 Akron RB Dennis Kennedy. Photo: Jeff Harwell
But there were several highlights with Akron hitting the road and downing Syracuse, the second straight week that a MAC team has defeated a Big East team at home following Bowling Green's opening week victory over Pittsburgh last week.
Ball State started the week by opening the season 2-0 with a win over Navy in an impressive offensive display by quarterback Nate Davis and wide receiver Dante Love while Ohio flirted with an upset over third-ranked Ohio State for most of their contest Saturday and Buffalo nearly made it 2-0 for the MAC over Pitt before falling late on the road.
In the only conference game, Western Michigan edged Northern Illinois in Kalamazoo in a game that came down to the final seconds.
Here is a breakdown of all of this past weekend's action, including notable performances and quotes from every contest:
Around The Conference
 Ball State 35, Navy 23.
Quick Take: Ball State is the MAC's lone remaining undefeated team after only two weeks of play after downing Navy for the second straight year. The Cardinals defeated Navy 35-23 in front of a Friday night national TV audience behind a career night from WR Dante Love who had three touchdowns and 336 all-purpose yards. QB Nate Davis chipped in with 326 yards passing to go along with four touchdowns. The Cardinals rallied back from an early second-half 23-21 deficit to secure the win after surrendering a 21-9 first-half lead.
Notable:
** Cardinals WR Dante Love recorded his 11th career game of at least 100 yards, tying former BSU standout Dante Ridgway for the top spot all-time at Ball State.
**Ball State is 2-0 for the first time since 1995.
**TE Darius Hill had 41 yards receiving, moving into fifth-place on the all-time receiving yardage list at Ball State.
Quotable:
** "Dante is a great asset because he can do so much. He runs the ball, catches and blocks. He obviously has a lot of God-given ability and instincts. Our offensive coaches want to put him in position to touch the ball 10, 12, 14 times a game. We'd be crazy if we didn't let him touch the ball that many times." Ball State head coach Brady Hoke.
** "It was an exciting game. We thought the game would be decided in the fourth quarter and it was. Games like these build character." Hoke.
** ""I was just doing what my teammates needed me to do, and making plays when coach called my number. Coach (Stan) Parrish is always trying to create mismatches with me." Ball State WR Dante Love.
Michigan 16, Miami 6. Quick Take: Miami kept it close throughout but could not answer when Michigan jumped out to an early 10-0 lead. The RedHawks closed to within 10-6 after a pair of Nathan Parseghian field goals but Michigan added a late touchdown in the fourth quarter to secure the win. The RedHawks have now scored only one offensive touchdown this season through the first two games of the year.
Notable
**Miami QB Daniel Raudabaugh left the game in the fourth quarter after a hard hit and did not return.
**RedHawks P Jake Richardson averaged 53.9 yards on seven punts, including a career-long effort of 74-yards. Richardson's season-average of 51.6 yards per punt currently leads the nation.
**Jamal Rogers' 78 yards receiving was the most by any Miami player against Michigan in the five all-time meetings between the schools. Michigan is now 5-0 all-time versus the RedHawks.
Quotable:
** “There is such a fine line (between winning and losing). Even though you play 150-200 plays in a game, there are always just a handful of plays that make the difference. Today it might have been the dropped balls. If we catch two or three of those dropped balls that might be the difference in the game. Last week (against Vanderbilt), it was five big plays." Miami head coach Shane Montgomery
** “They (Michigan) stepped up and drove the ball when they needed to (in order) to give themselves a 16-6 lead. Then we had to drop back and throw the ball every down, which is one thing we said coming in we can’t do.” Montgomery.
** "I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty.” Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Ohio State 26, Ohio 14.
Quick Take: The Bobcats gave the Buckeyes everything third-ranked Ohio State could handle, falling late 26-14 after holding the lead for most of the contest. The Bobcats built a 14-6 lead in the third quarter. The Bobcats scored their touchdowns on a Donte Harden 15-yard run in the second quarter to give Ohio a 7-3 lead, then after the Buckeyes added a field goal, Curtis Meyers recovered a fumble in the end zone after OSU QB Todd Boeckman bobbled the snap. The Buckeyes though responded with a 73-yard scoring drive and then capitalized when the Bobcats' Mark Parson fumbled a punt deep in Ohio territory with the Buckeyes capping a 25-yard drive on a two-yard TD run by Brandon Saine to seal the win.
Notable:
**Ohio JUCO transfer QB Boo Jackson saw his first extended action of the season when starter Theo Scott went down with an injury. Jackson completed 9-25 passes for 86 yards and was picked off three times.
**The win was the 800th all-time win in the history of Ohio State football.
**Ohio State was held to only 5-15 on third down conversions.
Quotable:
** "We do know we are a good football team. The fact that we haven't won the opening two games doesn't mean anything against us, it's just how the dice rolls. We have the Mid-American Conference game coming up (against Central Michigan) and that's more important to us than any of these games." Ohio DE Kris Luchsinger.
** "This game is gone. We have to go out and play our very best against Central Michigan to get that game won. We have to refocus now and refocusing means not caring where we play or who we play, but just getting ourselves ready to play our best ballgame." Ohio head coach Frank Solich.
** “We were maybe too confident coming in to the game today. OU was here to play, and there was definitely a point where we need to wake up. It was a dogfight, and we really never had that big play in the game on offense. We have a lot of things we need to work on this upcoming week.” OhioState WR Brian Hartline.
Connecticut 12, Temple 9 (OT).
Quick Take: In rainy conditions, the Temple Owls fell to Connecticut in heartbreaking fashion for the second straight season, this time dropping a 12-9 decision in overtime. The Owls held a 6-0 lead into the fourth quarter on the foot of Jake Brownell who connected on field goals of 22 and 41 yards. The Huskies however answered with a pair of fourth quarter field goals, including a game-tying 37-yarder with 6:35 remaining in the game, forcing the eventual overtime. The Owls drew first blood in OT on Jake Brownell's third field goal, this one coming from 21 yards but the Huskies ended the game on a seven-yard Donald Brown touchdown run.
Notable:
**For the second straight week, Temple held an opponent scoreless in the first half.
**Temple WR Bruce Francis has now caught a pass in 28 consecutive games.
**Connecticut is now 13-1 all-time versus teams from the MAC and has won its last eleven games against Mid-American Conference schools.
Quotable:
** "We should have won this game but we did enough to lose it." Temple head coach Al Golden.
** "Our defense fought, we really did a good job in the red zone again. That is kind of who we are now. We got the fundamentals. We got the foundation. We got the toughness and competiveness and we can stop worrying if we are going to turn the ball over. I'm really proud of the guys for that. Connecticut was just better than us today." Golden.
** "I thought that we made some mistakes in the first half that really hurt us, but I'm very proud of our team and our coaches for nobody panicking and just keeping their heads on straight, sticking to the task at hand, and finding a way to get a victory." Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall.
Michigan State 42, Eastern Michigan 10. 
Quick Take: The Eagles fell to 0-8 all-time versus Michigan State in a 42-10 setback that featured Michigan State tailback Javon Ringer rushing for five touchdowns and 105 of his 135 yards in the first half. The Spartans took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on Ringer's first touchdown. Earlier, on Michigan State's opening drive, Ringer fumbled the ball into the Eagles' end zone. EMU answered to tie the score at 7-7 in the second quarter on QB Andy Schmitt's three-yard run but the Eagles would never challenge further as the Spartans rattled off 35 straight points.
Notable:
** Michigan State RB Javon Ringer's five rushing touchdowns were one shy of the Spartans' all-time single-game record.
** Five of the Spartans' six scoring drives originated on Eastern Michigan's side of the field.
** Michigan State has now won ten straight home openers.
Quotable:
** "I really felt that once we had the option play (touchdown) called back (on a holding penalty), we needed to find a way to get seven points. It was an aggressive call, obviously we are coaching to win the football game and so we needed to try for seven points at the time." Eastern Michigan head coach Jeff Genyk explaining the decision to go for a fake on a 21-yard FG attempt in the third quarter with EMU trailing 21-7.
** "It's tough you know - it's hard to open up a lot of things when the ball is on the three and you are coming out. It's hard to get into your offense when you are down at your own goal line like that. It would have been nice to have a little better field position, but you know, it didn't happen that way. We just have to execute when we have the ball down there and make a run at it." EMU QB Andy Schmitt on the Eagles' poor starting offensive position throughout the game.
** "In order to win this game we had to execute at a high level. I thought that for the majority of the game we did execute, but whether or not we took it to that level is a different story. I really believe that it gets our players to know how hard they have to play and the effort it takes to win a game like this." Genyk.
 Akron 42, Syracuse 28.Quick Take: Akron rebounded from an opening week loss to Wisconsin to record the MAC's lone win over a BCS team this past week, downing Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in an offensive affair 42-28. The Zips raced out a 14-0 lead and held a 28-14 advantage by halftime as the Orange could not contain the Zips on the ground or through the air with Zips' QB Chris Jacquemain passing for 260 yards and three touchdowns and the Zips adding 218 yards rushing. The Orange tied the game 28-28 early in the fourth quarter but Akron responded with a pair of Jacquemain TD passes to WR Andre Jones and TE Merce Poindexter in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin of victory.
Notable:
** The victory was Akron's second road win over a BCS squad since 2006 when the Zips defeated North Carolina State.
** When Zips RB Dennis Kennedy scored on a 35-yard run in the first quarter, it was Kennedy's first touchdown since scoring twice against Bowling Green in 2006, a span of 17 games.
** Akron was 10-14 on third down conversions.
Quotable:
** It doesn't matter if we lose to Akron or Penn State. Akron is a good team. We're stunned and shocked." Syracuse WR Bruce Williams.
** ''Our offensive line worked their tails off. They gave us great pushes and opened up holes.'' Akron RB Dennis Kennedy.
** "This was a tough loss, a very tough loss. We had an opportunity to win that game in the fourth quarter and we let it get away." Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson.
Georgia 56, Central Michigan 17. 
Quick Take: The Chippewas traveled to face preseason national title favorite Georgia and never were able to recover after quickly falling behind by a count of 28-0 before getting on the board late in the first half to make it 28-7 by halftime. The Bulldogs rolled to 552 yards in total offense led by RB Knowshon Moreno who rushed for 168 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 9.3 yards per carry. Chippewas QB Dan LeFevour passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns but the dual-threat signal-caller was limited to only 19 yards rushing with CMU rushing for only 59 net yards in the game.
Notable:
** CMU OL Andrew Hartline has started 41 consecutive games, tied for the longest active streak in the nation.
** Chips QB Dan LeFevour, with 250 yards passing against Georgia, became the first Central Michigan QB to surpass the 7,000 career passing yard mark. He currently has 7,150 yards passing in his career.
** Central Michigan is 0-5 in its last five games against teams from the BCS conferences, allowing an average of 54.8 points per game.
Quotable:
** “The running game helps our offense and we got turned into a one-dimensional team
today. There are a lot of things I could have done better and our offense could have
done better.” Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour
** “There are a lot of corrections we can take away from this game. It was a learning
experience and the loss doesn’t hurt us in the conference standings.” Central Michigan LB Nick Bellore.
** “Our defense kept coming. (CMU) has an outstanding football team, not just good but great on offense. To hold them down like that was impressive." Georgia head coach Mark Richt.
Pittsburgh 27, Buffalo 16.
Quick Take: Penalties and kicking game miscues spoiled Buffalo's trip to Pittsburgh as the Bulls fell to the Panthers 27-16. The Bulls took a 6-0 lead on Brian Thermilus' one-yard run late in the first quarter but AJ Principe's extra point was blocked, the second kicking misfire of the quarter after Principe's 44-yard FG attempt on the Bulls' opening drive was also blocked. The Panthers and Bulls engaged in a back and forth affair that saw Pitt holding a 17-16 lead after three quarters but Pitt finished off the Bulls with ten unanswered fourth quarter points. The Panthers were aided in their first touchdown, which game them a 7-6 lead, when the Bulls were flagged for a fifteen-yard personal foul that kept the drive going. The Bulls were also called for a crucial illegal shift penalty on a drive late in the fourth quarter that ended their last serious offensive threat.
Notable:
** Buffalo QB Drew Willy had his streak of consecutive passes without an interception snapped at 284 when his final pass of the game was intercepted with 1:26 remaining.
** The Bulls fell to 1-22 against BCS teams since moving up to 1A in 1999 with their only BCS win coming against Rutgers in 2002.
** The teams were nearly dead-even in several statistical categories. Pittsburgh outgained Buffalo 352-348 yards with both teams picking up 22 first downs. The Bulls ran 66 plays to Pittsburgh's 65 and combined the squads were a perfect 6-6 in red-zone offense.
Quotable:
** "“The penalties are things that we can control They are going to make some plays, that’s going to happen in football. Penalties are things we can control and that’s what we have to get corrected to give us a better chance to finish the job off.” Buffalo head coach Turner Gill told the Buffalo News.
** “I didn’t see any difference, they are good players, we’re good players. They might have made a few more plays than us but I’ll play them any day of the week with this team.” Buffalo QB Drew Willy discussing the Pittsburgh Panthers.
** "We wanted to come out with a win. Playing close, competing are somewhat fine but we’re trying to get past that. We’re trying to move this program forward and come up with more ‘W’s." Gill.
Iowa State 48, Kent State 28. 
Quick Take: Kent State traveled to Iowa State for the second straight year but the outcome was not as kind this season to the visitors as the Cyclones avenged last year's loss with a 48-28 win over the Golden Flashes. The Cyclones were the beneficiaries of several Kent State special teams miscues, blocking two punts and recovering a fumbled punt at KSU's five-yard line in the third quarter that led to an ISU touchdown, building the Cyclones' lead to an insurmountable 38-21 advantage. KSU QB Julian Edelman also fumbled the ball twice. The loss overshadowed a standout performance from Kent State RB Eugene Jarvis who had 199 yards of total offense and two touchdowns.
Notable:
** Kent State has now lost nine straight games dating back to last season.
** Flashes' RB Eugene Jarvis rushed for 139 yards, the thirteenth 100-yard or better rushing effort of his career.
** Kent State outgained the Cyclones 410-374 yards.
Quotable:
** “The disappointing part for us was that we self-destructed. We gave up two
blocked punts, and fumbled the ball three times. You're not going to have a chance
to win no matter how good our defense is if you turn the ball over. We never
gave our defense a chance.” Kent State head coach Doug Martin..
** “We beat ourselves. We've got to go back to the drawing board.” Kent State RB Eugene Jarvis..
** They didn't stop us. We stopped ourselves. We weren't in the right positions at the right time times. We executed, but we just broke.” Kent State QB Julian Edelman.
 Western Michigan 29, Northern Illinois 26. 
Quick Take: It was the lid-lifter on the conference season as Northern Illinois traveled to Western Michigan for a MAC West divisional matchup. The Broncos and Huskies engaged in a see-saw affair through three quarters with Western Michigan holding a 14-13 edge after three quarters but the Huskies grabbed an early fourth quarter lead on DeMarcus Grady's three-yard run to make it 19-14 after the two-point effort failed. The Broncos responded however with a pair of touchdowns from QB Tim Hiller, and a two-point conversion to open up a 29-19 advantage. The Huskies made it interesting when QB Dan Nicholson, playing in place of injured starting QB Chandler Harnish, connected with Greg Turner for a 16-yard TD with forty seconds remaining. NIU recovered the ensuing onside kick but a penalty wiped out the effort and on their ensuing second attempt the Broncos recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock for the win.
Notable:
** WMU QB Tim Hiller passed for three touchdowns and with 45 career passing touchdowns now ranks second all-time at WMU..
** NIU DE Larry English moved into third place in school history in tackles for loss. English now has 43 career TFL's.
** Broncos RB Brandon West rushed for a career-high 175 yards.
Quotable:
** "This is huge because it's the type of game where you face all sorts of situations. "You're losing, you're down, there's adversity ... We overcame those things. This is huge for down the road." Western Michigan QB Tim Hiller.
** “"Last year there would have been panic. This year there wasn't. It was 'OK, let's just get down there and get it.' I think that's a sign of more maturity and more togetherness." Western Michigan head coach Bill Cubit.
**"We've got to do a better job doing the little things. "I saw some good things and I promise you we will get there." Northern Illinois head coach Jerry Kill.
Minnesota 42, Bowling Green 17. 
Quick Take: The Falcons were riding high after a season-opening win over Pittsburgh and welcomed Minnesota, the first-ever Big Ten opponent to visit Bowling Green, for their home opener. Unfortunately for the Falcons, Bowling Green turned out to be very gracious guests, turning the ball over five times, resulting in four Minnesota touchdowns as the Gophers turned a close game into a rout at the end in a 42-17 win, scoring 21 unanswered fourth quarter points.
Notable:
** BG DL Diyral Briggs, who had three sacks against Minnesota, now has five sacks on the season which leads the nation. Briggs had five sacks total in 2007.
** Ten different BG players were on the receiving end of passes from QB Tyler Sheehan who passed for 261 yards and one touchdown.
** The win by Minnesota was the first road victory under head coach Tim Brewster and the Golden Gophers' first since defeating Michigan State 31-18 in 2006..
Quotable:
** “It wasn’t so much Minnesota beating us there in the end. I think we beat ourselves in the second half of that football game. We just turned the ball over. That’s the bottom line. There is no magical statement about what happened in that game. To lose the game the way we did was just very, very disappointing." Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon.
** “It’s a complete team effort, this loss was. It’s disheartening that we let this one go. But we just have to learn from it.” Bowling Green QB Tyler Sheehan.
** The teams that have beaten Bowling Green have forced it to turn the football over. We did that in a big way.” Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster.
Arizona 41, Toledo 16. 
Quick Take: The Rockets were the last MAC squad to open up the 2008 season, making a trip out west to Arizona. The Wildcats kept Toledo out of the end zone until the fourth quarter, dominating the Rockets in a 41-16 win. Arizona built a 24-6 halftime lead and racked up 452 yards in total offense. The Rockets were limited to three Alex Steigerwald field goals until a Wildcats turnover deep in Arizona territory set up Toledo's lone touchdown when QB Aaron Opelt connected with WR Stephen Williams for a three-yard strike to make it 34-16 before the Wildcats added a final touchdown with just over three minutes remaining.
Notable:
** Prior to the Rockets' opener at Arizona the team announced that OL Jared DeWalt was suspended for the first two games of the season for unspecified reasons.
** Toledo PK Alex Steigerwald has now successfully connected on 18 straight FG attempts dating back to the 2006 season and is 23-24 in his career.
** Toledo QB Aaron Opelt passed for 170 yards and one touchdown and has now thrown at least one touchdown in each of his last seven games.
Quotable:
** “This was our first game and it felt like it. I see so many things we’re close to improving on and we will improve on them next week. This was Arizona’s second game and it looked like it. They were better this week than last week. They were in rhythm better than we were.” Toledo head coach Tom Amstutz.
** “In the first quarter we were just trying to figure out what they were going to do personnel-wise. We started off a little bit slow and put our defense in a bad situation but I thought we got stronger as the game went on." Toledo QB Aaron Opelt.
** "We gave up a couple pretty big plays. We have to secure more tackles both in the running game and the passing game." Toledo DB Barry Church
 Player of the WeekDante Love, WR, Ball State, 199 all-purpose yards, three touchdowns
Love led the offensive onslaught in Ball State's 35-23 victory over Navy Friday night, snaring nine receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns of 61 and 8 yards apiece as well as 37 yards rushing and a six-yard touchdown. Love also added 134 yards in kickoff returns.
Prognosticating Prowess
Not a bad week in the predictions department in week number two. In fact we went 9-3 for the second straight week to bring our season mark to 18-6.
We came fairly close on the point differential in several games, including Ball State's 14 point win (predicted 12 point winning margin) over Navy; Arizona's 25 point win (predicted: 24) over Toledo; and Western Michigan's three point (predicted: six point margin) over Northern Illinois. We also correctly called Akron's upset over Syracuse but missed on the Bowling Green-Minnesota game as well as Temple-UConn and our predicted upset of Buffalo over Pittsburgh looked pretty good until late.
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Prediction
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Actual
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Ball State 42, Navy 28.
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Ball State 35, Navy 23.
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Michigan 35, Miami 17.
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Michigan 16, Miami 6.
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Ohio State 38, Ohio 10.
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OhioState 26, Ohio 14.
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Temple 27, Connecticut 21.
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Connecticut 12, Temple 9 (OT).
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Michigan State 41, Eastern Michigan 27.
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Michigan State 42, Eastern Michigan 10.
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Georgia 48, Central Michigan 23.
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Georgia 56, Central Michigan 17.
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Akron 26, Syracuse 24.
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Akron 42, Syracuse 28.
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Buffalo 28, Pittsburgh 27.
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Pittsburgh 27, Buffalo 16.
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Western Michigan 33, Northern Illinois 27.
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Western Michigan 29, Northern Illinois 26.
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Iowa State 24, Kent State 13.
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Iowa State 48, Kent State 28.
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Bowling Green 31, Minnesota 20.
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Minnesota 42, Bowling Green 17.
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Arizona 52, Toledo 28.
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Arizona 41, Toledo 16.
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