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Michigan linebacker Brennen Beyer (97) causes Central Michigan quarterback Cody Kater (7) to fumble the ball in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013, in Ann Arbor, Mich.

(Tony Ding | AP Photo)

ANN ARBOR, MI — Central Michigan had a wealth of talent heading into its season opener against No. 17-ranked Michigan.

But the Chippewas' talent pool has been drained a little bit following a 59-9 drubbing at the hands of the Wolverines.

It was nearly emptied by a physically bruising defense that knocked starting quarterback Cody Kater out of the game with a broken collar bone and starting running back Zurlon Tipton out with a broken ankle — both in the first half.

“I don’t want to speculate right now,” CMU coach Dan Enos said. “I don’t know how long they will be out, but they will be out for a significant period of time.”

Kater was a bit of an unknown heading into his first career start at the Division I level, but Tipton was a known commodity and one CMU has focused its offense on after a standout junior campaign that put the senior captain on national award watch lists for the Maxwell and Doak Walker Awards.

What they got was four carries for 10 yards at a 2.5 per carry average before he was injured.

The ankle ended a streak of seven straight games where Tipton passed the 100-yard rushing barrier in a game — and it quite possibly ended his season.

Saylor Lavallii performed admirably in his absence with 10 carries for 52 yards, however, he wasn’t Tipton.

There were a lot of eyes on Kater as he became only the third person to take over as the starting quarterback for the Chippewas in the last eight years, but he failed to impress before leaving after completing 2 of 6 passes for 13 yards with a fumble.

Backup Alex Niznak fared no better.

In his first game action in three years, the redshirt sophomore was 11 of 22 passing for 131 yards and an interception, while being sacked four times.

“I wouldn’t say today was the best of Alex Niznak,” said Niznak of his play. “I made some plays I’d like to have back. I felt like I would start to get rolling and then something would happen.

The turnover at quarterback had its effect on the wide receivers, too.

Andrew Flory had four receptions for 79 yards, but star Titus Davis was limited to two receptions for 28 yards.

"Obviously, you have to give all the credit to Michigan," Enos said. "I thought they played very well. On defense they were very aggressive, they tackled very well, got real stubborn when we got the ball down in the red zone a couple of times, and they made big plays."

And that quickly, optimism that was generated by a four-game winning streak and a bowl win to end last year has turned into uncertainty and injuries for the Chippewas heading into Week 2.

“One game isn’t going to make our season, and all of our goals are still on the table,” Chippewas co-captain Andy Phillips said. “We’re going to go out and keep working each day and keep leading, playing and working hard. We’re going to finish this season and have a good one.”