VIDEO: How Ball State's Running Attack Ran Over The Bobcats

Edwards, Banks combines for more than 300 yards rushing in Ball State's 52-27 rout of Ohio.

Northern Illinois Edges Toledo 31-24

The win gives NIU their third straight MAC West title over the Rockets, and Jordan Lynch's performance lived up to all the promise and expectations.

Ball State-Ohio: Kelly Page steals the spotlight

Marred by injuries, Ball State turned a close game into a 52-27 laugher thanks to a vaguely familiar name at quarterback.

Huskies Explode in the 3rd Quarter, take a 28-14 lead over Toledo

I'm going to go ahead and take credit for shaking the rust off the Huskies, as they put up 3 touchdowns to take a 28-14 lead over Toledo after the 3rd quarter.

Huskies tied it up right out of the gate when Jordan Lynch hit Martel Moore on a short pass, and Moore broke 3 tackles to take the ball 73 yards to paydirt. On Toledo's possession, the Rockets made passed midfield before Terrance Owens tossed his second pick of the game, this time by Rasheed Melvin. The Huskies marched the ball 99 yards, capping it off with a Lynch pass to Perez Ashford to take the 21-14 lead.

The Huskies drove down into Toledo's red zone again before Dan Molls came down with what would have been a momentum-shifting interception, returning the pick all the way to Northern's 34 yard line. Two plays later, however, Owens was intercepted again, this time by Tyrone Clark at the 3. Huskies marched that possession 97 yards, and Akeem Daniels capped it off with a 6 yard punch-in.

David Fluellen hurt his ankle early in the quarter, which hurts the Rockets running game, which is forcing Owens to go to the air, and that's clearly not working for him.

NIU-Toledo: Throw a jump pass, get a jump interception

Jordan Lynch's third quarter numbers are ridiculous, stupendous, marvelous, splendiferous ... and then at the goal line Lynch tried the jump pass. Dan Molls can also jump.

AWHOOPS.

That set up a Toledo drive deep in NIU territory, which led to one of your more traditional "ground interceptions."

"Beat Toledo," says a horse

Hello, I am a horse. I go to Northern Illinois. Do I want Toledo to win? NEIGH!

brb, going to the concession stand to see if they sell oats (they didn't last week)

It's Quiet... Too Quiet. Toledo leads Northern Illinois 14-7 at the Half. UPDATE: Jinxed it.

Still no fireworks out in DeKalb as the Rockets have a very boring 14-7 lead over the Huskies. Jimmie Ward picked off Terrance Owens early in the quarter, giving Jordan Lynch a short field to find paydirt. 9 plays later, he hit Martel Moore on a 5 yard pass to tie the game back up at 7. On the next drive, Toledo got deep into Northern territory when Terrance Owens hit Bernard Reedy on a 28 yard pass (with 15 yards tacked on for unnecessary roughness). A couple of 20+ yard passes later, and Owens was able to run in a 1-yard score himself.

While fans of both schools are secretly relieved to have what amounts to a normal (if not boring) game, the #MACtion Faction is feeling pretty bummed that the MAC West crown has come down to a fundamentally sound, ground and pound kind of game. Hey, maybe a repeat of Toledo and Eastern Michigan will visit us for the 3rd.

UPDATE: Martel Moore just took the first play of the 3rd quarter to 73 yards to paydirt, and it's tied at 14. So that's neat.

Ball State-Ohio: Cardinals stay ahead 31-24, for now

A couple long plays, some more injuries strewn about, and that's your third quarter.

Kelly Page stayed in the game to replace Keith Wenning, officially listed as questionable, and threw for a touchdown to Zane Fakes, set up by a long Jahwan Edwards run, making it Page's first passing TD in a game in almost two years. Make fun of Twitter parodies all you want, but the ankle's got a point: this is Senior Night, and what a time for Page to say goodbye to the fans, some of whom remember him from the lean Stan Parrish years.

Ohio briefly took the lead on a loooong Beau Blankenship run on a nice cutback and 58-yard run. Blankenship has been getting most of the usage in the backfield, running it 20 times compared to Daz Patterson with just four touches.

But all is not great for Ball State either: Willie Snead got dinged up after a play, and we're not sure what the extent of that injury is. But it's Lemboball, and it's the fourth quarter, so this is going to turn out magical.

The Day The Parody Account Died

It's senior night. I wanted to give Kelly a shot. Aside from being talented I'm also magnanimous.

— K Wenning's Ankle (@WenningAnkle) November 15, 2012

Coming up: a parody account of Beau Blankenship's dreadlocks.

Ohio-Ball State: Everything happened in the second quarter

Did you miss the second quarter? You missed EVERYTHING. Mostly injuries, touchdowns, and reviews of reviews:

• Beau Blankenship rushed for two touchdowns
• Keith Wenning threw another touchdown, this time on an excellent screen to Willie Snead
• Ohio defensive linemen Neal Huynh and Carl Jones were carted off with injures ON THE SAME PLAY
• Ball State offensive lineman Jordan Hansel limped off the field with trainer assistance
• Jamill Smith threw a pass and it almost killed Keith Wenning
• Kelly Page ran for a touchdown

And then in the final 20 seconds:

• Tyler Tettleton was sacked twice, but they only had one timeout...
• ... the field goal unit came bolting from the sidelines in an attempt to kick a field goal, but time apparently expired ...
• ... only for the referees to review the play. They ruled that Ohio did get the play off, but Ball State had 12 men on the field, so the Bobcats got one more shot at snapping the ball with one second left ...
• Then the referees reviewed the play AGAIN (further further review) and determined that the Cardinals didn't have enough time to match the substitutions, therefore the half was over.

Did the referees get that call right at the end? Apparently it was correctly ruled:

However, props to @patboylanbsu and the WCRD crew for mentioning the substitution rule about 10 mins ago, which ended up being the call.

— Phil Friend (@Phil_Friend) November 15, 2012

It makes sense and looks silly, but I'm inclined to believe this was ruled properly. Football is a game of rules, MANY rules, so I'm inclined to believe it.

Oh, and Ball State leads 24-21. Minor detail.

No Shootout Yet, Toledo leads Northern Illinois 7-0 after 1.

Fans of last year's 63-60 shootout will be sorely disappointed to hear that tonight's matchup between Northern Illinois and Toledo has only one touchdown to it's name, a David Fluellen 1 yard run to cap off Toledo's opening drive of 72 yards. What's more interesting is the turnover battle, as Jordan Lynch fumbled the football away in Toledo's red zone (Northern's first turnover in 24 quarters), onfly for Fluellen to cough up the ball on the Husky 39.

Oh, and Tommylee Lewis was not able to score on the kickoff after the Rockets TD. It's still early.

Keith Wenning injury: Ball State starting QB hurt while catching pass

That's an extremely MAC injury, but Ball State's still in a very serious situation with top quarterback Keith Wenning hurt.

Ball State banana man might be world's last Ghoti Hook fan

BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE, BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE, BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE, BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE, BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE, BANANA MAC, ONE TWO THREE

Ohio-Ball State: Cardinals jump ahead 7-3 after first quarter

That Tyler Tettleton own-sack really hampered an excellent drive by the Bobcats, but they salvaged a 47-yard field goal by Matt Weller. In response, Ball State had a dynamite drive of their own, finished off by a Keith Wenning strike to KeVonn Mabon 13 yards out.

Accuracy is everywhere: Tettleton is 6-for-6, Wenning is 8-for-9. Just keep passing and maybe there will be more big plays and hopefully more than just two-and-a-half drives per quarter. We can pray, and we will. MAC football is our shining beacon of hope.

Ohio vs. Ball State: Titanic teammate topples Tyler Tettleton

Ohio's Tyler Tettleton was the victim of Bobcat-on-Bobcat sacking.

Northern Illinois-Toledo: Of Jordan Lynch And Heismans

The numbers existing next to the Northern Illinois quarterback's name are stupidly good. The team is rallying behind a campaign to get him into the Heisman conversation.

Ohio-Ball State: It's Pete Lembo's Turn

A month ago, this was supposed to be a nationally-televised showcase for an undefeated Bobcats squad. Instead, the Ball State Cardinals have won four in a row and Pete Lembo is the low-key hot commodity.

Wednesday Night MAC Football Start Times

Here are tonight's two games and channels:

8:00 p.m. — Ohio (8-2, 4-2) at Ball State (7-3, 4-2)
TV: ESPNU/ESPN3*

9:00 p.m. — Toledo (8-2, 5-1) at Northern Illinois (9-1, 6-0)
TV: ESPN2/ESPN3*

(* - Your best bet is the actual TV. For most of the USA, ESPN3 is blacked out.)