The Bearcats ran over Kansas State in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati stays unbeaten, OSU wins a turtle trophy, and Ohio’s teams battle on the last Saturday of September!
Ohio State 3-1 (1-0 in the Big Ten)
Ohio State won the Battle for Illibuck, 42-19, amid an offensive bombardment from their passing game. Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith played extremely well, with Jeremiah Smith having 12 catches for 217 yards and a Buckeye single-game tying record of four touchdown receptions. Jeremiah Smith is back in the Heisman race! They’ll need another Heisman-worthy performance out of Smith to beat a 4-0 Iowa team in Iowa City this Saturday!
Cincinnati 4-0 (1-0 in the Big 12)
UC opened Big 12 play at home in Nippert Stadium. They welcomed another 3-0 team to the Queen City and had a battle. Kansas State veteran quarterback Avery Johnson was as advertised, but UC answered every Kansas State strike with a punch of their own. The Cats were rocking behind their two-headed monster rushing attack. Gi’Bran Payne, the team’s leading rusher, had 126 yards and leads the team with 368 yards. Cole Tabb is a star, right alongside Payne. Tabb has 311 rushing yards and seven total touchdowns for the Bearcats, six of them coming in their last two victories. UC has to battle another veteran Big 12 quarterback this Saturday, this time on the road at Arizona against Noah Fifita.
Miami (Ohio) 2-2 (0-0 in the MAC)
Amidst rumors that Miami and their opponent this week, UConn, were interested in joining the American Conference, the two teams did battle in Oxford, Ohio. Miami won behind a fantastic game from their quarterback David McComb. The freshman had 312 yards with two touchdowns passing and another touchdown rushing the ball in the 24-21 victory. McComb has been great for Miami this year. He has 1,121 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns, and three rushing touchdowns for the RedHawks this season. The RedHawks open MAC play this week at home in Yager Stadium against a 0-4 Bowling Green team that is so desperate for a win that they’ll be dangerous.
Ohio 2-2 (0-0 in the MAC)
Ohio hosted Stonehill at Frank Solich Field in Peden Stadium this week. The Bobcats got their second win at home this year with a 35-7 defeat of Stonehill. Ohio’s offense has been strong all season, even in two defeats. They’re averaging over 30 points a game despite having three different quarterbacks competing for the most important job on the field. They’ll head north for an in-state battle against the also 2-2 Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday.
Bowling Green 0-4 (0-0 in the MAC)
In a Battle of Buckeyes, Eddie George’s BGSU Falcons and Brian Hartline’s USF Bulls locked horns and talons this week. The Falcons struggled again to find any offense. They are averaging a mediocre 8.3 points per game in their four losses this season. Their defense was better against the Bulls, holding them to 14 points, but they still lost, 14-6. It doesn’t help that they head down I-75 to Butler County to battle one of the conference favorites in Miami of Ohio this Saturday.
Toledo 3-1 (0-0 in the MAC)
Toledo hosted San Diego State in what could be an important Group of Six battle. The Rockets got a big win for the MAC over the Pac-12. Toledo demolished the Aztecs, 41-16. The Rockets had another big game from star quarterback John Alan Richter. Richter was 16 of 22 for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Toledo has their third straight win now as they head into conference play. They’ll go on the road for the first time since their opener at MSU. It won’t be a long trip down to Muncie, Indiana, to play Ball State.
Akron 1-3 (0-0 in the MAC)
Joe Moorehead and the Zips hosted Dan Mullen and the Rebels this week. Akron fought hard in the first half, and UNLV led 14-10 at the break, but it was all Rebels in the second half. UNLV would put up 493 yards of total offense on their way to a 38-10 victory, outscoring Akron 24-0 in the second half. Akron heads to that state up north this Saturday to battle the Central Michigan Chippewas.
Kent State 2-2 (1-0 in the MAC)
Dru DeShields and Da’Realyst Clark had great games in Kent State’s win over Ball State. DeShields got it done passing and rushing. He was 16 of 25 for 189 yards with two touchdown passes and had 13 carries for 76 yards with another touchdown on the ground. His favorite target was an awesome name, Da’Realyst Clark. Clark had six catches for 73 yards and a touchdown as Kent State starts the year 1-0 in MAC play. They host their foe from Athens this Saturday.
Dayton 3-0 (0-0 in the Pioneer League)
The unbeaten Flyers had a bye this week. They’ll resume play on October 3rd when they play Drake on the road in Des Moines, Iowa.
Youngstown State 3-2 (1-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference)
YSU tried to get back to winning this week, hosting South Dakota in Stambaugh Stadium. Reigning Walter Payton Award winner Beau Brungard was special again. Brungard had 159 yards with a touchdown pass and 170 yards and three touchdowns rushing the ball. YSU got the 47-28 win and their first conference win of the season behind Brungard. The Penguins are on the road this weekend as they head to Carbondale, Illinois, to battle the Southern Illinois Salukis.
Bill Willis Award Player of the Week
The one and only Jeremiah Smith ran away with the award this week. His big week against Illinois put his season numbers up to 33 catches for 617 yards (first in college football at the moment) and seven touchdown catches. From the looks of things, Ohio State may need this from Smith every week to make their third straight trip to the College Football Playoff this season.
