MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week
Dustin Crum, Kent State, QB
GR, Grafton, Ohio (Midview)
Crum led the Golden Flashes to a 52-47 MACtion win over NIU on Wednesday night at Dix Stadium. He threw for 322 yards, his third 300 yard game of the year and totaled 4 touchdowns and did not turn the ball over. Crum also ran it for 72 yards and two more scores, totaling nearly 400 yards of offense in the win.
MAC East Division Defensive Player of the Week
Nico Bolden, Kent State, Safety
Gr, St. Paul MN/Woodbury
Bolden had his second-straight 12 tackle game to lead the Flashes. He had a big forced fumble and recovery as NIU entered the red zone. It proved to be the only turnover of the game and helped Kent State hold off NIU
MAC East Division Special Teams Player of the Week
Andrew Glass, Kent State, Place Kicker
Freshman, Wheeling, W.Va. Wheeling Park
Glass made all eight of his kicks, including a 39 yard field goal and 7-7 on extra points in the win over NIU. He also played a key role in the kicking game, limiting NIU to just two returns on nine kickoffs, totaling a mere 35 yards.
MAC West Division Co-Offensive Players of the Week
Trayvon Rudolph, NIU, Wide Receiver
Freshman (2nd Year), Crete, Illinois (Crete-Monee HS)
NIU second-year freshman Trayvon Rudolph recorded just the 25th 300-yard receiving day in NCAA FBS history at Kent State with 309 receiving yards on 14 catches, breaking the Mid-American Conference and NIU records for receiving yards in a game. Rudolph’s 309 yards rank as the 18th highest total recorded in a FBS game and are the most by any FBS player in 2021 while his 328 all-purpose yards (including 19 kickoff return yards) rank second. He caught touchdown passes of 36, 75 and 34 yards. Trayvon Rudolph’s 14 catches at Kent State tied him for second on the NIU single game list and are the most catches by a Huskie since 2016. He is the first NIU player to record three receiving TDs in a game since 2011. He scored on a 75-yard pass play for the second consecutive week.
Hassan Beydoun, Eastern Michigan , Wide Receiver
Junior, Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn)
Junior wide out Hassan Beydoun was electric in EMU's win at Toledo, Nov. 2. Beydoun finished the game with a career-high 197 reception yards on 12 catches. Additionally, Beydoun's effort is the 14th best by any player in the NCAA this season. The 197 yards is the most by any Eagle receiver in a game this year, and the second-best effort by any player in the MAC. The Dearborn, Mich. native hauled in a season-long 64 yard touchdown in EMU's opening drive of the second half against the Rockets. The reception was the second-longest of Beydoun's career, just two yards shy of the 66-yard catch he recorded at Western Michigan, Dec. 5, 2020.
Beydoun has recorded three games with 10+ catches this season. He is currently one of only three players in the NCAA to have three-or-more such games (Jerreth Sterns - Western Ky.; Drake London - Southern California).
MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week
Jose Ramirez, Eastern Michigan, Defensive End
Sophomore, Lake Alfred, Fla. (Auburndale) Toledo
Sophomore defensive end Jose Ramirez put together a career-best effort against Toledo, Nov. 2. The Lake Alfred, Fla. native led all Eagles in the following categories: tackles (10), sacks (2.0), TFLs (3.0), forced fumbles (1), quarterback hurries (1 - tied for first). The 10 tackles sets a career-high for Ramirez, while his two sacks tied for a career-best, set last year at Western Michigan, Dec. 5. As a defense, EMU racked up a season-best five sacks for 29 yards against the Rockets. Ramirez was responsible for two of those sacks. Ramirez’s effort was critical in a historic, 52-49, win for EMU. Not only did Eastern win at Toledo’s Glass Bowl for the first time since 1999, but the team is now bowl eligible for the sixth time in program history and the fourth time since 2016.
MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week
Kalil Pimpleton, Central Michigan, Punt Returner
Junior, Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon
Pimpleton led Central Michigan to a rivalry victory at Western Michigan with a pair of punt returns for touchdowns in just a five minute span on the game clock. Pimpleton’s first punt return for a touchdown came at the 5:03 mark of the second quarter, a 70-yard score. It was CMU’s first punt return for a TD since Antonio Brown in 2009. KP’s second punt return for a score came with 00:03 left in the first half, a 97-yard return. That broke CMU’s program record previously held by Jim Podoley, a 90-yard return vs. Northern Iowa, 1953. It was also the third-longest return in MAC history. Pimpleton is the first CMU player to have two punt returns for a touchdown in the program’s Division I era. He is the only player at the FBS level this season to tally two in a game and is the 24th player in D-I to have multiple punt return touchdowns in a single game since 2000. Pimpleton broke the MAC single game punt return average record with a mark of 55.3. The previous mark was 43.3 by Ryne Robinson of Miami (Ohio) in 2003.
