MAC Football Scoreboard: Monday, Dec. 19, 2016
2016 Miami Beach Bowl
Tulsa 55, Central Michigan 10
Box Score
MIAMI, Fla. — Central Michigan knew its Miami Beach Bowl opponent had an explosive offense. Tulsa’s defense was pretty good too.
The Golden Hurricane rolled up 581 total yards Monday as it routed the Chippewas, 55-10, at Marlins Park. The loss ended CMU’s season at 6-7, its first sub-.500 season since 2011. Tulsa (10-3) entered the game averaging 522.8 yards per game. It built a 27-3 halftime lead, then hit the gas in the second half and scored nearly at will.
“Tulsa’s a great football team,” second-year CMU coach John Bonamego said. “We felt like we matched up a little better than what we demonstrated today. We just didn’t execute our fundamentals well in really two critical phases of the game, we weren’t able to finish drives, we hurt ourselves with penalties. Defensively we could never get off the field and we had a bunch of missed tackles.
“When you perform that way against a good football team you get beat. All we can really do is take this, learn from it, and build for the future.”
Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush, vying to become the all-time Mid-American Conference leader in passing yardage, finished with 241 yards. He needed to throw for 253 yards to supplant former Chippewa Dan LeFevour atop the list.
Rush, a senior from Lansing, finished his four-year career as the CMU starter with 12,894 yards and 90 touchdown passes.
He goes down as one of the very best to have ever played at CMU.
“He’s a tremendous football player,” Bonamego said. “He’s got a tremendous amount of heart, he’s extremely intelligent, he’s dependable, you can count on him, you’re going to get his best every single day. We’re going to miss him.”
Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans completed 28 of 38 pass attempts for 304 yards and five touchdowns and was named the game’s most valuable player.
CMU simply could not match Tulsa’s high-octane and quick-paced offensive attackm, which produced 34 first downs. The Golden Hurricane never huddled on offense and the Chippewas never forced a punt all game long.
“The tempo is really, really tough to defend and they just wear you down,” Bonamego said. “They just nickel-dime, nickel-dime, nickel-dime and then if you make a mistake, get somebody out of position, they end up throwing the ball over your head. It’s a really good offense.”
Jahray Hayes scored CMU's lone touchdown on a 13-yard run in the fourth quarter, long after the game had been decided. Brian Eavey kicked a 26-yard field goal to account for the Chippewas' other points.
Story courtesy of Central Michigan Athletic Communications
