WEEK 2 NOTES
Saturday, September 10
Ohio (1-0, 0-0 MAC) at Penn State (1-0, 1-0 B1G), Noon ET | ABC
The Ohio Bobcats opened the 2022 season with a home victory over Florida Atlantic, christening the newly-named Frank Solich Field with a 41-38 win. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke led Ohio in the air, going 27-for-34 and setting personal career records with 345 passing yards and four passing touchdowns. On the ground, he net 11 yards on 14 rushing attempts with one touchdown. Running back Sieh Bangura net 114 yards on 23 attempts, marking his first game over 100 yards. The Bobcats and Nittany Lions have competed six times since 1967. Overall, Ohio is 1-5 against Penn State. The teams last met on Sept. 1, 2012 when the Bobcats opened their season at Beaver Stadium. Ohio recorded their first win against Penn State, defeating the Nittany Lions 24-14.
South Alabama (1-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) at Central Michigan (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 1 pm ET | ESPN+
Central Michigan plays its first game at Kelly/Short Stadium when it hosts South Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 10.. The Chippewas have been dominant in their home opener recently, winning 13 of 15 games. During Coach McElwain’s tenure, Central Michigan is 11-1 with fans in the stands. CMU went 6-0 in 2019 and 5-1 in 2021. QB Daniel Richardson was named the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Chippewas’ 58-44 season opening loss at Oklahoma State. Richardson completed 36 of his 49 pass attempts for 424 yards and four touchdowns. His completions, attempts and yards were career highs and he tied his career high in TD tosses.
*Western Michigan (0-1, 0-0 MAC) at Ball State (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 2 pm ET | ESPN+
Western Michigan begins Mid-American Conference play, heading to Ball State to take on the Cardinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. This will be the 49th meeting between the two programs. WMU redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Salopek had 36 passing attempts in his first collegiate start. Salopek, who completed 21 of them for 193 yards, had the most passing attempts in a first career start since Alex Carder went 27-for-49 in his first career start at Michigan State on Sept. 4, 2010. Senior linebacker Ryan Selig led the Broncos with nine tackles against the Spartans. It’s the second-highest in his career since he had 11 at Toledo on Oct. 23, 2021. Transfer wide receiver Jehlani Galloway also had a strong debut. In his first game as a Bronco he had a team-high 70 yards receiving on four catches, The Cardinals have the seventh-youngest roster in the nation, with 74.1 percent of the team being classified as underclassman. Eight of 22 starters were making their first career start for Ball State vs. Tennessee, including redshirt junior quarterback John Paddock Paddock registered career-highs of 27 completions and 269 yards vs. the Vols. Senior Jayshon Jackson, senior Yo’Heinz Tyler, and Abdur-Rahman led Ball State’s receiving corps with five receptions apiece, with Jackson tallying a team-high 65 yards. Sophomore running back Carson Steele led BSU on the ground with 27 yards, while adding four receptions and 14 yards.
Akron (1-0, 0-0 MAC) at No. 14 Michigan State (1-0, 0-0 B1G), 4 pm ET | BTN
The Joe Moorhead era for Akron Zips football opened with a 30-23 overtime win over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Thursday evening at InfoCision Stadium as junior QB DJ Irons threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Senior WR Shocky Jacques-Louis caught eight passes for 102 yards for a 12.8 average. On the ground, sophomore RB Cam Wiley ran for 85 yards on 21 attempts with two touchdowns. Senior LB Bubba Arslanian and senior DL Victor Jones paced the Zips’ defense with eight tackles apiece, both with six solo stops. In addition, sophomore CB Tyson Durant recorded Akron’s lone takeaway on the final play of the game to secure the win with an interception in overtime.
Eastern Kentucky (0-1, 0-0 ASun) at Bowling Green (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 4 pm ET | ESPN3
Bowling Green hosts the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in the home opener on Saturday. BGSU is 2-0 against FCS opponents in the Scot Loeffler era, which includes a 2019 victory over Morgan State and a 2021 win over Murray State. ILB Joseph Sipp Jr. notched 10 tackles in his collegiate debut on Saturday at UCLA. Sipp is the only true freshman this season to record 10+ tackles in their collegiate debut. PaSean Wimberly, who was put on scholarship just prior to the first game, blocked a UCLA punt after the first Bruin possession of the game and Charles Rosser picked it up and returned it 11 yards for the score. It was the first blocked punt for a BGSU touchdown since 2014 (Herve Coby vs. VMI).
Holy Cross (1-0, 0-0 Patriot) at Buffalo (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 6 pm ET | ESPN+
Buffalo will host Holy Cross in its home opener on Saturday. The Bulls are coming off a 31-10 loss at Maryland last week. Buffalo RB Ron Cook is 74 yards shy of becoming just the ninth player in program history to amass 1,000 career kickoff return yards. LB James Patterson had six tackles at Maryland in the opener to bring his career total to 303. He’s the 12th player in program history to reach the 300 tackle mark and currently ranks 10th in school history in career tackles. Patterson’s next tackle for loss will move him past Chris Shelly (31) for ninth in school history in career tackles for loss. Defensive back Marcus Fuqua is the reigning MAC East Defensive Player of the Week after his four tackle, interception, pass breakup performance at Maryland.
Robert Morris (0-1, 0-0 ASun) at Miami (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 6 pm ET | ESPN3
Miami welcomes Robert Morris to Yager Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10. This will mark the first meeting between the two programs. The RedHawks went on the road Saturday to take on No. 20/21 Kentucky in the 2022 season opener. Although the game was tied 10-10 late in the first half, the Wildcats pulled away in the third quarter and went on to post a 37-13 win over Miami. The RedHawks held Kentucky to 50 rushing yards on 26 carries (1.9 yards per rush). Ryan McWood made a game-high 11 tackles to lead the Miami defense.
Eastern Michigan (1-0, 0-0 MAC) at
Louisiana (1-0, 0-0 Sun Belt), 7 pm ET | NFL Network
Eastern Michigan (1-0) is coming off a season-opening, 42-34 victory over Eastern Kentucky University, Sept. 2. EMU put together 395 yards of total offense against EKU. That number is the most by the team since it collected 430 against Western Michigan, Nov. 16, 2021. EMU was a perfect 5-for-5 on scoring opportunities in the red zone against EKU. EMU’s five red zone scores against EKU were all touchdowns. Senior Tanner Knue recorded two touchdowns for the Eagles in the opener. The game was Knue’s second multi-touchdown performance of his career, and his first since he helped lead the Eagles to a 53-42 triumph over Western Michigan, Dec. 5, 2020.
Kent State (0-1, 0-0 MAC) at No. 7 Oklahoma (1-0, 0-0 Big 12), 7 pm ET | ESPN+
The Golden Flashes dropped the opener of the 2022 season, falling 45-20 to the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium. Collin Schlee threw for 178 yards and a score and ran for 51 more yards in his first collegiate start. The Maryland native connected with Devontez Walker on a 47-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter to get Kent State on the board. Schlee’s favorite target on the night was Dante Cephas. The all-conference wideout in 2021 picked up where he left off last season, grabbing six passes for 106 yards.
NIU (1-0, 0-0 MAC) at Tulsa (0-1, 0-0 American), 7 pm ET / 6 pm CT | ESPN+
NIU plays the first of six road games in 2022 when they travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a Saturday night match-up with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Huskies opened the season with a 34-27 win over Eastern Illinois in Huskie Stadium. The Huskies opened a 28-6 lead
through the first 39 minutes of the game before EIU battled back in the final quarter. Eric Rogers celebrated his return with a pair of interceptions versus Eastern Illinois to earn MAC West Defensive Player of the Week honors. Rogers became the first Huskie in 38 games – since Jalen McKie versus Akron in 2018 – to intercept two passes in a game.
UMass (0-1 Independent) at Toledo (1-0, 0-0 MAC), 7 pm ET | ESPN+
The Toledo Rockets will try to make it two straight wins when they host UMass at the Glass Bowl on Saturday. Toledo leads the overall series, 5-1. The Rockets rolled to a 37-0 victory over Long Island University in their season opener at the Glass Bowl on Sept. 1. Sophomore Dequan Finn threw for 216 yards and ran for 64 yards to lead the offense. Toledo’s defense was virtually impenetrable all night, holding LIU to just 113 yards of total offense. In the first half, the Sharks managed just 36 yards on 28 plays. Junior Desjuan Johnson led the way with 3.0 tackles for loss, while senior Jamal Hines added 1.5 TFLs.
MAC Notes
• NIU and Miami were each selected to win their respective divisions in the 2022 MAC Football Preseason Media Poll. The poll was announced at the league’s annual MAC Football Kickoff at House of Blues in Cleveland and was determined by a 24-member MAC media panel. NIU was also selected to win the 2022 MAC Football Championship Game.
• 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 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. The MAC is the only non-autonomous FBS conference to sustain a championship game at a neutral site.
• 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.
• The MAC is coming off a season where a Conference-record eight programs accepted bowl invitations. The eight bowl invitations tops the Conference mark of seven set in 2012 and 2015. The MAC picked up three wins in those games as Western Michigan topped Nevada (52-24) in the Quick Lane Bowl, Miami defeated North Texas (27-14) in the Frisco Football Classic and Central Michigan was victorius vs. Washington State (24-21) in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The Chippewas win was the first in Conference history over a Pac-12 institution.
