The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Central Michigan Chippewas 2026 Edition
MIAMI GARDENS - SEPTEMBER 26: Miami defensive back JJ Dunnigan (25) celebrates a fumble recovery in the second quarter as the Miami Hurricanes faced the Central Michigan Chippewas on September 26, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. (Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesAnother game, another victory for the Canes! On Saturday night, your Miami Hurricanes continued the home schedule and beat the Central Michigan Chippewas
Craig T. Smith has your game recap:
(will post when finished)
AND Mike Schiffman is back with the 3 stars of the game:
(will post when finished)
And with no further ado, let's get into this edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
The Good- A win! I will never take this for granted.
- QB Darian Mensah. 23/27 passing, 338 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 4 carries, 21 yards, touchdown
- Mensah's cumulative stats this year: 94/106 passing, 88.7% completions, 1,211 yards, 14 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 9 carries, 52 yards, touchdown. And.....(see below)
Darian Mensah tonight before being pulled in the 3rd quarter against Central Michigan:
- Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) September 27, 2026
23-for-27, 338 yards, 3 TDs
He's the first FBS passer in the last 30 years to have more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12) through his first four games, per @CBSSports research. pic.twitter.com/zDGSW416EZ
- WR Malachi Toney. 6 catches for 120 yards and a touchdown.
- Toney's cumulative stats: 34 catches for 564 yards and 6 touchdowns.
- True Freshman Ben Congdon *FINALLY* being inserted at Left Guard. It was beyond past time for that change to happen. And, on the first drive with the change, Miami walked down the field, and ran right behind him for the first touchdown of the game. Sorry, but that's his spot now. Those are the rules.
- The aforementioned Mallory TD run
Javian Mallory with the rushing TD pic.twitter.com/8kDU9vtVj6
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
- DT Justin Scott showing his elite talent. If ONLY we could get him to do this more than like 3 plays every game...
Justin Scott TFL pic.twitter.com/IreEJ5oLnM
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
- Darian Mensah kept cooking with this TD pass to Daylyn Upshaw.
Darian Mensah couldn't have handed this ball to Daylyn Upshaw any better pic.twitter.com/eUkuZ3BbRq
- Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) September 26, 2026
Daylyn Upshaw TD Catch
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
Mensah 10/11
122 yards
1 TD pic.twitter.com/meTHr5y0p1
- MY GUY J.J. DUNNIGAN WITH A FUMBLED SNAP RECOVERY!!!!!
JJ Dunnigan FUMBLE RECOVERY pic.twitter.com/ebFVcY08oY
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
- ...and the Mensah to Toney TD that quickly followed it.
Mensah to Toney TD pic.twitter.com/TGi4OOusIh
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
- And for good measure, this touchdown from Mensah to Barkate
Mensah finds Cooper Barkate TD
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 26, 2026
Mensah
15/17
191 Yards
3 TDs pic.twitter.com/0vSmjbR7Zh
- An incredible play by Marquise Lightfoot to come clean and get the sack/fumble. The TD return by Wilson II was negated....by Lightfoot with a personal foul hit on the CMU QB during the return.
Marquise Lightfoot SMACKS the QB and causes the Fumble.
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 27, 2026
No TD because of a Penalty. pic.twitter.com/gFvM8mZFnN
- The new combinations on the OL. LOVED what I saw from Congdon at LG. Liked what I saw from Jamal Meriweather at RG. LOVED what I saw from the OL with those two replacing the previous starters at the guard spots.
- I liked that we've moved Jackson Cantwell to Left Tackle full-time with the 2's. He's too talented to keep moving around. Leave him there and develop him to join the rotation now and start in the future. You didn't bring him here to play guard. Period.
- STARTING RB Javian Mallory. 5 carries for 30 yards and a TD. But his impact was larger than the numbers, and for a true freshman to get a start on this team? That's IMPRESSIVE.
- WR Cooper Barkate. 4 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown
- WR Samourian Wingo. 2 catches for 28 yards and some nice punt returns.
- EDGE Marquise Lightfoot. 4 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble.
- S J.J. Dunnigan. Listed with 1 tackle, but that's categorically false. Had at least 3 on CMU's opening drive ALONE. And the fumble recovery as well.
- The return of RB Jordan Lyle. Didn't do too much on the stat sheet, but getting him back when we're ailing at RB was big.
- The return of RB Chris Wheatley-Humphrey! 11 carries for a career-high 104 yards and his first collegiate touchdown! Awesome stuff!
- Beating CMU so badly that we were able to play the 2's and 3's on both sides of the ball. Great experience for younger players to help push their development.
- 7 players with a carry
- 11 players with a catch
- Freshman CB Brody Jennings with his first career interception!
- 572 yards of offense
- 371 yards passing
- 201 yards rushing
- 29 first downs
- 5-7 on 3rd down
- 1-1 on 4th down
- 0 offensive turnovers
- +3 turnover ratio - 2 fumbles (recovered by Dunnigan and Wilson II), 1 interception (Jennings)
- 8 TFLs
- 4 sacks
- 8.6 yards per play
- 13.7 yards per completion
- 6 yards per rush
- 7-7 red zone scoring (6 TDs, 1 FG)
- Allowed 158 yards of offense
- Allowed 137 yards passing
- Allowed 21 yards rushing - far and away the season low for a CMU team averaging 220 ypg on the ground coming into tonight
- Allowed 6.5 yards per completion
- Allowed 0.8 yards per rush
- Only allowed 51 snaps for the opponent
- Allowed 0 red zone drives or snaps to the opponent
- 68 snaps of offense. Would like to be here or higher every game. (but that means we'd have to push the tempo a bit and I'm not sure we're going to do that)
- Advanced stats show a blowout
The Bad- All the key players out for this game. RB Mark Fletcher and DT Ahmad Moten Sr. were held out to give them extra rest ahead of the Clemson game. Necessary and smart. I just had that we had to do it.
- Allowed 11 first downs
- Allowed 10.8 yards per completion
- Allowed 6-13 3rd down conversions
- That's nearly 50% conversions to a team that was converting 32.5% of their 3rd downs in their first 3 games
- Allowed 28:50 time of possession. I know that's CMU's game, but can't have that vs a team of this low caliber.
- Allowed 5 TFLs
- Allowed 2 sacks
- The refs. They were ATROCIOUS tonight. White hat was very personable on the PA mic during the coin-toss, but their game control and adjudication was piss fucking poor. And I'm saying this while agreeing with many of the penalties they called against Miami tonight. So think about how bad they have to be for me to lead The Ugly with this!?!
- 13 penalties penalties for 112 yards. Worse numbers of the season.
- I honestly don't have words for the penalties anymore. And again: either you coach it, or allow it. And at this point, with the numbers increasing literally every week, it's the latter.
- Matthew McCoy with a pair of false start penalties on the opening drive of the game. Get it together. Now.
- After converting 3rd and 6 (which was only that long because of the first McCoy false start), Miami's next plays on the first drive: missed block for a 10 yard sack, false start, pass for 6, screen for 9 (with CMU playing drop coverage), punt. The very definition of ugly.
- Roughing the passer on Damon Wilson II to extend CMU's 1st drive. Terrible call. Clear hit through the QB's thighs. Neither late nor low. Do better, ref.
- Miami trailing for the first time this season.
- Trailing for the first time this season at the hands of Central fucking Michigan.
- Trailing Central fucking Michigan for even a single second.
- Whatever the fuck this was supposed to be from Max Buchanan
There needs to be an investigation... #66 pic.twitter.com/8hQknOZHH8
- Mikeyboy4the[]_[] (@MikeyBoy4TheU) September 26, 2026
- False start on Ryan Rodriguez. Yes, I will be listed every penalty that happens in real time here tonight.
- Holding on Ethan O'Connor during a punt.
- Holding on Elija Lofton during a big Mensah scramble. Cost yards, but still got the 1st down on the play.
- Holding on Matthew McCoy on the very next play from the previous penalty.
- That's 3 penalties on McCoy in 1H: 2 false starts, and a hold. My anger knows no bounds.
- False start on WR Daylyn Upshaw on 1st and goal from the 1.
- EDGE Marquise Lightfoot with a personal foul for unnecessary roughness for absolutely DEMOLISHING the QB during the return of the fumble he forced on a sack. Took a touchdown off the board and put the ball back to Miami's own 35.
- Offensive pass interference on Malachi Toney, negating his own touchdown catch.
- This is the play with that penalty. My goodness he's incredible (and it wasn't a penalty)
WHAT CAN'T TONEY DO?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/IFfIMXi3UE
- Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 27, 2026
- Facemask on the OFFENSE, RB Chris Wheatley-Humphrey. Turned 3rd and 11 into 3rd and 26. Cool.
- False start on C S.J. Alofaituli with the 2nd team late in the 4th quarter. Cool.
This is what the offense is supposed to look like. There was the first drive which was bad, but after that, it was 8 consecutive scoring drives, then the drive that ended the game. Not much to say here. Thank the LORD we're changing personnel along the OL. Gimme more of Congdon and Meriweather at the guard spots. The offense REALLY comes alive with them in there instead of the incumbents. Make this change permanent immediately.
Oh wait. 10 penalties on the offense. 3 full grade demerits.
Defense:Sure, we allowed more passing yards to Central Michigan than we'd like, but the triple option team ran for 21 yards, turned the ball over 3 times, punted 5 times, and scored 3 points. I could nitpick the amount of first downs or time of possession, but I'm not gonna do that. This was a great performance, and I'm grading it as such. Moving on.
Oh wait. 3 penalties on defense. Full grade demerit.
Special Teams:Coverage unit on the one punt was good. Kickoffs were touchbacks, all. Wingo had a pair of nice punt returns. New gunner blockers on punt return was a nice sight to see. Oh wait. There was the penalty on the PR to put the ball back to the 3. Full grade demerit.
Coaching:The team was ready to go and largely played well. Outside of the first drive for each team, which saw CMU take a 3-0 lead, Miami was dialed in, played with speed and excellence, and dominated a team they should dominate.
But we're still fucking around with the offensive line when it's plain to see changes are needed. And when the needed changes happened, THE PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVED IMMEDIATELY! CORRELATION AND CAUSATION!!!!!
But I'm sick and tired of the fucking penalties. And that rests on the shoulders of the coaching staff, and head coach specifically. If you're not directly coaching it, you're allowing it at this point. And it's going to cost us games. I'm sick of the bullshit, and I will not overlook it. I don't care that we won by 7 touchdowns. IT'S NOT FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH.
Season-high in penalties. Automatic failure. I will hear no appeal or rebuttal. This is the grade and my ruling is final.
That's it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.
Clemson here we come!
Go Canes