Tag: Central Michigan Chippewas

LSU offers former Central Michigan safety in transfer portal

LSU could use help in the secondary in the worst way.

LSU has extended a scholarship to a fifth-year junior safety from Central Michigan in the transfer portal.

[autotag]Trey Jones[/autotag] is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound safety who is from Wetumpka, Alabama, where he played for Wetumpka High School. He committed to Central Michigan out of high school and has played in 44 games over five years as a Chippewa.

He has made 188 tackles, three interceptions, 9.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery at Central Michigan. His past two seasons have been his best years as he racked up 85 tackles last year and 66 tackles this year.

LSU could use help in the secondary in the worst way. The Tigers ran into a huge issue with injuries to defensive backs this year and the Tigers depleted secondary has been torched in a few games. [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] is looking for reinforcements in the transfer portal and Jones is a guy with a plethora of experience that could work well at LSU.

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Ohio State basketball wins fifth-straight with easy win over Central Michigan. Here’s what we learned.

The Buckeyes stay hot, winning their 5th straight game. #GoBucks

Ohio State men’s basketball continued its winning ways, routing Central Michigan at home, 88-61 on Wednesday evening.

The win improves the Buckeyes early record to 6-1, which puts them with the second best record of the Big Ten. A pause from non-conference play is next with a game against Minnesota at the Schott, but they should relish yet another impressive win.

There wasn’t much to complain about after watching this game, the Buckeyes trailed just once against the Chippewas, dominating the majority of the contest, trailing for just 12 seconds.

Find out what we learned about Ohio State after its latest win, this one at the hands of Central Michigan.

Ohio State basketball cruises past Central Michigan

That’s five in a row! #GoBucks

The Ohio State basketball team continued its impressive run of play by getting by Central Michigan easily Wednesday night by a score of 88-61 to run its record to 6-1.

The Buckeyes jumped out ahead early but let the Chippewas hang around for most of the first half, even allowing CMU to be just two points down, 22-20, with about seven minutes left before heading to the locker room. However, OSU went on a run to end the half, heading off the floor with a 41-29 lead at the break.

From there, Ohio State cruised with the game never getting anywhere near a threat from Central Michigan throughout the second half.

Guard Bruce Thornton had another big night, scoring 25 points to lead all scorers on 9-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He wasn’t the only bright spot. Felix Okpara turned into Felix Dunkpara, sending quite a few through the rim from close range as flushes. He tallied a career high 14 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field. He finished just one rebound short of a double-double.

Starters Jamison Battle (12 points) and Roddy Gayle Jr. (11 points), also finished in double figures, but it was nice to see Devyn Royal breakout a little with 11 points of his own on 4-of-5 shooting.

And while the offense was pretty good, the defense continued its trend of playing well this year, holding Central Michigan to just 40% shooting and forcing 15 turnovers. Ohio State also owned the boards, out-rebounding the Chippewas 44-30 — all a part of a winning formula.

Ohio State will next welcome Minnesota to Value City Arena on Sunday to break the seal on the Big Ten season.

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Oklahoma’s nonconference schedule highlighted by games against UNC, Arkansas

Taking a look at Oklahoma’s nonconference schedule with marquee games against UNC, Arkansas on the schedule.

Oklahoma’s 2023-2024 men’s basketball season schedule is taking shape, and the nonconference portion is officially locked in.

Oklahoma’s nonconference opponents and the games’ dates, times, and locations were officially announced on Tuesday afternoon.

The out-of-conference slate includes a pair of headliners that will move the needle. They’ll face off against blueblood UNC in the Jumpman Invitational for Jordan Brand-affiliated schools. Then there’s the neutral court rematch with Arkansas, with whom Oklahoma will share a conference in 2024.

 

Outside of those two marquee matchups, the Sooners will host four nonconference games at home to start the season. The games should serve as an excellent opportunity for a team with an overwhelming amount of new faces to gel against lesser competition.

OU will face Central Michigan, Mississippi Valley State, Texas State, and UT-Rio Grande Valley. The Sooners have never lost to any of those teams.

Oklahoma’s first in-season tournament comes when they travel to San Diego, California, to participate in the Rady Children’s Invitational. The Invitational happens on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday at LionTree Arena on the UC-San Diego campus. Joining Oklahoma will be Seton Hall, USC, and Iowa. Iowa and USC made the NCAA Tournament this past season, and both should compete to make it again this year. The Trojans and the Hawkeyes will provide significant tests for the Sooners.

OU returns to Norman on Nov. 30 to face Arkansas-Pine Bluff in McCasland Field House, which is meaningful to Oklahoma basketball. They played there for over 40 years until 1975. The Sooners last played there during the 2012-13 season.

After hosting Providence out of the Big East on Dec. 5, OU will continue the Crimson & Cardinal Classic series with another game against Arkansas at the BOK Center in Tulsa. Oklahoma won in 2021 but lost to Arkansas last year. The Razorbacks went on to make the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out to the eventual national champion, UConn.

OU gets to tune up against an aggressive Green Bay on Saturday, Dec. 16, before traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Jumpman Invitational. The Sooners will face North Carolina on Dec. 20. UNC beat Florida in the showcase last year.

And to wrap up nonconference and the 2023 calendar year, the Sooners end with a pair of home games over winter break against Central Arkansas and Monmouth on Dec. 28 and Dec. 31, respectively.

It’s not the most challenging schedule, but the possible matchups against some of their Power Five competition should give Oklahoma plenty of tests to gauge where this year’s team is at before they embark on what will be their final season in the Big 12.

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Transfer punter Luke Elzinga featured on Ray Guy Award watch list

Oklahoma punter Luke Elzinga makes the Ray Guy award watch list ahead of the 2023 season.

Replacing Michael Turk will be an underrated storyline heading into the season. It probably won’t be much of an issue for the first couple of games, but as Oklahoma heads into conference play and the competition levels increase, having a punter capable of flipping field position when needed, like Turk, would be a significant benefit.

Enter Luke Elzinga, a transfer punter from Central Michigan University. Elzinga came over to Oklahoma after three years at CMU, where he was the primary punter for the last three seasons and a three-time All-Mid-American Conference performer.

In his first three seasons at the collegiate level, Elzinga averaged 42.4 yards on his 145 career punts. He’s registered 24 punts of at least 50 yards, 47 fair catches, 61 downed inside the 20-yard line, and only ten touchbacks. To add to his impressive resume, he’s also a three-time All-MAC Academic Team selection.

His performance last year made it possible for him to land on the preseason watchlist for the Ray Guy Award, handed out annually to the nation’s top punter. This marks the second consecutive season that Elzinga has been named to the watchlist for the Ray Guy Award but his first as a Sooner.

Former punter Michael Turk made the preseason watchlist last year before becoming a semifinalist in 2022. He averaged 46.79 yards per punt attempt during the 2022 campaign while earning first-team All-Big 12 honors. Turk was a weapon on special teams for Oklahoma.

Special Teams coordinator Jay Nunez and Oklahoma hope Elzinga can bring a similar level of consistency to the punter position.

With Elzinga’s selection to the preseason watchlist, he joins teammates [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] as Sooners named to preseason awards watchlist.

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Kaytron Allen receives weekly Big Ten honor

Penn State running back Kaytron Allen receives weekly Big Ten honor after big day vs. Central Michigan

Another week, another weekly Big Ten honor for a Penn State football player. Freshman running back [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] was honored by the Big Ten as the conference’s freshman of the week following his first career 100-yard game in a win against Central Michigan in Week 4.

Allen rushed for 111 yards on 13 rushing attempts for Penn State in Saturday’s 33-14 victory over the Chippewas. It was a new career-high for Allen, who was playing in just his fourth collegiate game.

Allen and fellow freshman running back [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] have now combined for the last three Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. It is the first time Penn State has had back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for two separate players since [autotag]Keyvone Lee[/autotag] and [autotag]Joey Porter Jr.[/autotag] were honored in back-to-back weeks in 2020.

Allen is Penn State’s second-leading rusher with 217 yards and three touchdowns this season. Singleton leads the Nittnay Lions with 376 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Allen also has three receptions for 38 yards this season.

Here are this week’s Big Ten players of the week for Week 4:

  • Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Blake Corum, RB, Michigan
  • Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Tanner Morgan, QB, Minnesota
  • Co-Defensive Player of the Week: Kaevon Merriweather, DB, Iowa
  • Co-Defensive Player of the Week: Tommy Eichenberg, LB, Ohio State
  • Special Teams Player of the Week: Tory Taylor, P, Iowa
  • Freshman of the Week: Kaytorn Allen, RB, Penn State

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Five takeaways from Penn State’s win over Central Michigan

5 takeaways from Penn State’s victory over Central Michigan

Let me be the first to admit that I thought Penn State was going to blast Central Michigan all the way back to their home state after the way the first quarter played out, but I was singing a much different tune in the second quarter. Still, despite Central Michigan coming back to tie things up at 14-14, it never felt to me as though Penn State was in any real serious danger of coughing up a loss against the Chippewas on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium.

Here are my five takeaways from Penn State’s 33-14 victory over Central Michigan to improve to 4-0 this season.

Inside the Box Score: Key stats from Penn State’s win vs. Central Michigan

Inside the box score from Penn State’s victory over Central Michigan in Week 4.

It is difficult to argue with the performance of any team that wins a game by a final score of 33-14, but it is possible to argue Penn State did not have its best performance against Central Michigan in Week 4. Some of the team and individual stats may not blow anybody away, but there were some encouraging developments sprinkled across Penn State’s 33-14 victory over Central Michigan on Saturday.

The running game saw another freshman step up in a big way and the secondary got a huge showing from one of its top recruits from the Class of 2021. And it was another overall solid afternoon from Penn State’s veteran quarterback even if it was not one of his better afternoons.

Let’s dig into some of the key stats from Penn State’s Week 4 victory over Central Michigan.

Best photos from Penn State’s win vs. Central Michigan

It was a picture-perfect fall afternoon in Happy Valley for Penn State’s win over Central Michigan. Check out the best photos from the game.

Penn State took care of business on the first fall Saturday inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday. Penn State’s Week 4 win over Central Michigan improved the Nittany Lions to 4-0 this season with a full slate of Big Ten games still to be played. Penn State had one final non-conference test to pass, and they did just that with a victory against the MAC program.

Not everything about Penn State’s performance against Central Michigan was clean, but a refreshing fall afternoon in Beaver Stadium for a noon kickoff is always the scene for some good college football action.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s win against the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Instant Reaction: Penn State improves to 4-0 after win over Central Michigan

Instant Reaction: Penn State improves to 4-0 after 33-14 win over Central Michigan

It may not have been the perfectly executed game for the Nittany Lions, but Penn State came out on top with a 33-14 victory against Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium.

[autotag]Sean Clifford[/autotag] started the game connecting on all eight of his pass attempts as Penn State jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but misfires and catchable balls not being hauled in popped up in bunches after that as the Penn State offense stalled a bit in the second quarter. Central Michigan battled back to tie things at 14-14 in the second quarter but the Nittany Lions responded with a go-ahead touchdown run by [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag], and Penn State never saw the lead evaporate the rest of the day.

Penn State’s defense had some tough moments against the Chippewas, but they forced five CMU turnovers in the game. It was the second week Penn State forced at least four turnovers in a game. That included one recovery of a muffed punt by Central Michigan in the third quarter, which led to a quick Penn State touchdown to extend its lead.

Clifford ended his afternoon with 217 passing yards and three touchdown passes with one rushing touchdown before getting a chance to relax midway through the fourth quarter. [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] took over for the rest of the day.

After back-to-back 100-rushing performances, [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] was handled well by Central Michigan. Singleton rushed for just 37 yards on 10 carries. Fortunately for Penn State, Kaytron Allen was there to turn in his first career 100-yard game to lead the offense on the ground.

Penn State made an effort to get Parker Washington more involved from the start. Washington caught six passes on nine targets his way for 64 yards. Tight end Brenton Strange came through with a pair of touchdowns on five catches. Mitchell Tinsley also scored a touchdown for the Nittany Lions, continuing to be a valuable red zone option.

The defense was without a sack until the fourth quarter. Freshman [autotag]Dani Dennis-Sutton[/autotag] picked up two very quickly late in the game.

Penn State will be home once again next week for a Big Ten matchup with Northwestern. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 1.

Central Michigan will play their MAC opener on the road at Toledo next Saturday, also at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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