Football: MAC Has Pulled Off Some Upsets
July 20, 2009
Matt Sussman walks down memory lane in his review of some of the MAC's better opening day upsets.
By Matt Sussman
Wow, it's almost college football time again. And that first week on Sept. 3 has a goldmine of upsets. Miami hosts Kentucky. Western Michigan strolls into Ann Arbor. Akron visits Penn State. Northern Illinois buses up to Wisconsin. Worst case — all four of those games do not turn out well for the MAC. But even one win could help the conference shine.
It seems every year or so, there's a great upset that equalizes all the terrible, terrible losses at the hands of Big Ten foes. I wanted to get a list of the "best" such opening week games, and was planning on making a top five. But as I pored through the results, I found ten games that could qualify. So, heck, let's not leave anybody out. Moreover, let's not put them in any particular order other than date. This is for the benefit of anybody else who isn't a Bowling Green fan, because you know I'd just load the top of the list with Falcons victories.
August 30, 2008: Bowling Green 24, Pittsburgh 17
Last year, Dave Wannstedt's boys in Pitt were a trendy pick to win the Big East and reach a BCS game. The Panthers did finish second in the conference at 9-4, which was enough to overlook their disastrous home opener. The 25th-ranked Panthers had a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, but the Falcons answered back with a 24-3 finish to the game. This was the high point for Bowling Green, which finished 6-6 and didn't reach a bowl game.
September 1, 2007: Bowling Green 32, Minnesota 31
The Gophers were, how do you say, not that good in '07. New coach, new quarterback ... it was a year in which the promise was there, just not immediately. But the Minnesotans might've had a good start under the Tim Brewster era as they came back from a 21-0 halftime deficit against the Falcons at home to rally in the fourth and actually took a three-point lead with 2:12 remaining, only to see the game go into overtime. When Minnesota scored on the second play in OT, so did the Falcons on their possession, and bet all-in with the two-point conversion. An incredible Santonio Holmes-in-the-Super-Bowl-type catch by Freddie Barnes from Tyler Sheehan sealed the victory.
August 28, 2003: Northern Illinois 20, Maryland 13
It seems so recent, but seven years ago the Maryland Terrapins had a storybook season, going 11-3 and winning the Peach Bowl over Tennessee. It was a remarkable turnaround led by the hefty, lovable coach Ralph Friedgen, and defensive coordinator/ex-BGSU head coach Gary Blackney. This was the NIU team with superback Michael Turner, who had 131 all-purpose yards in the upset. The Huskies finished 10-2, but did not go to a bowl game.
Michael Turner ran all over the Terrapins.
August 29, 2002: Northern Illinois 42, Wake Forest 41
Turner was only a backup in the 2002 season, but he did return a kickoff for at touchdown to begin chipping away at a 14-0 lead built by the Demon Deacons. With the scoreboard getting hit like Whack-A-Mole at a black belt coronation, the Huskies never led until overtime. Once Wake Forest came back and scored a TD on its possession, the Deamon Deacons went for the win but Ovie Mughelli, now a fullback for the Atlanta Falcons, was stopped trying to run in the two-point conversion.
September 1, 2001: Bowling Green 20, Missouri 13
This is one of my all time favorite stories. Missouri senior quarterback Kirk Farmer missed the opener because he broke his hand after punching a man in the face. At first everyone thought it was a bar fight, but his version of the story was that as he was going to a friend's house about a month before the BG game, a man he didn't know approached him in the street, shook his hand and then tackled him to the ground. He punched him twice in the face in self defense, and his friends didn't intervene. Nevertheless, he didn't play in the game and BGSU ended up winning in Columbia by seven. As a footnote to this story, this was Gary Pinkel's first game in Missouri after departing Toledo, and it would also be the first game Urban Meyer coached at the I-A level.
August 30, 2001: Toledo 38, Minnesota 7
A win was probable for the Rockets. They were favored by five points. But a 31-point slaughtering of a Big Ten team? That was shocking. The coaching debut of Tom Amstutz was made memorable by Chester Taylor's 186-yard, four-touchdown performance. The Rockets were up 17-0 after the first quarter. The rest was icing on the frosting, which was on the chocolate drizzle, which topped the fudge.
September 2, 2000: Toledo 24, Penn State 6
The Nittany Lions were ranked 22nd to start the season. The Rockets scored the first 24 points of the game. There's this vivid memory of seeing Amstutz, then the offensive coordinator, cheering from the press box, and ESPN played it over and over as Chester Taylor decimated the Penn State defense.
Chester Taylor had two touchdowns against Penn State.
September 4, 1999: Marshall 13, Clemson 10
Hey, remember Marshall? Whatever happened to them? They were supposed to leave to Conference USA for greener pastures, but they basically fell off the football map. Their top year was that undefeated '99 season, which began with a trip to Clemson. It's tough to quantify how clutch that final drive was for Chad Pennington and the Thundering Herd (other than 11 plays, 74 yards), so just watch the highlights.
September 5, 1998: Miami 13, North Carolina 10
This one's easily the most shocking of the ten upsets. UNC was ranked No. 15; Miami was not even on the radar. (Sports Illustrated didn't even have them winning the MAC East.) But the RedHawks overcame a 10-0 deficit at halftime and kicked the game-winning field goal with one second remaining. MU would finish 10-1 in the season but would not play in a bowl. Good thing today they corrected such oversights by letting any team who doesn't field a team of fifth graders play in a bowl. UNC would finish a disappointing 7-5, perhaps because they had Julius Peppers playing tight end and freshman quarterback Ronald Curry, who is now a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions.
September 14, 1968: Toledo 31, Richmond 14
(Aw, heck, let's go old school. Tom Watson is so popular right now.) Sandwiched between MAC championships in '67 and '69 was a pretty pathetic finish by the Rockets with a 5-4-1 record. However, they did start off the season with a rather good thrashing of the Richmond Spiders. It wasn't much at the time, but it would turn out to be a great victory. Richmond finished 8-3 and won the Southern Conference. They would also go to the Tangerine Bowl and beat the MAC champion Ohio Bobcats, who were previously unbeaten, 49-42 and finish 20th in the AP poll. You're not gonna believe this, but there are no YouTube clips from this game.
Wow, it's almost college football time again. And that first week on Sept. 3 has a goldmine of upsets. Miami hosts Kentucky. Western Michigan strolls into Ann Arbor. Akron visits Penn State. Northern Illinois buses up to Wisconsin. Worst case — all four of those games do not turn out well for the MAC. But even one win could help the conference shine.
It seems every year or so, there's a great upset that equalizes all the terrible, terrible losses at the hands of Big Ten foes. I wanted to get a list of the "best" such opening week games, and was planning on making a top five. But as I pored through the results, I found ten games that could qualify. So, heck, let's not leave anybody out. Moreover, let's not put them in any particular order other than date. This is for the benefit of anybody else who isn't a Bowling Green fan, because you know I'd just load the top of the list with Falcons victories.
August 30, 2008: Bowling Green 24, Pittsburgh 17
Last year, Dave Wannstedt's boys in Pitt were a trendy pick to win the Big East and reach a BCS game. The Panthers did finish second in the conference at 9-4, which was enough to overlook their disastrous home opener. The 25th-ranked Panthers had a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, but the Falcons answered back with a 24-3 finish to the game. This was the high point for Bowling Green, which finished 6-6 and didn't reach a bowl game.
September 1, 2007: Bowling Green 32, Minnesota 31
The Gophers were, how do you say, not that good in '07. New coach, new quarterback ... it was a year in which the promise was there, just not immediately. But the Minnesotans might've had a good start under the Tim Brewster era as they came back from a 21-0 halftime deficit against the Falcons at home to rally in the fourth and actually took a three-point lead with 2:12 remaining, only to see the game go into overtime. When Minnesota scored on the second play in OT, so did the Falcons on their possession, and bet all-in with the two-point conversion. An incredible Santonio Holmes-in-the-Super-Bowl-type catch by Freddie Barnes from Tyler Sheehan sealed the victory.
August 28, 2003: Northern Illinois 20, Maryland 13
It seems so recent, but seven years ago the Maryland Terrapins had a storybook season, going 11-3 and winning the Peach Bowl over Tennessee. It was a remarkable turnaround led by the hefty, lovable coach Ralph Friedgen, and defensive coordinator/ex-BGSU head coach Gary Blackney. This was the NIU team with superback Michael Turner, who had 131 all-purpose yards in the upset. The Huskies finished 10-2, but did not go to a bowl game.
Michael Turner ran all over the Terrapins.
August 29, 2002: Northern Illinois 42, Wake Forest 41
Turner was only a backup in the 2002 season, but he did return a kickoff for at touchdown to begin chipping away at a 14-0 lead built by the Demon Deacons. With the scoreboard getting hit like Whack-A-Mole at a black belt coronation, the Huskies never led until overtime. Once Wake Forest came back and scored a TD on its possession, the Deamon Deacons went for the win but Ovie Mughelli, now a fullback for the Atlanta Falcons, was stopped trying to run in the two-point conversion.
September 1, 2001: Bowling Green 20, Missouri 13
This is one of my all time favorite stories. Missouri senior quarterback Kirk Farmer missed the opener because he broke his hand after punching a man in the face. At first everyone thought it was a bar fight, but his version of the story was that as he was going to a friend's house about a month before the BG game, a man he didn't know approached him in the street, shook his hand and then tackled him to the ground. He punched him twice in the face in self defense, and his friends didn't intervene. Nevertheless, he didn't play in the game and BGSU ended up winning in Columbia by seven. As a footnote to this story, this was Gary Pinkel's first game in Missouri after departing Toledo, and it would also be the first game Urban Meyer coached at the I-A level.
August 30, 2001: Toledo 38, Minnesota 7
A win was probable for the Rockets. They were favored by five points. But a 31-point slaughtering of a Big Ten team? That was shocking. The coaching debut of Tom Amstutz was made memorable by Chester Taylor's 186-yard, four-touchdown performance. The Rockets were up 17-0 after the first quarter. The rest was icing on the frosting, which was on the chocolate drizzle, which topped the fudge.
September 2, 2000: Toledo 24, Penn State 6
The Nittany Lions were ranked 22nd to start the season. The Rockets scored the first 24 points of the game. There's this vivid memory of seeing Amstutz, then the offensive coordinator, cheering from the press box, and ESPN played it over and over as Chester Taylor decimated the Penn State defense.
Chester Taylor had two touchdowns against Penn State.
September 4, 1999: Marshall 13, Clemson 10
Hey, remember Marshall? Whatever happened to them? They were supposed to leave to Conference USA for greener pastures, but they basically fell off the football map. Their top year was that undefeated '99 season, which began with a trip to Clemson. It's tough to quantify how clutch that final drive was for Chad Pennington and the Thundering Herd (other than 11 plays, 74 yards), so just watch the highlights.
September 5, 1998: Miami 13, North Carolina 10
This one's easily the most shocking of the ten upsets. UNC was ranked No. 15; Miami was not even on the radar. (Sports Illustrated didn't even have them winning the MAC East.) But the RedHawks overcame a 10-0 deficit at halftime and kicked the game-winning field goal with one second remaining. MU would finish 10-1 in the season but would not play in a bowl. Good thing today they corrected such oversights by letting any team who doesn't field a team of fifth graders play in a bowl. UNC would finish a disappointing 7-5, perhaps because they had Julius Peppers playing tight end and freshman quarterback Ronald Curry, who is now a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions.
September 14, 1968: Toledo 31, Richmond 14
(Aw, heck, let's go old school. Tom Watson is so popular right now.) Sandwiched between MAC championships in '67 and '69 was a pretty pathetic finish by the Rockets with a 5-4-1 record. However, they did start off the season with a rather good thrashing of the Richmond Spiders. It wasn't much at the time, but it would turn out to be a great victory. Richmond finished 8-3 and won the Southern Conference. They would also go to the Tangerine Bowl and beat the MAC champion Ohio Bobcats, who were previously unbeaten, 49-42 and finish 20th in the AP poll. You're not gonna believe this, but there are no YouTube clips from this game.