
• Among the ‘Group of Five’ Conferences this year, the MAC posts a 3-2 record vs. both Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference, while sporting . . .
• Last week witnessed the MAC with wins over Army (Independent), Florida Atlantic (C-USA), Georgia Southern (Sun Belt) and Wyoming (Mountain West). The MAC now has 14 FBS wins this regular season, which surpasses last year’s total of 12. This year’s 14 FBS wins also is tied for the second-most since 2000, tied with 2008 (14 FBS wins) and trailing only the 2012 season (16 FBS wins). The MAC has two final FBS non-conference regular season games this weekend with Toledo at BYU on Fri., Sept. 30 at 10:15 pm ET (ESPN2) and Buffalo at Boston College on Sat., Oct. 1 at 1:00 pm ET (ACC Network Extra/ESPN3).
• This season the MAC also has four ‘Power Five’ wins -- Northwestern, Illinois from the Big Ten and Oklahoma State and Kansas from the Big 12.
• Western Michigan defeated Georgia Southern, 49-31, to remain undefeated as the Broncos’ 4-0 start is its best since the program went 5-0 to open the season in 1994. Western Michigan turned a 7-7 early first quarter contest into a comfortable lead with 28 points in the second quarter to open a 35-17 halftime lead. The Broncos used big plays in the second half as Darius Phillips returned a kickoff 100-yards for a touchdown and also added a 70-yard interception returned for a touchdown in the 49-31 final.
This season Western Michigan became the fourth MAC program in Conference history to win two games against Big Ten opponents in the same regular season.
• 2016: Western Michigan 34-10 win at Illinois; 22-21 win at Northwestern
• 2015: Bowling Green wins at Maryland; at Purdue
• 2013: Northern Illinois wins at Iowa; at Purdue
• 2003: Bowling Green win at Purdue; vs. Northwestern (Motor City Bowl)
BRONCOS AND ROCKETS GET VOTES IN NATIONAL POLLS
Coming off another big win in a 49-31 win over Georgia Southern, Western Michigan improved to 4-0 on the season to complete the non-conference portion of the schedule. Western Michigan will travel to Central Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:00 pm ET on CBS Sports Network. Also undefeated, Toledo sits at 3-0 after a bye week and a trip to BYU this Friday, Sept. 30th at 10:15 pm ET on ESPN2. Both Western Michigan and Toledo received votes in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll (Western Michigan-14 votes; Toledo-1 vote) and the Amway/USA Today Coaches Poll (Western Michigan-25 votes; Toledo-4 votes).
RIVALRY WEEK COMING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1ST
The Mid-American Conference will witness four rivalry games this Saturday.
• Akron at Kent State at 3:30 pm ET in the ‘Battle of the Wagon Wheel’.
• NIU at Ball State at 3:30 pm ET in the ‘Battle of the Bronze Stalk’.
• Ohio at Miami at 2:30 pm ET in the ‘Battle of the Bricks’.
• Western Michigan at Central Michigan at 7:00 pm ET in the ‘Battle of the Cannon’ Trophy.
TWO MAC RECEIVERS LEAD NATION IN RECEPTION STREAK
The MAC is home to two of the top 10 wide receivers with the longest current reception streak in the nation. Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis (40 games) is tied for first in the country, while Bowling Green’s Ronnie Moore (34 games) ranks eighth in the nation. Also, Toledo wideout Corey Jones (28 games) is tied for 15th in the country in this category.
Davis added 78 yards on six receptions and one touchdown in a 49-31 win over Georgia Southern. Davis currently has 4,180 career receiving yards and needs only eight yards to become the MAC’s all-time career leading receiver (Jordan White, Western Michigan, 4,187, 2006-11).