The government might shut down Tuesday, but that won’t stop the Mid-American Conference and the weekly coaches’ teleconference.
Huskies Crack Top 25, MAC Championship Rematch
The top story out of the MAC this past weekend was Northern Illinois pummeling Purdue 55-24 in West Lafayette.
Saturday’s win marked the first time a MAC school has defeated two Big Ten teams in the regular season. The Huskies beat Iowa earlier this year.
Northern Illinois is ranked No. 23 in the latest USA Today coaches’ poll, and one spot shy of cracking the Associated Press Top 25.
“The polls are great, but they don’t mean a whole lot until the end of the season,” coach Rod Carey said. “It’s nice people respect us.”
The Huskies now travel to Kent State on Saturday at noon in a rematch of the 2012 MAC championship game.
Kent State coach Paul Haynes knows how difficult it will be to stop the undefeated Huskies, led by their redshirt senior quarterback Jordan Lynch.
Haynes said that Lynch has the capabilities to do whatever it takes to win the game in crunch time. So far this year, the quarterback has thrown for 869 yards with 10 TDs, with 439 rushing yards and three TDs.
“I look at this team as one of the best, if not the best team we’ve played all year,” Haynes said. The Golden Flashes have already played LSU this season.
Cardinals Lead Country
A surprising headline to emerge from the MAC comes from Ball State, which is the only team to score a touchdown on the first drive of each game this year.
Senior quarterback Keith Wenning is also only one of two quarterbacks across the county to throw for 300 passing yards in each of his first five games this year. Wenning currently has 1,650 passing yards and nine TDs in 2013.
The only quarterback with the same statistic is junior Sean Mannion of Oregon State. Mannion has a staggering 2018 passing yards and 21 TD passes.
Bulls Trounce Huskies
Buffalo coach Jeff Quinn can be proud of his team after a 41-12 romp on winless UConn, resulting in the firing of the Huskies coach Paul Pasqualoni.
“The gameday atmosphere just keeps getting better,” said coach Quinn. “It was a great game for our program.”
Although the Bulls are 2-2, their two losses come against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 23 Baylor.
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