Saturday’s Football Results
Northern Illinois 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14
Ball State 42, Missouri State 34
Toledo 38, UMass 23
Ohio 27, South Alabama 20
Rutgers 49, Akron 17
Penn State 34, Bowling Green 27
St. Francis 23, Kent State 17
Washington 30, Eastern Michigan 9
FIU 52, Central Michigan 16
Missouri 38, Buffalo 0
Ohio State 56, Western Michigan 0
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments and the Associated Press
Northern Illinois 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14
Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Kanon Woodill hit a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds to play and Cade Haberman blocked a 62-yard try as time expired and Northern Illinois stunned No. 5 Notre Dame 16-14 on Saturday.
Haberman blocked the 62-yard attempt by Notre Dame’s Mitch Jeter, allowing the jubilant Huskies to claim their first nonconference victory against a ranked opponent since a 19-16 upset of No. 21 Alabama in 2003.
Notre Dame (1-1), on the heels of an impressive road win over Texas A&M, looked like it was in position to get some separation from Northern Illinois (2-0) as it clung to a 14-13 lead in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish gained possession after a punt with 7:49 left and drove from their 25 to the Northern Illinois 49.
Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard launched a pass deep up the middle intended for Kris Mitchell, but Amariyun Knighten made the interception and returned it 33 yards to the 50-yard line with 5:55 to play.
Knighten’s interception set up the winning field goal from Woodill, his third of the day.
Notre Dame struck first as Leonard side-stepped the defense for an 11-yard touchdown run with 8:28 left in the first quarter.
It only took five plays for Northern Illinois to answer as Antario Brown broke loose between two Notre Dame defensive backs for an 83-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Ethan Hampton.
A pair of field goals by Woodill from 42 and 21 yards gave the Huskies a 13-7 halftime lead. Notre Dame had the chance to make it 13-10 before half, but Haberman blocked a 48-yard try from Jeter.
Woodill missed a 53-yard field goal attempt on the first possession of the second half, and Notre Dame took advantage.
Jeremiyah Love broke loose for a 34-yard touchdown run, hurdling a defender on the way to the end zone. Mitch Jeter’s extra point gave Notre Dame a 14-13 lead with 8:34 left in the third quarter.
The takeaway
Notre Dame has plenty of work to do on the offensive side as a young Fighting Irish offensive line struggled to establish command of the line.
A veteran Northern Illinois squad has now firmly established itself as a contender in the Mid-American Conference.
Poll implications
Notre Dame will take a plunge in the rankings but likely stay in the Top 25.
Northern Illinois could receive a significant number of votes.
Ball State 42, Missouri State 34
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State Cardinals (1-0) hosted the Missouri State Bears (0-2) at Scheumann Stadium to kick off their historical 100th season in a 42-34 victory, the most points scored in a season opener for Ball State since 2018.
After preserving his redshirt status in 2023 after starting in three out of the first four games last season, quarterback Kadin Semonza returned to lead the Cardinals, finishing with 28 completions out of 39 attempts for 262 yards and one interception.
He threw for four touchdowns and ran for another. It was the first time a Ball State player threw for four or more TDs since Drew Plitt at Western Michigan in 2021.
Transfer running back Braedon Sloan starred in his first game with the Cardinals, scoring two touchdowns while rushing for 103 yards on 21 attempts. He scored on an 11-yard shovel pass in the third period and capped the Cardinal scoring with a 40-yard run in the final minute.
Despite the 42 points and the victory though, it was a sluggish start for the Cardinals even after possessing the ball for more than 23 minutes in the first half.
On the game's first play from scrimmage, Ball State receiver Ty Robinson left the game with a right shoulder injury, compounding the Cardinals' injury situation after an early-week practice injury to his big-target receiving counterpart Justin Bowick. With both receivers out of commission, the Cardinals still controlled the clock and ran 45 plays in the first half, to just 15 for Missouri State – in what was a 7-7 tie at intermission.
The first score of the game was the result of an unfortunate misstep when Cardinals receiver Cam Pickett bobbled a Semonza pass and the Bears' P.J. Hall picked off the carom for a 59-yard pick-six.
The Cardinals opened the second period with a missed field goal attempt by Jackson Courville, but Ball State got on the board one series later when Semonza got the first rushing TD of his career on a 15-yard scamper up the middle.
Despite the halftime deadlock, Ball State converted a total of 14 first downs compared to the Bears' two. Ball State dominated in possession time and, by game's end, Ball State owned a 17-minute advantage over Missouri State 38:30 to 21:30. The Cardinals also converted 12 of 19 third-down conversions. The Cardinals' defense limited Missouri State to just 3 of 10 conversions.
Both teams scored in the third quarter, with Semonza connecting with Malcolm Gillie on a 41-yard pass to answer Missouri State's Jarcadia Wright who rushed five yards to score.
Joey Stemler, the Cardinals' tackles leader with seven, intercepted a pass from Jacob Clark, but fumbled on the return. Keionte Newson recovered the fumble and moments later, Semonza found Qian Magwood for 16-yard touchdown and a two-touchdown lead.
Clark found Lance Mason for a 57-yard touchdown for Missouri State, but after Semonza threw his fourth TD pass, to tight end Tanner Koziol, Ball State solidified its 14-point edge with seven minutes to play.
Desperate for a comeback, the Bears managed a pair of late touchdowns sandwiched around Sloan's 40-yard TD burst – all in the final two minutes.
The Cardinals travel to Florida next Saturday to play Miami at 3:30 p.m.
Toledo 38, UMass 23
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Tucker Gleason threw three touchdown passes and Toledo pulled away in the second half to beat Massachusetts 38-23 on Saturday.
UMass (0-2) punted on its first four possessions in the first quarter and Toledo (2-0) went three-and-out on its first three. But the Rockets picked up the game’s first first down when Gleason rushed for 18 yards on third-and-1. Gleason connected with Jerjuan Newton for a 40-yard touchdown on the next play and a 7-0 lead.
Jacob Lurie’s 23-yard field goal capped a 10-play, 86-yard drive to get the Minutemen within 7-3 early in the second quarter.
Dylan Cunanan answered with a 26-yard field goal for Toledo, but Taisun Phommachanh hit Jakobie Keeney-James for a 14-yard touchdown at the end of an 11-play drive to pull the Minutemen even at 10.
The tie lasted until Jacquez Stuart returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a score and a 17-10 Rockets’ lead. Lurie’s field goal on the final play of the half left UMass trailing by four.
Lurie’s 30-yard field goal cut the UMass deficit to a point, but Gleason connected with Junior Vandeross III for a 73-yard touchdown on the next play from scrimmage and Toledo led 24-16. Willie Shaw III ran it in from 4 yards out to up the Rockets’ advantage to 31-16 with 12:30 left to play.
Phommachanh scored on an 8-yard run to get the Minutemen within eight at the 2:56 mark, but an onside kick failed and Gleason turned it into a 7-yard touchdown toss to Anthony Torres three plays later to seal the victory.
Gleason totaled 175 yards on 8-for-23 passing. Vandeross has three receptions for 115 yards.
Phommachanh completed 26 of 40 passes for 259 yards with one interception. He carried 22 times for 44 yards.
Ohio 27, South Alabama 20
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio — For the first time in nearly a year, Peden Stadium roared. The sea of green and white was happy to see Ohio back on Frank Solich Field Saturday night, and even happier to see Ohio take its 600th program win with a 27-20 win over the South Alabama Jaguars.
"I think it's pretty cool. There's a lot of former Bobcats and administrators that have a lot to do with that," said head coach Tim Albin. "In all the pictures of coach [Bill] Hess, he's got the block "O" on, and I wear that in his honor. Don Peden, right. Frank solich, there's a lot of history in those 600 wins, and Brooke [Albin], and I are humbled to serve this university and be a part of it."
After a few scoreless drives, Ohio was off and running. Redshirt freshman running back Rickey Hunt Jr. (Oklahoma City, Okla.) darted down the field 59 yards for the longest rush of his career and to put Ohio in perfect field goal position. With one swift kick from sophomore kicker Gianni Spetic (Chardon, Ohio), Ohio was on the board first.
The Bobcats didn't relent in the second quarter. The defense flew around to keep the Jaguars to 5.9 yards per play with ease. By the end of the second half, the Jaguars were just 3-for-9 on third downs. Junior safety Austin Brawley (Massilon, Ohio) contributed to the attack, and tied with graduate student safety Dustin Johnson and redshirt freshman safety DJ Walker for the most tackles of the night (seven total, four solo).
"Austin Brawley's had two really, really good games off the bat. He's a physical kid. He's a ball hawk. He just seems to find it. he's close to getting a couple picks. I want him to keep coming and keep leading. He's the quarterback back there," said Albin. "I thought their skill receivers are as good as Syracuse's, if not better. I think we didn't shut them down, but our two corners, for Roman [Parodie] and Byron [Tank Pearson] played well. Dustin Johnson got some really good snaps. We were physical back there."
Even special teams found itself contributing on defense. Graduate student long snapper Colby Garfield (Clemmons, N.C.) recovered a fumbled kick return on South Alabama's 20-yard line in the second quarter to end South Alabama's drive before it even started.
"We [special teams] don't get much attention, so honestly, I didn't know how to feel about it. I mean, our job is just to go unnoticed of the team. It's just amazing feeling," Garfield said.
Ohio found the endzone in three quick plays after that. Graduate student running back Anthony Tyus III (Protage, Mich.) collected his third touchdown of the season. Tyus is responsible for X of Ohio's X touchdowns this season.
The Jaguars slowly crept up on the Bobcats. They'd landed 10 points in the last five minutes of the second quarter to break the shutout, and that was too close for comfort. To combat the comeback, graduate student quarterback Parker Navarro (Tempe, Ariz.) launched a 33-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Chase Hendricks (St. Louis, Mo) with 36 seconds to go in the half for the Bobcats' second touchdown of the night.
Navarro later earned his first touchdown of the season on a designed keeper in the eighth minute of the third quarter. Navarro ended the evening 20-for-28 with 204 yards to seven different receivers and no interceptions. It was Navarro's first career start with over 200 yards.
South Alabama added another 10 points across the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth to close in on Ohio. However, Ohio's offense made haste to get into field goal position to make the comeback less feasible.
Spetic lined up for the final time in the third minute of the fourth quarter and sealed the deal. The sophomore ended the night 2-for-2 for field goals and 3-for-3 for PATs. Navarro soon kneeled and Ohio had its first win of the season.
