It’s the last week of non-conference play before the Mid-American Conference (MAC) officially kick-offs. While some teams showed up and showed out, coming out of the week with a win, others were shut down and sent home.
One team in particular to be shut down was the Buffalo Bulls. Playing against UConn, the Bulls couldn’t find a way to score a touchdown. Upton Bellanfant was the only player on Buffalo’s team to score in the second quarter, as he hit a 47-yard field goal. Bellanfant has proven week after week to be an incredibly valuable and reliable player for the Bulls.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, Joe Fagnano of UConn had an electric game, coming off the bench to throw three touchdown passes. All three times Fagnano connected with Skyler Bell for the touchdown. The pair of Fagnano and Bell led their team to a final victory of 47-3.
Ball State fell similarly to Buffalo; however, the Cardinals were able to score a touchdown within the first quarter of their game against James Madison University on Saturday. Kadin Semonza connected with Tanner Koziol for the touchdown just three and a half minutes into the game. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to connect any other times and went scoreless the rest of the game.
JMU had a successful connection going. Alonza Barnett III was able to pass for five touchdowns within the game. While the momentum was able to be temporarily stopped by Ball State’s defense in the second quarter, where they only allowed JMU one touchdown, the momentum for the 4-0 JMU team picked back up in the last two quarters to give them a final score win on 63-7.
Northern Illinois was able to put up a fight against the Wolfpack from North Carolina State University, but they ultimately fell 24-17 in Raleigh.
The Huskies were keeping up in the first half, with a touchdown accompanied by a good kick by Kanon Woodill in both of the first two quarters; however, they were unable to score a touchdown in the second half. Woodill was able to hit an impressive 50-yard field goal within the last minute of the game, but ultimately the strong defense of N.C. State was too much for the Huskies.
DK Kaufman, a safety for the Wolfpack, got the momentum rolling when he could blitz NIU quarterback Ethan Hampton early in the second quarter.
“You lose the turnover battle four-to-nothing, and it’s hard to win,” said NIU head coach Thomas Hammock. “They blitzed us early and often; we just didn’t make enough plays.”
Ultimately, the plays the Huskies did make weren’t enough, as they left Raleigh with another loss, 24-17.
There were two MAC games on Saturday, and both ended in scores with almost 20-point differences. The Eastern Michigan Eagles took down Kent State Ohio 52-33 in Kent.
While Kent State did not come out on top, this was their first game in three weeks where they were able to put points on the board after being shut out by both Tennessee and Penn State.
Tommy Ulatowski had a solid game for the Golden Flashes, putting up at least one touchdown in all four quarters. His 65-yard touchdown pass to Chrishon McCray at the beginning of the second quarter tied the game at 21. While this was the third time in the game the Golden Flashes were able to tie the score, it was also the last.
On Eastern Michigan’s side, Delbert Mimms III had an incredible game, running for two touchdowns and a career-high 145 yards. Mimms was able to run for a 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter and added another 27-yard run to score and bring the Eagles to a 45-21 lead at the beginning of the final quarter. With a final 26-yard run from Deion Brown, EMU ended the game 52-33 on the road, beginning MAC play with a win.
In Athens, Ohio beat Akron 30-10. The Zips of Akron were able to start the game with the lead, being the only ones to score in the first quarter; however, Ohio found their footing and was able to put up two touchdowns in both the second and fourth quarters for the win.
Garrison Smith hit an impressive 49-yard field goal to put up the first points of the game. The Zips were able to score a touchdown early in the second quarter when Ben Finley connected with Jake Newell, but that was the last point from Akron for the game.
Parker Navarro had an impressive game on Ohio’s side. Navarro threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third. Both quarterbacks’ touchdown passes were to Coleman Owen. The two seemed to have a good connection going as they led their team to their first MAC victory of the season.
In other games in the MAC, Bowling Green lost for the third straight time. The Falcons fell to Old Dominion 30-27 on Homecoming.
Miami (OH) beat future MAC team UMass, who will join the conference in the 2025-26 school year. Dom Dzioban of Miami was able to earn his team the win when he kicked a career-long 47-yard field goal in the last play of regulation, then went on to overtime and hit another field goal from 43 yards. Dzioban’s efforts won Miami the game with a final score of 23-20.
Western Michigan fell to former MAC participant Marshall on Saturday. The Broncos scored 14 points in the third quarter alone. Their efforts were not enough, and they lost 27-20 to the Herd from Marshall.
Central Michigan was able to claim their final non-conference game, beating San Diego State 22-21. Triston Mattson was a steady force for the Chips, hitting a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter, a 34-yard field goal in the second, and a 46-yard field goal in the fourth.
With this week done, non-conference play is officially over, and MACtion is about to officially begin.
