2009 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game Notes
Central Michigan Notes
• Bryan Anderson extended his NCAA record by catching a pass in his 53rd consecutive game.
• Dan LeFevour's first quarter touchdown pass to Cody Wilson was the 100th of his career, tying Chad Pennington's MAC record. The scoring toss to Bryan Anderson late in the second quarter broke the tie and moved LeFevour into sole possession of the league's career mark with 101.
• The touchdown pass to Wilson was also the 147th touchdown (100 passing, 46 rushing and one receiving) LeFevour has accounted for in his career, breaking the FBS record. He finished the half with 148 total touchdowns and 101 passing touchdowns. He is now tied for eighth all-time in NCAA history.
• Dan LeFevour's two touchdown passes give him 27 on the season, tying CMU's single-season record.
• Dan LeFevour's 28 completions move him into fifth in NCAA history with 1,138. His 255 passing yards also moves him into 12th all-time in NCAA history with 12,510.
• Antonio Brown extended his streak of consecutive games with a catch to 40 straight, tying him for the fifth-best streak among active players.
• Central's opening drive interception was the first red zone turnover committed by Central Michigan this season.
• Central Michigan went 3-for-5 in the red zone in the first half, the Chippewas failed to score points in the red zone only four times (50-for-54) all season coming into the game. Of the four times CMU failed to convert a red zone trip into points entering today's game, two of the trips were on kneel downs late in ballgames.
• Cody Wilson tied a career high with three catches, all in the first half (3 rec., 27 yds., TD).
• The Chippewas have led at halftime in all three of their MAC Championship Game appearances, outscoring the opposition 41-14 in the opening two quarters.
• CMU also led Ohio at halftime by a score of 17-7 in the 2006 MAC Championship.
• CMU has now outscored its 13 opponents by a 270-111 margin in the first half (+159) this season. The Chippewas hold a 65-point edge in the first quarter (98-33) and a 172-78 advantage in the second quarter (+94).
• The touchdown by Ohio snapped a streak of 10 straight games where CMU held its opponent without a point in the first quarter.
• The win is CMU's third in the MAC Championship game, the second-most in conference history. Marshall had five wins in the MAC Championship game during its time in the league.
• With the win, CMU is one of just seven teams with at least 11 wins this season.
• The MAC title is CMU's seventh since joining the conference in 1975, the most by any program in that span. CMU's other football titles came in 1979, 1980, 1990, 1994, 2006 and 2007.
• This year's senior class has now piled up 37 total wins, tying them for the second-most in school history with the class of 1977. The 1980 graduating class won 38 contests.
• CMU has now won 18 straight against MAC teams based in Ohio and 18 straight against the MAC East Division.
• CMU is now 4-3 all-time at Ford Field, and 16-5 in its 21 games on the ESPN family of networks since the start of the 2007 season.
• Butch Jones is now 27-13 overall at CMU, including a 22-3 mark against MAC opponents.
• The Chippewas are unbeaten in the last 48 games (47-0-1) when allowing 10 or fewer points. CMU's last loss when allowing fewer than 10 points came in 1985 against Toledo (Nov. 9).
• Dan LeFevour is now 35-15 all-time as a starter.
• With Bryan Anderson's touchdown catch in the second quarter, Anderson and teammate Antonio Brown have now caught 49 combined touchdowns, tying the duo for the most scoring receptions among active teammates in the country with Kansas' duo of Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier.
• Today's attendance of 23,714 is the ninth-biggest crowd to see a MAC championship game in its history (since 1997) and third-largest to watch a MAC Championship game at Ford Field (since 2004).
• With his 66 receiving yards, Antonio Brown crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the second time in his career and has also cracked the 3,000-yard career mark.
• With his 54 receiving yards, Bryan Anderson now sits in fifth-place in MAC history with 3,564 career receiving yards.
Ohio Notes
Ohio junior linebacker Noah Keller set a new MAC Championship game record with 16 tackles against the Chippewas. The previous record of 15 was set in 2004 by Miami's Matt Pusateri.
With a one-yard reception in the first quarter, Ohio senior Taylor Price became the Bobcats' all-time leading receiver, with 145 career receptions. With the catch, Price passes former Ohio standout Tom Compernolle (1983-86), who held the record of 144 receptions for 13 seasons.
With a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter, freshman kicker Matt Weller tied the school record with 20 field goals made on the season. The mark equals the previous record set by Matt Braunstein during the 2007 season. Weller now has 27 attempts on the season, which is also a new school record. The previous record for attempts was 24, also set by Braunstein in 2007.
Patrick Tafua's interception at the 8:59 mark in the first quarter marked the senior defender's third interception of the season, and the Bobcats' 20th of the season. The team mark of 20 picks ties for third in a single season all-time, matching that of the 1953 team. In 1960, Ohio recorded 21 interceptions. The school single-season record is 26, set by the 1952 squad.
Terrence McCrae's 29-yard touchdown with four seconds remaining in the first quarter is his eighth on the season, tying Bobcat Todd Snyder for the second-best single-season mark. The single-season mark for most touchdowns in one season is nine, set in 2008 by Andrew Mooney.
The first quarter touchdown was the second career passing touchdown for senior Taylor Price. Price, starting wide receiver for the Bobcats, was 2-for-4 passing previous to the touchdown pass. The 29-yard touchdown strike was the longest pass of Price's career, besting his previous long by just one yard. For his career, Price is now 3-for-5 with 79 yards and two touchdowns. Price's previous career touchdown was a 22-yard strike to David Carter against Eastern Michigan on Oct. 13, 2007.
Terrence McCrae finished the game with 141 yards receiving, 10th all-time on Ohio's single-game receiving chart. McCrae displaced Tony Carifa who tallied 140 yards against Eastern Michigan in 1980.
Career Highs
Terrence McCrae- seven receptions (previous was four on two occasions)
Terrence McCrae - 141 receiving yards (previous was 93 vs. Cal Poly, Sept. 19, 2009)
Melvin Payne - 12 kick return yards (previous was eight vs. Kent State, Oct. 24, 2009)
Taylor Price - 29-yard pass (previous was 28 yards vs. Wyoming, Sept. 22, 2007)
Noah Keller - 16 total tackles (tied previous set Cal Poly on Sept. 19, 2009)
Shannon Ballard - 6 total tackles (previous of 5 set at Bowling Green Oct. 3, 2009)
