Chippewas Football (MAC, 2004)

2004 Regular Season:
Chippewas vs. Western Michigan Broncos

     Central Michigan Football opened the 2004 season with a new head coach, as Mike DeBord resigned after the 2003 season. Athletic Director Herb Deromedi replaced him with Brian Kelly. Kelly had recently been head coach at Grand Valley State for the last 13 seasons, leading the Lakers to a 118-35-2 record and two Division II National Championships. This was his first head coaching position at the Division I level.
     CMU Football had been a struggling program for nearly a decade, having just one winning season since winning the MAC title in 1994. 2004 would be more of the same, as the Chippewas finished with a 4-7 record (3-5 MAC). That placed the Chips at fifth place in the MAC West Division, four games back of league champion Toledo.
     The Chippewas offense was mediocre, just 82nd in the nation with an average of 23.6 points per game. The high point for scoring came in a wild 61-58 loss to Eastern Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit. The starting quarterback that year was Toledo senior Kent Smith. Smith actually had a decent season for a struggling team, completing 188 passes for 2,284 yards and 16 touchdowns. His primary target was sophomore Damien Linson, who caught 37 passes for 574 yards and 7 TDs. He was followed by senior Justin Harper, who concluded his CMU career with 526 yards on 39 catches and 5 TDs.
     The primary running back was sophomore Jerry Seymour, who rushed for 1,284 yards on 262 attempts and 5 touchdowns. He also contributed to the passing attack, catching 47 passes for 413 yards. Kent Smith proved to be a fine dual-threat QB as well, rushing for 351 yards on 112 carries and 10 touchdowns. 
     The Chippewas' defense was pretty rough, allowing 34.4 points per game, ranked 107th in the nation. Six times the opponent scored over 30 points in a game, the worst being the 61 Eastern put on the board. No opponent scored less than 21 on the Chips, so Coach Kelly had some work to do on that side of the ball. The team allowed about 261 yards passing and 170 yards rushing that year.
     An ugly moment in program history occurred prior to the season. Seymour, Spencer Lewis, and defense/special teams star James King were involved in the brutal beating of Demarcus Graham outside the Club Shaboom on Court Street. Graham had his head kicked against a curb and eventually died from the wounds he received. King and Seymour were eventually sentenced to prison terms, while the charges against Lewis were dropped. Coach Kelly got into hot water when, in an interview with the

Detroit Free Press, claimed that the players involved (who were African-American) were immersed "in a culture of violence". Those remarks were condemned by CMU President Michael Rao, and Kelly issued an apology shortly after.
     This program is from the October 30th game against arch-rival Western Michigan. Neither team was that great that year. Western was coming into the game with a 1-6 record (0-4 MAC), while the Chippewas were 2-5 (1-3 MAC). Despite the poor records of both teams, another large crowd at Kelly/Shorts Stadium saw the Chippewas defeat the Broncos, 24-21 in overtime. Another thing I remember about this game was the heavy police presence in Mount Pleasant that day as well as campus-wide lockdowns and a city curfew for the weekend. Back in 1991, Central fans rioted after the Chippewas defeated Western, 27-17, overturning cars, starting fires and assaulting bystanders. Police and fire from surrounding communities were called in to calm things down. After that, Central Michigan and the city of Mount Pleasant have taken extra precautions during "Western Weekend". I was on campus for three Western Weekends (2000, 2002, 2004). For those three weekends, I stayed on campus (2000), stayed at a friend's place off-campus (2002) and went to Ferris State to visit my cousin and go to a hockey game (2004). 
     This is a 60-page program, mostly in black-and-white, and similar in format to programs from that time period. CMU slightly changed their jerseys for that season, adding gold stripes down the sides, removing the stripes on the pants, and adding drop shadows to the numbers. Another change was the addition of "CHIPPEWAS" to the front of the jersey, the first time that word had appeared on the football jersey. 
     The preview for that day's game is on pages 2-3, while new coach Brian Kelly is featured on page 21. Former QB Jeff Bender, who played from 1988-91 and led the Chippewas to the 1990 MAC Title, is featured on page 28, and had returned to the program as a doctor. King, Adam Kieft and Troy Humphrey are featured on pages 32-34. The campus is discussed on pages 44-45, and the basketball teams are featured on pages 57-59.
     Local advertisements include the Morning Sun, CMU Bookstore, Ric's Food Center, Zabros Pizza Buffet, Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, and Tallberg Chevrolet and Cadillac. 

Aftermath: In 2005, Kelly would lead Central Michigan to it's first winning season since 1998, finishing 6-5 (5-3 MAC), just one game back of division champion Northern Illinois. CMU would go all the way in 2006, going 10-4 (7-1 MAC), winning the MAC Championship Game over Ohio. In the 2006 Motor City Bowl, the Chippewas would down Middle Tennessee State 31-14, in front of 54,113 fans at Ford Field for the program's first-ever Division I bowl win. Kelly would depart after the MAC Title Game to accept the head coaching position at Cincinnati. He's currently the head coach at Notre Dame.

References:

"2004 Central Michigan Chippewas Stats", from sports-reference.com

"Students Riot in Michigan After Football Team Wins", Orlando Sentinel. 18 November 1991.

McLaren, Hunter. "OPINION: Stories of the Century", Central Michigan Life, 14 November 2019. Taken from: https://www.cm-life.com/article/2019/11/cmlife-100-year-top-stories

Stevens, Chris. "So, was Coach Kelly Telling the Truth?" Midland Daily News, 1 October 2005. Taken from https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/So-was-coach-Kelly-telling-the-truth-7039924.php