Monday MAC Musings: 2025 Week 9

That was an interesting Week 9 of MAC football. We had our final non-conference matchup of the year as Toledo flew west to Washington State. There were three upsets based on the Vegas spread. And four of seven games were decided by single-digits.

It was also a week of clarity. Nobody is bowl eligible, but Eastern Michigan became the second MAC team — joining UMass — to seal its fate and miss out on the postseason. On the other side of the standings, Miami (OH) is standing alone as the king of the MAC after winning its fifth-straight.

With Week 9 being our busiest weekend for the remainder of the season, here are thoughts, takeaways, and stats from the Saturday of MAC football:

Kent State 24, Bowling Green 21

It’s time to shed Mark Carney’s interim head coach label. He earned the right to coach the Kent State Golden Flashes. Think about where this team was last year and how incredibly far they’ve traveled. Breaking double-digits and not losing by 30 were considered accomplishments for Kent State during its 0-12 campaign in 2024. Now this team is built to compete with a bulk of the MAC. Carney was handed a tough sets of cards too, inheriting an 0-12 team with an unexpected spring coaching change, an unexpected summer defensive coordinator departure, and a transfer portal exodus of last year’s top contributors.
Kent State erased an 18-point deficit for its most impressive win since 2022. It marked the Golden Flashes’ largest comeback since erasing a 21-point deficit on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019 against Buffalo — which was the win that transformed the trajectory of the Sean Lewis era. We’ll see if this one produces similar effects, but Kent State can compete with a bulk of the MAC this year, and that’s clear.
Any time a MAC team ranks first in the FBS in a category, it’s worth a mention. Kent State ranks first in the country in fourth down defense only letting up two conversion on 11 attempts this year. Fittingly, this game came down to a Golden Flashes fourth down stop at midfield with 1:07 remaining.
Bowling Green’s quarterback situation is flat-out brutal. Starter Drew Pyne remained out and backup Lucian Anderson III missed his first game with a knee injury. That left Baron May at quarterback (who you may remember threw an amazing touchdown pass in the 2024 LendingTree Bowl when disguised as a punter) and May was excellent in the first half. However, May suffered a brutal non-contact lower body injury with a few seconds left, and now the offense is down to fourth-stringer Hunter Najm.
Da’Realyst Clark is not just a first team all-name guy — he’s a first team all-fun. Any time Clark gets involved in a play, you know it’s gonna be good. The wide receiver completed a touchdown pass to Wayne Harris off a trick play for the game-winner Saturday. He now is 2-for-2 passing on the season for 39 yards. He also has a rare stat-line featuring a passing touchdown and TWO kick return touchdowns. 2009 C.J. Spiller and 2017 Saquon Barkley are other players to achieve this rare stat-line. Clark, a receiver, now just needs a receiving touchdown to add to his résumé.

Ohio 28, Eastern Michigan 21

Ohio should have won this game by at least three touchdowns. I got some Ball State game vibes from Ohio as the Bobcats consistently missed opportunities in Eastern Michigan territory. From the start of the second quarter to the early third, the Bobcats had four-straight scoreless drives which reached as far as the Eastern Michigan 15, 18, 33, and 24-yard lines. They ended in a failed fourth down, two interceptions, and a pooch punt.
Sieh Bangura is such a physical, violent runner, and watching him break tackles is incredible. He reminds me of Isiah Pacheco on the Kansas City Chiefs. If Bangura makes the NFL, he’s going to be the star of Kyle Brandt’s “Angry Runs” segment on NFL Network.
Eastern Michigan’s FBS-worst run defense gets plenty of mentions in here, and this seemed like the worst matchup imaginable against Parker Navarro, Sieh Bangura, and Duncan Brune. However, they held up quite well. Ohio instead dominated the Eagles through the air, as Parker Navarro dropped 315 yards on a 23-of-28 showing (with two of those rare misfires being interceptions).
Chase Hendricks has a legitimate shot to lead the nation in several categories. Hendricks ranks third nationally in receiving yards (805), third in receptions (57), and fourth in receiving touchdowns (8) after a 10-catch, 112-yard, 2-touchdown showing at Eastern Michigan.
Ohio ran a designed hook-and-ladder for a 2-yard gain. Complete forgettable play that won’t show up on the highlight reel, but I was quite amused seeing such a cool play design produce the most ordinary result possible.

Akron 24, Buffalo 16

Buffalo was 3-0 in MAC play, but an upcoming loss seemed inevitable considering the way the Bulls regularly emerged by the skin of their teeth, needing late-game heroics to take down Kent State, Eastern Michigan, and UMass. Five turnovers and a rough day from the offensive line finally did Buffalo in, and it’s back to 4-4 on the season.
This is the best Akron team in quite some time (2018, to be specific), but the Zips don’t show it on a consistent basis — to be fair, does anybody in the 2025 MAC? Wins over Central Michigan and Buffalo prove this team is capable of bowl eligibility. At 3-6, UMass, Kent State, and Bowling Green await. But this team (which has been held to 7 or fewer this year) is so Jekyll and Hyde on offense. Ben Finley is a capable veteran quarterback. Jordan Gant has two 150-yard rushing dominations. It’s just a matter whether it all clicks on gameday or not.
Buffalo only threw six interceptions in all of 2024. It threw four on Saturday — all in the final 16 minutes of action.
This game featured the most beautiful score a football game can have. Akron led Buffalo 3-2 after the first 16 possessions — punt, field goal, punt, punt, punt, safety, punt, punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, interception, fumble, punt, punt, fumble. That turnover on downs was significant because we almost got the elusive score of 5-3, but Buffalo attempted a fake field goal, and it failed pretty miserably.

Washington State 28, Toledo 7

Washington State is better than its record says. I think a lot of people underestimated the Cougars after the 59-10 loss to a very, very good North Texas team. But this Washington State team just went toe-to-toe with Ole Miss and Virginia — both on the road — and received opportunities to win in each fourth quarter. It also dropped 36 on the No. 2 scoring defense San Diego State (which is 6-1) in a dominant 23-point win. All of its losses are to clear top 40 teams. This was several weeks of frustration channeled into a comfortable win over Toledo.
Washington State inflicted nearly all its damage in a second quarter which featured three 80+ yard sustained drives — 11 plays for 89 yards, 11 plays for 80 yards, and 8 plays for 83 yards. Almost all their other series were interceptions or quick punts, so it wasn’t a thorough 4-quarter domination. It was sandwiched into a 15-minute span.
Toledo’s home vs. road splits are insane. At home, Toledo is 4-0 and averaging 48.8 points and 539 yards per game. On the road, Toledo is 0-4 and averaging 14.8 points and 334 yards per game. It’s two completely different ball clubs. They look every bit of the MAC frontrunner on both ends at the Glass Bowl, and away from it, the defense is usually sharp but the offense is unrecognizable.
One positive takeaway for Toledo — this secondary remains insanely good. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and Avery Smith were already bona fide stars heading into the season. Now strong safety Braden Awls is making a name for himself. Awls tallied 10 tackles and secured two interceptions, while Toledo’s passing defense limited Washington State to a 10-of-22 showing. The Rockets can cover with the best of them.

Northern Illinois 21, Ball State 7

I’m going to miss the Bronze Stalk rivalry. It’s truly an incredible rivalry trophy, sculpted in 2008 to reflect both schools’ midwestern ties. You know a rivalry trophy is elite when players enter a full sprint the second the clock hits zero to retrieve it. Northern Illinois wanted that one so badly, especially with this being the final installment before the Huskies leave for the Mountain West.
A few weeks ago, Bowling Green tied Toledo at 43-43-4 in the all-time Battle of I-75 series. The Bronze Stalk series was tied heading into Saturday, and Northern Illinois took an all-time 26-25-2 lead by winning the last installment for the foreseeable future. Once again, the Bronze Stalk will be sorely missed, but it’s cool how many MAC rivalry series are this close. Even the former Cincinnati vs. Miami (OH) Victory Bell rivalry ended at 61-60-7 in favor of Cincinnati. It makes every game mean that much more.
This is the Thomas Hammock Northern Illinois football Huskie fans know and love, and it finally made an appearance in 2025. The defense reverted back to its usual dominance, while the offense grounded and pounded the ball through Ball State. NIU attained a season-high in rushing at 305 yards with Chavon Wright and Telly Johnson Jr. reaching 166 and 100, respectively. NIU built such a brand off running the ball like this under Hammock that you only have to go back to Nov. 13, 2024 to find the last game with two 100-yard running backs.
NIU’s defense made every clutch stop imaginable. The Huskies snatched one interception at the 7-yard line and another in the end zone. The Jasper Beeler end zone interception transpired immediately after a Jay’shon Thomas sack which moved Ball State backward from the 4-yard line to the 13. NIU forced three second half turnovers, including a muffed punt recovery which set up the touchdown to make it 21-7.

Central Michigan 38, UMass 13

The injuries are piling up so much at UMass that head coach Joe Harasymiak said he was serving as the scout team cornerback. As that statement may imply, the Minutemen did not win this game.
Central Michigan has thrown a combined 18 passes during its two-game win streak, defeating Bowling Green and UMass by a collective score of 65-19 in the process. The Chippewas were quite efficient with their passing game too, producing 296 yards on those 18 passes (16.4 yards per attempt). As I’ve said before, this is Army football. Use the threat of a domineering run game to create explosives through the air. Matt Drinkall has mastered it (doing it with a rare effective two-quarterback system, impressively enough).
Central Michigan threw for 47 more yards than UMass. Central Michigan attempted 13 passes. UMass attempted 51.
Central Michigan vs. Western Michigan is going to be incredible next week. Two of the most physical teams in the MAC. That’s going to be a war of attrition, and both teams are 3-1 in league play, adding extra significance to a great rivalry.

Miami (OH) 26, Western Michigan 17

Miami continues its usual season script of a slow start followed by a stellar showing in MAC play. Chuck Martin has built a machine in Oxford, OH. That’s five-straight wins and a 4-0 showing against MAC teams — standing alone at the top of the standings. Miami is now 20-2 in its last 22 regular season conference matchups, dating back to the end of 2022. Oh, and this RedHawks team lost all 11 starters in the offseason.
Why does Miami excel on an annual basis? It’s because they’ve built something sustainable with their continuity. Chuck Martin is in year 12 with the program and both coordinators — Pat Welsh on offense and Bill Breich on defense — are also 12th-year men. That continuity keeps players in house, and Miami keeps developing in-house talent. Defensive end Adam Trick and outside linebacker Corban Hondru were reserves last year, and those were the stars of this Western Michigan game and the stars of the season. Trick produced the game-swinging forced fumble, flying past the Broncos’ left tackle for a strip sack in the fourth quarter of a 23-17 ball game. Meanwhile Hondru chipped in a season-high 14 tackles with 1.5 TFLs and a sack. These guys were RedHawk reserves from 2022-24 with the occasional start. They stayed the course and reaped the rewards.
I love Kam Perry’s stat-lines. It’s like 2010 DeSean Jackson back when he was playing with Michael Vick on the Eagles — deep ball or bust. Perry secured four receptions for 98 yards (and a critical two-point conversion) in Saturday’s game. Miami’s leading receiver actually decreased his receiving average with 24.5 yards per catch. Now he’s up to 612 yards on the year with 27.8 yards per catch — still leading the country among players with 10+ receptions, and he has 22.
Western Michigan’s inability to get the running backs going is quite surprising. Losing Jacob Gideon and Addison West on the o-line hasn’t been easy, but NFL-caliber linemen and elite running back talent has been the Broncos’ signature for a decade. That’s one element of the offense preventing the Broncos from truly breaking through thus far.

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