If you like offense and trick plays, you’re probably a fan of some good, 0l'-fashioned #MACtion. You were probably also watching Sam Houston State and Eastern Washington in the 1-AA playoffs.
The other game that featured an actual MAC team, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, was a little less exciting -- certainly much less than the New Mexico Bowl between Arizona and Nevada earlier Saturday. Toledo wasn’t able to capitalize on Utah State’s lone turnover -- a Kerwynn Williams fumble -- and a late kickoff return for a touchdown couldn’t pull the Rockets back into 41-15 loss to the No. 18 Aggies.
Williams recovered from his turnover, so to speak, and rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns. The senior took over the game late with a 63-yard touchdown run -- the first real big play of the game that resulted in points -- which began Utah State’s run to pull away from Toledo. In all, the Aggies scored 28 points in the fourth quarter.
The win caps an 11-win season for Utah State, the program’s first, under Gary Anderson. Keeping Anderson has been perhaps the biggest victory for USU, as the coach signed an extension with the university in October that takes him through the 2018 season. Toledo, on the other hand, finishes the year 9-4.