Central Michigan Preparing For Boone Pickens Stadium With Practice Crowd Noise

Oklahoma State will face a tougher test this Saturday against the Central Michigan Chippewas, who played the Cowboys very tough a year ago, before falling 24-13. Central Michigan, who finished 7-6 and lost 21-14 to Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl a year ago, bounced Presbyterian 49-3 last weekend in their season opener. While the Chippewas are excited for another crack at the 22^nd ranked Cowboys, CMU head coach John Bonamego stressed the importance of playing solid in all facets of the game and avoiding costly turnovers, speaking to CM Life, a Central Michigan University publication:

“We’re going to have to play well in all three phases,” he said. “We can’t have a bunch of penalties, we have to take care of the football and defensively we have to be very sound.”

The Chippewas will lean heavily on Senior QB Cooper Rush, who threw for an impressive 3,848 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, and rushing for 3 more scores. Going into a hostile environment such as Boone Pickens Stadium, Rush will be invaluable for the Chippewas looking to pull off the upset. Bonamego didn’t sound too concerned with the road atmosphere in Stillwater, compared to the other MAC teams on the schedule for the Chippewas.

“It’s more about the 22 players on the field than it is the 60,000 in the stands,” Bonamego said. “College stadiums can get loud, but we work with that all the time.”

Despite the lack of concern, the Chippewas have been preparing this week for the raucous BPS by having crowds making noise at their practices while the offense is looking to snap the ball, which shows their awareness for what awaits for them in Stillwater. Look for the senior QB Rush to come in prepared and unafraid as Central Michigan squares off against the Cowboys this weekend.

“This will be a good test for us in a lot of ways,” said Mike Gundy. “I’ve always been a big fan of the quarterback (Cooper Rush). He’s a potential NFL player. They’ve got eight returning starters on defense. They have some guys back in the running game. We’re going to continue to push forward. We need some quality work. We’ve got some areas that we certainly need to improve in. I feel like we’re making some strides in important areas of our team, but we still need to practice. I’m looking forward to a good week getting ready for Central Michigan.”