The head coach’s philosophy is to treat his program like a perennial Top 5 power. The university at which he coaches is 22nd in all-time college football winning percentage (.609), better than Miami or UCLA. His quarterback is probably going to end his career third on college football’s all-time total offense list with multiple conference titles.
Adidas was so pleased with its sponsorship of the Chippewas, it opened a new shop in the stadium.
By now you probably haven’t guessed that the program is Central Michigan. Go ahead, look it up.
“I’m sure there still are some people around the country who aren’t certain what we’re all about but we know what we’re all about,” said coach Butch Jones, who speaks without arrogance or annoyance about his program. “Everything we do is geared to be a championship football program. People who have taken to the time to look at us see that. They see the support, the facilities, the players. And more people are looking all the time.”
Central Michigan (7-1) and ranked 22nd by The Post, gets its best chance of the season to get more people to pay attention today when it plays at Boston College (5-3).
It’s a game against a BCS conference opponent in the Northeast, where the nation’s media can help make a player (Doug Flutie) or a program (Rutgers) into a household name.
“The goal since before I got here was to take this program nationally,” QB Dan Lefevour told The Post. “We have a lot of smarts guys on this team who understand the opportunity we have. We also understand that Boston College is a great program, probably as physical and big as we’ve faced. I don’t think we’ll be too excited. We’ll come to play.”
A win would help establish the Chippewas as the Boise State Broncos or Utah Utes of the Mid-American Conference.
With Lefevour — who, with 13,920 yards in total offense, is third all-time and closing in on former BYU great Ty Detmer (14,665) and Hawaii’s Colt Brennan (14,740) — the Chippewas are looking for their third Mid-American Conference title in the last four years.
They have dynamic playmakers on offense, such as WR/PR Antonio Brown, and head-crackers on defense, such as LB Nick Bellore. The Chippewas (7-1) only loss was a 19-6 setback at Arizona, and they rallied for a thrilling win 29-27 win at Michigan State.
Lefevour, who ran the double wing in high school in Downers Grove, Ill., had no offers from a BCS conference school. Since arriving in Mount Pleasant, Mich., he has been the ultimate sparkplug, accounting for 132 career touchdowns, eight more than Tim Tebow.
When asked if he’s surprised even himself, Lefevour, who called on his own cell phone do to this interview, answered with humbleness and honesty.
“My parents ask me that all the time,” he said. “When I was a junior and senior in high school, I didn’t know what to expect. But as an athlete, you compete and you expect yourself to play well. I’ve tried to set new standards for myself each season.”
Which is exactly what Jones has done at Central Michigan since taking over from Brian Kelly, who has since turned Cincinnati into a Big East power. Jones is a coaching lifer, having gotten a defensive assistant job with Rutgers right out of college.
He appreciates the chance his program has today. So do the players.
Lefevour’s sister, Erin Marich and her husband Chris, who unfortunately is a Red Sox fan, are driving from Manhattan to Boston where they’ll meet up with some 5,000 Chippewa fans who have made the trip.
“You can’t get caught up in what one win would mean,” said Lefevour. “But at a place like Central Michigan, the student-athletes and students have such a great relationship. This would be great for them.”
DODO BIRDS: The SEC’s decision to suspend a crew after it called a ridiculous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Georgia’s A.J. Green then called an equally bogus personal foul penalty on Arkansas’s Malcolm Sheppard, which helped the Gators beat the Hogs, was foolish.
The coaches are busted out of their asylums and running amok. Last week Lane Kiffin ripped the officials for not calling an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when Terrence Cody removed his helmet after a blocked field-goal attempt.
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullins criticized replay officials after his team’s loss to Florida. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino has spoken out. Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said he had some questions for the league’s officiating coordinator Rogers Redding about calls made in his team’s loss to South Carolina.
“I think I’d have to get in line,” Johnson said jokingly.
Now the SEC has stated that coaches will be fined or suspended for criticizing officials, not merely reprimanded. This is sounding like a Cold War arms buildup.
Coaches that don’t speak up are viewed in this football-crazy conference as not being tough enough in the nation’s toughest conference. So they pipe up.
The league draws another line. A coach will cross it. Our money is on Kiffin, but we’re getting awful odds.
The calls were awful and the crew should have been privately reprimanded and fined. After the season the league could have announced additional penalties, possibly termination.
But it didn’t take a GPS device and binoculars to see this fallout coming. By the way, did you see that call in the … ?
MAKING A NEST: Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said he will launch the “Jasper Fund,” a charity that will benefit high school athletes from the inner city who want to go to college but are financially challenged.
That is the story of Jasper Howard, the cornerback who made his way out of inner Miami because of his football scholarship to Connecticut. He was stabbed to death on the morning of Oct. 18 after a Homecoming Day win over Louisville.
BIRD CALLS: West Virginia coach Bill Stewart offered this breakdown on Noel Devine’s electrifying runs: “I don’t know where he’s going sometimes. I don’t know if he knows where he’s going.”
Now that’s coaching.
TWEET: Remember, until next week, he’s just a freshman, only a sophomore and still a junior.
