January 6, 2010
GMAC Bowl, 7pm on ESPN
Central Michigan Chippewas (11-2) vs. Troy Trojans (9-3)
Central Michigan record-breaking quarterback and one of my favorites Dan LeFevour will play his final game as he leads the MAC champion Chippewas against the Sun belt champion Troy Trojans. Central Michigan though will have to go out without their coach, Butch Jones, who left to take the head coaching job at Cincinnati.
These were the best two offenses in their respective conferences and neither defense is really strong so this should be a game with a lot of points, but remember everytime we say this, there are barely any points scored.
I want to focus on both of these offenses. Both average about 33 points per game, but I think Central Michigan has some more playmakers on the roster, not to mention LeFevour, and went against tougher competition. Troy though has its own good quarterback in Levi Brown, but also will try to run the ball a lot more than the Chippewas. Central Michigan doesn't have a single runningback on the roster with 100 carries; their leading rusher is Dan LeFevour, but don't sleep on sophomore Bryan Schroeder who got big yards when needed in the MAC championship game against Ohio. For Troy, the freshman back Shawn Southward has really stepped up and averages 5.7 yards per carry.
On Central Michigan, LeFevour set the NCAA record his last game with 147 career touchdowns responsible for, and he like to get the ball to his leading receiver Antonio Brown. Brown is a little guy but very quick and they like to get the ball in his hands on short passes and reverses. If Brown gets in the open field, it's a touchdown everytime I've seen him. For Troy, Jerrell Jernigan is their version of Brown and Jernigan has put up monster numbers his past few games, but the only times I saw him were against Arkansas and Florida Atlantic, and he didn't have big games then so I'm not completely sure what he's capable of, while I've seen Central Michigan six times this year.
Both defenses are undersized, and both offenses are explosive. It should be a shootout, but you never know. If this game is close I trust Dan LeFevour to take matters into his own hands late in the game and win it. He has the NFL ahead, but he won't leave Central Michigan with a disappointment.
Prediction: Central Michigan 38, Troy 30
Result: Central Michigan 44, Troy 41 (Double Overtime)
Central Michigan Quarterback Dan LeFevour, an all-time great, goes out a winner like we knew he would. Two more touchdowns today adds to his NCAA record of 150 and he finishes 2nd on the all-time yards gained list. LeFevour would not finish his college career without a win, and he made sure of it.
He led his eighth fourth quarter comeback. Troy had a 31-19 lead going into the fourth quarter and Antonio Brown quickly changed the direction of the game with a 95 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Then the defense that had struggled all night for Central Michigan got a key stop and forced Troy to punt the ball back to Dan LeFevour, and he had 85 yards to go down 31-26. LeFevour found Antonio Brown on four occasions on the drive including two big gains of 27 and 30 yards. LeFevour's 30 yard pass to Brown was perfectly placed and took the Chips down to the four yard line. LeFevour tried a fade to the 6-5 Bryan Anderson on the first play but overthrew it. On the next play, Central Michigan motioned Antonio Brown out to the right as a decoy and LeFevour hit Anderson on a quick out and Anderson made a great diving catch after using his fingertips to tip the ball closer to him and secured it before hitting the ground. The two-point conversion try was good, but they left too much time on the clock on for Troy. Troy's Levi Brown had matched LeFevour the whole game and Jerrel Jernigan matched Antonio Brown. Brown's pass to Jernigan quickly got the Trojans into field goal range and Michael Taylor hit a career long 46 yard field goal to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, LeFevour did his thing as his receivers were well covered, but cleared a lot of open space by drawing defenders and LeFevour ran 13 yards into the endzone for his 150th career touchdown. Troy answered with a Shawn Southward touchdown run.
In the second overtime, a blocked field goal again came back to haunt Troy like it did last year. Central Michigan blocked Taylor's 31 yard field goal attempt and Andrew Aguila, who had four field goals to score Central Michigan's first 12 points, nailed the game-winner. What will probably be overlooked is tha Jerrel Jernigan who had been the big play guy all night for Troy, dropped two key passes: one in each overtime. He dropped a touchdown that would have tied the game in the first overtime, but it didn't come back to hurt Troy as they tied anyway, but in the second overtime he let a ball off his fingertips, it would have been a great catch, but it's also one he would normally make in the endzone.
Again both of these offenses were quiet in the first half. Troy led 10-9 at halftime and Central Michigan got four field goals before finally scoring a touchdown on an Antonio Brown jet sweep. That got the exchanging of touchdowns started as both offenses heated up from there and we had the expected shootout. Brown had a huge day finishing with 402 all purpose yards (202 on kick returns, 178 receiving, 22 rushing) while Jernigan for Troy had 343 all purpose yards. The quarterbacks were just about even statistically as Levi Brown was 31-56 for 387 yards and LeFevour finished his career going 33-55 for 395 yards.
Just another guy to recognize quickly from tonight is Troy defensive ends Brandon Lang and Cameron Sheppard who I failed to mention earlier. Both of those guys ate up their blocks all game long and got to LeFevour. They only got one sack, but the pressure from them was there all night and LeFevour did a great job of extending plays and also recognizing other blitzes and adjusting the plays. Dan LeFevour is an all-time great of college football and it's sad to see him go.
My Player of the Game: Antonio Brown, Central Michigan Receiver
Honorable Mention: Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan Quarterback
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