2011 Central Michigan Football Predictions
Written by Patrick Webb
The Central Michigan Chippewas are looking to bounce back off a tough three-win season following four solid seasons in a row. Dan Enos’s squad was hit hard last season by attrition and injuries, but still only lost five games by seven points or less with a -11 turnover margin. The good news for Central Michigan is that this is now a deeper and more experienced roster.
Offensively the Chippewas will key on the performance of QB Ryan Radcliffe, who finished the season strongly with three 300 yard games and a 5/2 TD to INT ratio. Radcliffe had big shoes to fill last season replacing Dan LeFevour and will enter this season entrenched as the starter.
He is joined in the backfield by two solid tailbacks in Paris Cotton (651 yards, 4.6 yards per carry) and the punishing Zurlon Tipton, who scored 4 TDs in the final two games and will likely carry the load this season.
WR Cody Wilson is coming off a great season, catching 83 balls for over 1,000 yards in his sophomore campaign. He is joined by Jerry Harris and Cedric Fraser, who have plenty of reps between them. Tight End David Balckburn made a solid contribution to the passing game last season with 22 catches and 3 TDs.
The offensive line has some work to do as they return only two starters from last season, but this unit was decimated by injuries and saw eight different players start last year. Darren Keyton, Rocky Weaver and Jake Olsen all have talent and multiple years of experience and Eric Fisher boasts eleven starts including nine last season at three different positions. This unit should improve just from a consistency standpoint and should benefit from the shuffling around last season.
Defensively Central Michigan loses its top two tacklers, but has experienced players ready to assume the departed players roles with Mike Petrucci (SR) and Alex Smith (JR) joining strong side linebacker Armond Staten as starting linebackers.
The defensive line returns three starters, including two ends that combined for twenty starts last season. Both are being pushed for time by Caesar Rodriguez. John Williams will anchor one tackle spot; he has started every game of the last two seasons. He is expected to be joined by a rotation, including a talented red shirt freshman in the 6’6 297 lbs Leterrius Walton.
The secondary returns the talented Jahleel Addae, who managed 80 tackles as a safety last season. Although this group doesn’t return a lot of starts, CBs Cunningham and White have plenty of experience and returning FS John Carr started five games last season. Converted QB Kyle Smith is also pushing for time in the secondary after a strong spring.
This unit struggled to stop the run, but with better health, a stronger defensive line rotation and an offense turning the ball over less they should improve on last season’s scoring and offensive stats.
Kicker David Harman returns after a solid freshman campaign. He made 9 of 12 field goals, but struggled from beyond 40 yards. Curtis Huge has been brought in from junior college to push for time at both punter and placekicker, battling sophomore Richie Hogan for the punting job. Special teams were a problem for Central Michigan last season and the punting can’t be much worse than last season’s 32.9 net. The return units are up in the air, but could be manned by starters Zurlon Tipton and Cody Wilson. Wilson had a solid 7.5 yard punt return average last season.
Schedule Analysis: Central Michigan has a tough opening schedule as they face a FCS opponent at home and then hit the road for three straight weeks, taking on SEC foe Kentucky, conference foe Western Michigan and traveling to East Lansing to face off with Michigan State. Next up is MAC title contender Northern Illinois at home (lost last season 33-7) then at North Carolina State. A home game versus Eastern Michigan looks to be their best shot at a win in that stretch and is followed by three more road conference games featuring trips to Ball State, Akron and Kent State. Each of those games should be winnable and could build momentum for tough home games against Ohio and Toledo. Central Michigan doesn’t get a bye, drawing a tough schedule with three title contenders for the MAC crown at home and three trips to BCS foes on their non-schedule. This could be a much better team than last season and have little to show for it compared to last season’s record because of their strength-of-schedule.
Final Record Prediction: 4-8 Overall (3-5, 4th in the MAC West)
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