Preston Stone threw three touchdown passes, and Northwestern turned four turnovers into touchdowns and beat Central Michigan 34-7 in the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field on Friday.
The Wildcats (7-6) extended their bowl game winning streak to six. They haven’t lost in the postseason since a 45-6 loss to Pittsburgh in the 2015 Outback Bowl.
Central Michigan (7-6) is 0-3 against the Big Ten in bowl games, with all three losses coming at Ford Field. The Chippewas lost 51-48 to Purdue in the 2007 Motor City Bowl and 21-14 to Minnesota in the 2015 Quick Lane Bowl.
Central Michigan had the first scoring opportunity of the game after stopping Northwestern on 4th-and-1 at the Wildcats 34, but Cade Graham missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.
The game was still scoreless midway through the second quarter, but Braden Turner intercepted Angel Flores’ pass at the Central Michigan 29. Three plays later, Stone threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Griffin Wilde to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
Joe Labas, the other half of Central Michigan’s quarterbacking duo, fumbled on the first play after the kickoff to give Northwestern the ball on the Chippewas 18. Caleb Komolafe scored on a 2-yard run to put Northwestern ahead 14-0.
Flores fumbled on first down, giving Central Michigan turnovers on three straight plays. Stone hit Lawson Albright for a 23-yard touchdown on the next play — Northwestern’s third touchdown in a span of 3:02.
Flores fumbled for the second time on Central Michigan’s first drive of the second half and Turner returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. Jack Olson missed the extra point to leave the score at 27-0. Stone hit Wilde for another touchdown in the quarter to make it 34-0.
Central Michigan avoided the shutout when Labas hit Brock Townsend for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 6:11 to play.
Takeaways
Central Michigan: The Chippewas turned the ball over four times — three fumbles and an interception — in a span of 12 plays spanning the second and third quarters. They only picked up one first down in that sequence.
Northwestern: The Wildcats scored four touchdowns with an average drive length of 17.5 yards, including Turner’s fumble-return touchdown. Their two longest drives in the first half — 48 and 44 yards — both ended in punts.
Up next
Central Michigan: Build an offense. Head coach Matt Drinkell built an outstanding defense in his first season after six years as an assistant coach at Army, but the Chippewas finished 93rd in scoring offense (23.8 points per game) and 107th in offensive yards per game (335.7). On Friday, they were overmatched against Big Ten opposition.
Northwestern: Find some playmakers in the transfer portal. It wasn’t a problem on Friday, thanks to the turnovers, but the Wildcats didn’t put together a sustained scoring drive until late in the third quarter. Central Michigan has a great MAC defense, but Northwestern struggled to average three yards on the ground.
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