After whirlwind of a week, changing opponents and not knowing if they were going to play, the Cougs made a valiant comeback in the 2nd half, but fall short 24-21 against the Central Michigan Chippewa’s in the Sun Bowl.
Since December 5th, the Cougs have been game planning for the Miami Hurricanes, but due to the number of covid cases on the Miami team, the Hurricanes had to withdraw from the Sun Bowl. Up until three days prior, the Cougs didn’t know if they were going to play a game. Coach Jake Dickert had said that it didn’t matter who they played as long as his guys get a chance to play in a bowl game. The Arizona Bowl which was also scheduled on December 31st with Central Michigan and Boise State was also down a team because Boise State didn’t have enough players to compete due to covid cases. Fortunately for the Cougs, the Chippewa’s worked out an agreement to play in the Sun Bowl.
Another hurdle for the Cougs was that senior tailback Max Borghi, corner Jaylen Watson and offensive lineman Abe Lucas opted out to save themselves for the NFL draft to the disappointment of many Coug fans. In addition to that, offensive Lineman Liam Ryan sat out due to injury, so with two offensive linemen out, Jayden de Laura was going to have minimal protection.
The Cougs saw the impact of the missing lineman immediately in the first half. Jayden de Laura had minimal time to throw, the pressure was early and often by the Chippewa’s. Jayden was sacked 4 times in the first half and was hobbling to the locker room at the half. The Cougs looked like they were over matched in the first half as if they were playing a top 10 opponent. Following a Travell Harris fumble on a Kick-off in the first, Central Michigan’s Lew Nichols ran the ball into the end zone from 1-yard out for a touchdown to put the Chippewa’s in front 13-0 in the first. Before the end of the half, Central Michigan got on the board one more time with a 15-yard pass on third down from Daniel Richardson to Joel Wilson which put the Chippewa’s up 21-0 at half time.
Jayden de Laura came out of the locker room at half without his uniform and watched from the sidelines in the 2nd half. Victor Gabalis, who saw a few plays earlier this year, put the team on his shoulders in the 2nd half. Gabalis completed a 55 yard connection and Travell Harris ran it in from five yards out to put the Cougs on the board. The next CMU possession, Daniel Richardson’s pass was intercepted by Travion Brown at the Chippewa 23. Gabalis found De’Zhaun Stribling for the 5 yard touchdown on 4th and goal to bring the Cougs within 7. The problem for the Cougs came on 4th down when Nakia Watson appeared to have got the first down, but upon review, the officials deemed there wasn’t sufficient evidence to give him the first down. The official was in the booth for about thirty seconds on the review, which it was clear looking at different angles that he had more than enough. That was a turnover at the Cougar 32-yard line which led to a 43 yard field goal by Marshall Meeder to give CMU a 24-14 lead midway through the 4th. The Cougs defense held strong in the 2nd half, but missing 6 starters from the offense took its toll throughout the game.
It was a great resurgence of a season for the Cougs who were predicted to finish dead last in the Pac-12 and ended up coming a game away from playing in the Pac-12 championship. The Cougs will return with a younger team losing a lot of seniors, but the Cougar faithful have hope the program is moving upward.
