All Mid-American Conference teams saw action last weekend, but the conference couldn’t scrape up any wins against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.
In a game in which the Gators didn’t put up the offensive numbers they are used to seeing, Miami (OH) struggled on offense, falling to Florida. The RedHawks couldn’t capitalize on three Gator turnovers and lost by a score of 34-12.
Miami quarterback Zac Dysert threw for 191 yards, and Trevor Cook made four field goals.
Coach Mike Haywood said he was happy with his squad’s defensive performance.
“Going into the fourth quarter we had limited them to twenty-four yards of total offense,” he said yesterday on the Mid-American Conference Teleconference. “We gave up two big plays in the fourth quarter, which really took the game out of hand.”
Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan both suffered close losses this weekend.
Troy beat Bowling Green 30-27 on a late field goal, and Army beat Eastern Michigan 31-27.
The Arizona Wildcats pummeled Toledo with a score of 41-2. The usually explosive Rockets managed only 183 yards of total offense on the night.
Syracuse toppled Akron 29-3, using a balanced attack to gain 431 yards against the
Zips defense.
Western Michigan squared off against Big Ten opponent Michigan State. The Spartans’ offensive attack was led by Le’Veon Bell, who ran for two touchdowns in the 38-14 victory.
The Broncos’ Alex Carder, who replaced Tim Hiller at quarterback, threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns in his debut.
It wasn’t all negative for the conference, though, as Buffalo and Central Michigan blanked their respective opponents.
The Bulls matched up against Rhode Island and won 31-0 in coach Jeff Quinn’s debut. Quarterback Jerry Davis threw for 302 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
“Most of the questions that we had on the offensive side was replacing a quarterback and Jerry did that, throwing four touchdowns,” Quinn said in the teleconference. “The wide receiving corps obviously was another question mark and saw some great things out of them.”
The Chippewas offense, in its first game since quarterback Dan LeFevour graduated, churned out 427 yards of offense on its way to a 33-0 victory against Hampton.