The Penguins of Youngstown, Ohio are on fire!
Big wins across Ohio in Week 6!
#16 Ohio State 5-1 (3-0 in the Big Ten)
The Buckeyes clobbered Maryland, 45-16, to set up their big road showdown with Indiana next week. Jeremiah Smith was his usual self, making circus catches and scoring touchdowns. The Buckeye defense had a great game, allowing only 146 yards of total offense to the Terps. Ohio State had a great game running the ball, with Bo Jackson getting 107 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. Ohio State now has their rematch of the 2025 Big Ten Championship game in Indiana this week.
Cincinnati 4-1 (1-1 in the Big 12)
The Bearcats had a bye this week, giving them a chance to rest and lick their wounds. UC will play on the road next week in Morgantown against West Virginia.
Miami (Ohio) 3-3 (1-1 in the MAC)
The RedHawks had a battle on the road in Amherst against UMass. Miami would get a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter and would try to sit on it too long. So long that it almost hatched into a defeat. UMass would rally, and the Minutemen would get a field goal and would get a touchdown at the literal last second. With the clock reading 0:01, UMass scored, making it a 20-19 game. The Minutemen got greedy, though, and went for the win instead of overtime; the RedHawk defense stopped the conversion and got Miami their first MAC win of 2026. Miami will be back home in Butler County this week against Akron.
Ohio 4-2 (2-0 in the MAC)
OU would get the win against CMU and continue to be strong at home in Athens. The Bobcats were led by a strong rushing attack with 245 yards on the ground. Ohio also had rock-solid quarterback play in the 31-14 victory. Nick Poulos was effective throwing the ball, going 11 of 18 for 158 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 52 yards to the rushing game. Poulos and Ohio will try to get their third straight victory when they go on the road to Sacramento State this week.
Bowling Green 2-4 (2-0 in the MAC)
If you have to start a season 2-4, you probably prefer to start it 2-0 in conference play. BGSU did just that with their 38-10 victory at home against MAC newcomer Sacramento State. The Falcons did it behind 218 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. They stuffed the run on defense, too. The Hornets got 70 rushing yards on 35 carries. Bowling Green will look to keep dominating the running game on both sides of the ball as they take on Ball State at home this week.
Toledo 4-2 (1-1 in the MAC)
The Rockets’ four-game winning streak came to an end this week. Losing three fumbles will do that to the best of teams. As will 137 yards on 15 penalties. Not many teams are going to win when they turn the ball over three times and give the opponent 137 extra yards for free. The only silver lining about stopping yourself in those ways is that you can clean it up and do better going forward. Toledo will try to do just that on the road at Eastern Michigan this week.
Akron 1-5 (0-1 in the MAC)
The loss to Eastern Michigan was brutal for Akron. All losses hurt, but when they could just as easily be a win, they hurt a little more. Akron did so much right. They had no turnovers and forced two from EMU. Quarterback Brayden Roggow was good, going 17 of 24 for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Jordan Gant was solid with 22 carries for 117 yards. But a 23-22 lead in the fourth quarter couldn’t be maintained, and an Eastern Michigan field goal would break the Zips’ hearts with a 25-23 loss. Akron will play a team that was able to hold on in the fourth quarter, Miami of Ohio, next week in Oxford.
Kent State 2-4 (1-2 in the MAC)
Kent State got crushed in Kalamazoo. Western Michigan outgained the Golden Flashes 466-298 and outscored them 38-7. Kent State was horrible on third down, going 3 of 13. They had a boatload of penalties too, giving WMU 100 more yards on 11 penalties. The Golden Flashes will play their final non-conference game this Saturday when they go to Tampa, Florida, to take on the South Florida Bulls.
Dayton 4-1 (1-1 in the Pioneer League)
UD got back in the win column against Moorehead State and in a big way! The Flyers got the win by a whopping 56-28 score. It came behind a big day from the Dayton defense and star receiver Gavin Lochow. Lochow had three passes, two rushes, five catches, a kick return, and a fumble recovery. He produced 133 total yards and scored three touchdowns. This was with the Flyer defense holding Moorehead State to 26 rushing yards. UD got their first Pioneer League win and will go for their second next week against at Butler in Indianapolis.
#8 Youngstown State 5-2 (3-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference)
Another day at the office for YSU and star quarterback Beau Brungard. The senior was 25 of 34 for 386 yards with three passing touchdowns and 37 yards and with two touchdowns rushing. Brungard became YSU’s career leader in rushing touchdowns in the victory over Indiana State. Brungard has 56 rushing touchdowns in his career at YSU. Youngstown State will be back at home this coming week for a battle against Northern Iowa in Stambaugh Stadium.
Bill Willis Award Player of the Week
Beau Brungard gets the headlines and rightly so. This week though, YSU had someone else toting the rock. Running back Jaden Gilbert was on fire for Youngstown State, too. Gilbert had 15 carries for 163 yards with three touchdowns and two catches for 28 yards in the 57-24 win over Indiana State.
Writer’s Note: The FBS rankings are from The College Football Power Rankings at TheForkball.com. The FCS rankings are from the FCS STATS Poll.
