CMU...UGH

In a high-stakes MAC showdown, UB football suffered a mortifying loss. What happened, and what's next?

Nov 11, 2022

It’s literally the oldest play in football, dating back to 1880 when Walter Camp decided that action would be initiated in the next Princeton-Yale game by snapping the ball. Player receives snap, player runs until knocked to the ground, or scores.

And yet, 142 years of strategy and game film and sideline iPads later, the University at Buffalo football team could not find a way to stop this play on a crisp November night in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Bert Emanuel, Jr.: #MACTION’s New Teen Idol

Image from cmuchippewas.com

America, meet Bert Emanuel, Jr. At this time last year, he was a really good high school quarterback. On Wednesday night, he may have transformed into a superstar.

𝓑𝓮𝓻𝓽 𝓮𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓵 Jr @BertEmanuel3

From Ryan Colores of cm-life.com:

After a first-half drubbing at the hands of Buffalo, Central Michigan football needed to find some life from the offense.
On the first play of the second half, that’s exactly what happened.
True freshman quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr., who had only been utilized as a rusher in the snaps he had seen up to that point in the season, had his number called once again on a designed quarterback run. The play resulted in a 75-yard dash into the end zone for Emanuel.
However, that would just be the beginning of a staggering second-half performance statistically for Emanuel, and a record-breaking effort when it was all said and done.
On the back of Emanuel’s offensive explosion, CMU (4-6, 3-3) came out with a 31-27 victory over Buffalo (5-5, 4-2). The Chippewas need to win their final two games to be eligible for a bowl game.
Emanuel finished the day with 293 yards and three touchdowns on 24 attempts. His 293 yards on the ground were the most ever recorded by a CMU quarterback. Additionally, it was the fourth highest mark ever recorded on the ground by any Chippewa.
Along with the 75-yard rush to open the second quarter, he also had a rush of 87 yards, in which he appeared to be stopped after about five yards, but maintained his balance and took the ball the length of the field. He is the only player in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) this season to have multiple runs of 75+ yards.

After his initial 75-yard scamper, Emanuel became, to use an Avengers reference, inevitable.

As Buffalo’s offense, which rolled across Kelly/Shorts Stadium in the first half like the 1st Armored Division, sputtered in the second half, Emanuel was creating a legend.

Much respect to Emanuel and the Central Michigan offensive line. What a performance.

In a game in which the Bulls ran 89 plays to the Chippewas’ 53, the impact of Emanuel’s second-half performance glows with even more radiance. Consider his 22 plays over the final 30 minutes:

75-yard run, touchdown
4-yard run, first down
22-yard pass, 1st and Goal1
Run for a loss of one yard
11-yard run, first down
17-yard run, first down
1-yard run
Incomplete pass
87-yard run, touchdown
12-yard loss on a sack, fumble, loss of possession
17-yard run, first down
3-yard run
12-yard run, first down
Incomplete pass
21-yard run, first down
1-yard run, touchdown
1-yard run
4-yard run
1-yard run
4-yard run
6-yard run, first down
22-yard run, first down, seals the game

Image from cmuchippewas.com

Emanuel was personally responsible for over 40 percent of CMU’s total offensive plays for the game and nine explosive plays in the second half alone. He created 288 yards of offense—roughly 70 percent of Central’s total offensive production in the contest—seven of the Chips’ 18 first downs, and three touchdowns in just two quarters.

It hurts that it happened to us, UB fans, but wow—Emanuel showed us a performance for the ages.

What Just Happened?

Image from cmuchippewas.com

With that it mind, it did happen to us, and it felt like 30 minutes on the rack.

This was a massive game for Buffalo, knowing MAC East leader Ohio—who beat the Bulls, 45-24, last week—got past Miami in the Battle of the Bricks on Tuesday night with a 37-21 win, and the loser of the Bowling Green-Kent State game on Wednesday (KSU won, 40-6) would essentially be eliminated from the divisional race.2

Here’s what Bulls head coach Maurice Linguist said late last week, following the Ohio loss:

I didn’t feel like we played well. I didn’t feel like we coached well. Obviously my job as a coach is to get them ready to play, and I didn’t feel like we were in the place we needed to be to play well.
From a non-playing perspective, we have to evaluate ourselves, (and) make sure we are looking at all of the details of what we need to look at to move our players forward.
I thought we had a great meeting this morning with the guys. Honest. Real. There’s nothing that we talk around. We address everything.

I think because of the trust we have in our locker room, we’re able to talk about what happened. So we talked about what happened. We talked about why it happened. The only thing that matters to us is what we do now and what we do next. We’re not going to get into the mathematician games of “you have to do this,” and “this means that,” but we just want get into the next thing. We want to finish the way we are capable of. We know we do that by taking care of the next thing in front of us.

Linguist and co. got halfway there.

Image from cmuchippewas.com

Stacked Up, Then Torn Down

UB built a 24-7 first half advantage on the strength of a power offense led by running backs Ron Cook (129 total yards, one touchdown), Al-Jay Henderson (51 yards, one touchdown), and Mike Washington (41 rushing yards, one touchdown). Quarterback Cole Snyder ran for 25 yards (subtract eight yards for sacks) and threw for 106 yards.

The defense was stifling, limiting the Chippewas to 114 yards in total offense, 39 of which came on a desperation pass at the end of the half marred by two CMU penalties which, under regular circumstances, would’ve nullified the gain.

Throw out the fact that the Buffalo kick coverage team—currently ranked 121st in the nation—gave up a 64-yard return to De’Javion Stepney after the first Bulls touchdown, allowing Central Michigan to go just 39 yards for its first score, and the defense was impeccable.

Cracks In The Foundation, Then A Collapse

Image from cmuchippewas.com

But you can’t throw out that return, or the subsequent touchdown, can you?

Those points were the difference in the game. Even as UB trampled the Chippewas over the first 30 minutes, we started to see the cracks developing.

Let’s Talk About Cole Snyder

Image from ubbulls.com

Let me preface this by noting I hate everything I am about to write. I don’t get off on dragging a college athlete.3

It’s the elephant in the room, though—Snyder, after a strong two months to start his first season as QB1, has regressed in November. Some of the issues OK to gloss over when the team was winning are now glaring.

After hitting wide receiver Justin Marshall with two passes and 31 yards on the first drive of the game, Snyder missed the star wideout on his next four targets. Marshall would finish with four catches on 10 targets.

This continued a disturbing trend in recent weeks, particularly notable in these last two losses, of Snyder’s inability to accurately and consistently push the ball downfield to his talented receivers—Marshall and Quian Williams.

Image from ubbulls.com

It didn’t help that speedster Jamari Gassett was out with a leg injury, but the Marshall/Williams tandem combined for just seven receptions and 81 receiving yards. CMU’s corner Ronald Kent, Jr. is a solid defensive back, but shouldn’t be able to hold Marshall to three catches on eight targets.

The touted Louisville transfer was returning kicks by the end of the game, a desperation move to get the ball into the hands of the Bulls’ most talented offensive player.

As for Williams, the stoic captain caught three passes on four targets for 36 yards, 26 of which came on a circus catch with under three minutes left in the game and saved a potentially disastrous start to UB’s final drive which, frankly, ended in disaster, anyway, when Henderson was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 run from the CMU 23-yard line.

Reasons, Not Excuses

Did it hurt that Mike Washington was essentially a non-factor after the first quarter due to injury?

Did it hurt that offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery continued his a love affair with shotgun RPOs that end with a stationary running back trying to run between the tackles after the rush has a two-second head-start on closing gaps and murdering the man with ball?

Did it hurt that the Bulls’ best offensive player on Wednesday night, from a pure grading perspective, was a third-string tight end?

Did it hurt that the defense, which played so stout in the first half, essentially knew what was coming for most of the second half and completely failed to adjust effectively (I’m looking at you, defensive coordinator Brandon Bailey)?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Meeting The Moment

Image from ubbulls.com

At the same time, there’s no other way to say it: Snyder (and, by extension, Montgomery) must be better. When Burt Emanuel is out there breaking off 75-yard touchdown runs and Buffalo’s own running game is floundering, there needs to be the ability to move the ball through the air.

Good college football teams—teams in the top half of Division 1—score over 30 points a game. Buffalo’s offense has posted over 30 points four times in 10 games this season,4 and one of those performances came against UMass—a team that should seriously consider a move back to the FCS.

With receivers like Williams and Marshall (and, eventually, a healthy Gassett), not to mention a solid tight end in Robbie Mangas, a pass-catching back in Ron Cook, and an array of options like Washington, Henderson, Johnson, Harrity, et. al., there’s no lack of weapons.

Snyder hit 10 different receivers on Wednesday—he has players to work with. It’s on the quarterback, and his coaches, to fix this.

There’s No Defending That Second Half, Though

Image from pff.com

We can’t let the defense off the hook here, either. As mentioned above, CMU’s game plan was no secret by the midpoint of the third quarter, and Emanuel was still setting school rushing records and throwing just three passes.

The Chippewas weren’t telegraphing their strategy—they were essentially announcing it over the stadium’s p.a. system, and it was simply unstoppable.

Defensive tackle Daymond Williams had his second consecutive subpar performance. Same with fellow interior lineman Jaylon Bass, same with defensive end Ibrahim Kante.

Everyone in the secondary not named Elijah Blades (who looked very good in his first game back at right corner since Week Six vs. BGSU) had a brutal tackling performance.

Star linebacker James Patterson had nine tackles but will probably see that 87-yard Emanuel touchdown run in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Central Michigan lost two offensive linemen—Luke Goedeke and Bernhard Raimann—to the NFL after last season. You’d never know it by the way the unit played last night.

The combo of center Jamezz Kimbrough, guards Deyantei Powell-Woods and Tyden Ferris, and tackles Davis Heinzen and Brayden Swartout turned into rotating pillars of cement once the Chippewas committed to the run game in the second half.

It’s the second straight week Buffalo’s defensive line, a team strength in its five-game win streak, has been overwhelmed by the five men on the other side of the ball.

So, yeah. It was a bad game.

Where do we go from here?

The Sunny Side of the Street

Image from ohiobobcats.com

Alright—deep breath. We’ve covered all of the bad stuff. Let’s assess the situation.

Ohio is in the catbird seat right now in the MAC East (Toledo clinched the MAC West on Tuesday, by the way, with a 28-21 win over Ball State). The Bobcats are 5-1 in conference play and have, essentially, a two-game lead on the Bulls (4-2 in the MAC) thanks to the tie-breaking win on Nov. 1.
OU also has a two-game lead on Kent State, who is 3-3 in MAC play, but the Golden Flashes did beat Ohio earlier this season, meaning a tie would go to Sean Lewis’ crew.
Let’s look at schedules: the Bobcats have Ball State (5-5, 3-3) in Muncie on Nov. 15, and Bowling Green (5-5, 4-2) on Nov. 22 left on their dance card. Ohio will be the favorite in both contests, but upsets are not out of the question.
BGSU does have a chance at the MAC East title if Buffalo loses to Akron (0-6) next week, or to Kent State in its season finale, giving the Bulls a third MAC loss. This presumes Bowling Green beats Toledo in its next game, however, which, after the KSU demolition seems…unlikely. But who knows? Scot Loeffler’s team was left for dead after the UB loss, as well.
Such a result would leave BGSU at 6-2 in conference, tied with Ohio but holding a season-ending win over the Bobcats as an ace. UB would be either 5-3 or 4-4, and completely out of the running. Kent State’s cooked whether it wins out or not, assuming Ohio wins at least one more game.
If the Flashes beat Eastern Michigan this week and Buffalo in the last game of the season, Ohio loses to BSU and BGSU and Bowling Green loses to Toledo, then KSU wins because it’ll be 5-3 with tiebreaker wins over Bowling Green, Ohio, and Buffalo.

Complicated!

All of that will be decided in the future. Up next, UB faces Akron (1-9, 0-6), a team with the 119th-ranked scoring offense and 124th-ranked scoring defense in the country. The Bulls also finally get to play at home again, where they’ve hosted just three games so far this season, which seems insane.

Before we chalk up the Zips as an easy win, remember the ‘Roos lost four of its six MAC games by seven points or less. Regardless, if UB loses to lowly Akron at home with its season essentially on the line, we have bigger problems than a three-game losing streak.

There are 82 bowl game spots available. A win over the Zips makes the Bulls bowl-eligible with a sixth victory on the season.5

There are currently 53 teams with at least six wins. Another 23 (including the Bulls) have five wins. Twenty more have four.

That means 43 teams are playing for the final 29 available spots. Some will pick each other off, bringing that number down by sheer attrition.

So the silver lining, folks, is this:

UB should beat Akron. The team should go to a bowl game. Worst case scenario, we’re looking at a 6-7 season with a bowl game loss. Best case scenario, Buffalo’s 9-5, MAC champion, and a bowl game winner. It can still happen.

One game at a time, folks. One game at a time. Let’s see what our guys can do.

This completion to TE Cade Conley, the first of Emanuel’s college career, sure looked like a touchdown, but was marked down at the 1-yard line and withstood review. Could’ve gone either way. UB’s defense produced a four-down goal-line stand to take the ball back.

Well…sort of. See “The Sunny Side of the Street” subsection.

I don’t feel good about going after Snyder (or any player), a young man I legitimately respect and actively pull for (same for all of the Bulls, to be honest). I feel particularly close to Snyder because I grew up in Chautauqua County, like he did, and I played plenty of games on the athletic fields at Southwestern High School, where Snyder was a star many years after my own (much less glorious) glory days. In my first job as a sports reporter in Dunkirk, N.Y., I often wrote about the exploits of Snyder’s high school football coach, Jehuu Caulcrick, when Jehuu himself was a small-town star at Clymer (N.Y.) High School. I know Snyder’s family and friends read this blog, just as I know the family and friends of other players criticized in this week’s edition read, too. At the moment, however, there’s no other way to discuss what’s happening out on the field.

UB also scored over 30 vs. Toledo, but that included a defensive TD.

It’s a little more complicated than just winning six games, but generally it’ll get the job done.

UB In 5

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