The Buffalo football team remained undefeated in the Mid-American Conference, outplaying Kent State to a score of 41-21.
Bulls senior running back Branden Oliver led the rout of Kent State by rushing for 185 yards on 31 carries and scoring a career-high four touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Alex Neutz and junior wide receiver Devon Hughes each caught a touchdown from quarterback Joe Licata, who threw for 285 yards by completing 20-of-31 passes.
The Golden Flashes (2-7, 1-4 MAC) scored two touchdowns, one at the end of the third quarter and one at the beginning of the fourth quarter, that put them within thirteen points of Buffalo. However, they could not score again.
Kent State was plagued by two interceptions thrown by freshman quarterback Colin Reardon, who finished the day with 260 yards and a touchdown in addition to the miscues.
Buffalo (6-2, 4-0 MAC) faces Ohio, which is 3-1 in the MAC, next Saturday. Kent State will take on Akron.
Wenning leads Ball State
Ball State also remained undefeated in the MAC by beating Akron 42-24 on Saturday in Ohio.
Cardinals (8-1, 5-0 MAC) quarterback Keith Wenning went 25-for-35 for 240 yards and five touchdowns. He connected with both sophomore wide receiver Jordan Williams and junior wide receiver Willie Snead twice.
Snead surpassed 1,000 yards on the season for the second year in a row after Saturday’s 100-yard performance.
Cardinals junior running back Jahwan Edwards added a touchdown on 120 rushing yards on 25 carries.
Junior running back Jawon Chisholm rushed for a game high 166 yards on 26 carries for the Zips (2-7, 1-4 MAC).
Akron sophomore quarterback Kyle Pohl threw two interceptions and just one touchdown on 206 passing yards.
Ball State looks to remain undefeated in conference play as it take on Central Michigan next week.
Lynch shines for NIU
The No. 18 Northern Illinois football team cruised past Eastern Michigan 59-20 on Saturday on the arms, legs and hands of quarterback Jordan Lynch.
The Heisman Trophy hopeful totaled 339 yards, threw four touchdown passes and also caught and rushed for a touchdown in the rout.
Within the first nine minutes of the game, the Huskies (8-0, 4-0 MAC) scored 27 points. Da’aron Brown and Joel Bouagnon both caught touchdowns from Lynch. Lynch also led the team in rushing with 99 yards.
Backups Drew Hare and Matt McIntosh also threw for touchdowns and went a combined 4-for-6 for 91 yards.
Eagles (1-7, 0-4 MAC) quarterbacks Brogan Roback and Tyler Benz threw for a mere 173 combined yards and only found the end zone once.
Eastern Michigan was held to 164 rushing yards on the day, about half of Northern Illinois’ 327 rushing yards.
Next weekend, Eastern Michigan will face Toledo. Northern Illinois will travel to Gillette Stadium to take on Massachusetts.
Matthew Zackman can be reached at [email protected].
