With Miami’s victory and homecomings across the conference, #MACtion is in full force.
Against Massachusetts, the Redhawks went down 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, but eventually came back to overcome a 27-point deficit and capture the 42-41 victory. Miami controlled the second half, including a goal-line score by quarterback Andrew Hendrix with 2:58 left in the game.
“It’s relieving,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said. “We probably celebrated the win for 20 minutes before psychologically moving onto Akron.”
Miami (1-5, 1-1 MAC) travels to Akron (3-2, 1-1 MAC) this week in what’s promised to be a good game.
“Akron is a strong football team, they’re well coached with good skill players,” Martin said. “We’re expecting them to be prepared and ready to play.”
Buffalo fell to Bowling Green 36-35 in quite the barnburner.
The game was back and forth throughout, but the Bulls clearly wanted to maintain ball security, as they scored a touchdown to start the game on a 15-play, 75-yard opening drive.
“We came out firing,” Buffalo coach Jeff Quinn said. “In the first half our team really showed offensively how well we could move the ball.”
Quinn said that his team’s 3-1 loss in the turnover battle eventually sealed the game for Bowling Green.
Bowling Green moved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in MAC play, while Buffalo fell to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in conference matchups.
“We have to do a better job when the momentum is on our side,” Quinn said. “We can’t give up scoring opportunities to a good football team — we won’t win that way.”
Northern Illinois (4-1, 1-0 MAC) battled Kent State and eventually came out on top 17-14.
The Huskies offense was inconsistent throughout the game, giving its defense an opportunity to shine.
“Our defense played extremely well,” Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey said. “Championship teams are built off defense and having that reliability within your defense when your offense is struggling.”
Kent State (0-5, 0-2 MAC) had an opportunity to tie the game on its last possession of the game, but came up short after a missed 56-yard field goal by Anthony Melchiori.
Northern Illinois will return home to host Central Michigan (3-3, 1-1 MAC), who is coming off a homecoming win against Ohio.
“We have to be ready for an explosive team,” Carey said. “They put up 28 against a solid OU defense and are coming off a good win. We’ll be prepared for anything, including heavy doses of personnel changes.”
MAC football kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday as Eastern Michigan (1-4, 0-1 MAC) hosts Buffalo.
@j7carpenter
jc898610@ohio.edu
