Western Michigan upsets No. 24 Toledo, 35-30
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Corey Davis caught two touchdown passes and Western Michigan upset No. 24 Toledo 35-30 on Friday to send Northern Illinois to the MidAmerican Conference championship game.
The Rockets (9-2, 6-2) could have earned the MAC West title and a spot in the league title game, but the Broncos (7-5, 6-2) created a three-way tie for the division. NIU beat both Toledo and Western Michigan and will face Bowling Green on Dec. 4 at Ford Field in Detroit.
NIU opened the door for the Rockets to win the division outright by losing to Ohio on Tuesday. But the Rockets were undone by crucial penalties and one big turnover, helping Western Michigan pull away.
The game turned when Toledo’s Alonzo Russell fumbled a punt to set up Davis’ second touchdown, a 30-yard catch from Zach Terrell with 1:07 to play in the first half that gave the Broncos a 25-21 lead.
The Broncos would not relinquish the advantage, pushing their lead to two scores on a fourth-andgoal run from 1 yard out by Jamauri Bogan on the first drive of the second half.
Toledo moved to within eight late in the third on a 19-yard field goal by Jameson Vest. It appeared to have momentum on its side when quarterback Phillip Ely threw a 30-yard screen pass to Kareem Hunt to get the ball to the Western Michigan 19 with 11:55 to play, but a targeting call on Russell nullified the play.
Toledo eventually scored a touchdown to draw within five with 1:18 to play on a 35-yard pass from Ely to Jon’Vea Johnson, but the Rockets missed the two-point conversion and could not recover the onside kick.
Hunt ran for 139 yards and a touchdown and Ely threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns.
Tom Flacco, a freshman signal caller and the brother of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, ran for a touchdown just 2:26 into the game and then ran for a 2-point conversion for Western Michigan.
Western Michigan safety Asantay Brown was taken from the stadium on a backboard after the helmet-to-helmet. No immediate update on Browns condition was available.
Akron 20, Kent State 0: Thomas Woodson threw a touchdown pass and ran for 84 yards to lead Akron to a 20-0 victory over Kent State on Friday.
Woodson was 11 of 19 for 140 yards passing. Conor Hundley had 98 yards rushing on 22 carries with a touchdown for Akron (7-5, 5-3 Mid-American Conference), which has won five straight.
George Bollas was 10 of 18 for 102 yards passing for Kent State (3-9, 2-6).
Woodson completed three passes, and had a 14-yard run to set up Hundley’s 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Se’Von Pittman recovered a Bollas fumble on the Kent State 11 in the second quarter. Woodson threw a touchdown strike to Newman Williams on the next play.
Robert Stein kicked field goals of 23 and 20 yards in the second half to cap the scoring.
The Zips had 369 yards of offense, forced three turnovers, and held the Golden Flashes to 135 yards. C Michigan 35, E Michigan 28: Romello Ross scored four touchdowns and Central Michigan beat Eastern Michigan 35-28 on Friday.
Eastern Michigan (1-11, 0-8 Mid-American) led 21-7 at halftime on two touchdown passes by Brogan Roback and a 35-yard interception return by Kyle Rachwal.
But Central Michigan (7-5, 6-2) fired back after the break, scoring on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Rush to Ross on its first possession, and then Ross’ 3-yard run — his second of the game — tied it at 21.
Ross’ third rushing touchdown, a 17-yarder, came after an Eastern fumble. But Ross was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, and Eastern took advantage of the short field — Darius Jackson busted a 49-yard touchdown run on the next play to tie it at 28.
Central responded though, as Rush hooked up with Corey Willis for a 67-yard touchdown pass to cap a busy third quarter.
Martez Walker had 119 yards rushing for Central, while Rush finished 25 of 39 for 391 yards and two TD passes.
UMass 31, Buffalo 26: Freshman Marquis Young rushed for 240 yards and three first-half touchdowns and UMass held on to defeat Buffalo on Friday night.
Young, who had 215 yards at halftime, had runs of 6 and 47 yards for an early 14-0 lead and a 1-yard plunge that made it 21-17. Quarterback Blake Frohnapfel added a 14-yard TD run that helped the Minutemen (3-9, 2-6 Mid-American) build a 28-17 halftime lead.
Jordan Johnson scored on a 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter to pull Buffalo (5-7, 3-5) within 28-26 but a pass by wide receiver Marcus McGill for the 2-point conversion was incomplete.
Buffalo punted on its next two possessions before UMass chewed up 4:39 leading to Logan Laurent’s 37-yard field goal with 2:13 left. Then Da’Sean Downey picked off Joe Licata to preserve the win.
Tajae Sharpe had six receptions for 138 yards for Buffalo, his 10th career 100-yard game.
Bowling Green 48, Ball State
10: Matt Johnson threw for 236 yards and had three total touchdowns, Travis Greene ran for 97 yards and two scores, and Bowling Green beat Ball State on Tuesday night.
Johnson opened the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Folkertsma. After Fred Coppet and Greene ran in short TDs, Johnson had a 4-yard sneak with 36 seconds left in the first half for a 27-0 lead.
Matt Domer capped the scoring with a 95-yard touchdown run — the second-longest TD run in school history — with 39 seconds remaining.
Coppet had 109 yards on the ground and Domer added 105 yards for Bowling Green (9-3, 7-1 Mid-American). Six Falcon rushers combined for 337 yards and five touchdowns.
Riley Neal was 24-of-40 passing for 154 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions for Ball State (3-9, 2-6).
Alfonso Mack, Eilar Hardy and Dernard Turner each had a pick of Neal.
Ohio 26, Northern Illinois 21:
Greg Windham and J.D. Sprague each threw a touchdown pass, Josiah Yazdani kicked four field goals and Ohio kept Northern Illinois from advancing to the Mid-American Conference title game with a win on Tuesday night.
A.J. Ouellette rushed for 140 yards on 30 carries for the Bobcats (8-4, 5-3), to help put the Huskies (8-4, 6-2) in a holding position. Northern Illinois has to hope Western Michigan beats Toledo on Friday, which would create a tie among those three, to advance to the title game against East Division champion Bowling Green. The Huskies beat both teams and would win a three-way tiebreaker.
Sprague hit Jordan Reid for a 28-yard touchdown to opening the scoring and Windham threw 5 yards to Keith Heizman in the second quarter to make it 17-7.
NIU got within 20-14 with the only points in the third quarter before Yazdani hit two 25-yard field goals.