Motor City Bowl Preview - C. Michigan vs. Purdue

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Central Michigan has the privilege of representing the MAC in the Motor City Bowl for the second-straight season, but will be facing a much higher caliber opponent this time around in Purdue. It will be a big step up from the ’06 matchup vs. Sun Belt foe MTSU, a game the Chippewas won easily, 31-14.

This will actually be the second time they’ve faced the Boilermakers this season, and CMU will be looking for a different result from the 45-22 pasting that Purdue put on them at East Lafayette in September. In fact, overall in this series,

Purdue has won and covered the L3 meetings, with an average point margin of 37.7 PPG. However, HC Joe Tiller’s team backs into this game off three straight season-ending losses and has struggled in bowl games, going just 1-6 SU & 1-5-1 ATS in its L7.

PURDUE
As if there aren’t enough reruns on TV these days with the ongoing Hollywood writers strike, the Motor City Bowl is a rematch of a September regular season game which Purdue won convincingly, 45-22.

But Purdue was playing much better back then. In fact, yet another late-season swoon—this time, a 0-3 mark in November—has the “Joe must go” faction against Joe Tiller growing. Tiller’s team is led by the Big Ten’s No.2 scoring offense, a unit that is directed by junior Curtis Painter (3,300 yards passing, 26 TDs, nine INTs in 2007).

Painter has plenty of good-hands people to play catch with—including Dorien Bryant (82 catches, 871 yards, 8 TDs in 2007), Dustin Keller (61 catches, 731 yards, six scores) and Greg Orton (58 catches, 616 yards, two TDs).

Purdue’s defense, which ranked eighth in the Big Ten in total defense (385 yards), will be tested by Central Michigan’s potent offense. The Boilermakers have playmakers at each level of the defense in defensive end Cliff Avril (six sacks), linebacker Anthony Heygood (71 tackles) and defensive back Vinson Terrell (78 tackles, five INTs), but frankly this unit has been far too susceptible to big plays this season.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan sophomore Dan LeFevour looks like the next great quarterback off the Mid-American Conference conveyer belt of signal-callers. This season, LeFevour accounted for a league-leading 4,368 yards of total offense (fifth nationally) and 40 touchdowns (17 rushing; 23 passing).

LeFevour (1,004 yards rushing, 3,360 yards passing) became only the second player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season, joining former University of Texas quarterback Vince Young.

Central Michigan possesses two of the MAC’s top pass catchers: freshman Antonio Brown, the league receptions leader (98 receptions, 909 yards), and sophomore Bryan Anderson (83 receptions, 1003 yards).

In addition to LeFevour’s running, the Chippewas’ tailback tandem of junior Ontario Sneed and Notre Dame-transfer Justin Hoskins have combined for 1,133 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.

While their season average of allowing 450.2 yards per game ranked last in the MAC and 106th (out of 119) nationally, the Chips’ defense has allowed an average of only 314 yards during the final two games against Akron and Miami (Ohio). The Chippewas’ defense is led by standout LB Red Keith, who tied for the MAC lead in tackles this season with 129.

THE GAME
Reruns are generally boring, but this one should be a high-scoring affair between schools with two of the coolest nicknames in the college game (Chippewas and Boilermakers).

There are two huge questions in this ballgame:
1) Will Purdue care about playing in an oh-by-the-way bowl against a team they already beat this season?
2) Which of these defensively-challenged squads will actually bow up and stop the other one?

The first question is important, because in bowl games, the teams from the BCS conferences aren’t always fired up to play against non-BCS teams. If Purdue doesn’t come ready to play, then Central Michigan has the offense to score points against them and should easily have the home-field advantage in this game.

Purdue is clearly the more talented team, though. And if Tiller, who must be tiring of the “Joe Must Go” articles in the local papers and the blogs, has his team fired up and ready to play, then they’ll outscore the Chippewas in this rematch.

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