Washington State Cougars: Sun Bowl 2.0 Scouting Central Michigan
The football gods smiled on Washington State Cougars football. Central Michigan replaces Miami (FL) in the Sun Bowl. We have a sneak peek at WSU’s next opponent.
What happens when your team travels almost 1,500 miles to play in a bowl game, and they arrive only to find their opponent canceled on them. You, your conference, and the bowl work like heck to get a replacement. After several other teams declined invitations, Central Michigan stepped up to face the Washington State Cougars in this year’s Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Originally scheduled to face Boise State in the Arizona Bowl, CMich found themselves in the same position as Washington State when they showed up in Tucson. Both WSU and CMU found themselves over a thousand miles away from home but just 317 miles apart. So, why not?
Phone calls were made, favors likely done (we’ll know more when a few MAC teams show up on Pac-12 schedules), politics played, and viola, the 2021 Sun Bowl 2.0 game is official. Here is a scouting report on the Coug’s new opponent Central Michigan.
The matchup is set‼@WSUCougarFB will now take on @CMU_Football in the 88th Annual Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.🏈🏆
Tickets: https://t.co/H0EmH1PrYY pic.twitter.com/CZLYpr9Xaf
— Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl (@TonyTheTigerSB) December 28, 2021
2021 Season
This is the Chippewas second bowl appearance in three seasons under former Colorado State and Florida head coach Jim McElwain. In 2020 they decided to end their season with a 3-3 record after the final regular-season game. So they get a pass on the COVID shortened season.
It’s a different story for CMich in 2021; they finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, including 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference. That was good for second place in the West Division. Their record is a bit deceiving. Two of their losses were to SEC teams, while another was a 39-38 loss to MAC Champion Northern Illinois. A game where CMich held a 17-point lead with 6:07 left in the third quarter and a two-point lead with less than a minute to go.