MAC Saturday Review: Morale Improved When The Beatings Ceased

The trade mark Big Ten human sacrifices were noticable, but three — THREE! — nonconference wins in the FBS were enjoyed, which is three more than we've seen out of the MAC in the first two weeks. Gon' be a good year, I can tell.

The battle of Oprah State at least had the billing to be a halfway modest challenge, but some flaccid drives in the middle quarters let Illinois take a lead too surmountable by even the most tenacious domestic canine. They went to the fun page on the playbook — Jasmin Hopkins's halfback TD pass to Landon Cox — in the fourth quarter, but Chandler Harnish can't account for 83 percent of the team's yards and expect a win.
Stat Morsel: Total yards: NIU 390, Ilinois 389

At one point, OSU had 15 first downs before OHIO gained 14 total yards. But some bright spots percolated through the game for the Bobcats: they blocked a punt, scored a touchdown, got to the quarterback a few times, picked off two passes, and downed a punt at the 1-yard line. These are nice football things; please avert your eyes from the score.
Stat Morsel: OSU first quarter yards: 174, OHIO total yards: 161

And the mission to finally win in the nonconference ended in Philadelphia. What we had here was a back-and-forth game which, if you stripped off the "C" from the UConn helmet, might've passed for a potent MAC West team, although their color scheme really doesn't match any of the current hued schools. Maybe Buffalo if their uniforms weren't washed with color-safe bleach.
Stat Morsel: Third down conversions: UConn 7-for-19, Temple 2-for-12.

Another loss to an FCS team. Tsk tsk.
Stat Morsel: Time of possession: Ball State 30:49, Purdue 29:11

What a sound defense Kent State has. If only they had any semblance of a running game. More than half of their 58 ground yards were on Jacquise Terry's 32-yard burst. Other than that ... hey, they made it pretty close, causing the bettors to sweat the spread.
Stat Morsel: Quinton Rainey recovered another fumble and Norman Wolfe had two more interceptions, giving them three each for the season. No other Golden Flash has one of either.

The good news for CSU was that they finally scored a touchdown this year. There was no other news of the positive connotation to report from their side. Miami looked like a dominant damn football team. Gulp ... they're not gonna be this year's surprise team, are they?
Stat Morsel: Zac Dysert had four incompletions and three touchdowns.

Whoever had EMU as an upset special should be slapped into oblivion and have their mid-major conference blog revoked. Good thing we know nobody who fits that description.
Stat Morsel: Total yards and touchdowns: CMU running back Paris Cotton 234 (3 TDs), EMU 357 (2 TDs)

This was most pleasing, except for the part where a 28-7 lead was pissed away. Those interception-return-for-touchdowns certainly helped, and a third one would've brought the score to 50, but a super smelly block-in-the-back penalty took it away. Is it me, or have zero teams in college football learned how not to defend on special teams without smashing someone right in the vertebrae?
Stat Morsel: BG had 158 interception return yards and 101 rushing yards.

Meanwhile, the Rockets are 2-0 in the MAC West, and as we all know, Only Conference Play Matters™. Their offense is starting to grow out of puberty, and the voice-cracking days may be behind them, but they are going to start to feel some strange new urges, especially when they learn the phallic symbolism of their own mascot.
Stat Morsel: The Rockets snapped a four-game losing streak against WMU (last win: 2005, 56-23).

Looks like a blowout in the box score, but t'was a bit closer all game. And when you look at a bunch of key numbers — total yards, penalties, first downs, third down conversions — it was all UB all the time. But they could only put together one nice, hefty touchdown drive.
Stat Morsel: Negative yards: Buffalo -51, UCF -18

But the soccer team won 3-0 over CS Northridge!
Stat Morsel: Total yards: UK running back Derrick Locke 195, Akron 172