in half a decade. And the total takeaways on Wednesday night matched the season total that the Central Michigan defense put up a year ago.
And the Chippewas found offense via defense, as linebacker Jordan Kwiatkowski intercepted a ball that defensive lineman Michael Heldman dislodged from Roberson to quickly retake the lead late in the first half.
Already in the backfield, Kwiatkowski kept steaming forward all the way into the end zone for a defensive touchdown from midfield, putting CMU up, 14-10, going into halftime.
It was one of the two defensive touchdowns that the Chippewas managed, the second coming one play after a Labas interception that set up the Bulls, once more, in the red zone.
The pass rush got home to Roberson, and Dakota Cochran scooped the ball off the turf and rumbled from deep in Central Michigan’s end all the way to the end zone, picking up a block from Kwiatkowski along the way. The 85-yard return is the third longest in program history.
“Brought me back to a little, my offensive days in high school where I had to block a little bit,” Kwiatkowski said. “But saw Dakota stiff arm the quarterback to the ground and started to turn the wheels on a little bit and make one more block so that he could get in the end zone.”
That score pushed the score to 31-13, and flipped a chance for Buffalo to make it a game late into a dagger with 10:18 left in the game.
“Just like coach was saying, MACtion, anything can happen. I've never experienced that before, in all the interceptions I've thrown in my career or even high school,” Labas said. “That doesn't happen. That was a little crazy and thankful for him and the defense.”
Central Michigan added another touchdown to push the lead to 38-13 with 6:36 to play before the backup defense allowed a garbage time touchdown.
So by games end — and Drinkall made sure to make this point known — the CMU starting defense (and special teams) had outscored the Buffalo starting offense, 14-13.
It proved to be a thoroughly dominant effort, as the takeaways piled up, the hits took a toll on Roberson and the Central Michigan defense buried Buffalo to get bowl eligible.
“Yeah, I'm not going to lie, they saved us a lot this game,” said wideout Langston Lewis, who had a second-straight hundred yard game and a touchdown. “They played their tail off.”
