Who says winning on the road is tough? Only one team sent their home crowd home happy.
Three MAC teams finished 1-2 in nonconference fisticuffs. Four games were also won by a touchdown, and one game was a field goal away from changing the outcome. Two MAC teams were able to eclipse the 40-point mark, and just one team was held to a single touchdown.
And look at your two first place teams, as early as the season is: Miami in the East, Toledo in the West — both at 2-0. EMU might as well be out of contention (although you shouldn't be surprised by this) and Central Michigan is in big trouble. Really, the whole directional lot has some explaining to do. As well as Northeast Ohio.
Drive charts and prosaic paragraphs ensue after the jump.
The good news is that Jacquise Terry finally had a spiffy rushing day (86 yards on 23 carries, 2 TD). The bad news was that the passing wasn't as impressive, throwing the game-ending interception in the end zone. Although I suppose Miami was cool with that.
Let's start with Downtown Matt Brown, who wasn't Bernard Pierce but didn't have to be, because 226 rushing yards and four touchdowns nearly matched Army's entire rushing attack (although Trent Steelman had four of his own). Chester Stewart only had to complete seven passes for the win, and to let a triple-option team have only three more minutes of possession is outstanding.
EMU had 10 penalties all season coming into this one. They doubled that in this game. No mascots were harmed.
VANDALOUS. The Idaho passing offense showed up (380 yards, 3 TDs) but not so much with the WMU boys (just 104 from Alex Carder). The Broncos just had 10 first downs, 95 penalty yards, 3 turnovers, and their longest drive (57 yards) resulted in an interception.
In case you're not a visual learner: 11 combined turnovers. Buffalo had 9 penalties for 104 yards, as many punts as turnovers, an 11-yard punt, a missed 35-yard field goal, and only two plays longer than 30 yards. BG, meanwhile, had 9 net yards rushing, two missed kicks (including a PAT), went 3-for-16 on third down, let Buffalo go 12-for-19 on third down, completed 32 percent of their passes, and had 176 yards of total offense. You were lucky you weren't there.
Here's the skinny when it comes to generating sarcastic fodder for bad MAC teams: you have to pick your spots and hope for the best. Case in point, in my Friday preview of this game:
I've been trying to construct practical scenarios where Ball State wins this game. All of them involve half the CMU football team coming down with smallpox.
Anyways, I hope they can find a cure. Until then, I'm still sorry. Although I still fully expect Robert Eddins to show up at my door.
Note to self: make jokes only about Akron from now on. Pay attention to NIU's drives, and how many consecutive touchdowns they accrued.
You all counted 520 yards, right? And an interception runback for a touchdown? Okay, good.
All right then. Stop inviting teams from the Mountain Time Zone into the Glass Bowl. You'll lose but at least you'll score a safety.