Fire Up Chips, run by Kyle Warber, is a Main Stream Media quality football blog covering Central Michigan Athletics. He knows his football and is more than willing to call out his team when needed. He is going to make the trip to Buffalo for the game so I thought a blog exchange was in order, thankfully he thought so as well.
Bull Run (BR): Having seen the meltdown going on in Buffalo is there any chance CMU is going to come into Amherst looking past UB and onto the Directional Michigan games (and the Michigan Trophy) which come up in the following two weeks?
Fire Up Chips (FUC): Not a chance. These kids are hungry for conference games. CMU players were on the mountain top for two years and now they want to get back. Buffalo is the next team in their way.
A little off topic but I could see CMU Coach Butch Jones trying to motivate CMU against you guys by playing up the: "this is the team that has your championship belt...what are you going to do to get it back?" I imagine Turner Gill will remind the Bull's that beating CMU can erase the loss to Temple....that the CMU game is a critical game which the season hinges on. Nobody wants to go 0 - 2 in the MAC.
FYI to fans outside of Michigan, nobody cares about the Michigan Trophy. It doesn't mean anything to us. If the Big Ten teams were involved then we would care.
Fire Up Chips (FUC): Not a chance. These kids are hungry for conference games. CMU players were on the mountain top for two years and now they want to get back. Buffalo is the next team in their way.
A little off topic but I could see CMU Coach Butch Jones trying to motivate CMU against you guys by playing up the: "this is the team that has your championship belt...what are you going to do to get it back?" I imagine Turner Gill will remind the Bull's that beating CMU can erase the loss to Temple....that the CMU game is a critical game which the season hinges on. Nobody wants to go 0 - 2 in the MAC.
FYI to fans outside of Michigan, nobody cares about the Michigan Trophy. It doesn't mean anything to us. If the Big Ten teams were involved then we would care.
(A Thought from Bull Run; is he just staying that because EMU has won the last two Michigan football trophies?)
BR: Clearly the Central Michigan Defense is turning into the story of the MAC this season but considering your two best performances are against Alcorn State, an FCS school, and an Akron, a team with more drama than a day time soap, have you seen anything in the Chips defense that gives you pause as you go deeper into conference play?
FUC: Like all MAC teams, you have your talented players who start games and after that the talent falls off the cliff. No MAC team wants to see their second or third string guys playing -- its too much of a crap shoot. So... if our starters Nick Bellore (LB), Sean Murnane (DT), and Frank Zombo (DE) get hurt, you will see a very sloppy CMU team.
BR: If your defense has any weak spot is against the passing game, do you see Roosevelt, Hamlin, and Rack as a real threat?
FUC: Sure, Roosevelt, Halmin, Rack, Scooby-Doo, Lady Gaga, the ghost of Tupac...you are talking about a team that was ranked 118 in passing defense last year. We are worried about anybody who lines up across from our defensive backs. CMU fans all know about Roosevelt and I am sure our best cover corner (Josh Gordy) will have the honor of trying to pen him in.
BR: So is the passing offense lagging (8th in the MAC) because LeFevour is not back to where he was before he got banged up last season or is it just because you don't really need it?
FUC: The offense is actually better than it was last year. We have simply taken what the defenses have given us and so far that has been running the ball. Dan LeFevour is on track to break Tim Tebow's 20 running touchdowns and 20 passing touchdowns. If you guys want to stack the box and challenge us to pass the ball, Dan LeFevour would be happy to oblige you.
BR: What about playing UB worries you the most? Last year this was a team that took you to the brink in Mount Pleasant and while clearly our new QB is having some growing pains the core of the defense and the best player on the offense both return.
FUC: A last minute Hail Marry. Maybe a timely forced fumble you guys will run back to the house. I think most fans seem to think that if their is a football God he wears a Buffalo Bulls jersey. We fear your trick-er-ation and timely/lucky plays.
(A Thought from Bull Run; Clearly Fire Up Chips has not watched any of the past three games. If there is a Football God I think the Bulls are paying some kind of penance this season, or at least for the first quarter of it.)
BR: Clearly the Central Michigan Defense is turning into the story of the MAC this season but considering your two best performances are against Alcorn State, an FCS school, and an Akron, a team with more drama than a day time soap, have you seen anything in the Chips defense that gives you pause as you go deeper into conference play?
FUC: Like all MAC teams, you have your talented players who start games and after that the talent falls off the cliff. No MAC team wants to see their second or third string guys playing -- its too much of a crap shoot. So... if our starters Nick Bellore (LB), Sean Murnane (DT), and Frank Zombo (DE) get hurt, you will see a very sloppy CMU team.
BR: If your defense has any weak spot is against the passing game, do you see Roosevelt, Hamlin, and Rack as a real threat?
FUC: Sure, Roosevelt, Halmin, Rack, Scooby-Doo, Lady Gaga, the ghost of Tupac...you are talking about a team that was ranked 118 in passing defense last year. We are worried about anybody who lines up across from our defensive backs. CMU fans all know about Roosevelt and I am sure our best cover corner (Josh Gordy) will have the honor of trying to pen him in.
BR: So is the passing offense lagging (8th in the MAC) because LeFevour is not back to where he was before he got banged up last season or is it just because you don't really need it?
FUC: The offense is actually better than it was last year. We have simply taken what the defenses have given us and so far that has been running the ball. Dan LeFevour is on track to break Tim Tebow's 20 running touchdowns and 20 passing touchdowns. If you guys want to stack the box and challenge us to pass the ball, Dan LeFevour would be happy to oblige you.
BR: What about playing UB worries you the most? Last year this was a team that took you to the brink in Mount Pleasant and while clearly our new QB is having some growing pains the core of the defense and the best player on the offense both return.
FUC: A last minute Hail Marry. Maybe a timely forced fumble you guys will run back to the house. I think most fans seem to think that if their is a football God he wears a Buffalo Bulls jersey. We fear your trick-er-ation and timely/lucky plays.
(A Thought from Bull Run; Clearly Fire Up Chips has not watched any of the past three games. If there is a Football God I think the Bulls are paying some kind of penance this season, or at least for the first quarter of it.)
BR: With UB Winning the MAC last year and Temple steadily improving are some of the negative views of those schools among long time schools like CMU starting to dissipate?
FUC: Temple for some reason comes off as a renegade Sunbelt team like UAB or Troy. A team that takes a lot of JUCO kids, and will either crush you or lose misserably...but they will neither do both consistently.
Buffalo reminds me of CMU. Your big time players Roosevelt, Willy and Starks were brought in when your team was bad. We we're in the same boat but somehow we "hit" on Dan LeFevour and Bryan Anderson, both who will be playing in the NFL next year.
CMU fans love that you destroyed Ball State on national TV, killing any notion that they were the best MAC team in recent memory.
BR: I know you're planning on heading to Buffalo for the game, how will you handle being away from the championship culture (This video is a must see) that limits you to one beer? By the way if you hit the ubfan.com tailgaters I am sure you'll have some time to play dizzy bat.
FUC: The kid who made that video is out of control. Anyways, I heard he is making a Buffalo Bulls - CMU preview that Bull's fans should check out when it drops this Wednesday.
I'll be at the game this week in Buffalo and I'll throw down on some dizzy bat. But since I am originally from the Boston area we play it like a Patriot's football game -- we play for the win -- we play for keeps. We don't allow defeat to be snatched from the jaws of victory in the 4th quarter. We chug a beer and a shot a Popov...man up
FUC: Temple for some reason comes off as a renegade Sunbelt team like UAB or Troy. A team that takes a lot of JUCO kids, and will either crush you or lose misserably...but they will neither do both consistently.
Buffalo reminds me of CMU. Your big time players Roosevelt, Willy and Starks were brought in when your team was bad. We we're in the same boat but somehow we "hit" on Dan LeFevour and Bryan Anderson, both who will be playing in the NFL next year.
CMU fans love that you destroyed Ball State on national TV, killing any notion that they were the best MAC team in recent memory.
BR: I know you're planning on heading to Buffalo for the game, how will you handle being away from the championship culture (This video is a must see) that limits you to one beer? By the way if you hit the ubfan.com tailgaters I am sure you'll have some time to play dizzy bat.
FUC: The kid who made that video is out of control. Anyways, I heard he is making a Buffalo Bulls - CMU preview that Bull's fans should check out when it drops this Wednesday.
I'll be at the game this week in Buffalo and I'll throw down on some dizzy bat. But since I am originally from the Boston area we play it like a Patriot's football game -- we play for the win -- we play for keeps. We don't allow defeat to be snatched from the jaws of victory in the 4th quarter. We chug a beer and a shot a Popov...man up