A look at CMU/Air Force heading into Week 2

The second week of college football games are just a few days away, so let’s take a look at what Michigan State’s and Michigan’s opponents are saying entering the weekend.

Central Michigan

Michigan State should be walking into a pretty hostile environment on Saturday as Central Michigan is hyping Saturday’s game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium as the biggest home game in the program’s history.

One underlying theme to Saturday’s game is that current Chippewa head coach, Dan Enos, is a former Spartan quarterback and assistant under Mark Dantonio.

Nate Schneider of The Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant has a story on Dantonio discussing his past allegiance to MSU and his current state as head coach of CMU entering Saturday’s game. Here is a quote from the article from Enos on the difficulties of coaching against Dantonio and MSU

“This is difficult,” Enos said. “We texted each other the other day and we both said this is hard. Games against friends always are. But you have to put that aside and play football, so that’s what it is. We’ll see each other Saturday, but it’s hard to coach against someone you have so much respect and admiration for and are friends with off the field. It’s part of the deal and also makes it a little more exciting. I love those guys over there and it’s going to be a fun day and a fun environment.”

Another interesting aspect to this game is the apparent support for MSU on the CMU campus. Central Michigan Life had a story on current Chippewa students going to Saturday’s game to support the Spartans. The photo to the right appeared this week at the La Senorita in Mt. Pleasant, just off the CMU campus.

I can understand people in Mt. Pleasant supporting MSU on any other week, but am surprised so many would blatantly root against the home-town team.

Air Force

Michigan comes into this week’s game with Air Force looking to get the taste of last week’s loss to Alabama out of its mouth.

The Falcons, on the other hand, are spending their time worrying about stopping Denard Robinson and praising the Michigan program.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun held his weekly press conference boasting about the Wolverines and how great of a program they are. Here are some of Calhoun’s quotes from The Denver Post.

"There are a handful of programs in college football that are guaranteed at least 10 victories every season," Calhoun said, "Michigan is one of them. They clearly are the favorite to win the Big Ten Conference."

"There's not a more dynamic player in college football right now," Calhoun said of the 6-foot , 197-pound Robinson

The article also talks about some of the injury issues for the Falcons as center Michael Husar is out for the rest of the season following a knee injury last week. Receiver Ty MacArthur is going to be a game-time decision for Saturday’s contest due to a head injury.