Sep 19, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Northern Illinois Huskies quarterback Drew Hare (12) drops to throw during first quarter action versus Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. Northern Illinois Huskies leads 7-3 after the first quarter. Mandatory Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Four games made up the meat of the Mid-American Conference schedule this week, with two games on Thursday and two on Halloween. The four games were missing the elite in the conference, as Northern Illinois and Toledo are slated for an ESPN2 showdown on Nov. 3 and Bowling Green is hosting Ohio on Nov. 4.
The NIU-Toledo game is the headliner to this point of the season, in regards to conference games. The Huskies have won five straight MAC West Division titles, mostly at the expense of the Rockets. Northern Illinois has defeated the Rockets in each of the last five seasons. This marks the sixth season in a row that the NIU-UT contest has MAC West implications on the line. The Huskies (5-3, 3-1) are the only FBS team to have made five straight league championship game appearances.
There’s no doubt the No. 20-ranked Rockets would love to end NIU’s dominance, and move a step closer to an undefeated season.
“Any time two teams are really successful and obviously are competitive, I think that obviously is a rival,” Toledo coach Matt Campbell said.
After losing three straight games, the Huskies are on a roll thanks to a suddenly revived offense. The Huskies have scored 40 or more points in a game in each of their last three games, with quarterback Drew Hare coming off a 267-yard passing effort against Eastern Michigan.
“Well, we’ve continued to improve I think as a unit,” NIU coach Rod Carey said of his offense. “I think that we have played some good competition, which helped that improvement if you can say that with a straight face. I think when you play good competition and lose, it’s hard to learn and you play good competition and win it’s easy to learn something from it. I think that probably helped our growth rate a little bit. We’ve just kept plugging away. That’s about as easy as you can do it. I mean one day at a time, one thing at a time.”
Western Michigan improved to 4-0 in the MAC West Division with an impressive blowout win over Eastern Michigan. The Broncos (5-3) are tied with Toledo for first place in the West, with Central Michigan (4-1) and Northern Illinois (3-1) a game back.
AKRON (3-5, 1-3)
Game: Central Michigan 14, Akron 6: Jerome Lane’s 57-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was the lone highlight for Akron in a loss to Central Michigan. The Zips rushed for just 25 yards and punted nine times and turned the ball over once.
Takeaway: Quarterback Thomas Woodson had a productive day with 252 yards passing and a touchdown, but the lack of a running game killed any chance for a win. Akron is limping toward the finish line with inconsistent play in the second half of the season.
Next: at UMass, Nov. 7.
BALL STATE (3-6, 2-3)
Game: Ball State 20, UMass 10: Ball State quarterback Riley Neal passed for 275 yards and a touchdown and Ball State’s defense held UMass to a season-low in points to record its third win of the season.
“The kids executed well and we mixed in a lot of coverages and more two-deep in the first half, and it kept them off balance,” BSU coach Pete Lembo on his defense.
Takeaway: A solid effort by Ball State’s defense keyed the win. The Minutemen, with Blake Frohnapfel at quarterback, have a prolific offense. They scored 20 points in the first half against Notre Dame and 28 in the opening half against Toledo, but the Cardinals held them to three-first half points.
Next: at Western Michigan, Nov. 5.
BOWLING GREEN (6-2, 4-0)
Next: vs. Ohio, Nov. 4.
BUFFALO (3-4, 1-2)
Game: Buffalo 29, Miami 24: Buffalo won its second game in a five-day span by tallying 433 yards of total offense and running back Jordan Johnson ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bullss outgained Miami 433-348 in total offense, with quarterback Joe Licata passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Ron Willoughby caught a pair of touchdown passes.
Takeaway: The Bulls have quietly been playing better football late in the season, a good sign with a new coach. Buffalo’s offense has improved in the last two games, as Licata is spreading the ball around in the passing game, thus opening up holes for the running game for a more diversified offense.
Next: at Kent State, Nov. 5.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (5-4, 4-1)
Game: Central Michigan 14, Akron 6: Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns to spark the Chippewas to a hard-fought road win.
Anthony Rice caught nine passes for 105 yards and a touchdown to fuel CMU’s offense. The Chippewas’ defense allowed just 25 yards rushing and forced nine punts in a defensive battle.
Takeaway: Winning ugly is the theme for the second straight week for Central Michigan. The Chippewas punted eight times for 333 yards, had just 39 yards rushing and committed five penalties, but won again. The Chippewas have to score more points and fix some flaws before their next game against ranked Toledo.
Next: vs. Toledo, Nov. 10.
EASTERN MICHIGAN (1-8, 0-5)
Game: Western Michigan 58, Eastern Michigan 28: Eastern Michigan scored a touchdown in each of the fourth quarters, but couldn’t stop Western Michigan’s prolific offense in dropping its eighth game of the season.
The Eagles’ offense was led by quarterback Brogan Roback’s 263 yards passing and three touchdowns, but his two interceptions proved costly. The Eagles finished with 226 yards rushing, but Western Michigan finished with 316 yards passing and 279 on the ground.
Takeaway: Tough task for any team, let alone in a short week. The Eagles were no match for WMU’s high-octane offense, though the Eagles showed some signs of a possible breakout on offense with a solid game, aside from the turnovers.
Next: at Miami, Nov. 7.
KENT STATE (3-5, 2-2)
Next: vs. Buffalo, Nov. 5.
MIAMI (1-8, 0-5)
Game: Buffalo 29, Miami 24: Buffalo outscored Miami 12-7 in the second half to pull out a road victory. Miami quarterback Billy Bahl passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns and Sam Martin caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Takeaway: Bahl had his best game since taking over the starting spot at quarterback, though he completed only 13 of his 36 passes. Bahl did not throw an interception and was sacked three times. Miami’s running game is a big problem, accounting for only 124 yards.
Next: vs. Eastern Michigan, Nov. 7.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (5-3, 3-1)
Next: at Toledo, Nov. 3.
OHIO (5-2, 2-1)
Next: at Bowling Green, Nov. 4.
TOLEDO (7-0, 4-0)
Next: vs. Northern Illinois, Nov. 3.
UMASS (1-7, 0-4)
Game: Ball State 20, UMass 10: UMass scored just three points in the first half and was held to one touchdown in dropping its seventh game of the season. As a team, UMass finished with 189 yards rushing and 259 passing.
Takeaway: UMass seems to be going backward late in the season, with its offense struggling once again to score points. Despite 448 yards of total offense, the Minutemen could only muster 10 points against Ball State.
Next: vs. Akron, Nov. 7.
WESTERN MICHIGAN (5-3, 4-0)
Game: Western Michigan 58, Eastern Michigan 28: Freshman running back Jamauri Bogan scored four touchdowns and Corey Davis caught seven passes for 105 yards in Western Michigan’s highest scoring game in four years.
Western Michigan is 4-0 in the MAC for the first time since the 2008 season, forcing four turnovers to defeat both Michigan-based MAC schools.
Takeaway: The Broncos keep on getting better every week, which is scary for the rest of the MAC West Division. Bogan is becoming a reliable threat in the running game, one of the deepest units on the team. Davis became the fifth player in program history to surpass 3,000 yards receiving in his career.
Next: vs. Ball State, Nov. 5.
NOTES, QUOTES
–Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush passed for 226 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Chippewas to a win over Akron. Cooper is an underrated quarterback who deserves more attention, and he’ll have an opportunity with CMU playing Toledo in their next game.
–Ball State wide receiver KeVonn Mabon had a game to remember against UMass on Saturday. He caught six passes for 150 yards to move into ninth place on BSU’s all-time career receptions list with 138.
–Ball State wide receiver Jordan Williams finished with six catches for 60 yards to extend his streak to 33 straight games with at least one reception. Williams now ranks fourth in school history with 186 career receptions and fourth in receiving yards with 2,556 yards.
–Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis became the fifth player in WMU history to surpass the 3,000-yard mark in receiving yards.
–Western Michigan freshman running back Jamauri Bogan set a career-high with four rushing touchdowns against Eastern Michigan. Bogan has now scored seven touchdowns in eight games this year.
–Buffalo quarterback Joe Licata had solid outing in a win over Miami. He passed for 289 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball to 10 different receivers.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “As long as I’ve been in the conference, Northern’s really been building, and they got themselves to an elite level, in my opinion. I hope we’ve laid a very similar foundation over the last couple of years to how we’ve built our program. I think when you look at each other, it’s two very similar teams.” — Toledo coach Matt Campbell on his upcoming opponent, Northern Illinois.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
FIVE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM WEEK 9 IN THE MAC
1. The midweek games are upon us. The Mid-American Conference, commonly known around the country as MACaction, kicked off its yearly midweek games with a pair of games on Thursday, Oct. 29. For the rest of the season, the majority of the conference teams will play their games on a weekday to accommodate television. There is only six Saturday games left on the conference schedule, two every weekend for the final three weeks.
2. Western Michigan is ready for some real competition. After beating up on some lesser teams in recent weeks, the Broncos play one last warmup game against Ball State on Thursday before hosting Bowling Green, playing at Northern Illinois and ending the regular season at Toledo.
3. Buffalo is playing better in the last few weeks. The Bulls are rallying around their new coach, defeating Miami on Thursday after recording a 41-17 triumph over Ohio just five days ago. Buffalo’s season looked in peril after dropping a 51-14 decision to Central Michigan on Oct. 17.
4. Things are going downhill for UMass. The Minutemen scored a season-low 10 points in a loss at Ball State Saturday. The Minutemen were able to score 14 points at Colorado, 23 points against Temple, 27 points at Notre Dame and 38 points at Bowling Green. UMass has lost four straight games since defeating Florida International.
5. Central Michigan is still in the bowl hunt. At 5-4, the Chippewas might have saved their season with a win over Akron on Saturday. The Chippewas have a tough test at home against Toledo on Nov. 10, but play at struggling Kent State and host Eastern Michigan. A seven-win season is not out of the question for Central Michigan.
