Pressers as well
By MAC/ Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
MAC Teams often serve as CHUM for larger conference football programs and that is why it is refreshing when the conference beats a former Power 5/Notre Dame in football. Thomas Hammock has been grinding for about a decade as the head coach of Northern Illinois. The news and notes follows courtesy of the MAC conference.
Northern Illinois Coach Thomas Hammock on beating Notre Dame in South Bend 16-14
“I’m really proud of our players. I didn’t think we need luck; we just need to play our best. It wasn’t the cleanest for us but we played hard for four quarters. They worked together and stayed together, and believed. They made enough plays to win. I couldn’t be prouder of our coaches and staff, everybody involved. What an opportunity. This is a program-changing type win. We want to continue going forward as a program. Hopefully with a win like this, our supporters will start to back our program in a major, major way.”
“We develop, we recruit, we find the right kind of kids that want to work and grind. They’re not affected by outside things. We built a great culture here, a family atmosphere. Our guys love coming into the building. We love being around them. When you do it step by step, and don’t take any shortcuts, things like this are possible.”
Saturday, September 14
Cincinnati at Miami, 12 pm ET (ESPNU)
Central Michigan at Illinois, 12 pm ET (Peacock)
UMass at Buffalo, 1 pm ET (CBSSN)
Morgan State at Ohio, 3:30 pm ET (ESPN+)
Ball State at Miami (FL), 3:30 pm ET (ACC Network)
Colgate at Akron, 6 pm ET (ESPN+)
Bethune-Cookman at Western Michigan, 6:30 pm ET (ESPN+)
Jacksonville State at Eastern Michigan, 7 pm ET (ESPN+)
Toledo at Mississippi State, 7:30 pm ET (ESPNU)
Kent State at Tennessee, 7:45 pm ET (SEC Network)
Two Minute Drill
• Kanon Woodill connected on a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining to lift Northern Illinois to a 16-14 Fly the Flag victory over No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend. Antario Brown gained 225 total yards (126 receiving and 99 rushing) with a touchdown and Ethan Hampton was 10-of-19 passing for 198 yards and a touchdown to earn the MAC its first win over a Top Five opponent ever. Thanks to the historic victory, the Huskies are ranked No. 25 in the latest AP Poll, its first top-25 ranking since 2013, and earned Cheez-It National Team of the Week honors by the FWAA.
• Ohio defeated South Alabama, 27-20, at Frank Solich Field, marking the program’s 600th win. Parker Navarro tallied a touchdown on the ground and through the air, while Anthony Tyus III notched 77 yards and a rushing touchdown to lead the Ohio offense.
• Ball State opened its 100th season of football with a 42-34 victory against Missouri State at Scheumann Stadium. Kadin Semonza threw for four touchdown and ran for another, while Braedon Sloan added two rushing touchdowns and 103 yards in his Ball State debut to help the Cardinals score the most points in a season opener since 2018.
• Toledo moved to 2-0 with a 38-23 victory against UMass at the Glass Bowl. Jerjuan Newton caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Tucker Gleason and Jacquez Stuart returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. The Toldeo defense held UMass to just 4.4 yards per play, broke up six passes and tallied five sacks.
• The Mid-American Conference is well represented across NFL rosters as 60 former MAC student-athletes earned a spot on team’s initial rosters. For the second straight year, the Buffalo Bills lead the league with six MAC representatives while 18 other franchises have multiple players from MAC institutions. The most represented school on the initial rosters is Toledo, who has 12 former student-athletes in the league. Western Michigan is right behind the Rockets with 11 representatives.
• The MAC has established a new football scheduling model that will go into effect starting this season. The new scheduling model will eliminate the MAC East and West Divisions. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the MAC Football Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.