Thursday's MAC Football Results
Bowling Green 26, Lafayette 7
Rutgers 34, Ohio 31
Minnesota 23, Buffalo 10
Wisconsin 17, Miami 0
Wyoming 10, Akron 0
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green opened the Eddie George Era with a 26-7 win over Lafayette Thursday night at Doyt Perry Stadium. The Falcons improved to 1-0 and will travel to Cincinnati on Sept. 5 for their first road test of the season.
Bowling Green struck immediately when Cameron Pettaway returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, marking the second straight year the Falcons have opened the season with a kickoff return score. After a 40-minute lightning delay in the first quarter, BGSU added to its lead with a 30-yard field goal from Jackson Kleather to cap a 17-play drive. Mar’Kel Porter’s four-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter made it 17-0 at halftime.
Kleather extended the lead in the third with a 56-yard field goal, tied for the second-longest in program history. Lafayette answered with a touchdown late in the quarter, but Pettaway’s 55-yard return set up another Kleather field goal to push the margin to 23-7. Kleather added his fourth kick of the night, from 35 yards, to close the scoring at 26-7.
Kleather finished 4-for-4 on field goals, while Pettaway accounted for 153 return yards. Defensively, Dorian Pringle paced the Falcons with nine tackles, including 3.5 for loss. Gideon Lampron also tallied nine stops, and Myles Bradley added a sack as Bowling Green’s defense registered five total sacks on the night.
Rutgers 34, Ohio 31
Boxscore
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Ohio football team dropped its 2025 season opener at Rutgers, 34-31, Saturday night at SHI Stadium.
Graduate quarterback Parker Navarro led the Bobcats with 239 passing yards and three touchdowns through the air, while also rushing for 96 yards and another score. Chase Hendricks caught a career-high nine passes for 115 yards, and tight ends Jake Bruno (two touchdowns) and Mason Williams (one touchdown) accounted for all of Navarro’s passing scores. On the ground, Sieh Bangura returned to action with 88 rushing yards on 16 carries.
Defensively, Adonis Williams Jr. tallied 11 tackles, while Jay Crable recorded Ohio’s lone sack. David Dellenbach was perfect in his debut, hitting a 30-yard field goal and all four extra points.
The teams traded scores throughout the first half, with Rutgers pulling ahead late to take a 31-17 lead into halftime. Navarro sparked the comeback after the break with a rushing touchdown and another scoring strike to Bruno, pulling Ohio even at 31-31 entering the fourth quarter.
Rutgers regained the lead with a field goal early in the final period and held off the Bobcats’ late push to secure the win.
Ohio returns to Athens on Saturday, Sept. 6, for its home opener against West Virginia. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. on ESPNU.
Minnesota 23, Buffalo 10
Boxscore
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Drake Lindsey passed for 290 yards and two touchdowns in his debut and Darius Taylor rushed for 141 yards on 30 carries to help Minnesota Golden Gophers wear down Buffalo Bulls 23-10 in their season opener on Thursday night.
Jameson Geers had four catches for 38 yards and a score and redshirt freshman Jalen Smith jogged into the end zone with a wide-open 60-yard reception that broke the game open early in the fourth quarter.
New defensive coordinator Danny Collins had his group flying all over the field, as the Gophers stifled Bulls senior Al-Jay Henderson, a1 ,000-yard rusher last season, to 25 yards on 11 attempts. Ta'Quan Roberson, in his first start at quarterback after transferring from Kansas State, went 12 for 20 for 107 yards with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Victor Snow.
Lindsey, a redshirt freshman from Arkansas, finished 19 for 35 with one interception in the second quarter that was simply bad luck.
Geers ran a crossing route into Mitchell Gonser's zone, when the linebacker delivered a hockey-style check that leveled the fifth-year tight end. Lindsey threw to where he expected Geers to be, and when his foot went airborne while his back hit the ground, the ball hit the top of it and bounced straight into Gonser's arms. Taylor tracked him down to save a touchdown and limit him to a 54-yard return.
Brady Denaburg made all three of his field goal tries and two extra points in his first game for the Gophers after transferring from Syracuse, taking the edge off three stalled drives inside the 20-yard line. Another red-zone possession ended with a stuffed tush-push run by Geers on fourth-and-1 at the 11.
Buffalo plays at home on Sept. 6 against Saint Francis, the Pennsylvania university in its final season in the FCS before it drops down to the NCAA Division III level in 2026.
On Sept. 6, Minnesota hosts FCS foe Northwestern State, which took a 20-game losing streak into this season.
Wisconsin 17, Miami 0
Boxscore
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Preston Zachman intercepted two passes to lead Wisconsin’s dominant defensive effort as the Badgers withstood an injury to quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. and opened their season by beating Miami (Ohio) 17-0 on Thursday.
Wisconsin’s first shutout since a 38-0 victory over Western Illinois in 2022 enabled the Badgers to turn the page after a disappointing finish to their 2024 season. The Badgers lost their last five games a year ago to finish 5-7, ending a string of 22 straight winning seasons and bowl appearances.
Now the Badgers await word on Edwards, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second quarter. Edwards limped after making a handoff, headed to the injury tent and eventually went into the locker room. He wore sweats as he watched the second half from the sideline.
Edwards was making his Wisconsin debut after throwing for 2,881 yards and 15 touchdowns for Maryland last season. Wisconsin led 3-0 at the time of his exit.
Danny O’Neil, who started 11 games for San Diego State as a freshman last season, took over for Edwards and went 12 of 19 for 120 yards with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Vinny Anthony as well as an interception. O’Neil also scored on a 1-yard run.
O’Neil’s touchdown run was set up by a 17-yard interception return from Zachman that gave Wisconsin first-and-goal.
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Wisconsin didn’t need much from its offense because its defense was so good. Miami (Ohio) gained just 117 yards and went 0 for 9 on third-down conversion attempts.
Nathanial Vakos put Wisconsin ahead for good late in the first quarter by making a 42-yard field goal that capped a 15-play, 69-yard drive lasting over seven minutes.
Wisconsin wasted an opportunity to extend the lead early in the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-3 from the 10, Wisconsin passed up the short field-goal attempt, and Silas Walters picked off O’Neil’s pass in the end zone.
After Wisconsin forced another punt, the Badgers reached the end zone on their next drive and then put the game away with Zachman’s two fourth-quarter interceptions.
Wyoming 10, Akron 0
Boxscore
Akron, Ohio -- Kaden Anderson threw for 260 yards and a touchdown and Sam Scott ran for 132 yards and Wyoming Cowboys beat Akon 10-0 in a season-opening contest for both teams Thursday night.
It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Anderson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Chris Durr Jr. with 4:26 left in the game to secure the win. Durr, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, finished with 190 yards receiving on eight catches. He's coming off a freshman season where he caught 31 passes for 348 yards and one touchdown.
Scott, a senior who was recruited by the Cowboys as a linebacker, carried the ball 29 times and averaged 4.6-yards-per rush. Last year he led Wyoming in rushing with 435 yards on a career-high 92 carries and scored three touchdowns.
Akron's Ben Finley threw for 139 yards.
