Click
on each team for game recaps, thoughts,
schedules and more and scroll down for
the games, results, players of the week
and the conference roundup.
East
Akron
|
Bowling Green
|
Buffalo
|
Kent
State |
Miami Univ.
|
Ohio
| Temple
West
Ball State
|
Central Mich
|
Eastern Mich
|
No
Illinois |
Toledo
|
West
Michigan
MAC
Game of
the Week
Akron 39 ...
Western Michigan 38
A wild game with 992 yards of total offense became a
game-of-the-year candidate with an all-timer of an
ending. Western Michigan took a 38-24 lead with 12:25 to
play on a seven-yard Mark Bonds run. Akron couldn't
respond until Jabari Arthur caught a 51-yard touchdown
pass, his third score of the day, with less than five
minutes. to play. WMU couldn't run out the clock, and
instead of risking a punt return for a score, chose to
take a safety with 15 seconds to play. On the free kick,
Alphonso Owen fielded the ball and went 11 yards before
getting stopped. Before going down, he was able to get
the ball to Andre Jones, who took it 78 yards for an
improbable score with no time left on the clock for the
39-38 win. The play overshadowed a huge day from Arthur,
who caught 15 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns,
and big performances from both quarterbacks. Akron's
Chris Jacquemain threw for 389 yards and four scores,
and WMU's Tim Hiller threw for 375 yards and three
touchdowns.
MAC
Player of
the Week
Akron's
Alphonso Owen and Andre Jones, for combining on the
89-yard kick return for a touchdown to beat Western
MIchigan. Jones made five tackles on the day, and Owen
caught three passes for 58 yards
Conference Roundup
Akron
…
If Akron ever wanted to
believe this was a charmed season, the Western Michigan
win is it. Now, improbably, the Zips are 2-0 in MAC play
despite getting next to nothing from the defense in
recent weeks. Chris Jacquemain has now proven he can
bomb away when needed, and Jabari Arthur is no longer
just a quarterback playing receiver. He's a legitimately
dangerous target who needs full-time attention.
Ball State … Ball State never got into any sort
of a groove against Central Michigan, getting its doors
blown off before it knew what happened. Nate Davis
wasn't Nate Davis, struggling to push the ball deep,
failing to find the open man often enough, and failing
to move the chains early on. Central Michigan appeared
to be a team on a mission, and BSU simply had to deal
with an all-timer of a performance from Dan LeFevour,
and a phenomenal game from the defending champions.
Bowling Green … Boston College is among the best
teams in America, so getting blown out isn't that huge a
deal in the overall picture. The big concern was all the
mistakes, from the six interceptions, to the 12
penalties for 92 yards. The offense moved the ball
relatively well, but that was mostly after BC had the
game won. To win on the road at Miami University and
Kent State, the passing game has to continue to bomb,
but Tyler Sheehan can't press as much and needs to be
more careful.
Buffalo … Where did this Buffalo defense come
from? A week after not doing anything against Ball
State, it came out and shut down the Ohio rushing
attack, allowing just 90 yards, while getting the best
game of the season from the offensive line. Drew Willy,
when he doesn't have to bomb away, can be extremely
effective, and it helps when James Starks is carrying
the workload for 183 yards.
Central Michigan … Nate Davis, Nate Davis, Nate
Davis. With all the talk about the star Ball State
quarterback, everyone seemed to have forgotten about Dan
LeFevour; the best quarterback in the league last year.
So now CMU has established what it's going to be. The
defense will struggle, but the offense will show up
against the MAC teams and simply outbomb its way to a
big year. Now the team gets two games away from
conference play before going on the road to face Kent
State and Western Michigan.
Eastern Michigan … Considering EMU was playing
Michigan, this might have been the team's best game of
the year. The defense didn't have a prayer of stopping
Mike Hart, but no one has had any luck with that. For
the first time in a while, the offense has shown signs
of life, even if it was all Andy Schmitt, who did a nice
job of using all his receivers and spreading it out. EMU
simply doesn't have the playmakers to explode against a
team like Michigan, but it found a way to stay
competitive.
Kent State … Kent State is roughly two big plays
away from being unbeaten in MAC play, but it couldn't
come through this week against Miami when it had to in
the clutch. The running game was fine, and Julian
Edelman threw well, but the Golden Flashes have to run
really, really well to win. MU was able to keep Edelman
and Eugene Jarvis to 175 yards, with is a lot, but they
didn't come up with many big runs. Now it's on to Ohio
State, where the goal is to stay alive to get back into
the MAC race the following week against Bowling Green.
Miami University … Miami might not always be
pretty, and it might be three plays away from being 0-6,
but it's 2-0 in the MAC and getting the big plays it
absolutely has to have in the final minutes. Daniel
Radabaugh wasn't asked to do much, but he threw well
when he had to. Getting more from the running game would
be nice, but Austin Sykes ran well against Kent State.
Now the real test begins, having to deal with the
passing game of Bowling Green. Does MU have the
firepower to keep up?
Northern Illinois … What happened to the passing
game? There should be far more consistency from Dan
Nicholson and the Huskies through the air, especially
when Justin Anderson is running as well as he did
against Temple. This wasn't a fluke loss to the Owls;
Temple played the better game and deserved to win in the
end. There's no excuse for only converting three of 13
third down chances.
Ohio … Ugh. Everything that worked so well last
year, with a tough, timely defense, good running game,
and clutch plays when needed, aren't there this year.
Kalvin McRae isn't able to get going like he did in
2006, and the passing attack still isn't remotely good
enough to pick up the slack. Losing to Buffalo on the
road is really, really bad, but losing at home to
Eastern Michigan next week would be far worse. The
four-game slide has to stop now.
Temple … Temple outplayed Northern Illinois, it
got the yards, it got a nice game from the defense, and
it did what it had to do to get into a position to win.
This was a crucial victory for the program, showing that
it could come through in the clutch, even when
everything wasn't quite working right. The offensive
line had one of its best games of the year, while QB
Adam DiMichele kept if conservative, and it worked. If
the Owls can beat a hot Akron team next week, then it'll
really be time to get excited.
Toledo … The season might be crashing for Toledo,
but a loss to Liberty would've sent things spiraling
even quicker downward. The running of Jalen Parmele, and
the emergence of the defense in the fourth quarter,
saved the day, but the real story was the play of
freshman QB D.J. Lenehan. He threw a pick six, along
with another interception, but he only misfired on two
other throws all day, helping the Rockets control the
clock throughout. Overall, penalties were a problem,
committing ten for 88 yards.
Western Michigan … How mentally tough is Western
Michigan? After losing in brutal fashion to Akron, the
team has to quickly regroup, forget about this gaffe,
and blowout a bad Northern Illinois team on the road.
The parts are working. Tim Hiller has been excellent.
There's good offensive balance, and there's consistency
and explosion. The defense is a big problem, but the
offense should be able to outbomb most teams anyway. The
season is far from lost, but now there's no margin for
MAC error.
|
East |
Conference |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
| |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
|
Akron |
2 |
0 |
66 |
58 |
3 |
3 |
124 |
177 |
W1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
|
Miami Univ. |
2 |
0 |
34 |
26 |
3 |
3 |
96 |
170 |
W2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
Buffalo |
2 |
1 |
87 |
66 |
2 |
4 |
135 |
183 |
W1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Bowling Green |
1 |
0 |
48 |
35 |
3 |
2 |
162 |
170 |
L1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Kent
State |
1 |
2 |
66 |
72 |
3 |
3 |
147 |
149 |
L1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
Temple |
1 |
2 |
58 |
105 |
1 |
5 |
115 |
194 |
W1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
|
Ohio |
0 |
2 |
35 |
64 |
2 |
4 |
142 |
163 |
L4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
West |
Conference |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
|
|
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
|
Central Michigan |
3 |
0 |
145 |
79 |
3 |
3 |
188 |
220 |
W2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Ball
State |
2 |
2 |
138 |
102 |
3 |
3 |
212 |
174 |
L1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
Western Michigan |
1 |
1 |
80 |
67 |
2 |
4 |
206 |
232 |
L1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Eastern Michigan |
1 |
1 |
37 |
57 |
2 |
4 |
107 |
162 |
L2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Toledo |
0 |
2 |
59 |
94 |
2 |
4 |
167 |
260 |
W1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
Northern Illinois |
0 |
3 |
44 |
72 |
1 |
5 |
120 |
157 |
L2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Saturday, October 6 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Boston
College 61 ... Bowling Green 24
CFN Prediction: BC 31-20 BC -20 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Michigan
33 ... Eastern Michigan 22
CFN Prediction: Michigan 45-10 UM
-31.5 |
| 12:00 PM |
Central Michigan
58 ... at Ball State 38
CFN Prediction: BSU 38-34 BSU -13 |
| 1:00 PM |
at Temple
16 ... Northern Illinois 15
CFN Prediction: NIU 30-17 NIU -4.5 |
| 1:00 PM |
at Buffalo
31 ... Ohio 10
CFN Prediction: Ohio 30-20 Ohio -4.5 |
| 3:00 PM |
Miami Univ.
20 ... at Kent State 13
CFN Prediction: KSU 30-17 KSU -9.5 |
| 7:00 PM |
at Toledo
35 ... Liberty 34
CFN Prediction: Toledo 38-35 |
| 7:00 PM |
Akron
39 ... at Western Michigan 38
CFN Prediction: WMU 38-23 WMU -9.5 |
Past
MAC
Games of the
Week
Sept. 1 -
Bowling Green
32 ... at Minnesota 31 OT
Sept. 8 - Minnesota 41 ... Miami Univ.
35 3OT
Sept. 15 - Ball State 34 ... Navy
31 OT
Sept. 22 - Toledo 36 ... Iowa State 35
Sept. 29 - Kent Stat 33 ...
Ohio 25
Oct. 6 - Akron
39 ... at Western Michigan 38
Past MAC Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Bowling Green QB Tyler Sheehan
Sept. 8 - Ohio RB Kalvin McRae
Sept. 15 - Ball State QB Nate Davis
Sept. 22 - Northern Illinois DE
Larry English
Sept. 29 - Kent State RB Eugene
Jarvis
Oct. 6 - Akron DB Andre Jones and WR
Alphonso Owen