Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 SEPT. 16, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: CENTRAL MICHIGAN Irish's first game against a Marshall-like opponent this fall. No, Tennessee State was not Marshall-like. FCS teams are always a notch or two or three below that. For Notre Dame, Saturday will be about Notre Dame. Sounds redundant, yes, but all it means is if the Fighting Irish play their game and play up to their potential and not down to the ability of the opponent, they'll be fine. That's what they did against Navy and Ten- nessee State, and they outscored those teams by a combined total of 98-6. "We just have to continue to focus on improvement," Freeman said. "I don't want to say that the wins over Navy and Tennessee State don't matter. They do. But more than the wins, it's looking in- ternally and saying, 'OK, did we execute on this assignment? Why or why not?'" DON'T LOOK AHEAD Texas State showed what can hap- pen in season openers in a way Central Michigan could not. But now Central Michigan has a different opportunity to do some sneaking up on Notre Dame; the Irish host the vaunted Ohio State Buckeyes Sept. 23, making this the ulti- mate "trap game" by definition. If there is anything that could take Notre Dame's mind off the task at hand and put the Irish at risk of stooping to Central Michigan's level, it's thinking too soon about Ryan Day, Kyle McCord, Marvin Harrison Jr., Miyan Williams and the rest of the Bucks donning scar- let and silver who came into the 2023 season as a popular pick to make it back to the College Football Playoff for the sixth time in program history and the fourth time in the last five seasons. South Bend is going to be a madhouse next weekend. Ohio State has not played in the House That Rockne Built since 1996. It will be just the third time it's ever happened, with the other being in 1936. That was only five years removed from Knute Rockne's tragic death. There is so much to think about for Notre Dame tied to that game. The Irish simply cannot afford to start thinking about it until sometime Saturday night 1. It's A Popular Steppingstone For Aspiring Power Five Coaches Since the mid-2000s, three former Central Michigan head coaches left on their own accord to take Power Five jobs. In 2015, Dan Enos resigned to take the offensive coordinator job at Ar- kansas, where he remained for three years before short stints at Michigan, Alabama, Miami (Fla.), Cincinnati, Maryland and Arkansas again. Before Enos, Butch Jones parlayed an 11-2 season at CMU in 2009 into head jobs at Cincinnati and later Tennessee. The coach who started this trend: none other than Brian Kelly, who left for Cincinnati after a 9-4 season with the Chippewas in 2006. Kelly, of course, went on to coach Notre Dame for 12 years before bolting to LSU in December 2021. One can safely assume the Chippewas' current head coach, Jim McElwain, hopes to get back to the Power Five (soon to be Power Four) level in short order. He reached that goal as Florida's head coach from 2015-17, but his tenure was fraught, to put it mildly. After his "mutual separation" in October 2017, a Florida source told ESPN's Edward Aschoff and Mark Schlabach that "He never embraced being here and being part of a team." This was despite back-to-back Southeastern Conference East titles in 2015-16. 2. Pass-Rush Prowess Has Been A Hallmark Of McElwain's CMU Teams In 2021, Central Michigan was No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference with 43 sacks and No. 5 in the country with 3.5 sacks per game. That wasn't a one-off, either — each of McElwain's CMU teams, since he took over in 2019, have ranked in the top four in MAC sacks. The Chippewas went 8-4 during the 2021 regular season and capped off a successful campaign with a win over Washington State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. During that time, Central Michigan has largely taken a by-committee ap- proach to pass rushing. Thomas Incoom (11.5 in 2022) is the only double- digit sack artist McElwain has coached in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The Chip- pewas picked up 2 sacks against Michigan State Sept. 1, one by sophomore Michael Heldman and one by senior Maurice White. 3. Strong Relationship With The Local Native American Tribe While using the Chippewa nickname, Central Michigan is proud of its "strong, historic and cooperative" relationship with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The tribe, CMU president Dr. Bob Davies told the Detroit Free Press in 2020 (around the time the NFL team in Washington finally gave up its offensive nickname and logo), has given the school permission to use the nickname. "The tribe is the one that determines how we use it," Davies told the Free Press. "At any point in time, that can change. That's the tribe's decision, not necessarily our decision." Central Michigan does not use Native American imagery on their uniforms or merchandise, and the school says it collaborates with the tribe to "im- prove and enhance the quality of life of citizens of the region." — Jack Soble Jim McElwain has a 25-22 record since taking over as Central Michigan's head coach in 2019. PHOTO BY JACK REEBER/COURTESY CENTRAL MICHIGAN Three Things To Know About Central Michigan