UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 7
Akron at Rutgers ……………………………… 12 pm ET (Big Ten Network)
Bowling Green at Penn State…………… 12 pm ET (Big Ten Network)
Missouri State at Ball State…………………………………2 pm ET (ESPN+)
St. Francis at Kent State…………………………………2:30 pm ET (ESPN+)
UMass at Toledo……………………………………………3:30 pm ET (ESPN+)
Eastern Michigan at Washington…..3:30 pm ET (Big Ten Network)
Northern Illinois at Notre Dame………………………. 3:30 pm ET (NBC)
Central Michigan at FIU……………………………………..6 pm ET (ESPN+)
South Alabama at Ohio……………………………………. 6 pm ET (ESPN+)
Buffalo at Missouri ………………………………..7 pm ET (ESPN+/SECN+)
Western Michigan at Ohio State……7:30 pm ET (Big Ten Network)
2 MINUTE DRILL
• Bowling Green opened its season with a 41-17 win over Fordham, highlighted by Justin Pegues’ 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the contest. Running back Terion Stewart finished with 161 yards and a career-high tying three touchdowns, while Connor Bazelak threw for 161 yards and ran for a score.
• The Central Michigan Chippewas began the new season with a 66-10 victory over Central Connecticut State in Mount Pleasant. The Chippewas returned an interception, kickoff and punt for a touchdown in the win. Quarterback Joe Labas completed 18 of 24 passes with three touchdowns in his CMU debut.
• Buffalo opened the Pete Lembo era with a 30-13 victory over Lafayette at UB Stadium. The Bulls jumped out to a 16-0 lead and never looked back. Shaun Dolac led the Buffalo defense with 11 tackles, two tackles-for-loss and an interception as he earned MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. In his first career start for the Bulls at quarterback, C.J. Ogbonna tallied 195 yards and two touchdowns.
• Quarterback Tucker Gleason threw for three touchdowns to lead Toledo to a 49-10 victory over Duquesne in the Rockets’ home opener at the Glass Bowl on Thursday night. Jerjuan Newton led the Toledo receiving corps with five catches for 98 yards and one score, while Willie Shaw was the leading rusher with 50 yards and one TD.
• Eastern Michigan opened the 2024 season with a 28-14 victory at UMass on Saturday afternoon. In his EMU debut, Cole Snyder completed 17 pass attempts for 241 yards and one touchdown. The Eagles defense piled up six sacks, highlighted by James Djonkam’s 13-tackle performance.
• Ethan Hampton threw for a career-high 328 yards and five touchdowns on 18-of-20 passing to lead Northern Illinois to a 54-15 victory over Western Illinois. NIU amassed 706 yards of total offense as seven different Huskies found the end zone in the victory.
• The MAC has established a new football scheduling model that will go into effect starting this season. The new scheduling model will eliminate the MAC East and West Divisions. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the MAC Football Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.
MAC NOTES
• Six Wins Highlight Week One #MACtion Slate Six MAC teams earned their first victories of the 2024 season during week one:
– Bowling Green 41, Fordham 17
– Central Michigan 66, Central Connecticut State 10
– Buffalo 30, Lafayette 13
– Toledo 49, Duquesne 10
– Eastern Michigan 28, UMass 14
– Northern Illinois 54, Western Illinois 15
This marks the most wins by MAC teams in the opening week of a football season since 2019.
• Hampton’s Huge Day Leads Huskies to 1-0 Mark In his first start since Oct. 8, 2022, NIU quarterback Ethan Hampton posted a huge performance, completing 18 of 20 passes for a career-high 328 yards and five touchdowns. Hampton’s passing efficiency rating of 310.3 broke NIU’s single game record, previously held by College Football Hall of Famer George Bork, who had a rating of 261.3 versus UW-Whitewater on Sept. 14, 1963. Hampton’s five TD passes tied for the sixth-most in NIU history and are the most by a Huskie QB in a game since Nov. 1, 2011, when Chandler Harnish threw six TD passes versus Toledo. Hampton posted the first 300-yard passing game in NIU’s last 30 games, since November 3, 2021, when Rocky Lombardi threw for a school record 532 yards against Kent State. As a team, NIU’s 706 yards of total offense Saturday marked the third highest total in school history.
• Central Michigan Puts Up Points in Week 1 Victory Central Michigan scored a bunch of points in a bunch of different ways en route to a 66-10 victory in Week 1. The Chippewas’ 66 points were the second most points scored by Central Michigan at the Division I level and the 56-point win was CMU’s largest since 1972. Overall, the Chippewas scored on a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, an interception return for a touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown.
