Under first-year head coach Jim McElwain, who came over from Michigan to try and revive a stalling coaching career two years fresh from an SEC title game appearance, and trying to shed a program-worst 1-11 season in 2018, the Central Michigan Chippewas were under a bit of pressure to perform.
They outperformed every reasonable expectation, finishing the year as a MAC West division champion for the first time since 2009, and turned in an 8-6 overall record, a league-best seven-win turnaround. Despite losses in the MAC title game and the New Mexico Bowl, CMU showed a lot of moxie, quickly becoming one of college football’s best offenses, averaging 30.