A look at the schools that are overlooked by the ESPNs of the world.


Friday, October 12, 2012

Mid American Conference News and Notes


Akron:
AKRON, Ohio – Bowling Green scored 24 second-half points to rally from a 10-0 halftime deficit to defeat Akron 24-10 in a Mid-American Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon at InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field.
Jawon Chisholm led Akron (1-5, 0-2 MAC) with 100 yards rushing on 16 carries and Dalton Williams passed for 228 yards and one touchdown. It was the third 100-yard rushing game of the season for Chisholm and second in as many contests.
Bowling Green (3-3, 1-1 MAC) was able to control the second half with its running game, grinding out 226 yards on the ground while the Falcons' defense held Akron to 22 yards of total offense after the break.
Kurt Mangum led the Akron defense with 13 tackles, one pass break-up and one tackle for loss. Troy Gilmer added eight stops for the Zips.
Akron caught a break early in the final quarter as kicker Stephen Stein struck the right upright on a 24-yard field goal attempt that would have extended the BGSU lead to 20-10.
However, the Falcons stopped Akron for a three-and-out, then moved down the field in eight plays to set up the second touchdown pass of the game from Matt Schilz to tight end Alex Bayer.

Ball State:
Two weeks ago Ball State offensive coordinator Rich Skrosky stood in a hotel conference room near Cleveland and lectured his group about not turning the ball over to Kent State, whom the Cardinals would be playing the next day.
The talk didn't work, as Ball State fumbled the ball away to the Golden Flashes on their opening drive.
One week later, Cardinal sophomore running back Jahwan Edwards, the guilty party at Kent State, committed the “Cardinal” sin of repeating his miscue against Northern Illinois last Saturday and was quickly relegated to the bench for the ensuing series.

Bowling Green:
BOWLING GREEN – The Bowling Green State University football team put together an impressive second half in its 24-10 win at Akron Saturday.
Of course, the problem for the Falcons was the dismal first-half performance that put them in a 10-point halftime hole.
“Certainly after the game we were excited that we found a way to win and played well in the second half,” coach Dave Clawson said. “But there was a half of football on film that we had to watch and grade in which we executed poorly.
“I think the key to the game was that we played so poorly in the first half, yet we were only down 10 points.”
The Zips outgained BG 280-150 in the first half, but the Falcons forced a turnover that kept Akron from scoring on a play at Bowling Green’s 3 and also limited the Zips to a field goal after an interception late in the half or the deficit could have been greater.

Buffalo:
That ever elusive signature victory, the one that could potentially boost the Jeff Quinn era at the University at Buffalo, nearly came last season against Northern Illinois.
The Bulls rallied from a 31-10 third-quarter deficit and could have sent the game into overtime but Peter Fardon missed an extra point and UB lost, 31-30. The Bulls get another crack at the Huskies (5-1, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) and a chance at a program defining win Saturday at Huskie Stadium.
“Last year it was a heartbreaker to lose to them by a point," UB senior right tackle Gokhan Ozkan said. “We just have to come out and execute against them this week and prepare like we’ve been preparing this whole year. It’s going to be one of those games where we have to take it one play at a time and just beat them every single play."

Central Michigan:
TOLEDO, Ohio (Oct. 6)  First-half Toledo turnovers propelled the Central Michigan football team to an early lead, but their own turnovers doomed the Chippewas in the second half as they fell to the Rockets, 50-35, Saturday afternoon.
Central Michigan (2-3, 0-2 MAC) scored two touchdowns following Toledo fumbles in the first half, but Toledo (5-1, 3-0 MAC) responded with two interception returns for touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Offensively, the Chippewas put up their second-highest point total of the season, behindtheir 38-27 season-opening victory over Southeast Missouri State. Senior quarterback Ryan Radcliff tied a career-high with four touchdown passes and was five yards shy of his season high with 327 yards on 28-of-44 passing but also had two costly fourth-quarter interceptions for touchdowns.

Eastern Michigan:
It’s been hard to explain why the Eastern Michigan University football team has been unable to recapture its offensive success from a year ago for coach Ron English.
After last week’s 41-14 loss to Kent State, EMU head coach Ron English admitted he was perplexed by the inability to move the football as they gained a mere 200 yards of offense.
“We just have not been able to block for the run game. Until we solve that, we are going to struggle scoring points,” English said during his weekly teleconference. “The only way I know how to do it is continue to coach with great detail and continue to keep the players engaged.”
It doesn’t get any easier Saturday for the Eagles (0-5, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) as they host MAC West Division rivals, the Toledo Rockets (5-1, 3-0) at Rynearson Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

Kent State:
Success can sometimes be difficult to handle, especially for a Kent State football program that’s enjoyed so little of it over the past several decades.
So how are the Golden Flashes managing to enjoy the attention and praise that’s being heaped upon them after their first 4-1 start since 1977, while remaining hungry and grounded at the same time?
“Preparation, preparation,” said second-year head coach Darrell Hazell, who used that word probably 20 times during Monday’s 26-minute press conference. “I’m excited about where we are after the first five games, but we’ve got a long way to go still, and we’ve gotta make sure our team really understands how important it is to keep preparing as we go through the rest of the season.”
Few outside Kent State’s locker room were prepared to see the Flashes sitting all alone atop the Mid-American Conference East Division in early October with a perfect 3-0 league record.

UMass:
Entering its inaugural season in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the outlook on the Massachusetts football team’s season wasn’t promising.
Now, at the halfway point of the year, so much, yet so little, has changed for the Minutemen.
UMass (0-6, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) has experienced high’s and low’s during its transition year to the FBS. One week, the Minutemen are hanging neck-and-neck with Ohio, matching the undefeated Bobcats score-for-score all the way to the wire.
The next, they’re put away quickly like in last week’s 52-14 rout at Western Michigan.

Miami OH:
QUICK HITS
• Miami re-enters Mid-American Conference play with a 2-0 record in league games, sharing first-place in the East Division with Kent State (3-0) and Ohio (2-0).
• The RedHawks have won seven games in a row at Bowling Green, last losing at Doyt Perry Stadium 15 years ago in 1997. In 33 all-time games at BG, Miami has a record of 20-9-4 for a winning percentage of .742.
• Miami quarterback Zac Dysert joined the exclusive 10,000-yard club, becoming just the 78th player in NCAA FBS history to pass for at least 10,000 yards. He currently has 10,246 career passing yards. A 17th career 300-yard-plus passing effort could move Dysert past TCU's Andy Dalton (10,314), Baylor's Robert Griffin III and Boston College's Doug Flutie (10,579).
• For the fifth consecutive game, RedHawk linebacker Chris Wade recorded at least 11 tackles. His season total of 63 stops is tied for fifth-best among MAC players.

NIU:
DeKALB — The football player arrived unannounced Monday night, settled his 287 pounds into a chair and made the lonely priest smile. That was the whole idea.
For the next two hours, they talked, the same as it had been for years. Nourishment for both. But this time there was more sustenance in it for Fr. Dan Mallette, who has been going through a rough time after being relocated involuntarily from his beloved South Side parish, St. Margaret of Scotland, to a home in the suburbs.
But there was also something in it for Nabal Jefferson, who had grown up poor in the parish, learned how to be a giver from the priest and gone on to be a defensive lineman for the 5-1 Northern Illinois Huskies. There was more wisdom to sop up.

Ohio:
As the Ohio Bobcats football team sits on the precipice of being ranked in the AP sportswriters' poll for the first time since the final week of the 1968 season, redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton is on the verge of setting a record of his own.
Tettleton enters this Saturday's Homecoming game against the 1-5 Akron Zips tied with Boo Jackson with 38 career touchdown passes, but Tettleton says that he's not focusing on the record that he's likely to claim this weekend.
"That's one of those things I don't really think about," Tettleton said. "Like I've always said, just let the stats take care of themselves at the end of the year. I'm more focused on what we're trying to do week in and week out.

Toledo:
TOLEDO - UT junior wide receiver Bernard Reedy (St. Petersburg, FL) was named MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Toledo's 50-35 victory over VMU on Oct. 6.
Reedy had a 66-yard punt return for a TD in the third quarter. He had 107 yards in punt returns and 94 yards in kickoff returns. He also tied his career high with 10 catches for 92 yards.
He finished the game with a collegiate-best 293 all-purpose yards, tied for the fourth most in a game in school history. Casey McBeth holds the school record with 370 all-purpose yards vs. Akron on Oct. 22, 1994.

Western Michigan:
The year is 1906. Music is played on phonographs, Theodore Roosevelt is president, college football has just legalized the forward pass, the NFL hasn’t come into existence, neither World War had occurred, the Cubs were in the world series (and only two years away from their last World Series triumph) and the Western Michigan University Hilltoppers played their first football game under head coach Tubby Meyers, finishing with a 1-2 record with all stats in this article according to WMU athletics unless otherwise specified.
So much changes in 100 years, even in regard to football. In 1906, there were seven officials rather than seven now, forward passes had just been instituted and were rarely used, in part because an incomplete pass resulted in a 15 yard penalty, and if nobody touched the pass before it hit the ground, it was regarded as a turnover according to the Smithsonian website.

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