MSU Midweek Preview: Central Michigan

Central Michigan

Thursday 7PM, Ralph Young Field – All proceeds go to Multiple Sclerosis research.
Record: 3-5 (0-0 CCLA West)
Rankings: 63 (Computer).
Common Opponents: BYU (L 4-25).

Schedule

The Chippewas started the season strong – albeit against weak competition – before stumbling against top-10 BYU and coming up winless in 4 games since. The BYU contest was tight at halftime, with the Cougars holding onto only an 8-4 lead, but they went on a 17-0 second-half run to close the door on CMU.

The subsequent losses have come to some questionable squads, including Buffalo and Northeastern (although Buffalo is LaxPower’s #20 team to the computers, they overrate the PCLL on account of limited non-conference schedules in the league). Marquette and MSU-Mankato are both well into the bottom half of teams in the league.

So, is Central the team that spanked their first three opponents, or the one that hasn’t won a game since? Probably somewhere in between – their weakest opponents on the year were those first three, and their loss to Northeastern, at the least, was a heartbreaker.

Either way, the schedule doesn’t say a whole lot about Central Michigan’s ability to compete with State, aside from “Probably can’t.”

Personnel

Central doesn’t have a lot of prolific scorers, with nobody over 3 points per game and only a trio of guys over 2 points per game. All three of senior attack Jeff Wood, sophomore midfielder Nick Diegel, and junior attack Justin Shauffler have produced most of their points on goals. Right behind them at 1.625 points per game – but mostly accomplished through assists – is senior midfielder Cameron Aubry. Though 18 different Chips have gotten onto the scoresheet, they’re only averaging 11.4 goals per game.

The defense is led by Ryan Lotan and Scott Brakora, with senior defensive midfielder Joe Micelli near the top of the GB chart as well. Sophomore defenseman Matt Guidobono has been hit with the second-most penalty minutes on the team.

In goal, Cullen Hasking and Sean Coates have played about the same number of games, and though Hasking’s goals against average is slightly worse, his save percentage is better, leading me to believe he’s performed better than Coates, but done so against the tougher competition.

Predictions

This shouldn’t be very competitive. Though CMU looked early in the year like they might be able to step up to another level, their mid-season slide has included losses to some really bad teams. Michigan State, on the other hand, has only lost to teams of a much higher caliber – and they’ve beaten some top-10 teams as well (including one that turned Central into a bloody paste).

The Spartans will score early and often, then try to rest their starters as early in the game as possible to rest them up for Saturday’s big tilt. Central gets the score near respectability against the backups, and Michigan State leaves with a 22-13 win.