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A championship year

During CMU’s preseason football media day in August, seniors Daniel Bazuin and Joe Staley stood before reporters and boldly stated that anything
less than a Mid-American Conference championship in 2006 would be a disappointment.

Few outside the CMU football program could have taken them seriously. The Chippewas were picked to finish no higher than fourth in the MAC West Division in the conference’s preseason poll and had recorded just two winning seasons in the past decade. Over the following three months, however, it became obvious that CMU was the premier program in the MAC in 2006.

CMU’s first 10-win season since 1979
featured a trio of landmark victories.
The Chippewas clinched their first MAC West Division title with a 31-7 victory over Western Michigan University on a freezing, rain-soaked evening at Kelly/Shorts Stadium Nov. 10. The win guaranteed CMU its first appearance in the MAC Championship game and secured the Michigan MAC championship for the Chippewas, who had defeated Eastern Michigan University in September.

A national television audience of ESPN viewers watched as CMU routed Ohio University, 31-10, in the conference title game at Ford Field in Detroit Nov. 30. Along with winning its fifth MAC title, and first since 1994, CMU became the first MAC program from Michigan to claim a victory in the MAC Championship Game.

Less than a month later, the Chippewas returned to Ford Field to represent the MAC in the Motor City Bowl. The Motor City Bowl record crowd of 54,113 was clearly on the side of the Chippewas – CMU became the only school in Motor City Bowl history to sell more than 15,000 tickets through its own ticket office – and created an electric atmosphere in which CMU won its first Division I-A bowl game. The Chippewas scored a pair of early touchdowns on their way to a 31-14 victory over Middle Tennessee State University.

CMU closed the season with a remarkable run of eight wins in its final nine games. The team was recognized with a conference-high 11 All-MAC selections, including MAC Freshman of the Year quarterback Dan LeFevour, and conference-best seven Academic All-MAC honorees. •

Quarterback Dan LeFevour was named Motor City Bowl Most Valuable Player and MAC Freshman of the Year.