Week One MAC Recap

A 5-7 opening weekend record isn't going to impress anyone nationally but the MAC had an acceptable opening week given the quality of opponents its teams faced and the results of its top projected programs.

A few teams played competitively against ranked competition while always-steady Northern Illinois came away with a 30-27 road win over Iowa.

The lone team not to play so far is MAC East preseason favorite Ohio who takes the field this afternoon versus #9 Louisville at Papa John’s Stadium.

Here's a breakdown of this week's MAC contests:

Thursday

Liberty 10 Kent State 17- A Dri Archer injury combined with a lackluster performance by the Golden Flashes offense put Kent State on upset alert for most of Thursday night before rattling off 10 straight points to close the 4th quarter for a 17-10 win.

Tulsa 7 Bowling Green 34- Expected to be a very close game coming in, Bowling Green put forth one of the most shocking performances of Week One as they rattled off the game’s first 34 points on the way to a 34-7 victory over Tulsa.

Illinois State 28 Ball State 51- One of the preseason favorites in the MAC, it took Ball State trailing 21-9 before getting their heads into the game, responding by scoring 35 points in the 2nd half to cruise to a 23-point win.

Akron 7 Central Florida 38- The hope entering the season was that we were about to see a much improved Akron squad under second year head coach Terry Bowden. Unfortunately for the Zips, Week One didn’t give any indication of that as UCF had their way with Akron on their way to a blowout victory.

Friday

Western Michigan 13 Michigan State 26- To Western Michigan's credit, they put forth a tremendous defensive effort against the Spartans. The only problem…their offense never showed up as Michigan State made both Broncos quarterbacks look foolish on their way to a closer than expected victory.

Saturday

Buffalo 20 #2 Ohio State 40- For Buffalo, Saturday afternoon was full of moral victories as the Bulls gave the Buckeyes all they could handle. Sophomore quarterback Joe Licata looked poised beyond his years while Alex Neutz and Khalil Mack looked every bit like the stars they've been hyped to be in the preseason.

Massachusetts 0 #23 Wisconsin 45- Do I even need to comment about this game…The second year FBS, Massachusetts squad didn't do so well on the road against #23 Wisconsin and that’s putting it kindly.

Toledo 6 #10 Florida 24- Toledo kept it close but could never get their offense going as the Gators SEC defense overpowered the Rockets offense the entire afternoon.

Central Michigan 9 #17 Michigan 59- Quick question, which school is the better program in Michigan? Tough question…not really as the Wolverines cruised to a 50-point victory.

Northern Illinois 30 Iowa 27- It took a Matt Sims 36-yard field goal with four seconds left in regulation to clinch the win but the Huskies will take it as they gain revenge on Iowa for their lone regular season loss of 2012.

Howard 24 Eastern Michigan 34- The Eagles are 1-0!!! Celebrate Ypsilanti!!! Honestly, it doesn’t matter that it came against FCS opponent Howard. All that matters is that Eastern Michigan will be undefeated heading into their match-up versus Penn State Week Two.

Miami (Ohio) 14 Marshall 52- Marshall is expected to be one of the most improved teams in the country in 2013 and certainly showed the potential to be as they lit up Miami as Rakeem Cato threw for five touchdowns.

Sunday

Ohio vs. #9 Louisville- When Ohio takes the field versus Louisville on Sunday afternoon, they’ll be trying to start their season with another memorable road upset. Last year, the Bobcats upset Penn State 24-14 on their way to a 9-4 season. While unlikely, expect Ohio to give the talented Cardinals a competitive game for a few quarters before being worn down.