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Photo: Jason Bowman. Used by permission.

After the game Central Michigan formally accepted a bid to play in the Motor City Bowl on December 26 against an as-yet to be determined opponent from the Big Ten.

Chippewas record-setting quarterback Dan LeFevour rushed for two scores and passed for another and tailback Ontario Sneed also added a pair of touchdowns for the Chippewas who pulled away from the RedHawks with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. In the process LeFevour added his name alongside some pretty elite company.

By rushing for 170 yards, LeFevour went over the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season and became only the second player in NCAA history to pass for over 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season, joining former Texas Longhorns (and current Tennessee Titans) quarterback Vince Young as the only other player to accomplish the feat.

LeFevour, who also passed for 185 yards, however preferred to give credit to his supporting cast for his accomplishment. "Sure, it's a great accomplishment," said LeFevour after the game. "But on a lot of those runs today, I was untouched and credit for that goes to the offensive line."

LeFevour had touchdown runs of 21 and 28 yards in the second half as the Chippewas seemed to wake up from a first-half slumber after leading 7-0 at halftime, a most unusual half of play for the Chips this season as it was the first time that CMU has held an opponent off the scoreboard in the first quarter, let alone for the entire first half, of any game this season.

The Chips though were held to seven first half points, scoring their lone touchdown on an impressive one-hand grab by freshman wide receiver Kito Poblah, by a strong Miami defense that had Central Michigan on its heels throughout most of the first half.

"They (Miami) did a great job of defending our out routes and forced me into some poor decisions," noted LeFevour, who threw two first half interceptions. But the RedHawks were unable to capitalize on the big plays of their defense, including two missed field goals.

"I was very disappointed in our performance today," said an exasperated Miami head coach Shane Montgomery after the contest. "We did not play well enough to win on offense. We made too many mistakes and missed too many opportunities. It's the same thing that has given us trouble all year; too many dropped passes and an inconsistent offense."

The RedHawks, despite their offensive woes, closed to within 7-3 midway through the third quarter when Nathan Parseghian connected on a 38-yard field goal after a short punt that gave the RedHawks their best starting field position at the Central Michigan 23-yard line. But a fumble by quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh (29-50, 254 yards, 1 touchdown; 2 interceptions) cost the RedHawks five yards and they had to settle for the field goal. Parseghian had earlier missed from 44 yards in the first quarter and would later miss again from 33 yards later in the third quarter.

The Chippewas quickly responded to Miami's scoring drive after a short kick-off set CMU up at their own 42-yard line and four plays and 1:14 later, the Chips were up 14-3 thanks to two long runs by LeFevour of 24 and 21 yards, the latter being a scoring jaunt in which LeFevour was initially ruled out at the one-yard line but replay showed he had scored and the call on the field was overturned.

CMU would score again early in the fourth quarter on the first of Ontario Sneed's two rushing touchdowns when Sneed scored from 1-yard out after a 27-yard rush by LeFevour. Sneed would score again later in the quarter on a 7-yard rush before LeFevour capped CMU's scoring on a 28-yard touchdown run with just under five minutes remaining to make it a 35-10 game

The RedHawks recorded their only touchdown early in the third quarter when Raudabaugh found freshman wide receiver Armand Robinson on a 12-yard scoring strike to make it 21-10. Robinson led Miami's receivers with 51 yards on four receptions on a day that was short on offensive highlights for Miami which finished the season by losing its last two games and consequently played itself out of a bowl berth by finishing the season 6-7.

"The way we played the last two games (against Ohio and Central Michigan), did not warrant us playing in a bowl game," noted Montgomery. "Sure, it's disappointing."

Equally frustrating for Miami though was trying to stop LeFevour who seemed to wear down the MAC's top defensive unit in the second half.

"He runs downhill and you have to play hard to stop him," noted Miami linebacker Clayton Mullins afterwards. "We simply weren't doing that in the second half."

For the Chippewas defense the game served as a source of redemption for a season that saw the Chips finish with the MAC's lowest-rated defense in terms of yardage, making this season's championship run even more special according to linebacker Red Keith.

"This was better than last year," noted Keith. "To achieve this after all of our injuries means a lot and now in the books it will always say 'back to back.' It's just unbelievable. There's no greater feeling than being a champion. We're number one and no one can take that away from us."

It was a sentiment echoed by fellow linebacker Ike Brown who had to watch from the sidelines last season while recuperating from a season-ending injury. "Last year was nice but this year was special because it was a little bit of my sweat and blood that went into (this championship)," said Brown who finished with nine tackles and a game-leading 2.5 tackles for loss.

Central Michigan's first year head coach also had high praise for his team.

"In twenty plus years of coaching I have never known a tighter knit group of kids than we have here," noted Butch Jones. "I have said all year that the toughest thing to do is to repeat as champion yet these guys held together and pulled it off," added Jones who said the fact that CMU had clinched its second straight championship hit him about the same time he received the now-traditional congratulatory water dump from his team in the closing moments of the game. "It hit me about the same time the water hit me," joked Jones.

But Jones saved perhaps his most poignant postgame comments for tailback Ontario Sneed who battled injuries all season but came through in the biggest came of the year after starter Justin Hoskins was sidelined this week with an ankle injury.

"If there has ever been a person that has persevered it has been him (Sneed)," said Jones. "If you look at the accolades he had going into the season and then he gets hurt and (tailback) Justin Hoskins then steps up; but there was no bigger Justin Hoskins fan than Ontario Sneed. That's the unselfishness of our football team. Ontario worked his way back and I think he's an illustration of the type of character we have on this football team."

The Chippewas will likely face, depending upon how the BCS bowl bids end up, either Indiana (7-5), Michigan State (7-5 ) or Purdue (7-5), a team which defeated CMU earlier this season 45-22.

"We look forward to playing in the Motor City Bowl and it will be a great challenge, whoever we play from the Big Ten. It will be another measuring stick for our program," said Jones.

LeFevour also left no doubt about how the team feels about returning to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl. "This is great. We can sell this place out. This is like our Rose Bowl."

Note: All Photos by Jason Bowman. Used by Permission.

See also: Three MAC Teams Accept Bowl Bids