Mid-American Conference

MAC Football Final Scores:  Tuesday, November 11th

Northern Illinois 27, Toledo 24  Final
Buffalo 55, Akron 24  Final

Game stories courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Staffs.


Northern Illinois 27, Toledo 24
Box Score
Postgame Notes

DeKALB, Ill. -- Northern Illinois moved into first place in the MAC West Division with a 27-24 victory over Toledo on Tuesday night at Huskie Stadium.  With the win NIU improves to 8-2 overall, 5-1 in the MAC, while Toledo suffered its first league loss to fall to 6-4 overall, 5-1 in league play.

Senior tailback Cameron Stingily scored a pair of touchdowns, the last on a two-yard run with 6:33 to play that gave the Huskies a 27-17 lead.  Stingily’s touchdown run capped an 11-play, 82-yard drive in which he gained 41 yards on six carries.  The key play on the drive came when quarterback Drew Hare connected with Aregeros Turner for seven yards on fourth and five to the Toledo 20-yard line.

Stingily finished the game with 81 yards on 21 carries as the Huskies totaled 226 yards on 46 carries as a team.  NIU totaled 168 rushing yards in the second half.

“That’s a good defense and in the first half, I thought they got the better of us,” Carey said.  “In the second half, we kept searching for the things that worked and we hit a few.  Cameron is a guy that when we get him going, get him downhill, he can make plays.“ 

Hare finished the game 14-of-22 passing for 190 yards and a score as NIU earned its fifth consecutive victory over the Rockets. 

‘We made the plays when we had to,” said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey, who saw the Rockets pull within three points on a three-yard touchdown run by reserve quarterback Dwight Macon with 2:14 to play. “At critical moments, on critical plays, we made them.  It’s a credit to the players, they executed them.”

After Macon’s score, the Huskies’ Luke Eakes recovered Toledo’s onside kick attempt.  NIU ran the clock down to 10 seconds before being forced to punt and the Rockets hook-and-lateral play came up well short.

Macon entered the game in an emergency quarterback role when first time starter Michael Julian went out with an injury and Logan Woodside, who had started the previous seven games for Toledo, was unable to play due to an injury suffered a week ago.  Macon finished eight-of-11 passing for 140 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 97 yards on 18 carries with two scores.  Kareem Hunt gained a game-best 119 yards on 18 carries for the Rockets.

NIU go on the scoreboard first as freshman Christian Hagan connected on a 37-yard field goal midway through the opening quarter as the Huskies took a 3-0 lead. The field goal was the first of Hagan’s career.

After the Huskie defense forced Toledo into its third consecutive three-and-out to open the game, it took the NIU offense just two plays to go 65 yards for the first touchdown. Following a one yard run by Stingily, Hare connected with senior wide receiver Da’Ron Brown for a 64-yard score. Brown caught a short pass from Hare, made one man miss near the line of scrimmage and then outraced everyone to the end zone as the Huskies took a 10-0 lead.

Brown finished the game with three catches for a team-high 73 yards.

Toledo responded with an 11-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard field goal. The Rockets moved down to the NIU two-yard line, aided by a 39-yard pass from Julian to Alonzo Russell, but the Huskie defense held and Toledo settled for a Detmer field goal.

The Rockets tied the game with 5:22 to play in the second quarter when Macon came in at quarterback and found Corey Jones behind the Huskie defense for a 69-yard touchdown to tie the game, 10-10.

NIU regained the lead on the next drive as Hagan capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 19-yard field goal. Hare connected with Turner for 39 yards to the Toledo two-yard line, but this time it was the Rockets holding the Huskies out of the end zone as Hagan’s short field goal gave NIU a three-point lead at the half.

The Huskies and Rockets traded punts to begin the second half and NIU took a 10-point lead on a 4-yard touchdown from Stingily. The big play of the drive was a 61-yard end around by Brown down to the Toledo 15-yard line. Three plays later Stingily scored as NIU took a 20-10 lead with 9:18 to play.

Toledo answered back with a 9-play, 75-yard drive to cut the NIU lead to 20-17. Macon completed a pair of passes for 28 yards and rushed for 27 yards on four carries on the drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run, as the Rockets pulled back within three with 6:36 left in the third quarter.

Up next for NIU is a trip to Athens, Ohio, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, to face the Ohio Bobcats. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will be shown live on ESPNU or ESPN3.


Buffalo 55, Akron 24
Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo took a months-worth of frustration out on Akron, beating the Zips, 55-24, at UB Stadium on Tuesday night. The 55 points were the most scored by a UB team against a MAC opponent since joining the conference in 1999.

The Bulls (4-6, 2-4 MAC) rolled up 536 yards of total offense against the MAC's top scoring defense – the most allowed by Akron this season. The UB defense was equally as strong, holding the Zips to a season-low 229 yards of total offense.

"I'm proud of those young men and it was a great effort," interim head coach Alex Wood said. "I think we can all be proud of what they did tonight."

Joe Licata rebounded nicely from a tough outing last week to pass for 193 yards and four touchdowns. The junior signal-caller now has 56 career touchdown passes, breaking UB Hall-of-Famer Drew Willy's previous school record of 52.

It was also a big night for Anthone Taylor. The junior running back ran for 178 yards on 32 carries and scored a touchdown. He went over 1,000 yards for the season, joining former UB greats Branden OIiver and James Starks as just the third UB running back to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau in a single season.

The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Bulls as the Zips recorded a pick six on the second play of the game to take a 7-0 lead. UB fumbled the ball away on its next possession as well.

However, the Bulls bounced back, and with 4:59 left in the first quarter, Jordan Johnson pulled off a terrific fake to find Matt Weiser for a 33-yard touchdown and tie the game at seven. On the Bulls' next possession, UB grabbed the lead for good when Licata found Devin Campbell on a 6-yard slant for a touchdown.

For the first time this season, the Bulls utilized a two-quarterback system and it seemed to confuse the Zips. Tony Daniel, a gifted running quarterback, scored the Bulls third touchdown of the night when he scampered to the endzone from 21 yards out to give the Bulls a 21-7 lead.

After Akron kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 21-10, the Bulls mounted an impressive 60-yard drive in the closing stages of the half and Licata hooked up with Jacob Martinez on a 17-yard touchdown to give the Bulls a 27-10 lead with just 15 seconds left in the half.

Akron scored on its opening drive of the second half to make the score 27-14. But the Bulls quickly silenced any Akron threat when Licata found Ron Willoughby for a 42-yard touchdown on UB's ensuing possession to regain a 17-point advantage.    

On the very first play of Akron's next drive, Tedroy Lynch forced a fumble that was recovered by Branden Crawford. The Bulls capitalized just one play later when Licata found a wide-open Campbell for a 24-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulls ahead, 41-17, with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

The Bulls capped the night's scoring with a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first was a 6-yard run by Taylor and the final score was a 16-yard run by Johnson.

Johnson had the best game of his career on Tuesday night. The sophomore running back ran for a career-high 104 yards in the game. As a team, the Bulls rushed for a season-high 310 yards in the game.

UB's defense was led by Adam Redden who had nine tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Jarrett Franklin had six tackles, including a career-best three for loss.

"Our defense did a great job. I thought our special teams did a great job. I think we won all three phases of the game tonight and we played and finished for 60 minutes which is important," Wood said. "That's what we talked about in preparation. That's what we've been talking about, not just this past week, but since we've been here and we got it done tonight."

The Bulls will play their final home game of the season next Wednesday night when they host Kent State at UB Stadium.