What is the story about?
It’s almost full-fledged conference season in the MAC. The league showcased a slate of eight games in Week 5, including three conference in-state matchups.
Notable occurrences that happened this weekend include Miami (OH)’s first win of 2025, Central Michigan winning the first leg of the Michigan MAC Trophy, and Northern Illinois participating in a game unlike anything we’ve seen in two years.
This column presents thoughts, takeaways, and statistics from each week’s MAC games. So here are the MAC musings
for Week 5:
Ohio 35, Bowling Green 20
- This game between two of the MAC’s better teams was incredibly sloppy. There were seven combined turnovers, with Bowling Green committing four and Ohio committing three. But the offenses were moving quite well outside the turnovers. We knew Ohio had explosiveness on offense, however, Bowling Green demonstrated some too in arguably the team’s best offensive showing of 2025.
- That Ohio rushing attack is going to give everyone in the MAC problems. Bowling Green was one of the more stout run defenses in the conference and the Bobcats still managed 238 yards and two touchdowns on a 6.6 average. Ohio only involved three people, and that’s all it needed. Sieh Bangura posted 115 on a 6.4 average, Parker Navarro added 66 on a 6.0 average, and Duncan Brune rounded out the trio with 57 yards on an 8.1 average.
- Chase Hendricks lost his title as the FBS’s leading receiver, but Ohio still got something incredibly valuable out of the passing game. Tight end Mason Williams enjoyed a career day with eight receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown — accounting for a fraction below half of the Bobcats’ aerial production. There are is Harold Fannin Jr. nor Tanner Koziol in the MAC this year (a tight end that’s essentially WR1), but Williams is in the conversation for the conference’s top at the position, along with Jyrin Johnson, Blake Bosma, and Joshua Long.
- One reason to believe in Ohio as contenders: the offense consistently steps up when the defense struggles and vice versa. We saw one side of the coin vs. Rutgers and another side vs. West Virginia. In the midst of committing three turnovers, Ohio’s defense did more than enough to maintain the Bobcats’ lead throughout the contest. The Bobcats produced five sacks, including three by Jay Crable, and three different defenders picked off a pass — Cameron Hollobaugh, Tank Pearson, and DJ Walker. The playmaking potential is strong within both units.
Central Michigan 24, Eastern Michigan 13
- Talk about the perfect way to run a two-QB system, and Central Michigan nailed it. The Chippewas played excellently to the strengths of Joe Labas and Angel Flores on Saturday in Mount Pleasant. Labas tore it up through the air, finishing 14-of-16 with 138 yards and a touchdown. Flores dominated on the ground with a career-high 134 rushing yards on 22 carries. And it’s not like there are Labas drives and Flores drives. It’s constant substitutions, and it really keeps a defense on its toes.
- This was another game where Matt Drinkall showed his Army roots. Central Michigan out-physicaled Eastern Michigan big time, pounding the rock from kickoff until the clock hit triple zeros. The Chippewas generated 311 rushing yards on 6.5 yards per carry. Not only did Flores go well over 100, but running back Nahree Biggins hit 113 — breaking free for a 49-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
- The Week 5 MAC crowd of the week belongs to Central Michigan. The Chippewas’ generated their ninth-largest crowd in history as 28,605 flocked into Kelly/Shorts Stadium. This was for a 2-2 team matched up against a 1-3 Eastern Michigan squad. If Matt Drinkall really gets this thing going in Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan crowds will be a sight to behold. Good to see lots of people already buying in.
UConn 20, Buffalo 17
- UConn is college football’s ultimate play to the level of the opponent team. The Huskies nearly found themselves in their third overtime game of the season. They already took Syracuse to OT back when Steve Angeli was healthy and firing for 400 yards regularly. They also went OT with FBS newcomer Delaware in a high-scoring shootout. This same UConn team went to the wire with Ball State and now did it against another MAC school in Buffalo.
- Buffalo played a very solid defensive game, but UConn didn’t do anything to self-destruct. The Huskies had zero turnovers and zero penalties, so even though Buffalo limited the FBS’s sixth-leading rusher Cam Edwards to 57 yards and held the FBS receptions leader Skyler Bell to six catches for 54 yards, UConn’s discipline went a long way.
- Buffalo definitely misses Ta’Quan Roberson, but it wasn’t a bad first start for Gunnar Gray. He remained free of a turnover, got solid run support from Lamar Sperling and Al-Jay Henderson, and guided the Bulls to a game-tying drive in the final minutes. He didn’t air it out much, and Buffalo certainly misses verticality in its passing offense. But I left impressed by his ability to read blitzes. Gray took zero sacks and delivered a perfect screen to Henderson for the tying touchdown with 64 seconds remaining.
- Sitting at 2-3 really stinks for Buffalo. The Bulls ended 2024 scalding hot with five-straight wins en route to a 9-4 season, and this year’s team looked tremendous on paper. They returned nine defensive starters. A good chunk of the o-line and the top running backs and receivers came back as well. All pieces were in place for a MAC title run which is still alive given their 1-0 conference record. Dropping back-to-back non-conference home games in the final 60 seconds isn’t easy to withstand, but we’ll see the resolve of this team as MAC play approaches.
San Diego State 6, Northern Illinois 3
- There you have it, a contender for sickos game of the year.
- Some stats about this game — this was the first FBS game without a touchdown since Oct. 21, 2023 when Nevada defeated San Diego State 6-0 on a pair of field goals. It’s also the first FBS game with under 10 points since that Mountain West matchup. This replaces Wyoming’s 10-0 win over Akron as the lowest-scoring game of the season. San Diego State has allowed a combined three points in three wins this year, including FBS victories over Cal and NIU.
- What’s hilarious about this game is both teams scored three points on their first possession. And then we didn’t see a single point until San Diego State kicker Gabriel Plascencia drilled a walk-off 25-yard field goal at the buzzer. We saw nothing but a field position struggle for essentially three-straight quarters.
- This was destined to be a low-scoring game. I had the preview here at Hustle Belt for this and put 19-13 as my low-scoring prediction. This somehow exceeded my expectations. Neither offense has shown much in the early going, and NIU hasn’t even broken 20 points in four games — ranking dead last nationally with 10.3 points per game. But both defenses will make you pay. It’s not very often you play either San Diego State or NIU and don’t see an incredibly mucked up, unglamorous football game.
- NIU can usually rely on its run game, but even that facet has been difficult to jump-start this year. The Huskies never saw a breakaway run exceeding 14 yards and averages 2.8 yards per carry on 40 attempts. The passing game, which always takes a backseat in DeKalb, generated just 57 yards on on seven completions and 16 attempts. Everything should be on the table right now in terms of adjustments heading into MAC play.
Toledo 45, Akron 3
- You know when your team loses, so you blow off steam on Madden or EA Sports CFB 26, set the difficulty to easy, adjust the sliders in your favor, and eviscerate your team’s opponent in real life? Anyway, that’s EXACTLY what this Toledo-Akron game felt like. The Rockets were coming off an excruciating loss at Western Michigan they all but had wrapped up, and they lost to Akron in overtime last November. Everything shaped up for Toledo to pummel the Zips this week.
- Ben Finley getting injured while routing Duquesne last week was a tough blow for the Zips. His presence opens up everything for the Akron offense and that was visible Saturday. Way too many MAC starting QBs are hurt right now (Finley, Dequan Finn, Ta’Quan Roberson, Brandon Rose).
- What a bounce-back performance by Tucker Gleason. After the worst game since becoming Toledo’s starter, the senior quarterback showed a short memory and delivered one of his finest works. He completed 16-of-19 passes for 237 yards, matching his touchdown output with his incompletion total at three.
- It’s really cool Toledo still has Junior Vandeross III on the roster. In an NIL driven era where the All-MAC teams have been reduced to offseason shopping lists for big spenders, it’s increasingly difficult to keep talents like him in the MAC. Jason Candle and Toledo are very good at retention though, and we saw this with Quinyon Mitchell — whom Nick Saban confirmed Alabama once targeted in the portal. Vandeross was already an established star heading into this season and displayed that Saturday with 122 yards and two receptions on nine receptions.
Miami (OH) 38, Lindenwood (FCS) 0
- Miami is following the exact same script from last year. RedHawks started 0-3 with a challenging non-conference schedule but didn’t necessarily look bad during the 0-3 start. Then in Week 5, the RedHawks finally notch their first victory to gain some momentum.
- It’s hard to get takeaways from FCS games. For reference, Lindenwood played Appalachian State within a touchdown back in Week 2, so Miami definitely performed far better than the Mountaineers did. We knew the defense was going to dominate, but the offense was promising under backup quarterback Henry Hesson. RedHawks enjoyed some great skill position player performances from Kenny Tracy (20 rushes, 134 yards, 1 TD) and Kam Perry (3 receptions, 122 yards, 2 TD).
Western Michigan 47, Rhode Island (FCS) 14
- Rhode Island was ranked No. 7 in the FCS rankings. Rhode Island handled the same Long Island team that beat Eastern Michigan and also staved off Holy Cross, which played Northern Illinois within two points. Western Michigan annihilated one of the better teams the FCS has to offer, so that’s a good sign for the Broncos.
- Western Michigan was so much better than its 0-3 start suggested. The defense showed plenty of strengths vs. Michigan State and Illinois — shutting out the Spartans for a half and holding ranked Illinois to 10 in the first half. The Broncos had undefeated North Texas on the ropes in Week 2 before bowing out in overtime and knocked off Toledo. All signs point to the Broncos as an upper echelon MAC team. The defense is tremendous and the offense is finally taking shape now that the two-QB system is ditched and Broc Lowry is in full command.
- Speaking of the defense, this was a crazy mismatch in the trenches when Rhode Island possessed the ball. Western Michigan’s front obliterated the FCS opponent with seven sacks. Rhode Island struggled to run in general, and when factoring in those sack yards, it finished with -5 rushing yards on 23 attempts. Take a bow, Nadame Tucker, Marcel Tyler and the Bronco defense.
Missouri 42, UMass 6
- For a team that is essentially ranked 136th in the country, this game did not go that poorly for UMass — at least from a defensive perspective. Mizzou punted four times and threw an interception, and that early interception nearly allowed the Minutemen to tie. However, they trailed 7-6 instead of knotting it at 7-7 due to a blocked extra point.
- UMass’ offense finished 14-of-39 passing and rushed 16 times for 19 yards. It sums to 124 yards of offense. This was never going to be the week it righted the ship.
- The only remaining winless teams are UMass, Sam Houston, Oregon State, and UCLA. UMass is the only one that faced FCS competition, so the Minutemen’s winless mark is certainly the worst of the four. However, MAC play enters full swing now for Joe Harasymiak’s team and the bottom of the MAC presents some winnable opportunities, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
- UMass’ injury report remains brutal. It felt like it lost half its starters in the Iowa game. All four members of the starting secondary missed this game. Starting quarterback Brandon Rose was questionable and remains out. Top wide receiver T.Y. Harding is out for the year, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This is one of the most banged up teams in the country.
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