Cats cash in on four turnovers to blast CMU, 34-7, in GameAbove Sports Bowl
DETROIT-The GameAbove Sports Bowl was played the day after Christmas at Detroit’s Ford Field, but Central Michigan was still intent on giving Northwestern some gifts.
The Chippewas turned the ball over four times and the Wildcats turned them into 27 points as Northwestern blasted the Chippewas, 34-7, to claim the program’s sixth straight bowl win. The win enables Northwestern to finish the season with a winning record at 7-6 and gave head coach David Braun his second bowl win in as many tries.
The game turned in the second quarter, when Northwestern came up with an interception and two fumble recoveries on three straight CMU possessions, and scored three touchdowns within 3:02 to take a 21-0 lead into halftime.
Braun said that his team was intent on “dominating the postseason,” and that’s exactly what they did with the program’s largest margin of victory in a bowl game, besting the old mark of 14 points in a 2013 Gator Bowl win over Mississippi State.
Preston Stone went 19-of-31 for 226 yards and three touchdowns, two of them going to wide receiver Griffin Wilde, who finished with 10 catches for 97 yards and took home the game MVP award. Caleb Komolafe scored one touchdown and Lawson Albright was on the receiving end of the other Stone scoring pass.
Nickelback Braden Turner had one interception and scored a touchdown on a scoop-and-score to lead the Wildcats’ opportunistic defense. Defensive end Aidan Hubbard came up with three of the Wildcats’ four sacks and also forced a fumble.
Central Michigan quarterback Joe Labas finished 16-of-20 for 140 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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Ironically, Northwestern got off to a slow start in this one. Faced with a fourth-and-1 at their own 34, the Wildcats elected to flex a little Big Ten muscle against a MAC opponent. It didn’t go well as Central Michigan stuffed Komolafe for a loss of a yard, setting up the Chippewas with a first down in NU territory.
But the defense bailed Braun out. Hubbard, back from injury, sacked Labas for a 7-yard loss on third down, and Cade Graham – the most accurate kicker in the MAC this year – missed a 43-yard field goal attempt, so the turnover on downs didn’t cost the Wildcats any points.
The two teams combined for three first downs and 57 total yards in the first quarter, as well as three sacks for 20 yards in losses and a missed field goal.
But Central Michigan started getting careless with the football in the second quarter and the Wildcats blew the game open.
First, Turner came up with a diving interception of a Labas, who threw the ball as he was being chased by Michael Kilbane, to give the Wildcats a first down at the CMU 29. Then, Stone lofted a 23-yard touchdown pass to Wilde on third down to make it 7-0 with 6:33 remaining in the half.
The defensive line continued its first-half dominance on CMU’s ensuing possession, when Hubbard knocked the ball out of Labas’s hand on a dropback and Carmine Bastone recovered it at the Chippewa 18-yard line. Northwestern’s offense cashed it in for a score when Komolafe ran it in from three yards out on fourth-and-goal to make it 14-0 with 3:43 left in the half.
Northwestern didn’t do anything to create the third takeaway of the period as Labas fumbled the snap and Kilbane recovered it at the CMU 23. On the next play, Stone found a wide-open Albright to make it 21-0 at the 3:31 mark.
Central Michigan’s gift-giving didn’t end there, however. Quarterback Angel Flores fumbled the ball on CMU’s first drive of the third quarter at his own 44. Turner picked it up and weaved his way to the end zone to give the Wildcats a 27-0 lead, as Jack Olsen missed the PAT.
The Wildcats got a touchdown the conventional way, without a turnover, later in the third when Stone hooked up with Wilde for the pair’s second touchdown of the day to make it 34-0.
Central Michigan finally got on the scoreboard when Brock Townsend scored on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Labas with 6:11 to go in the game.
