Over the past few years, the term “MACtion” has come into use to describe exciting games played (or hype upcoming games) in the Mid-American Conference, or MAC for short. It’s a little bit of a marketing tool, but sometimes the games truly live up to it. Perhaps peak “MACtion” was achieved this past Saturday, as Western Michigan and Buffalo staged a game for the record books. WMU eventually won in seven overtimes against Buffalo, 71-68. The final score, which honestly looks a lot more like a college basketball score, set a record for the most combined points between teams in the FBS era and tied a record for the longest game ever played. Several games have gone seven overtimes, most recently in 2006 when North Texas beat Florida International (strangely, the final score of that game was only 25-22). The teams combined for 77 points in overtimes alone, Buffalo set an FBS record for most points scored in a losing effort, and Buffalo quarterback Drew Henderson threw for 597 yards and seven touchdowns, and lost.
In the previous 81 meetings between Oklahoma and Iowa State, the Cyclones had a total of five wins and two ties to show for it. Iowa State had beaten the Sooners exactly once since 1961. They hadn’t won at all against OU since 1990. They were a 30 1/2-point underdog. Their starting quarterback was out with an injury. The game was in Norman, and Iowa State had zero road wins against top-5 teams in program history. That’s why you play the games. Iowa State shocked Oklahoma 38-31 behind a performance for the ages from Joel Lanning. Lanning played both offense and defense for ISU in the game, and finished with 35 yards rushing, 25 passing, eight tackles, a sack, and a fumble recovery. Playing for 78 plays, he was the first Iowa State player to see significant playing time on both sides of the ball since 1971.
Notre Dame is beginning to make some people take notice. A one-point home loss to Georgia in the second game of the season is the only blemish thus far on the Irish’ ledger, and that loss looks more and more forgivable as the season goes on. Notre Dame beat North Carolina 33-10 on Saturday to register their fifth win of the season against that lone loss. Every win has been by at least twenty points. Admittedly, some of the games have been against inferior competition, but one of those wins came on the road against a Michigan State team that hasn’t lost again all year and just beat Michigan. Still don’t believe? Brian Kelly and company have a few more chances to impress. After a bye this week, the back half of the schedule includes four games against current top-25 competition: the annual USC and Navy games in South Bend, and trips to Miami and Stanford.
In small-school news, it’s time once again for the annual Mount Union report! You might recall from previous years that the Division III power with the crazy-long winning streaks always puts up impressive numbers, and this year’s edition of the Purple Raiders is no exception. After five games, UMU is 5-0, with an average final of 58-6. The closest any opponent has come to them so far is 29 points. Mount Union is averaging 525 yards per game while only giving up 217. Looks like they’re coming a long way towards turning around last year’s disappointment. What constitutes a disappointing year at Mount Union? Going 12-2, the first year they lost twice in a season since 1994!
Congratulations to Bamarock, who wins week six honors with 209 points! Chuck Norris and AllySun were next with 205 points each, and Jeff4Bama was one point behind with 204.
Standings after six weeks:
| 1st | Bamarock | 1280 |
| 2nd | AllySun | 1273 |
| 3rd | Ralphie | 1272 |
| T-3rd | Crimson Gator | 1272 |
| T-3rd | JagAL | 1272 |
| 6th | Paul Herron | 1269 |
| 7th | JagRag | 1268 |
| T-8th | AUBrian | 1267 |
| T-8th | BoomBoomTX | 1267 |
| 10th | Publius | 1255 |
Looking at this week’s games…well, this week’s games don’t look great on paper. No top-25 teams play each other. But there are 22 games, and learn the lessons of Western Michigan-Buffalo and Iowa State-Oklahoma well: every game has the potential for action and records, and no game is an absolute gimme. With lots of points on the line, the difference might be in who correctly picks the timely upset! The first game this week is Clemson at Syracuse, Friday, October 13 @ 7 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!