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Everything you thought you knew about the MAC is wrong!
This sounds like a clickbait YouTube video title of some 20-minute deep dive you watch while you make yourself spaghetti with meat sauce, but there’s a lot of truth to it. We’re not even a full week into October, and the two main preseason contenders — Ohio and Toledo — stunningly squandered second half double-digit leads to Western Michigan and Ball State, respectively.
Ball State stole the show in Week 6, but other notable occurrences happened
Saturday. Akron stunned Central Michigan. Buffalo and Eastern Michigan participated in an overtime thriller. And Miami (OH) won the final Mallory Cup over Northern Illinois.
So here are the thoughts, notes, takeaways, and stats from Week 6 of MAC football:
Ball State 20, Ohio 14
- I called this perhaps the most stunning result of the college football season, until UCLA defeated Penn State about 3.5 hours later. I even sent a message during the game saying, “It’s been a strange game. It feels like Ohio should be up 31-0 and it’s only 14-0.” The Bobcats missed so many opportunities, especially from the jump. The first two possessions were a missed field goal (on a drive that stalled due to a holding penalty) and a fourth down failure inside the Ball State 10-yard line. Penalties stalled so many drives, and Ohio was flagged eight times for 90 yards.
- Nathan Voorhis, welcome to your Kodak moment. The Ball State defensive end is now the standalone leader in sacks with 8.0 on the season. He played another factor in stalling many Ohio drives with 3.5 of Ball State’s four sacks. Parker Navarro faced loads of pressure in the backfield all second half, and that pressure was the main reason Ohio couldn’t notch a single third or fourth quarter point.
- This game felt eerily similar to Toledo vs. Western Michigan in Week 4. The heavily favored Toledo led 13-0 until the late third quarter, missed opportunities to build the lead, and Western Michigan’s offense suddenly rallied late to pull off the home upset. Ball State did the same exact thing, erasing a 14-0 deficit after not scoring for more than two-and-a-half quarters. The Cardinal defense kept them afloat, and Kiael Kelly delivered when it counted.
- Kiael Kelly was an absolute baller in the second half. He took a 4th and 2 QB draw and trucked through several Ohio defenders for Ball State’s first touchdown. Then to claim the lead with 57 seconds left, he perfectly placed a sideline strike to Qian Magwood who shed a tackle for the 43-yard game-winning touchdown. The Magwood touchdown is the most iconic Ball State play since 2020, and the Cardinals desperately needed a moment like that to usher in the Mike Uremovich era. That comeback showed they’re made of the right stuff.
- Also on that Magwood touchdown, the most comical moment of the game was Kelly going full Chris Paul and snitching to the refs. An Ohio defender took off his helmet mid-play, and Kelly immediately pointed and caught an official’s attention to assess the Bobcats for a 15-yard penalty on the kickoff. He even delayed his celebration to snitch. Now that’s a quarterback who knows the rulebook and wants to win at all costs.
Western Michigan 21, UMass 3
- UMass returned a slew of guys from injury, including starting quarterback Brandon Rose and some pieces in the secondary. Still, the Minutemen looked like team 136 of 136. UMass’ defense looked vastly improved against a Western Michigan offense which has struggled through much of this season. But the Minutemen look incapable on offense regardless of personnel adjustments. Last in scoring, last in total offense, second last in the run game. They even won the turnover battle 2-1, getting a possession right before midfield and another one starting in the red zone off a muffed punt. Zero points stemmed from those opportunities.
- Western Michigan is a tough read right now. Defensively, the Broncos check every box as MAC contenders. We saw this in non-conference games — second half vs. Michigan State, first half vs. Illinois, first three quarters vs. North Texas — and they also held Toledo to 13 points. But the Broncos need more than 21 points on a UMass defense that’s allowed over 40 to every other FBS opponent, especially when their offense already faced two shutouts this year. In five games vs. FBS competition, Western Michigan only has one quarter (second quarter vs. North Texas) where it scored multiple times.
- Nadame Tucker is throwing his name in the hat for the league’s newcomer of the year. The Houston transfer completely transformed Western Michigan’s pass rush. In 13 games last year, the Broncos generated 19 sacks. This year, they’re already at 23 thanks to Tucker’s 5.0 to lead the team.
Akron 28, Central Michigan 22
- Right when we all thought we had the MAC figured out, Akron storms out of the tunnel and handles Central Michigan. Akron led 28-10 until the final seconds of the third quarter and Central Michigan notched two field goals and a touchdown while trying to sneak through the backdoor.
- This is more of the Akron I expected heading into the season. The Zips went 3-5 in league play last year, which was by far their best showing of the 2020s. And the five losses were all within 13 points. This was the type of offense Akron should have under a veteran quarterback like Ben Finley, and it finally came to fruition.
- Central Michigan moved the ball fine (238 rushing yards on 6.0 yards per carry), but the Chippewas have severe red zone problems. They have eight touchdowns and seven field goals on 21 red zone trips, scoring only 71.4 percent of the time inside the 20-yard line. Several long drives stalled with field goals, but the most concerning play transpired before halftime. Angel Flores tried to escape pressure on 3rd and goal from the 1 and was flagged for intentional grounding. That was the ultimate game-changer as Akron led 14-10 at halftime, instead of Central Michigan leading 17-14.
- Five sacks from Akron was an unexpected result. Akron only had seven sacks through five games and Central Michigan only yielded eight through five games. I did not envision the Zips’ overwhelming d-line pressure playing the role it did.
Buffalo 31, Eastern Michigan 30 (OT)
- Eastern Michigan’s overtime 2-point attempt for the win might have been one of the worst 2-point attempts I’ve ever seen. It appeared to be a designed shovel pass to the tight end but Buffalo defensive end Kobe Stewart got in the way, and Eastern Michigan quarterback Noah Kim wasn’t sure what to do. Stewart’s presence blew up the play and the ball was kind of just… dropped… on the grass.
- Red Murdock had 17 tackles. Just another Saturday in the office. He’s unsurprisingly the FBS tackles leader, and he’s also closing in on an NCAA record. With 15 forced fumbles in the last three seasons (four through in the last three games), Murdock stands alone in second place on the all-time list. He only trails former Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack, who has 16 forced fumbles. This is a clear All-American and one of the greatest defenders in MAC history.
- Buffalo doesn’t win that game without Ta’Quan Roberson at quarterback, and his return is essential to the Bulls contending in the MAC. Due to a foot injury, Buffalo eliminated designed runs and essentially made him a pocket passer Saturday, and he thrived with that strategy, collecting 272 passing yards and three touchdowns.
- Eastern Michigan has scored over 20 points in five of six games in this year, and it’s a middle-of-the-pack FBS team in terms of offensive production. This offense is strong and versatile enough to win several MAC games. But the defense continues to struggle. Normally stopping the run was the issue, but Buffalo passed freely on the Eagles all day Saturday, and they rank third-to-last nationally in yards allowed per game.
Miami (OH) 25, Northern Illinois 14
- This was the ultimate great vibes start for Northern Illinois. The Huskies offense fell on extremely hard times in September, averaging the fewest points in the FBS at 10.3 points per game. In a situation like that fresh off a 6-3 buzzer-beating defeat to San Diego State, changes were bound to come. NIU switched starting quarterbacks to Brady Davidson and made true freshman Lazaro Rogers the new lead back. Rogers scored on NIUs first snap from scrimmage on a 76-yard touchdown run, and then Davidson led a methodical 60-yard drive, firing a touchdown strike to Jake Appleget.
- The Huskies led 14-0 by the 3:23 mark of the first quarter — already their highest output vs. FBS competition this year — but never scored again. Everything reverted to how it was before. NIU rushed for 38 yards on 22 carries after Rogers’ long run and only managed 46 passing yards outside of Davidson’s touchdown drive. More retooling will need to be done to amend this concerning trend in DeKalb.
- We’ve seen this story from Miami (OH) so many times. Every single September and October game they play, we always see the graphic of Miami starts vs. Miami finishes. They started 0-3 last year yet qualified for the MAC Championship Game. Once again they started 0-3 and they looked every part of contenders in a wide-open MAC, playing lockdown defense for three quarters and producing 25 points on a sturdy Huskie defense.
- It was great to see Dequan Finn return from injury after the scary hit he took from UNLV. Miami won Henry Hesson’s lone start and can definitely express comfortability in its backup quarterback, but the seventh-year senior former MAC MVP makes this offense so dynamic. He showcased his dual-threat abilities with 170 passing yards and 90 rushing yards. Before Miami came to town, only one of the Huskies’ previous eight opponents scored more than 20. Finn’s presence made this win a lot more seamless against one of the MAC’s elite defenses.
Oklahoma 44, Kent State 0
- Ignore the 44 points. This was Kent State’s best defensive performance in a long time, and the stats back it up. The Golden Flashes surrendered their fewest yardage to an FBS opponent (335) since Oct. 21, 2023. Kent State consistently held Oklahoma to tough field goals, but the Sooners cashed in from 39, 49, and 55 yards in the first half. It was only 20-0 at halftime — not a bad performance considering the lack of offensive support.
- Speaking of Devin Kargman, it was great to see him fully recovered from that injury at Penn State last year. He underwent hip surgery, made a strong effort to rehab, and that rehab effort paid off with his first start in over a calendar year — due to starter Dru DeShields tweaking his ankle earlier in the week.
- It’s very fortunate to hear Oklahoma wide receiver Keontez Lewis is in stable condition and walking. Lewis was taken off the field on a stretcher after crashing headfirst directly into the brick wall that stands less than 10 yards behind the Sooners’ end zone. It was an incredibly scary moment, and I hope there are conversations to at least pad that that wall to prevent another similar incident.
- The gauntlet is finally over. Kent State lost to Texas Tech, Florida State, and Oklahoma by a combined score of 172-24, getting outscored by 44+ in each — all ranked opponents. Kent State can finally breathe in peace and possibly secure its first FBS win since 2022 with MAC play in full swing.
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