Written by Mike Perry

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The Big Ten squared off with the Mid-American Conference Saturday, and things did not go too well for the MAC. Michigan, sans Heisman candidate Denard Robinson for most of the game, put 65 points on the board against an overmatched Bowling Green defense. Ohio State, the second-ranked team in the nation, hung a school record 73 points on Eastern Michigan, who could not come close to covering diminutive Buckeyes wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher.

However, despite these two blowout losses, the MAC did not embarrass itself as a league against the first or second-best football conference in the country. Two MAC teams, Toledo and Northern Illinois, were able to claim road victories against Big Ten foes. Temple led Penn State early and, but for an ankle injury to super-sophomore running back Bernard Pierce in the fourth quarter, could have pulled off a monumental upset against Penn State in State College.

The MAC went 2-6 overall Saturday, averaging 20.5 points per game while giving up 39.1. However, if you throw out the Michigan and Ohio State point totals the MAC’s defenses gave up 27.5 points per game to their Big Ten opponents.

Northern Illinois running back Chad Spann had a huge game in the Huskies’ 34-23 win over Minnesota at the Golden Gophers’ new TCF Bank Stadium. He carried the ball 15 times for 223 yards (a 14.8 yards per carry average) and found the end zone twice. Toledo sophomore quarterback Austin Dantin also had a huge game in the Rockets’ 31-20 win over Purdue in West Lafayette. Dantin completed 24 of 31 passes for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns while rushing for 64 yards (including a 58-yard touchdown jaunt) as Toledo built a big early lead and held on to top the Boilermakers.

There were some big numbers given up by MAC defenses. In Michigan’s win over Bowling Green the Wolverines had 466 rushing yards and an astounding 721 total yards. Eastern Michigan allowed 645 total yards to the Buckeyes.

The Iowa defense also overwhelmed the Ball State offense, holding the Cardinals to eight total first downs, 56 yards on the ground and in the air and 112 total yards in the Hawkeyes’ 45-0 victory in Iowa City. Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell torched the Akron defense with four first-half touchdown passes and Penn State running back rushed for a career-high 187 yards against Temple.

Heading into conference play Temple leads the Eastern Division with a 3-1 overall record, 1-0 in the conference. They are followed by Miami (2-2, 1-0), Kent State (1-2, 0-0), Bowling Green (1-3, 0-0), Buffalo (1-3, 0-0), Ohio (1-3, 0-1) and Akron (0-4, 0-0). Toledo leads the Western Division at 3-1, 2-2 followed by Central Michigan (2-2, 1-1), Northern Illinois (2-2, 0-0), Western Michigan (1-2, 0-1), Ball State (1-3, 0-0) and Eastern Michigan (0-4, 0-2).