MAC Football Scoreboard: Saturday, September 26
Bowling Green 35, Purdue 28 Final
No. 2 Michigan State 30, Central Michigan 10 Final
Boston College 17, NIU 14 Final
Nevada 24, Buffalo 21 Final
Minnesota 27, Ohio 24 Final
Western Kentucky 56, Miami 14 Final
No. 1 Ohio State 38, Western Michigan 12 Final
No. 6 Notre Dame 62, UMass 27 Final
Marshall 36, Kent State 29 (2OT) Final
Army 58, Eastern Michigan 36 Final
Akron 35, Louisiana-Lafayette 14 Final
Toledo 37, Arkansas State 7 Final
No. 17 Northwestern 24, Ball State 19 Final
Game stories courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Bowling Green 35, Purdue 28
Box Score
Postgame Notes
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Bowling Green defeated Purdue, 35-28, Saturday afternoon at Ross-Ade Stadium. The win moves the Falcons to 2-2 on the season, and also marks Bowling Green's second win over the Big Ten Conference this season. Redshirt-senior running back Travis Greene rushed for a 12-yard score with just nine seconds left in regulation to give the Falcons the thrilling win. Head coach Dino Babers is now 3-1 over the Big Ten during his tenure at Bowling Green.
Redshirt-senior quarterback Matt Johnson completed 43-of-59 passes for 402 yards, marking the fourth straight game that he's thrown for over 400 yards this season. Johnson is the first quarterback in school history to have four, 400-yard career passing games. Greene led the Falcon rushing attack with 70 yards on 11 touches, to go along with two touchdowns. Redshirt-sophomore Donovan Wilson scored two touchdowns on two carries.
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Toledo 37, Arkansas State 7
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Postgame Notes
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Playing without injured star running back Kareem Hunt, the Toledo Rockets used a stifling defense to defeat Arkansas State, 37-7, before 21,385 fans at the Glass Bowl on Saturday. The Rockets moved to 3-0 on the season and will wait to see if their resounding victory will be enough to move it into the Top 25 for the first time since 2012. Toledo had 30 points in last week's AP poll, unofficially ranking it No. 30 in the country.
Hunt sat out the contest due to a hamstring injury suffered in Toledo's victory over Iowa State last week. He rushed for a career-high 271 yards and five touchdowns the last time UT faced the Red Wolves, a 63-44 victory in last January's GoDaddy Bowl. But the Rockets did not need Hunt this time, as their defense dominated the game.
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Akron 35, Louisiana-Lafayette 14
Box Score
Postgame Notes
LAFAYETTE, La. -- Akron sophomore QB Thomas Woodson threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 93 more yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown to propel the Zips (2-2) to a 35-14 victory over Louisiana (2-1). The triumph marked the 500th in the program history of Akron football.
Akron outgained the Rajin' Cajuns in total yards, 458-285, including registering a 220-112 advantage on the ground. The Zips parlayed a 33:30-26:30 differential in time of possession into scoring 21 second-half points to secure the victory. Nine different Akron receivers caught passes for 238 yards from Woodson led by 72, 70 and 33 total yards, respectively, from sophomore Jerome Lane, sophomore Austin Wolf and senior Conor Hundley.
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No. 17 Northwestern 24, Ball State 19
Box Score
Postgame Notes
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Ball State had its chances Saturday night at No. 17 Northwestern, but in the end the Wildcats were able to hold off the visiting Cardinals, 24-19. The Cardinals (2-2) were in search of their third win over a Big Ten squad in five years under head coach Pete Lembo and first win over a nationally-ranked team in nearly three years.
“It was one of those nights where you felt really good about the effort and how we competed, but at the end of the day to beat a quality team like this you have to play an extremely clean football game,” head coach Pete Lembo said.
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No. 2 Michigan State 30, Central Michigan 10
Box Score
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Another good effort against a team from a Power 5 conference. The No. 2 team in the country, in fact. Bottom line, though, is it was a loss for the Central Michigan football team in its visit to Spartan Stadium Saturday.
Central Michigan committed several costly penalties and couldn’t capitalize early, and Michigan State pulled away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns in handing the Chippewas a 30-10 loss before 75,218 fans. It was Central Michigan’s third good showing this season against a Power 5 team – the Chippewas fell 24-13 to Oklahoma State in their opener and 30-27 in overtime last week at Syracuse – but that was of little solace to first-year Chippewa coach John Bonamego.
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Boston College 17, Northern Illinois 14
Box Score
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Facing a dominating defense on the road for the second straight week, the Northern Illinois University Huskies could not get untracked offensively and dropped a 17-14 decision to Boston College to fall to 2-2 on the 2015 season.
Trailing 17-7 when the Huskie defense held Boston College to a 25-yard field goal following an 11-play, 58-yard drive in the fourth quarter, NIU found new life when junior Aregeros Turner returned the Boston College kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown. It was the first kickoff return touchdown for the Huskies since Tommylee Lewis had a 99-yard return versus Purdue on Sept. 28, 2013. Christian Hagan’s PAT brought the Huskies back within three 17-14, with 4:27 to play.
The Huskie defense answered the challenge again, holding BC to a three-and-out. NIU got the ball back on its 34 and advanced to the BC 35 before three straight incompletions ended the Huskie threat, and Boston College was able to take two knees and claim the win to improve to 3-1.
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Minnesota 27, Ohio 24
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Postgame Notes
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Ohio scored more points on Minnesota than any team this season while redshirt senior Derrius Vick threw for two touchdowns, but Ohio came up just short of an upset of Big Ten foe Minnesota, falling 27-24 to the Gophers on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Vick finished the game 17-for-27 passing with 194 yards and two touchdowns, while wide receiver Sebastian Smith added four receptions for 69 yards and one touchdown.
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No. 1 Ohio State 38, Western Michigan 12
Box Score
Postgame Notes
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Western Michigan put up more total offense than any other team against No. 1 ranked Ohio State this year, but costly penalties slowed up the Broncos in a 38-12 loss to the Buckeyes. The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 106,123 and nationally televised on ABC and ESPN.
Ohio State’s defense came into the matchup with the Broncos on average allowing just 225 total yards and 119 passing yards a game ,both of which are good for No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 5 nationally. Western Michigan finished with 338 total offense yards the most given up by the Buckeyes in 2015. Quarterback Zach Terrell’s 169 passing yards surpassed Virgina Tech’s 192 passing yards.
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Nevada 24, Buffalo 21
Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Second-half turnovers cost the University at Buffalo football team in a 24-21 loss to Nevada at UB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls finished non-conference play 2-2.
Buffalo senior quarterback Joe Licata completed 28-of-46 passes for a season-best 338 yards and two touchdowns, however with a pair of interceptions. Senior tight end Matt Weiser had the best game of his career with 10 receptions for 131 yards – both career highs. Senior wide receiver Ron Willoughby tied a career high with 10 catches for 122 yards.
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Marshall 36, Kent State 29 (2OT)
Box Score
KENT, Ohio -- Kent State forced Marshall into two overtimes before finally falling 36-29 on a 7-yard touchdown run by Thundering Herd running back Tony Pittman on Saturday at Dix Stadium. The backbreaker came a few minutes earlier, though, as the Herd's Chase Litton threw a desperation 3-yard touchdown pass to Stefan Houston on fourth down to force the second extra session.
Battered and bruised on a five-sack day by Kent State's defense, Litton was flushed from the pocket before firing on the run to a diving Houston. The game-extending play made amends for a rocky performance that saw the freshman quarterback complete 14-of-36 passes for 151 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while being sacked three times alone by Kent State tackle Terence Waugh.
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No. 6 Notre Dame 62, UMass 27
Box Score
Postgame Notes
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- UMass freshman running back Marquis Young ran for 103 yards on only five carries, but it was not enough for the Minutemen as UMass faltered at No. 6 Notre Dame, 62-27, Saturday afternoon. With Young leading the way, the Maroon and White ground attack averaged 5.1 yards per attempt on 29 rushes.
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Army 58, Eastern Michigan 36
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Eastern Michigan hosted Army West Point in its inaugural "Washtenaw 100" game at The Factory at Rynearson Stadium. The Black Knights' (1-3) early lead proved to be too much to overcome for the Eagles (1-3; 0-1 MAC) as they fell, 58-36. Redshirt sophomore Brogan Roback and senior Darius Jackson led the Eagles offense while senior Great Ibe and redshirt junior Mike Brown paced the defense.
Roback finished 28-of-40 with 291 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Jackson led the charge on the ground, totaling 141 yards on 16 carries while adding two touchdowns. It marked the fourth consecutive game Jackson has registered at least two touchdowns, marking the first time since the 1998 season that an Eastern Michigan player has accomplished the feat.
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Western Kentucky 56, Miami 14
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Miami fell to Western Kentucky University, 56-14, Saturday afternoon. The RedHawks fall to 1-3 on the season, while the Hilltoppers improve to 3-1.
Senior quarterback Drew Kummer finished the game 7-for-12 for 78 yards and one touchdown. His favorite target on the day was freshman wide receiver Chris Hudson, who finished with four catches for 64 yards and one touchdown.
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