That confidence paid off on Saturday in the Chippewas' 26-23 overtime victory over Toledo at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Meeder was good on all four of his field goal attempts, connecting from 46, 51, 44 and 38 yards. The last came in overtime and provided the winning points as CMU improved to 4-3, 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference.
Meeder's performance came on the heels of a 3-for-3 day a week ago, when he connected from 34, 35 and 40 yards in a 30-27 victory at Ohio.
Meeder, a freshman from Eaton Rapids, has made his last seven attempts and none of them have been chip shots. His hot streak comes after he combined to make just two of six attempts against Florida International (Sept. 25) and Miami (Ohio) (Oct. 2).
He missed his first attempt, a 44-yarder, against FIU and that, he said, sent him into a bit of a tailspin.
"I think ever since I missed that first one it just got in my head," Meeder said. "The next couple of ones, I was like, 'Dang, what if I miss this one? What if I miss this one?'"
He said he went to work with CMU special teams coordinator Keith Murphy. As is typical with kickers, it was part mental and part physical.
"After the (Miami) game that I missed two, me and coach Murph's thing was, 'Be smooth; be smooth,'" Meeder said. "So when I go out there it's just being smooth and doing my thing."
His thing has been pretty good over the past two weeks, and pretty good in his relatively brief CMU career.
Meeder earned First Team All-MAC honors in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he made all eight of his field goal tries, four of them from 40-plus yards and two from 50-plus. He is 11 for 16 this season after a 4-for-9 start. He has five from 40-plus yards, two from 50-plus.
The 53-yarder he hit last season at Toledo ties for the fourth longest in program history. His 51-yarder on Saturday against the Rockets was the third of his career from that distance.
He said he was calm when he trotted onto the field for his 38-yard try in overtime with the game tied, 23-23.
"You need to practice how you play," he said. "You put yourself mentally in a game-winning situation (in practice) so that when the time actually comes, it's easy for you.
"That's kind of like every kicker's dream, coming down and winning the game. Shoutout to the whole field goal unit for doing their job. I feel so safe back there; no pressure."
A Little History
Meeder is the first Chippewa to boot four field goals in a game since David Harman accomplished the feat in a 32-31 victory at Iowa on Sept. 22, 2012.
The CMU record is five, set by Andrew Aguila in CMU's 44-41 double-overtime victory over Troy in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. on Jan. 6, 2010.
The Chippewa quarterback in that game was legendary Dan LeFevour, who was introduced at halftime of Saturday's game as one of the 11 new members of the Marcy Weston Central Michigan University Athletics Hall of Fame.
On The Ground
CMU running back Lew Nichols III appears to be hitting his mid-season stride.
The reigning MAC Freshman of the Year ran for 134 yards and caught seven passes for 39 yards and a touchdown on Saturday.
His performance came on the heels of his 186-yard (and 210-yard all-purpose) day last week in CMU's win at Ohio.
"He finally is running the way Lew Nichols should run," McElwain said. "He should be a physical guy, sticking his foot (in the ground), bouncing off some tackles, and it's good to see him doing that."
Nichols now has 725 yards rushing on the season and is averaging 5.0 yards per carry. He has four 100-yard rushing games this season and six in 17 career games.
The Defense
The Chippewas did an admirable job of containing Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn.
Finn threw for 208 yards, but the big concern for CMU entering the game was stopping him from running.
Finn gained 97 yards on the ground but finished with net 43 because he was sacked seven times. He did break through a few times, most notably for an 18-yard touchdown that tied the game, 23-23, with 35 seconds left in regulation.
"The plan was just to rush together and make sure we contained the quarterback," CMU defensive end Troy Hairston II said. "(Finn is) a very good, very mobile quarterback. We really just worked on playing, start to finish -- playing our own game because we really haven't done that all year."
CMU redshirt freshman Justin Whiteside started in place of stalwart outside linebacker Troy Brown, who was injured. Whiteside led the Chippewas with a career-high seven tackles, including one sack among 3 ½ tackles-for-loss.
"Whiteside stepped in for Troy Brown and had a hell of a game," Hairston said.
Safety Gage Kreski, cornerback Rolliann Sturkey and defensive tackle Jacques Bristol finished with six stops apiece. It marked a career best for Bristol and Sturkey tied his career high.
Bristol and Hairston shuffled in and out of the game on the defensive front along with the likes of Amir Siddiq, Tico Brown, Thomas Incoom and John Wesley Whiteside.
Incoom and Brown made perhaps the biggest play of the game when they combined to sack Finn on third down in overtime. That pushed the Rockets back to the CMU 33-yard line and
"You've got a group of guys in there that are hungry, and they played that way," McElwain said, adding that it was clear that "being able to keep those guys fresh" helped throughout the game as they chased Finn all over the field.
Punting
CMU's Luke Elzinga punted nine times on Saturday for an average of 39.0 yards with a long of 58. Two of his punts were downed inside the Toledo 20-yard line.
Richardson Efficient
CMU quarterback Daniel Richardson completed 21 of 35 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an interception.
Nichols led the Chippewas with seven catches, while Kalil Pimpleton had six catches for a team-best 103 yards.
Working Overtime
Saturday's game was CMU's first overtime game since the 2017 season opener, when the Chippewas defeated Rhode Island, 30-27, in triple overtime.
Saturday's win was CMU's third consecutive extra-time victory, a streak that began with a 34-28 three-OT win at Northern Illinois on Oct. 15, 2016.
Next
The Chippewas are set to entertain Northern Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 23 (noon), in what shapes up to be a critically important MAC game.
NIU defeated Bowling Green, 34-26, on Saturday for its fourth consecutive win. The Huskies are 5-2 overall and lead the MAC West at 3-0. The Chippewas, Ball State and Western Michigan are tied for second at 2-1 in league play.
"smooth" - Google News
October 17, 2021 at 11:35AM
https://ift.tt/30AFm2v
Football Notebook: 'Smooth' Meeder Delivers In The Clutch - Central Michigan University Chippewas
"smooth" - Google News
https://ift.tt/30JhCVH
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Football Notebook: 'Smooth' Meeder Delivers In The Clutch - Central Michigan University Chippewas"
Post a Comment