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The MAC may have returned last week, but Wednesday night was the night #MACtion officially resumed its rightful place in our hearts and minds.
Western Michigan edged past Toledo, 41–38, to jump to 2–0 in the young season. But the final score doesn’t do much to tell the story of how wild that ending is.
Fast forward to the final three minutes – Toledo scored a touchdown to increase his lead to 38-28, capping a practice that featured a fourth and eleven conversion from the West Michigan 15-yard line which was aided by a curious place by the official (and a first folded marker).
The Broncos then took over with no downtime and quickly threw an 11-game, 70-yard touchdown that was 2:09 behind. Kicker Thiago Kapps missed the extra points attempt to keep the score 38–34.
Kapps immediately atoned for his mistake with a perfect kick that the Broncos recovered to give their offense one last chance.
Western Michigan took over on its own 49-yard line with 44 seconds left. The Broncos hit the Toledo 9-yard line in three games when quarterback Kaleb Eleby found D’Wayne Eskridge for an 18-yard gain. Eskridge was tackled in bounds, and the West Michigan offense rushed to the line of scrimmage to ostensibly toss the ball and stop the clock. Then it happened:
Somewhere Dan Marino is smiling. The Toledo secondary ignored Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Hall, who waited on his own in the end zone for what must have felt like forever for Eleby’s pass to arrive.
The ripple effect of this game will almost certainly be minimal. There are no implications for the college football qualifiers to consider, and the bowling eligibility requirements have rightly been lifted this year. The game ended around midnight EST, so there probably weren’t many people tuned in to witness Her Majesty in real time.
But in the midst of a season that has both seemed dead in the water – and battles weekly pandemic game cancellations – West Michigan’s inability to give in to disheartening odds is downright ambitious (or, at best at least, the best Wednesday night sports film ending on live TV).
For once and forever, long live the #MACtion.
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