THIS WEEK IN THE MAC

Tuesday, November 22

• Ball State at Miami, 7 pm ET (ESPN+)
• Bowling Green at Ohio, 7 pm ET (ESPNU)

Friday, November 25

• Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan, Noon ET (CBSSN)
• Toledo at Western Michigan, Noon ET (ESPNU)

Saturday, November 26

• Kent State at Buffalo, 1 pm ET (ESPN+)
• Akron at NIU, 1:30 pm ET / 12:30 pm CT (ESPN3)

2 MINUTE DRILL
• Matt McDonald’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Ta’ron Keith with just nine seconds left in the game lifted Bowling Green to a 42-35 win over Toledo on Tuesday night (Nov. 15). With the win, the Falcons (6-5, 5-2 MAC) are still in the hunt for the MAC East Division title, became bowl eligible and won at Toledo for the first time since 2008. This marks the first time since 2015 that Bowling Green is bowl-eligible.

• Redshirt junior quarterback Kurtis Rourke went 12-for-16 with one touchdown in 169 yards, while redshirt sophomore quarterback CJ Harris took over just before halftime, going 5-for-8 with 34 yards in the air as Ohio (8-3, 6-1 MAC) topped Ball State, 32-18. Graduate student wide receiver Sam Wiglusz led the receivers with one touchdown on 80 yards while junior wide receiver Jacoby Jones recorded 87 yards on five receptions.

• Eastern Michigan used a dominant second half to lift itself to a 31-24, MAC cross divisional victory over Kent State. Down 17-7 at half, EMU
(7-4, 4-3 MAC) used a 24-0 second-half spurt to take control of the game and seal the victory. The Eagles were led by senior QB Taylor Powell, who tossed for a career-high 315 yards on 30-of-39 passing and three TD’s. Defensively, senior defensive end Jose Ramirez finished with a team-high seven tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss.

• Aveon Smith threw for 185 yards and one touchdown and added 105 yards on the ground and two scores as the RedHawks downed the Northern Illinois Huskies 29-23 on Wednesday evening at Huskie Stadium. With the win, Miami improves to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in Mid-American Conference.

• The Victory Cannon is coming back to Western Michigan University as the Broncos defeated Central Michigan, 12-10, on the road at a snowy Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Wednesday night. WMU’s Sean Tyler had a career-high 177 yards on the ground on 26 carries to lead the way for the Broncos in the win.

MAC NOTES
Headed To The ‘Ship
Toledo (7-4, 5-2 MAC) has already clinched a share of the MAC West Division title and a trip to the MAC Championship Game in Detroit on Dec. 3. The Rockets secured their trip to Ford Field thanks to a 28-21 victory over Ball State on Nov. 8 and a loss by Western Michigan a day later. Toledo has now won or shared 12 MAC West Division crowns. This will be Toledo’s seventh appearance in the MAC Championship Game and first since 2017. Toledo is 3-3 all-time in the MCG.

East Division Scenarios
With an Ohio win over Bowling Green … Ohio (7-1) will be the outright East Division Champion and will head to the MAC Football Championship Game. With a BGSU win over Ohio + Kent State win over Buffalo… Bowling Green (6-2) and Ohio (6-2) will share the East Division title and Bowling Green will advance to the MAC Football Championship Game due to its head-to-head win against vs. Ohio.

Tiebreaker Scenario Using Uneven Number of Games Policy
With a BGSU win over Ohio + Buffalo win over Kent State Bowling Green 6-2 (.750) Ohio 6-2 (.750) Buffalo 5-2 (.714)

First tiebreaker: Head-to-Head record amongst tied teams
a) All three teams split the head-to-head series during the regular season (1-1) Second tiebreaker: Winning percentage vs. ranked division opponents (top to bottom vs. East Division common opponents)
b) Bowling Green, Buffalo and Ohio each defeated Miami (1.000)
c) Bowling Green & Ohio lost to Kent State (.000), while Buffalo would have defeated Kent State (1.000) in this tiebreaker scenario.
d) Buffalo wins tiebreaker and will advance to MAC Football Championship Game

Goin’ Bowlin’
Toledo: Toledo is bowl eligible for the 13th consecutive season, the longest streak in the MAC. The Rockets have reached bowl eligibility every year since 2010.

Ohio: Ohio’s 45-24 victory over Buffalo on Tuesday (Nov. 1) marked their sixth victory of the season, making them bowl eligible. The Bobcats’ last bowl was the 2019 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, where Ohio defeated Nevada 30-21.

Eastern Michigan: The Eagles are headed to the postseason for the sixth time in program history, and the fifth under ninth-year Head Coach Chris Creighton, that the team has qualified to play in a bowl game. Moreover, it marks bowl eligibility for the fourth consecutive year (excluding the COVID-19, 2020 season), which is a program record.

Bowling Green: The Falcons are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2015 after Tuesday’s (Nov. 15) dramatic 42-35 win over Toledo. Currently BGSU has the most season wins (6) and MAC wins (5) since 2015 when BGSU went 10-4 overall and 7-1 in MAC play.

Have a Night, Bert Emanuel Jr.
Last Wednesday, Bert Emanuel Jr. rushed for 293 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries for a 12.2 yards per carry average. The 293 yards rank as the fourth most rushing yards in a single game in school history and set a school-record for most single-game rushing yards by a quarterback. The last time a Chippewa player rushed for 200 or more yards was Lew Nichols (219 yards) at Ball State on Nov. 17, 2021. The 293 rushing yards are the most by any FBS Quarterback since 2019.

UB’s Fuqua Named National Defensive Player of the Week Buffalo safety Marcus Fuqua was named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week following his standout performance against Toledo. He’s the first UB player to ever earn the honor. The junior had a career-high three interceptions against the Rockets to become just the fourth UB player to record three interceptions in a game. Fuqua leads the MAC and is tied for the FBS lead with five interceptions. He was named the MAC East Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season following his performance against Toledo.

Not 1, Not 2, Not 3 …
Sophomore cornerback Quinyon Mitchell was named the Walter Camp Football Bowl Subdivision National Defensive Player of the Week following his four-interception performance in Toledo’s 52-32 victory at Northern Illinois on Oct. 8. Mitchell returned two of his three first-half interceptions for touchdowns as Toledo bolted out to a 35-7 lead at the break. Mitchell snuffed out a potential NIU touchdown by grabbing his third pick of the half in the NIU end zone on a pass from three-yard line with 16 seconds left. He gathered up his fourth pick of the game in the third quarter, a diving catch on NIU’s opening drive of the half, giving him four interceptions in slightly more than 30 minutes of play. The four interceptions were the first four of Mitchell’s career, tied the school record set back in 1950, and was the first time a Rocket had two pick sixes in one game. Mitchell is the second Toledo player to earn Walter Camp National Player of Week honors. Safety DeJuan Rogers earned the award following the Rockets’ upset of No. 18 Arkansas on Sept. 12, 2015.

Ramirez Earns National Recognition
Eastern Michigan senior defensive lineman Jose Ramirez has garnered national acclaim after a career-best performance against Western Michigan University Saturday, Oct. 8. Ramirez was named the Reese’s Senior Bowl Defensive Player of the Week as well as the EastWest Shrine Bowl’s Breakout Defensive Player of the Week. Ramirez made history Saturday when he recorded a career-high 4.0 sacks against Western Michigan en route to a 45-23 victory over the Broncos. The sack total is a single-game record at Eastern Michigan, and is the second-best individual performance in the NCAA this season.

Flashes of Brilliance
The Kent State Golden Flashes re-wrote the program record books and held off a feisty Ohio Bobcats squad in a thrilling 31-24 overtime victory on a homecoming Saturday at Dix Stadium. The Flashes rolled up 736 yards of offense in the game, the second-most in school history and the second-most this season in an FBS game. Kent State also became the ONLY team in FBS HISTORY to have a 240 yard rushers (Marquez Cooper) and 40 yard receiver (Dante Cephas) in the same game.

B1G Wins
The MAC has won a regular season game vs. Big Ten opponents in each of the last 16 consecutive seasons (2006-2022*) the longest streak in MAC history. Miami’s 17-14 win at Northwestern on Sept. 24, 2022 extended the streak. During this 16-year stretch, MAC teams have defeated 12 different Big Ten programs—Illinois (4); Indiana (5); Iowa (3); Maryland (1); Michigan (1); Michigan State (1); Minnesota (3); Nebraska (1); Northwestern (4); Penn State (1); Purdue (6) and Rutgers (2) for a total of 32 wins during this stretch. Miami (14), Bowling Green (9), Toledo (6), Central Michigan (6) and Northern Illinois (6) have the most wins vs. Big Ten opponents. *The MAC did play any non-conference games in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Say Cheez
Eastern Michigan was named the Cheez-It Bowl National Team of the Week following the Eagles 30-21 win over Arizona State on Sept. 17, as selected by the FWAA. EMU’s win over the Sun Devils marked the first regular season win for a MAC school over a Pac12 opponent. It also marked the first time that EMU earned Team of the Week honors and the first for a MAC school since Buffalo on Nov. 28, 2020. The Eagles became only the sixth MAC school to win the award since it debuted in 2002. EMU’s Evans Named Doak Walker Running Back of the Week Eastern Michigan running back Samson Evans exploded through the Arizona State defense, rushing for 258 yards on 36 carries in the win. His career-best numbers for carries and yards that led to the first regular-season win for a MAC school over a Pac-12 opponent earned Evans the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honors.

Six Named As Campbell Trophy Semifinalists
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) proudly announced the 156 semifinalists for the 2022 William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football’s premier scholar-athlete award. The impressive list of candidates boasts an impressive 3.62 average GPA, with more than half of the semifinalists having already earned their bachelor’s degrees. Among those listed were a total of six student-athletes from the MAC.
• Bowling Green’s Matt McDonald (QB)
• Buffalo’s Alex McNulty (K)
• Central Michigan’s Robi Stuart (DL)
• Eastern Michigan’s Dylan Drummond (WR)
• NIU’s Michael Kennedy (DE)
• Western Michigan’s Dylan Deatherage (OL)

Fly The Flag!
The MAC has totaled eight FBS non-conference wins over Northwestern (Big Ten), Arizona State (Pac-12), Georgia State (Sun Belt) Marshall (Sun Belt), Florida Atlantic (C-USA), UConn (Independent) and UMass (Independent) twice. In 2017, the MAC concluded its non-conference regular season schedule with 14 FBS wins, which tied for second most for the MAC since 2000. The most non-conference regular season wins by the MAC in a single year is 16 FBS wins in 2012, while the 14 FBS wins during the 2017 season matched the total from 2008. A “Fly the Flag” victory is a win an over “Autonomous Conference”. This season the MAC has two “Fly The Flag” wins as Eastern Michigan topped Arizona State (Pac-12), while Miami defeated Northwestern (Big Ten).

Motor City #MACtion
MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher announced in conjunction with the Detroit Lions, that the MAC has secured a three-year contract extension to host the MAC Football Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit through the 2024 football season. The MAC is the only non-autonomous FBS conference to sustain a championship game at a neutral site. The MAC has a long association with Detroit and Ford Field as the MAC has held its MAC Football Championship Game as a neutral site championship event at Ford Field since 2004. This year’s MAC Football Championship will be played on Saturday, Dec. 3 at Noon ET on ESPN. This will mark the 20th MAC Football Championship Game hosted at Ford Field, and the 27th overall in the history of the Conference.

Welcome to the #MACtion Coach Moorhead
Joe Moorhead was named the new head coach of The University of Akron football program, Director of Athletics Charles Guthrie announced on Dec. 4, 2021. A native of Pittsburgh, Moorheadhas returned to the Midwest, where he was a member of the Zips coaching staff from 2004-08, including serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2006-2008.

MACtion Made

When the NFL opened the 2022 season, a total of 64 former MAC student-athletes were on NFL active rosters. Last year the MAC had a pair of former student-athletes named to the 2022 NFL Pro Bowl – Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby (Eastern Michigan) and Pittsburgh Steelers WR Diontae Johnson (Toledo). Crosby was named a Pro Bowl starter and also earned Pro Bowl Defensive MVP honors.

NIU, Kent State Selected in Football Head Coaches Preseason Poll NIU and Kent State were selected to win their respective divisions in the 2022 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Football Head Coaches Preseason Poll. The Huskies also received four votes to win the MAC Football Championship Game title, while the Golden Flashes received three votes when it came to selecting who will take home the MAC crown.