Ball State 37, Akron 30 (2OT): Winless Witness

Oh, GOD. This was a punch to the solar plexus for the Akronites. In all, it was a rather decent game, especially considering the Zips came back to tie it multiple times ... but a second overtime frame just emptied the tank for the now 0-10 MAC East basement residents.

They had some great running back play by the Alex Allen, who had 194 total yards, a career high, and looked like a senior who, hell be damned, was going to let this season end with a bagel in the win column. Patrick Nicely threw one of his three interceptions to Joshua Howard in the final play of the game, to go along with four touchdowns, so it was certainly one of the most harrowing quarterback performances in Akron history since the Luke Getsy era.

But this shouldn't be about the losers, as much as we'd love this one to be about Akron. Ball State broke its losing streak and remained calm after blowing small leads all day. This was not a repeat of Eastern Michigan. Keith Wenning kept chucking it to Jack Tomlinson (175 yards and three touchdowns between 'em).

Call it the second most-dramatic multiple-overtime game of the day, behind this one. But somehow, Michigan won with a -4 turnover margin. Ball State won with a -2. Moral of the story: you wanna win the day? Fumble profusely.