Hustle Belt Awards Watch: Week 1

Roethlisberger Golden Arm Award

1. Jordan Lynch (Northern Illinois) - The reigning league MVP threw three touchdowns as the Huskies took down Big Ten foe Iowa.

2. Keith Wenning (Ball State) - Wenning had a phenomenal day, throwing for 340 yards and three touchdown

3. Tyler Benz (Eastern Michigan) - Eastern fans said the Eagles wouldn't rely on Bronson Hill as much as last season and Benz proved that to be true. Benz threw for 210 and two TDs against Howard.

4. Joe Licata (Buffalo) - Licata holding his own agains the No. 2 Buckeyes is worthy of this spot. He had two passes for scores against the Bucks.

5. Colin Reardon (Kent State) - The first-year starter propelled Kent to a win over Liberty with two touchdown passes and no picks.

Tait Trophy

1. Trayion Durham (Kent State) - With Dri Archer's injury, Durham carried the ball 21 times for 92 yards

2. Branden Oliver (Buffalo) - Oliver might be the fourth-leading rusher in the MAC, but 73 yards on 26 carries against Ohio State is pretty impressive.

3. Bronson Hill (Eastern Michigan) - Ladies and gentlemen, the conference's leading rusher after one week. Hill amassed 101 yards and two touchdowns against Howard last Saturday.

4. Travis Greene (Bowling Green) - Anthon Samuel who? Greene averaged four yards per carry on his way to 88 yards against Tulsa in BG's win.

5. Jahwan Edwards (Ball State) - Edward's' stock is falling, simply because Wenning's is rising. He hangs on to the five spot after his touchdown on opening night.

Moss-Jennings Trophy

1. Willie Snead (Ball State) - There's a reason he was No. 1 on our preseason watch list. After hauling in nine passes for 164 yards and two scores, he'll remain there.

2. Alex Neutz (Buffalo) - Neutz moves up one spot after a nine reception performance against Ohio State.

3. Tommylee Lewis (Northern Illinois) - Lewis hauled in two touchdown receptions averaging 16.4 yards per catch in Northern's win over Iowa.

4. Corey Davis (Western Michigan) - Another freshman wide receiver putting his name on the map at Western. Davis caught eight passes for 96 yards and a touchdown against the Spartans in Week 1.

5. Bernard Reedy (Toledo) - Only 50 yards for our original No. 2, but seven receptions against a tough Florida D is still impressive for Reedy and the Rockets.

FIsher Award

1. Tyler Loos (Northern Illinois) -No explanations are necessary for Northern's O-Line. That's why if you look two spots down, you'll see another.

2. Dominic Flewellyn (Bowling Green) - Flewellyn and the Falcons' line opened up holes for Greene to scamper and also managed to keep back-up-now-starting quarterback Matt Johnson upright almost all night, only allowing one sack.

3. Jared Volk (Northern Illinois) - Northern, baby. No sacks given up. Lynch rushed for 56 yards and Cameron Stingily added another 42.

4. Andre Davis (Buffalo) - How about Buffalo? Gaining a lot of recognition from us after giving Ohio State a scare. The Bucks only got to Licata once and Davis and the crew are the ones to thank.

5. Zac Kerin (Toledo) - Even though it was against Florida and Terrance Owens was sacked twice, Kerin is a top notch center who will climb his way back up this list.

Bronze Babin

1. Nathan Ollie (Ball State) - Ball State's senior had three tackles for loss to open up the season.

2. Roosevelt Nix (Kent State) - Nix can't be dropped too far. He's still one of the most dominant defensive linemen in the conference.

3. Cy Maughmer (Eastern Michigan) - Even though it was against Howard, Maughmer started off the season right with a pair of sacks.

4. Nico Caponi (Akron) - The Zip registered two sacks and three tackles for loss in the loss to UCF. He was a bright spot on an otherwise sad defense.

5. J'Terius Brown (Miami) - Miami's freshman burst onto the scene with a sack and 3.5 tackles for loss agains the Thundering Herd.

Lambert Award

1. Khalil Mack (Buffalo) - Khalil made Braxton Miller look like a little girl at points. One pick and 2.5 sacks against THE Ohio State University last Saturday.

2. Johnnie Simon (Western Michigan) -  Simon finished the game against Michigan State with a sack and two tackles for loss.

3. Chris Wade (Miami) - Last year's leading tackler had eight tackles against Marshall in the opener.

4. Gabe Martin (Bowling Green) - Martin's name wasn't jumping off the stat page at the end of the game, so he drops a bit, but can boost his spot again with a good game this week.

5. Sean Kurtz (Eastern Michigan) - Kurtz is tied for the conference lead in tackles with 13 and also had an interception against Howard.

Bayless Award

1. Jimmie Ward (Northern Illinois) - Ward proved his big game/big play ability with an interception to set up NIU's game-winning field goal.

2. Dayonne Nunley (Miami) - Nunley leads the conference with three passes defended. He did so against prolific passer Rakeem Cato.

3. BooBoo Gates (Bowling Green) - The Falcon DB had seven tackles and also forced and recovered a fumble against Tulsa.

4. Dechane Durante (Northern Illinois) - It's not just Ward ball-hawking QBs in DeKalb. Durante also picked off Iowa in the season opener.

5. Xavier Hughes (Ohio) - Ok, so Teddy Bridgewater basically threw an interception straight to him, but it still counts.

Rowe Award

1. Khalil Mack (Buffalo) - #MACKtion

2. Jimmie Ward (Northern Illinois) - The MAC's Tyrann Mathieu

3. Johnnie Simon (Western Michigan) - Hatian Domination

4. Dayonne Nunley (Miami) - You Don't Want Nun of This

5. Chris Wade (Miami) - C-Wade

Zinc Zastudil

1. Zac Murphy (Miami) - Murphy racked up an insane 452 passing yards against Marshall averaging 50.2 yards per punt.

2. Jamil Smith (Ball State) - He had 207 all-purpose yards, 90 of them coming on one kick off alone.

3. Ryan Burbrink (Bowling Green) - Burbrink took a punt 67 yards to the house. He averaged 25.3 yards per return against Tulsa.

4.Matthew Sims (Northern Illinois) - GAME WINNING FIELD GOAL OVER IOWA AHHHHHHH.

5. Bernard Reedy (Toledo) -  Reedy returned three kicks against the Gators averaging 19.3 per return. He will look to build upon that this week.

THE Hustle Belt

1a. Jordan Lynch (Northern Illinois)

1b. Khalil Mack (Buffalo)

3. Jimmie Ward (Northern Illinois)

4. Keith Wenning (Ball State)

5. Bronson Hill (Eastern Michigan)