Messiah Burch Runs for 209 as Buffalo Joins a Four-Way Tie Atop the MAC

Wednesday night in the MAC belonged to the ground game. Three finals, three cold home crowds, and every winner built the win the same way: hand it off, lean on the defense, and let the standings sort themselves out. Buffalo ran for 302 yards in the rain at Ball State, 209 of them from Messiah Burch. Central Michigan ran for 319 against Sacramento State. Toledo got its best back from injury and pitched a shutout. When the night ended, first place in the Mid-American Conference belonged to four teams at once — Buffalo, Toledo, Ohio and Western Michigan, all 5-1 with two weeks to play. More from the college game lives on the college front.

Buffalo 28, Ball State 7

For three quarters in Muncie, this was Ball State's kind of game. A weather delay pushed kickoff back at Scheumann Stadium, the rain never let up, and the Cardinals scored first in the strangest way available: Leo Collins blocked a punt and Gabe Aramboles fell on it in the end zone, Ball State's first blocked-punt touchdown since 2016. The Cardinals' defense then spent two quarters backing it up, holding Buffalo to five completions for 48 passing yards on the night and recording four sacks, two of them from Jared Badie.

Buffalo tied it before the half on a 14-yard Jason Wright touchdown pass to Chance Morrow, and from there the night turned into one long argument for the run game. Messiah Burch gave the Bulls their first lead on a 2-yard run with 3:10 left in the third quarter, capping a 12-play, 79-yard drive that ate more than six minutes. Then, with Ball State still within a score and 4:04 left in the game, Burch broke three tackles at the line and went 67 yards down the sideline. Buffalo recovered the ensuing pooch kick at the Ball State 29, and one play later Terrance Shelton ran it in from 29 yards. Ball game.

Burch finished with a career-high 209 yards on 31 carries and two touchdowns, and his 67-yarder made him the 12th player in Buffalo history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Shelton added a career-high 92 yards and the final score as the Bulls (7-3, 5-1 MAC) won their fifth straight and became bowl eligible for the ninth time in program history. Ball State's box score, meanwhile, reads like a riddle: 325 total yards, six trips inside Buffalo's 30, a 104-yard receiving night from Donovan Hamilton on 11 catches and 92 rushing yards from TJ Horton — and zero offensive points, with kicker Brody Boehm missing all three of his field goals. The loss eliminates the Cardinals (3-7, 2-4) from bowl contention for the fifth straight season, and it came against a familiar face: Buffalo coach Pete Lembo, who once ran the Ball State program, is now 2-0 against his old team with the Bulls.

Toledo 24, UMass 0

Toledo scored all 24 of its points in the first half at the Glass Bowl, and the second half was a formality. Connor Walendzak, back after missing time with an injury, opened the scoring late in the first quarter out of the Wildcat, breaking free for a 69-yard touchdown to finish a five-play, 90-yard drive. Reice Griffith's 27-yard field goal made it 10-0, Nicholas Thompson returned an interception 62 yards for a touchdown, and Walendzak caught a 17-yard scoring pass from John Alan Richter against an all-out blitz just before the half. That was the scoring. All of it.

UMass (5-5, 2-4 MAC) lost starting quarterback William "Pop" Watson III to a lower-body injury on the third play of the game. Watson briefly returned for one more play and could not continue, and backup Logan Inagawa — who finished 10 of 27 for 99 yards and threw the pick-six — spent the night behind an offensive line losing starters of its own. The Minutemen never reached the red zone. Toledo (8-2, 5-1) outgained them 436-188, held them to 67 rushing yards on 28 carries with eight runs going backwards, and piled up 10 tackles for loss, three sacks and eight quarterback hurries. Walendzak's return line: 117 rushing yards on 14 carries, both career highs where it counted, plus three catches for 41 yards — 11 total touchdowns in eight games this season. Adjatay Dabbs caught seven passes for a season-high 144 yards. The shutout gives Toledo one in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1992-93, per the school.

Central Michigan 28, Sacramento State 7

The most old-fashioned line of the night came out of Mount Pleasant: 56 carries, 319 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns, and the ball for nearly twice as long as the visitors. Central Michigan (5-5, 3-3 MAC) got 119 yards on 23 carries from Nick Woodford and an even 100 from Jayden Clerveaux — the first time two Chippewas have cleared 100 rushing yards in the same game since Kobe Lewis and Lew Nichols did it on November 27, 2020. "They're fun to watch," coach Matt Drinkall said of his backs. "Each of them has kind of their own signature calling card."

Clerveaux opened the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown on the first possession. Sacramento State tied it late in the second quarter, and Vaughn Blue answered with an 8-yard touchdown 19 seconds before halftime to close an 11-play, 71-yard drive. The game's defining march came on Central Michigan's first possession of the second half: 97 yards in 12 plays, the Chippewas' longest drive of the season, kept alive when quarterback Jadyn Glasser scrambled 27 yards on third-and-8 from his own 5 — the longest run of his career — and finished by Brock Townsend's 40-yard touchdown run. Townsend, who ran for 58 yards on five carries, added a 6-yard score in the final minute. Sacramento State (2-9) was held to 211 total yards and 10 first downs, in its fourth game in 19 days; the Hornets now get 17 days off before closing the season at Hawai'i on November 28. Central Michigan's second straight win leaves it one victory from bowl eligibility.

Four teams, one top spot

Wednesday's results land on a table that Tuesday already shook. Ohio (7-3, 5-1) led Miami 17-0 at home in the Battle of the Bricks and lost 34-17, giving up 34 straight points; Miami (6-4, 4-2) became bowl eligible and sits one game back. Western Michigan (7-3, 5-1) handled Akron 42-14 on Tuesday to hold its share. So the MAC goes into the final two weeks with Buffalo, Toledo, Ohio and Western Michigan tied at 5-1, and the national picture moved Tuesday too — the season's second College Football Playoff rankings put Georgia at No. 1 and lifted Notre Dame six spots to No. 5.

The logjam starts breaking next week, on the same midweek stage: Ball State visits Ohio and Miami goes to Kent State on Tuesday, November 17. Akron visits UMass and Central Michigan travels to Buffalo on Wednesday, November 18 — the Chippewas, the hottest rushing team in the league right now, walking straight into the co-leader's building. Toledo closes the week at home against Bowling Green on Friday, November 20, in the 91st Battle of I-75.

The Sports Desk's read: a four-way tie with two weeks left is the best problem a conference can have, and the MAC built it the honest way — nobody at the top got there on a soft Wednesday. Buffalo has the momentum and the league's hottest back. Toledo has the defense. Somebody blinks first next week.