The new Central Michigan coaching staff went into the season with the knowledge that it had seven starter-ready offensive linemen to man the five positions — four returning starters, and three more backups who were ready to contribute whenever needed.

Now, the Chippewas (2-3, 1-2 MAC) are down to just six. The Mount Pleasant Morning Sun is reporting that left tackle Jake Olson will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury he suffered during the Eastern Michigan game. He's missed the last two losses, forcing starting right tackle Rocky Weaver to flip to the other end of the line, and pushing Stoney Creek sophomore Eric Fisher into the starting lineup in Weaver's old spot. It appears that reshuffling will be permanent.

Fisher appeared headed for a redshirt as a true freshman, but blew that chance when he was needed as an injury replacement for Olson last year. The 6-foot-7, 295-pound Fisher has played in every game but one this season.

It will be paramount for CMU to quickly figure out the pass protection schemes with the new alignment, if first-year starter Ryan Radcliff is going to survive, especially with the Chippewas going on the road to Virginia Tech this week. In last week's 31-17 loss to Ball State, the Cardinals — who'd had just three sacks in their first three games — had six sacks of Radcliff, including 4.5 by end Robert Eddins, who was the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week for the performance.

Radcliff still threw for 295 yards and two TDs — one each to tight end David Blackburn (7 catches, 89 yards) and wideout Cody Wilson (5-84), a Rochester Adams grad — keeping himself and Wilson among the MAC and NCAA leaders in at their respective positions.

It was the CMU defense, though, that may have let the Chippewas down in their first home loss and first loss to a MAC West team since 2008. The Cardinals racked up 306 yards on the ground against what had been a top-20 rush defense, doubling the total of yards the Chippewas had given up on the ground. Backup linebacker Mike Petrucci (Milford) had a career-high 10 tackles and a sack for CMU.

The Central Michigan University Chippewas, coming off a 13-10 overtime road loss to MAC East preseason favorite Temple, got back on the winning track with an easy 52-14 win over winless Eastern Michigan. The Eagles (0-3) are on a 15-game losing skid, but had a chance to win each of their first two contests, and had given CMU fits in the last few years.

Where would Central Michigan be without Cody Wilson this season?

Well, probably still 1-1 after two Thursday contests — but still, it's clear that just two games into the Dan Enos era, the Chippewa offense — in serious flux after the departure of the record-setting trio of Dan LeFevour, Antonio Brown and Bryan Anderson — is dependent on the contributions of the 5-foot-10 sophomore from Rochester Adams.

Wilson's big play — an 81-yard kick return — set up CMU's first score in Week One's 33-0 shutout of Hampton, and the diminutive wideout made a similar game-altering play — a 70-yard reception — to set up the Chippewas' only TD in a 13-10 overtime loss to MAC East Division favorite Temple.

What's more, Wilson — who accounted for a full half (188 yards) of CMU's total offensive output Thursday — played a bit of quarterback in the Wildcat formation, running it well enough to help set up kicker David Harman's 31-yard, game-tying field goal to send the contest to overtime.
In all, Wilson has 344 all-purpose yards so far this season, on just 21 touches, averaging out to 16.4 yards per play.

The only flaw? Finishing.

Both of Wilson's big plays saw him get caught on the doorstep of the end zone, something that teammates teased him about after the opener. Both plays set up a short TD dive by a running back, though, so I can't imagine the teasing was too harsh.

For full disclosure, Wilson did have a fumble after a reception in the first half, one that — coming as it did on CMU's half of the field — could have cost the Chippewas, but teammate Matt Berning took him off the hook by forcing a fumble from Temple quarterback Chester Stewart a few plays later.