Helmet Stickers Week Seven: Directional Michigan is Rolling

Welcome to the week seven edition of Helmet Stickers, and thanks for being here. What an exciting week in the MAC as conference play is in full swing. You had a closer-than-expected rivalry game in the Glass Bowl, and the exact opposite following an oar burning ceremony in Akron (hint: that’s an extraordinarily dumb idea. don’t do that). Eastern Michigan is now 5-2 and well, the NIU Huskies lost for the sixth time, and for the second time in triple overtime. That sound you hear is the clock ticking on Rod Carey.

A few quick notes

The Miami RedHawks finally got a win, and you’d probably think that meant everything finally came together for Chuck Martin’s squad. You would of course be wrong. Miami completed just 47 percent of its passes, rushed for 79 yards, lost the time of possession battle and went 4/15 on third down. The perfect formula for beating Kent State anyway.

Western Michigan finally turned the ball over. Davon Tucker fumbled in the red zone against Akron on Saturday, one of the few things that actually went wrong for the Broncos. They made up for it with 31 first downs and 585 yards of total offense though. Perhaps Tucker’s fumble prevented them from getting to 600.

Ball State scored 31 points without a single passing touchdown against Buffalo. I guess maybe that’s not that weird when James Gilbert is in your backfield, but still pretty weird, right?

One Sticker

RB Jahray Hayes, CMU - 22 carries for 105 yards, TD vs NIU

Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

Maybe I owe CMU’s running game an apology, though, again, I’m considering the defense Hayes and company took on this weekend. This isn’t your usual NIU defense, but nonetheless the progress in the backfield made by Hayes and Spalding has balanced the Chippewa offense and taken some pressure off of Cooper Rush. They’ll need to keep clicking if they’re to stay in the MAC West race and beat Toledo in week eight.

LB Caleb Baily, WMU - 7 tackles, 4 solo, INT vs Akron

WR Sergio Bailey, EMU - 8 catches for 143 yards, TD vs Ohio

WR Sebastian Smith, Ohio - 8 catches for 123 yards vs EMU

LB Ulysees Gilbert III, Akron - 13 tackles, 7 solo vs WMU

RB Dorian Brown, Ohio - 14 carries for 94 yards, TD vs EMU

DL Zach Smierciak, Miami - 7 tackles, sack, TFL vs Kent State

Two Stickers

TE Michael Roberts, TOL - 6 catches for 94 yards, 3 TD vs Bowling Green

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

I’ll be honest, I look for any excuse to use this picture of Michael Roberts from last year in an article. It’s not like Roberts didn’t earn these stickers though, as a three touchdown day for any tight end is quite the accomplishment. Fortunately for the Rockets, this is a performance they’ve come to expect from one of their star pass catchers. Keep dancing, Michael, the Rockets are 5-1.

RB Terry Swanson, TOL - 12 carries for 112 yards, TD vs Bowling Green

QB Logan Woodside, TOL - 23/30 passing for 322 yards, 4 TD vs Bowling Green

LB Nathan Ricketts, CMU - 9 solo tackles, INT vs NIU

RB Devon Spalding, CMU - 22 carries for 124 yards, TD vs NIU

QB Tyree Jackson, UB - 28/46 passing for 306 yarrds, 3 TD vs Ball State

P Joseph Davidson, BGSU - 7 punts for 309 yards, long of 82 (!!) vs Toledo

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Seriously, did you read that? 82 yard punt. That is impressive for a cyborg let alone a human college football player. This isn’t even a fluke, either. Davidson booted a 79 yard punt last week against Ohio.

S Martez Hester, Ball State - 13 tackles, 11 solo vs Buffalo

LB Khalil Hodge, Buffalo - 15 tackles, 9 solo, 2.5 TFL vs Ball State

Three Stickers

QB Brogan Roback, EMU - 29/39 passing for 347 yards, 3 TD vs Ohio

There’s plenty of cool Eagle highlights to go around in this clip, but the one you should all be concerned with is at 1:25, where Brogan Roback elevates himself to legend status.

That’s EMU’s starting quarterback asking for a low-five from one of the officials following a touchdown play. We can save the debate about “who low-fives anymore?” for a later date, because for now, the Eagles are rolling, and having fun doing it.

RB Jarvion Franklin, WMU - 33 carries for 281 yards, TD vs Akron

Jason Mowry-USA TODAY Sports

Your new record holder at WMU for rushing yards in a game is Jarvion Franklin after his role in the Broncos’ dismantling of the Akron Zips Saturday. Many times on the day Franklin went untouched through the line of scrimmage, getting to the second level without even a scratch. Give a ton of credit to the offensive line, but it must be nice in Kalamazoo to see the Jarvion Franklin from 2014 finally re emerge bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. Oh yeah, and he’s only a junior.

RB James Gilbert, BSU - 34 carries for 264 yards, 2 TD vs Buffalo

Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

You should probably just pencil in James Gilbert for 100 plus yards and a couple of scores each week no matter the conference foe. After a quiet three game stretch against Indiana, Eastern Kentucky and Florida Atlantic, Gilbert has exploded for 524 yards rushing through three games in the MAC, and has scored a touchdown in five of seven games so far this season.

QB James Morgan, BGSU - 25/38 passing for 335 yards, 5 TD vs Toledo

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

If there’s a silver lining to be found in Bowling Green’s season, it’s the play of their Freshman quarterback who took over signal calling duties for James Knapke earlier in the season. Morgan finally had his breakout performance in a big rivalry game when his team needed it most. Of course, the Falcons would go on to lose the game to the hated Rockets, but no way is it only by a touchdown without the rookie.

WR Scott Miller, BGSU - 8 catches for 149 yards, 3 TD vs Toledo

Photo by Andrew Weber/Getty Images

The same goes for their breakout sophomore wide out. Miller has been outstanding so far this season breaking the big play for the Falcons and Saturday was no different. As a defense, if you’ve kept Miller quiet, you’ve done a good job, because when he’s good, he’s scary good. He’s only scored touchdowns in three games this season, but he’s scored seven of them, including three on two separate occasions. The present is pretty dim for these Falcons, but the future may not be.