Central Michigan is expected to open Saturday night with both Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser taking snaps at quarterback, a choice that gives the offense more than one way to attack New Mexico at University Stadium. Matt Drinkall said the two quarterbacks are both in line to play in the season opener.
That matters because Central Michigan does not plan to come in throwing the ball around. The offense is built to run, and New Mexico knows the challenge starts at the line of scrimmage. Brian Booker called the CMU front a very big physical team and said the defense has to be ready for double teams, while Jason Eck said the key is stopping the run and forcing third-and-long situations.
The quarterback rotation only adds to that problem. Eck said Central Michigan’s quarterbacks are very athletic, and the staff could use both of them on the ground. That is a dangerous setup when the bulk of the carries can also come through Brock Townsend and Vaughn Blue, because New Mexico cannot simply key on one player or one look and expect to get away with it.
Flores is the piece that makes the matchup feel even more uneven. He led the team with eight rushing touchdowns last season and ran for 527 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Over nine games, he averaged 3.1 pass attempts per game, which shows how little he was asked to live as a thrower and how much of his value came from what he can do once the play breaks down.
Spence Nowinsky said Flores can throw the ball well enough, but that his real threat is with his legs. Booker was even more direct, saying Flores is an excellent runner who is hard to stop once he gets out of the pocket and can run somebody over when he gets downhill. That is the friction for New Mexico: the defense is preparing for a run-heavy team, but it also has to account for a quarterback who can turn a broken play into a long gain.
Central Michigan also returns seven offensive linemen who saw playing time last season, including four starters, so the front in front of Flores and Glasser should not be learning on the job. If the opener turns into the kind of physical game CMU appears to want, New Mexico’s best chance is exactly what Eck laid out — win first down, squeeze the run and make the quarterbacks prove they can beat pressure from the pocket rather than with their legs.
