Saturday's Football Results
Miami 45, Ball State 24
Toledo 21, Central Michigan 3
Stories Courtesy of the Associated Press
Miami 45, Ball State 24
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio (AP) — Thomas Gotkowski threw three touchdown passes, Braylon Isom caught two of them, and Miami (Ohio) beat Ball State 45-24 in a regular-season finale to clinch a trip to the Mid-American championship game for the third consecutive season.
Gotkowski found Isom for a 23-yard score at the 9:07 mark of the first quarter, and a 10-yard strike less than three minutes later. The RedHawks never trailed, and led from that point on. It’s the fifth consecutive win for the RedHawks over the Cardinals.
The RedHawks finished the regular season 7-5 and 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference, and will face Western Michigan (8-4, 7-1) in the MAC title game, despite Ohio and Toledo also holding 6-2 conference records. Miami owns a tiebreaker between common opponents.
Gotkowski’s long came on a 55-yard touchdown to Kam Perry. He was 12-of-24 passing for 226 yards, with 44 yards on the ground.
Jordan Brunson (54 rushing yards) and D’Shawntae Jones (47 rushing yards) both had rushing touchdowns, and led a RedHawks offense that combined for 234 rushing yards.
Kiael Kelly was 14 of 23 for 177 yards with a pair of passing touchdowns for the Cardinals (4-8, 3-5). He added a game-high 61 yards on 11 attempts.
The Cardinals allowed six sacks, and allowed a score on a fumble recovery return by Jermaine Agee with 2:11 left in the game. They entered the game with the second-most sacks allowed out of 136 teams in FBS football and finished with 49 allowed.
Toledo 21, Central Michigan 3
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — Kalieb Osborne threw a late third-quarter touchdown and Chip Trayanum scored twice in the second half as Toledo pulled away for a 21-3 win over Central Michigan on Saturday.
The Rockets will play in the MAC championship game on Dec. 6 against the winner of a tiebreaker scenario between Toledo, Miami (OH) or Ohio.
Toledo (8-4, 6-2 MAC) trailed 3-0 at halftime after Cade Graham hit a 28-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Rockets finally broke through with 10 seconds left in the third when Osborne hit Trayanum on a 57-yard strike to cap a five-play, 69-yard drive. Kenji Christian pushed the lead to 14-3 on a 9-yard run with 8:41 left and, after a defensive stop, Trayanum sealed it with a 42-yard burst with 1:49 remaining.
Trayanum ran for 94 yards on 16 carries and caught three passes for 65 yards. Osborne and Tucker Gleason combined to throw for 206 yards with no turnovers. Toledo’s defense held CMU to 81 yards rushing and picked off Joe Labas once while recording four sacks.
Dakota Cochran blocked his third career kick for Central Michigan (7-5, 5-3).
