MAC Football Scoreboard: Saturday, September 8
Eastern Michigan 20, Purdue 19 Final
No. 21 Michigan 49, Western Michigan 3 Final
Kansas 31, Central Michigan 7 Final
Akron 41, Morgan State 7 Final
Buffalo 36, Temple 29 Final
No. 8 Notre Dame 24, Ball State 16 Final
Kent State 54, Howard 14 Final
Maryland 45, Bowling Green 14 Final
Utah 17, NIU 6 Final
Cincinnati 21, Miami 0 Final (at Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio)
Bye Week: Ohio; Toledo
Game stories courtesy of MAC Athletic Communication Departments
MAC Notes:
With Eastern Michigan's 20-19 win at Purdue on Sept. 8, 2018, the MAC has won a regular season game vs. Big Ten opponents in each of the last 13 consecutive seasons (2006-2018), the longest streak in MAC history.
During this 13-year stretch,
MAC teams have defeated 12 different Big Ten teams—Illinois (3); Indiana (5); Iowa (3); Maryland (1); Michigan (1); Michigan State (1); Minnesota (2); Nebraska (1), Northwestern (2); Penn State (1) Purdue (6) and Rutgers (1) for a total of 27 wins during this stretch.
For Eastern Michigan this marks the second consecutive season with a win over a Big Ten opponent (Eastern Michigan’s 16-13 win at Rutgers on Sept. 9, 2017).
Eastern Michigan 20, Purdue 19 Final
Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eastern Michigan freshman kicker Chad Ryland drilled a 24-yard field goal as time expired to give the Eastern Michigan a 20-19 win over Purdue on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Ross-Ade Stadium. With the win, Eastern Michigan secured its second victory over a 'Autonomous Conference' opponent in program history. The win moved the Eagles to 2-0 on the season, and is just the third time they have won back-to-back games to open the season in the past 20 years. Eastern Michigan quarterback Tyler Wiegers was 20-28 passing for 312 yards and one touchdown to lead the Eagles.
Eastern Michigan's defensive effort highlighted the day as the Eagles held the Boilermakers to just 17 points, forced three three-and-outs, and only allowed two touchdowns. Eastern's defense also totaled four forced fumbles, tying for fourth-most in a single game in program history and the most since forcing four at Northern Illinois, Oct. 26, 2017. The Eagles were led by senior Kyle Rachwal's game-high 11 tackles, including a tackle-for-loss and one of the Eagles' four forced fumbles. Senior Ikie Calderon marked up the stat sheet with seven tackles, one forced fumble, and a fumble recovery which thwarted a Purdue drive in the second half. Junior Maxx Crosby made his 2018 season debut with three tackles, one sack, and a forced fumble. With his third-quarter sack, Crosby moved into ninth all-time in the Eastern record books for most career tackles-for-loss (23.5), passing Kevin Harrison (2001-04).
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Michigan 49, Western Michigan 3 Final
Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Western Michigan football team fell at No. 21/22 Michigan, 49-3, at the Wolverine's home-opener in front of 110,814 fans at Michigan Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Junior running back LeVante Bellamy led all Broncos (0-2) with 65 yards on 11 carries. Graduate transfer cornerback Juwan Dowels and junior linebacker Alex Grace each had six tackles to lead the defense. Grace had three tackles for loss and a sack.
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Kansas 31, Central Michigan 7 Final
Box Score
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. -- Central Michigan struggled to find consistent production and turned the ball over six times on Saturday in dropping its home opener, 31-7, to Kansas in front of 18,127 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Central Michigan is 0-2 and goes to Northern Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 15, for its Mid-American Conference opener. The Chippewas sputtered in the first half, gaining just one first down before the break. They moved it more effectively in the final two quarters, but were forced to play catchup after falling into a 21-0 hole.
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Buffalo 36, Temple 29 Final
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Anthony Johnson took a pass over the middle from Tyree Jackson, fought through defenders and willed his way into the endzone for a 29-yard touchdown with 59 seconds left to lift the University at Buffalo football team to a 36-29 win over Temple at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. A resilient Buffalo team, now 2-0 on the season, had an answer for every Temple threat. With the Bulls leading by eight, Temple was able to score and get the two-point conversion to tie the game, 22-22, early in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls immediately responded by driving 58 yards on eight plays and Jackson's 5-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Nunn put UB back on top, 29-22, with 7:43 left in the game. Temple answered right back with a 75-yard drive of its own to again tie the game at 29 with 4:53 remaining. The Bulls' game-winning drive was a thing of beauty. Buffalo surgically sliced through the Temple defense and drove 81 yards on 10 plays for the final score. On three separate occasions, the Bulls were able to convert third-and-longs to keep the drive alive. Even the game-winning touchdown was on a third down and 10. The Bulls sealed the win when, on the Owls' final drive, Chuck Harris sacked Temple quarterback Frank Nutile and forced a fumble that Chibueze Onwuka was able to recover.
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Akron 41, Morgan State 7 Final
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips football team recorded its first win of the 2018 campaign, defeating the Morgan State Bears 41-7 at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field on Saturday. The Zips' offense exploded for five touchdowns, three in the air and two on the ground, while the defense limited the Bears to 192 yards of total offense with two interceptions, two forced fumbles, one sack, and one fumble recovery. Akron's offense was paced by sophomore QB Kato Nelson and senior RB Van Edwards. Nelson connected on 16-of-26 pass attempts for 232 yards and three touchdowns, including a 35-yard strike to senior WR Kwadarrius Smith. Edwards finished the game with 109 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 17 attempts. It was his second career 100-yard rushing game.
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Kent State 54, Howard 14 Final
Box Score
KENT, Ohio -- Kent State was flat out dominant in a 54-14 victory over Howard University Saturday in its 2018 home opener at Dix Stadium. Behind six rushing touchdowns, the Golden Flashes out-gained the Bison on the ground 355-65. Coming out strong in the home crowd's first look at the new FlashFAST offense, quarterback Woody Barrettmarched Kent State down the field for a touchdown in their first series after a three and out by Howard. The drive only took a 1:38 as the Flashes went 67 yards, punctuated by a Barrett three-yard rushing touchdown.
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Notre Dame 24, Ball State 16 Final
Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It wasn't exactly the start the Ball State football team was looking for on the road against the No. 8 team in the country. Notre Dame's five-play, 74-yard drive in less than two minutes was like an early jab to the nose. But the Cardinals took it and fought back with a series of body blows, driving 85 yards in 19 plays. While the drive resulted only in a field goal, it seemed to show this game wouldn't be as one-sided as the pre-game projections or the opening Notre Dame drive suggested.
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Maryland 45, Bowling Green 14 Final
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green led their 2018 home debut at halftime but ultimately fell to Maryland, 45-14, on a rainy Saturday evening at Doyt L. Perry Stadium. Bowling Green quarterback Jarret Doege opened the scoring with a three-yard touchdown pass to Scott Miller with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. After the Terrapins tied the contest late in the second quarter, Doege capped a five-play, 67-yard drive with a 29-yard pass to Quinton Morris for a 14-7 lead. Maryland narrowed the gap with a field goal on the final play of the half, then scored 35 unanswered points after halftime.
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Utah 17, NIU 6 Final
Box Score
DeKALB, Ill. -- Northern Illinois had the ball with a chance to drive for a game-winning score late in the fourth quarter, but an interception for a touchdown ended NIU's comeback attempt as Utah escaped Huskie Stadium with a 17-6 victory on Saturday night. The game was dominated by the two defenses as the Huskies and Utes combined for just 582 yards of total offense.
With Utah leading 7-3 early in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman Jordan Cole forced and recovered a fumble to give the Huskies the ball at midfield. NIU would drive inside the Utah 10 before senior Andrew Gantz connected on a 27-yard field goal to cut the Utah lead to 7-6.
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Cincinnati 21, Miami 0 Final
Box Score
CINCINNATI, Ohio – The 123rd Battle for the Victory Bell saw Miami and Cincinnati battle through a rainy evening at Paul Brown Stadium. The RedHawk defense held the Bearcats to 233 total yards, but they were unable to crack the end zone in a 21-0 setback on Saturday night. Miami drops to 0-2 on the season.
Both teams traded punts on their first possessions and a Miami three-and-out then set up Cincinnati (2-0) with a short field, which it took 62 yards for an eventual two-yard touchdown rush by Michael Warren II to go up 7-0 with 5:33 left in the first quarter. The RedHawks utilized a personal foul and a couple first downs to get into UC territory on the following possession, but a fourth down try fell short at the Bearcats' 29 as the ball went back to Cincinnati on downs.
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