Football Preview: Back Home for Wednesday MACtion, Chippewas Look to Take Another Step Toward Bowl Eligibility

- A dominant win over Eastern Michigan changed the course, and the vibe, of the season for the Central Michigan football program. The Chippewas are looking to continue that feel-good, upward trend on Wednesday when they entertain Sacramento State in a Mid-American Conference game (7:30 p.

) on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. CMU is 4-5, 2-3 MAC and needs two wins to become bowl eligible.

The Chippewas close the regular season with two league road games, at Buffalo (Nov. "We cleaned up what we needed to, executed a little better, and played really well," second-year CMU coach Matt Drinkall said of his team's 35-7 victory over Eastern a week ago.

"We should be pretty hungry now to continue to improve and keep being the best version of ourselves." Which was pretty darned good against the Eagles. CMU played perhaps its most complete game of the season, and perhaps the best it has played since Drinkall took over the program prior to the 2025 season.

The Chippewas finished with 26 first downs and held the Eagles to 177 total yards. EMU had just 52 yards and one first down heading into the fourth quarter as the Chippewas held a 28-0 lead.

Drinkall said the Chippewas have refocused as the season has hit its stretch run and the number of opportunities to step on the field dwindle. "We've really changed the perception of how important every rep is," he said.

Our kids are in great physical shape, great emotional shape. We're banged up a little bit, but that's just because of the nature of the beast.

"Our kids are playing harder, we're getting better every week, and we kind of made it through the stormy part of our schedule. Go put on the tape from (the EMU game) and put on the tape from Colgate (second game of the season).

I mean, that's a completely different looking beast."