MAC Football Takes Another Beating

Penn State 37, University of Central Florida 13

This game was full of underachievers on both teams, but there was a lone bright spot. It was the Nittany Lions' running back Tony Hunt, who rushed the ball 16 times for 127 yards and three touchdowns. This helped Penn State to overcome a dreadful performance out of their quarterback, Zack Mills, who fumbled the ball four times and threw two picks. UCF wasn't much better, as their best player was also their running back, but he only ran for 59 yards on 21 carries. The Golden Knights of Central Florida will play against Buffalo in two weeks, after an off-week.

Iowa State 48, Northern Illinois 41

In a game that swung back and forth more than a hammock, Iowa State scored 21 unanswered points, the last of which was a four yard TD catch from freshman Todd Blythe, to move past Northern Illinois. Blythe had four receptions, three for touchdowns, and 104 yards on the day. Matt Robertson intercepted a wayward Northern Illinois pass with just 19 seconds left on the clock in the fourth to score what looked like an insignificant touchdown, but on the last play of the game, Phil Horvath connected with Dan Sheldon for a 42-yard touchdown that would have otherwise tied the game.

(3) Georgia 13, Marshall 3

The Thundering Herd was neither thundering nor a herd in their 10 point defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs. Marshall was only able to rack up 160 yards and seven first downs for the entire game. Those are stats that they are accustomed to accumulating in the first half of football games. This is the lowest scoring total for the Herd since 2000, when they were shut out by Toledo, 42-0. It was Marshall's second straight loss to a Top 10 team, losing to ninth ranked Ohio State last week.

(12) Virginia 51, Akron 0

The score basically says it all for this one. Virginia played like a Top 25 contender, and Akron played like an unranked mid-major conference team. At the end of the first half, the Cavaliers had 315 yards compared to the Zips' 68. And in the second half, Virginia's defense tightened up a bit, holding the Zips to just 16 yards of offense for the rest of the game. Nobody heard from Zips' Heisman hopeful quarterback, Charlie Frye, who went 10 of 23 with only 72 yards. He was picked off twice and sacked four times before he exited the game in the third quarter.

Rutgers 29, Kent State 21

Kent State knew this wasn't going to be a good game from the first quarter. Joshua Brazen fumbled the ball in the end zone, recovered it, and got tackled for a safety, and that was how the Scarlet Knights got their first points. Rutgers tacked on another touchdown in the first, and added a touchdown off of a fumble recovery in the second, en route to a 23-7 first half lead. Rutgers didn't have anyone leading the way for them on the ground, but their quarterback Ryan Hart went 19-30 for 238 yards with two touchdowns, and that was all the Scarlet Knights would need.

Central Michigan 44, Southeastern Missouri State 27

The Chippewas were led on the ground by tailback Spencer Lewis, who ran for 134 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown as Central Michigan beat out Southeastern Missouri State by 17 points. The teams had similar stat-lines, with each team passing the ball for just over 300 yards and both teams had just over 20 first downs. The difference was Lewis' rushing effort, and the Chippewa's' return game, which racked up 123 yards and a touchdown on a punt return.

Miami (Ohio) 40, Ohio 20

The RedHawks and Bobcats faced off in one of only two in-conference games this week, and Miami was able to come away with a win in their conference opener. This was the 81st game between these two teams, and Miami now has a commanding 50-29-2 record in their match ups. Miami was led by a gutsy performance from first year starting quarterback Josh Betts, who went 21-32 for 268 yards and a touchdown. The RedHawks also got a good effort from Martin Nance who had over 100 yards receiving on the day.

Missouri 48, Ball State 0

Ball State joined Akron as the only MAC teams to be shut out this week in a dismal offensive performance by Ball State. They had only seven first downs on the game, and were forced to punt on 10 possessions. At this point in the season, the Ball State Cardinals have been outscored by a ridiculous 126-18 margin. The Cardinals' defense wasn't much better, allowing Missouri to score on four of their five second-half possessions. Brad Smith went 18-32 for 213 yards and two touchdowns, to lead the Tigers to the blowout victory.

Toledo 42, Eastern Michigan 32

In the other conference match up this week, the Toledo Rockets beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles by following the lead of Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski went 22-27 for 338 yards and three touchdowns in the air. He also tacked on 34 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Gradkowski single-handedly torched the Eagles' defense, and the Rockets went on to a handy 10-point victory for a victory in their MAC opener.

Illinois 30, Western Michigan 27

The Fighting Illini fought their way to a tight victory over Western Michigan this week, scoring a gamewinning touchdown with just over a minute left on the clock. Illinois was able to get favorable field position because of a 40-yard punt return by E.B. Halsey. Then, they got a favorable pass-interference call in the end zone to set up a four yard touchdown carry for Halsey, who carried the ball 20 times for 92 yards and scored two touchdowns on the day.