Northern Illinois: 2012 MAC Champions

NIU takes MAC title in 2 OT

By Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune reporter
11:34 PM CST, November 30, 2012


DETROIT — Northern Illinois won its second straight Mid-American Conference championship Friday night, out-dueling No. 17 Kent State 44-37 in double-overtime at Ford Field to defend its title in exhausting fashion.

NIU (21-1) has won 12 straight while Kent State (11-2) had its 10-game winning streak snapped. The No. 21 Huskies became the first NIU team ever to win 12 games in a season.

"We beat a team tonight that beat Rutgers at Rutgers. It was a great season for our conference," NIU coach Dave Doeren said. "For us to go through the entire MAC schedule undefeated and beat this team in double-overtime says a lot about our football team.

"I don't care where you play. There's a huge target on these guys' back. Because of the streaks we have, it even adds to that incentive. With all that on the line, we just keep winning."

Jordan Lynch, the MAC regular-season MVP, rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner in the second overtime. Lynch broke the NCAA record for quarterback rushing yards with 1,771, eclipsing the 1,702-yard mark Michigan's Denard Robinson set in 2010. Lynch also completed 19 of 34 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and an interception.

Lynch played down all of the conversation about being a Heisman Trophy candidate and setting national records.

"All that stuff's great. I just feel all that stuff is for the (team) banquet," Lynch said. "I really don't want to talk about it today. It was a total team effort today. None of that (individual) stuff is possible if it wasn't for my teammates.

"I'm just so happy and proud of these guys … just happy to be MAC champion."

The Golden Flashes had their final offensive opportunity in the second overtime thwarted when Demetrius Stone intercepted Spencer Keith's fourth-down pass in the end zone.

While pollsters, selection committees and other ranked teams will determine the long shot BCS bowl fate for NIU, the players determined the outcome on the field Friday night.

Akeem Daniels rushed for 128 yards and one touchdown. He also caught four passes for 67 yards. Martel Moore and Perez Ashford also had four catches apiece.

NIU converted 10 of 19 third-down situations and 2 of 2 fourth downs.

"If we can get to fourth-and-short, we're going to try and go," Doeren said. "Leading the way with some beef and with Jordan following them or Akeem following them, it was a nice little package."

NIU's defense limited Kent State running back Dri Archer to 15 yards rushing. He entered the game averaging 9.7 yards a carry. Archer did manage to catch five passes for 81 yards.

The Huskies' Tyler Weidel executed pooch kickoffs all night to keep the ball away from Archer, but the Golden Flashes came away with excellent field position.

"He's a great football player and it hurt us the second half … they got out to the 50 several times," Doeren said.

Doeren and Kent State coach Darrell Hazell each had predicted a close game that would come down to the final seconds.

"To their credit, they made some good adjustments at halftime and threw some slant balls on us that we didn't do a good job defending," Doeren said. "Once we got that under control, we got a lot better. Our fourth-down stop is similar to a takeaway, defensively. Any time we can do that and give the offense the ball back without losing field position is big."

With representatives from the Orange and Sugar bowls in attendance, Northern Illinois led 17-10 at the half. They led 27-13 going into the fourth quarter before Kent State scored 14 points within 15 seconds to tie the game 27-27.

When Lynch scored on a 9-yard run with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in regulation, Kent State countered with a 19-yard pass from Keith to Tim Erjavec with 44 seconds left.

Freddy Cortez kicked his third field goal of the night from 33 yards to lift Kent State into a 37-34 lead in the first OT. But NIU's Mathew Sims came through with a clutch 40-yarder to extend the contest.

Lynch scored from 2 yards out on the next possession, setting up the Golden Flashes final, futile drive.

The Huskies appeared in the MAC title game for the third straight year, having won it last season over Ohio on a last-second field goal. Friday night's contest was every bit intriguing and represented the first MAC championship game to go into overtime.

This was the first time since 2003 that two nationally ranked teams were battling for the MAC championship.

"Well, what a great football game. It's a tough one for us to swallow right now," Hazell said. "That's a great football team we played and they did an excellent job.

"I was proud of our football team for keep battling back after being down 14 points. We just needed to make a couple of more plays at the end on both sides of the ball."

fmitchell@tribune.com

Twitter @kicker34


Stanford: 2012 Pac-12 Champions

Stanford football: It’s Rose Bowl for Cardinal

With the weather relenting, Stanford beat UCLA for the second time in six days Friday night 27-24 and won the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 1999.
They’re headed for the Rose Bowl, and quarterback Kevin Hogan, the game’s MVP, is 4-4 in his starts, all against ranked opponents.
A potential tying 52-yard field goal attempt by the Bruins’Ka’imi Fairbairn was wide left with 39 seconds left.
In Pasadena on Jan. 1, the No. 8 Cardinal (11-2) will play the winner of Saturday’s Big Ten title game between Nebraska and Wisconsin.
No. 17 UCLA (9-4) had a superb 194-yard rushing performance by Johnathan Franklin, but the Cardinal made the big plays at the end.
Hogan completed 16-of 22 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, while Stepfan Taylor rushed for 78 yards and broke the Stanford career rushing record.
UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley completed 23 of 31 passes for 177 yards and rushed for another 83 yards.
Jordan Williamson’s 36-yard field goal gave Stanford a 27-24 lead with 6:49 left. A 23-yard run by Kelsey Young  followed an 18-yard punt return by Drew Terrell to help set up the field goal.
UCLA reached the Stanford 42 on the ensuing possession, but the Cardinal held and A.J. Tarpley couldn’t hang on to an interception on third down.
The Bruins forced a Stanford punt when Tevin McDonaldd broke up a pass intended for tight end Levine Toilolo.
A fourth-down pass to tight end Joseph Fauria kept UCLA’s drive alive, but Fairbairn missed the field goal.
A 31-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn on UCLA’s first possession of the second half tied the score 17-17. Franklin ignited the drive with a 32-yard run.
After holding the Cardinal to one first down on their next possession, the Bruins marched 80 yards to a go-ahead score. Hundley threw a perfect 20-yard strike to Shaq Evans on the right sideline. Franklin finished the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to make it 24-17 Bruins.
But Hogan fired a 26-yard touchdown pass to Drew Terrell to tie the score 3:39 into the fourth quarter.
The crowd, announced as 31,622 but was probably more like 25,000 because of the threat of rain. Except for a couple of showers, it turned out to be a fine night.
Franklin nearly equaled his 65-yard rushing output of last week on the first drive. He broke loose for a 51-yard touchdown just 3:25 into the game.  He ran up the middle untouched and outraced Alex Carter and Jordan Richards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Stanford tied it on Hogan’s 2-yard bootleg run around the left side, completely fooling the UCLA defense. On the previous play, Taylor took a swing pass, broke a tackle by Cassius Marsh and sprinted 34 yards to the 2.
The Bruins continued to gash the vaunted Stanford rushing defense. Hundley ran 48 yards on a keeper, and Franklin ripped off a 19-yard gain before Hundley scored on a 5-yard keeper. He rolled briefly to the right, cut back and raced untouched around the left side to the touchdown, putting UCLA up 14-7.
The Bruins had 132 yards rushing in the first quarter, nearly double what Stanford’s nation-leading defense averages surrendering (71.3).
UCLA was driving again early in the second quarter when safety Ed Reynolds made his sixth interception of the season and pulled off a magnificent 80-yard return. To the Stanford fans’ displeasure, he was called down on the 1-yard line on a tackle by quarterback Hundley. The call was upheld on a review.
Reynolds grabbed Hundley’s pass at the Stanford 19, kept his feet in bounds, shook off a couple of tackles and broke into the open field before Hundley finally caught him.
Taylor scored his 14th touchdown of the season on the next play, tying the score.
In the closing minute of the first half, Taylor broke Darrin Nelson’s 31-year-old school record of 4,169 career rushing yards. His 10-yard run set up Jordan Williamson’s 17-14, which gave Stanford a 17-14 edge on the final play of the half.
UCLA had a 268-190 advantage in total yardage in the first half, chiefly on Franklin’s 113 rushing yards on 10 carries.


ISML 2012: Picks, Male Tournament Match Day 2

Picks for Match Day 1 have been intentionally omitted due to makeup. No odds will be posted during the Male Tournament, which takes place following the ISML season proper.


ARENA 01: [Lelouch Lamperouge] Yatogami Kurō
ARENA 02: [Kinoshita Hideyoshi] Ciel Phantomhive
ARENA 03: [Sakata Gintoki] Kuchiki Byakuya
ARENA 04: [Katsuragi Keima] Uchiha Itachi
ARENA 05: [Kyon] Hijikata Toshirō
ARENA 06: [Orihara Izaya] Yagami Light
ARENA 07: Edward Elric [Okazaki Tomoya]
ARENA 08: [Gilgamesh] Okumura Rin
ARENA 09: Watashi Iris [Erica Blandelli]
ARENA 10: [Horizon Ariadust] Nagase Iori Yukimura Chizuru
ARENA 11: [Kirigaya Suguha] Takenaka Hanbee Kanamori Hakata
ARENA 12: Yui [Rebecca Anderson] Aida Yurume
ARENA 13: [Shiina Mashiro] Nazuna Nel
ARENA 14: Neko Nishizumi Miho [Naze Yōka]
ARENA 15: [Nibutani Shinka] Senomiya Akiho Arnval Mk.2
ARENA 16: Tachibana Mei Fuwa Aika [Kurosaki Mea]