Broncos Fall in Overtime

For the third time this season the Broncos had a lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game only to see their opponent come back to win the game. Saturday afternoon the Broncos saw their arch rival Central Michigan University Chippewas come back from a 21-7 deficit to defeat the Broncos 24-21 in overtime.

The loss was reminiscent to the Broncos loss just two weeks earlier at Waldo Stadium against the Eastern Michigan University Eagles. Saturday with the score 21-14 and 2:08 left in the contest all the Broncos needed was a first down because the Chippewas had only one timeout remaining. So in a similar play that saw Mark Bonds fumble in the game against Eastern Michigan, Daniel Marks, who scored his first touchdown of the season earlier in the game, fumbled the ball when he was met at the line of scrimmage.

The Chippewas recovered the fumble at the Broncos 25-yard line and needed just 4 plays while chewing up over a minute on the game clock to force the game into overtime. Chippewas quarterback Kent Smith connected with Asante White for the game tying touchdown. White’s catch was his first collegiate career touchdown.

The Broncos then decided to run the ball three straight times with just under a minute left instead of running their two-minute offense and the end result was the Broncos first overtime game of the season.

In the extra period Western Michigan had the ball first and tried to go for the touchdown on their first play from scrimmage but the ball fell short of Tyrone Walker. Three plays later Robert Menchinger’s 40 yard field goal fell short leaving the door open for Central Michigan.

After the Chippewas drive stalled at the 6-yard line Ronald Budd sent the few remaining fans of the reported attendance of 19,369 home delirious with his game winning 25-yard field goal.

Heading into the game the Broncos had to worry about one of the most explosive backs in the Mid-American Conference. Jerry Seymour had recorded 6 100-yard games on the ground this season heading into the contest. He had 100-yard games against Big Ten schools Indiana and Michigan State. The top three teams in the MAC West Division were unable to hold him to under 100 yards. Against Western Michigan Seymour recorded 94 yards on 28 carries for an average of 3.4 yards per carry. Against Kent State Seymour gained 131 yards on 28 carries and against Bowling Green he recorded 155 yards on 28 carries.

Despite holding Seymour to under 100 yards rushing the Broncos allowed Smith to run for an additional 72 yards on just 10 rushing attempts. Seymour scored the Chippewas first touchdown of the game midway through the fourth quarter. The Chippewas had just recovered a Greg Jennings fumble on a punt return at the Broncos 25-yard line and after a 20 yard pass play to the 5, Seymour ran it in for the score. Smith scored the Chippewas second touchdown on a quarterback keeper with 2:13 left in the game.

The Broncos opened up the scoring in the second quarter after Jennings helped set up the scoring opportunity with a spectacular one handed grab at the Chippewas 4-yard line. Two plays later Tyson DeVree caught his second touchdown pass of the season on a 3-yard screen play.

The Broncos appeared to be heading into the fourth quarter failing to score any points after reaching the red zone twice in the quarter. With seconds remaining in the quarter, Ryan Cubit threw a short pass to Jennings on the right side. Jennings started heading towards the center of the field when he noticed the Chippewas defenders running toward him. Turning on a dime he started toward the sideline and turned it up the field. With a couple of blockers around him and Tony Scheffler leading the way and staying ahead of him, Jennings reached the end zone 79-yards later setting off a celebration that cost the Broncos 15-yards on the following kickoff. However, with a little help from the breezy conditions at Kelly Shorts Stadium Nate Meyer’s kick from the 20-yard line sailed through the end zone.

Marks finished the game with 32 yards on 11 carries; however half of those yards came on a 16-yard run for the Broncos final score of the game with just 3:18 remaining. Marks touchdown sent home a few of the maybe 2000 that remained and his touchdown caused some of the remaining students to start throwing things on the field in the end zone.

For the game Cubit completed 19 of 31 passes for 256 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception while his counterpart Smith completed 21 out of 39 pass for 205 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. No Central Michigan receiver recorded more than 43 yards receiving. Jennings himself recorded 167 yards on just 8 pass catches and Trovon Riley was the closest Bronco to Jennings in receiving with 24 yards. Riley led the Broncos ground attack with 87 yards on 20 carries.

Next week the Broncos (1-7, 0-5 MAC) travel to Bowling Green, Ohio to take on the Bowling Green State University Falcons while the Chippewas (3-5, 2-3) head to Detroit to take on the Eastern Michigan Eagles for the first ever MAC regular season game played at Ford Field.