[Careless Whisper]

Motor City Bound: Tartans Punch Ticket to MAC Title Tilt
With its 31-26 win over Buffalo, Carnegie Mellon will be competing for a conference title in just its second FBS season



CMU quarterback Justin Keyes throws down this would-be Buffalo tackler in the second quarter. (Mark Jefferies / Getty Images)

by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- In year four of Carnegie Mellon’s Division I transition and its second season in FBS competition, the expectation was to improve upon its 3-9 finish from 2008 and hopefully reach the six-win plateau for bowl qualification. The team showed flashes over the previous two campaigns, and with the roster featuring primarily Division I recruiting classes, it wasn’t an outrageous task.

That six-win mark was met last Saturday against Kent State. And only then did the program realize it could accomplish something special with another victory to end the regular season.

Behind another All-American performance by junior runningback Jim Manning, Carnegie Mellon punched its ticket to next week’s MAC Championship Game with a 31-26 win over Buffalo this afternoon from Gesling Stadium. The Tartans will face No. 19 Toledo in a rematch of a game played on Oct. 10, one the Rockets won, 54-32.

“I’m being completely honest with you – we didn’t know our positioning until after last week’s win,” said CMU fourth-year head coach John Elliott. “It wasn’t ever on our minds. We just took it one game at a time and wanted to reach the goal of six wins to make a bowl, and after that happened it was like, ‘Guys, we can win this division with one more win.’ I’m so proud of how we’ve been playing and I know I sound biased, but there isn’t a group more deserving of this success than this one.”

Following Kent State’s 27-24 win over Akron on Wednesday, Carnegie Mellon (7-5, 6-2 MAC) knew it just needed to take care of business this afternoon in order to set up a rematch with Toledo. Buffalo (6-6, 3-5 MAC) had other ideas however, scoring on its second drive from an Aaron Connacher seven-yard run to take a 7-3 lead.

The Tartans hadn’t started slow in weeks, but were facing a 7-3 deficit following 15 minutes. That changed quickly though, as the offense leaned on Manning early in the second frame and he rewarded them with a five-yard touchdown to make it 10-7. The Bulls struck back just minutes later after Brett Hodges found Skyler Hagg open on a fly route for a 53-yard score, but the hosts went back to the program’s all-time rushing leader to retake the lead, 17-13, with a four-yard plunge.

CMU forced its first three-and-out on the ensuing drive, putting itself in position take all the momentum into the break with another score. This time it was Justin Keyes’ time to shine, as the third-year quarterback converted a third and 12 with a deep pass to Stephen Carter, then scored on a four-yard bootleg to extend the gap to 24-13. That score would hold until the 5:16 mark of the third quarter as Buffalo called third-string tailback Da’Von McCune’s number to trim the deficit to five points.

The Bulls were threatening inside the red zone with 10 minutes remaining, but then Hodges made his only mistake of the day by throwing an interception to Todd Andriano. The Tartans would take advantage of the big play, riding Manning’s legs down the field once again before finishing the drive off with a 16-yard trip to paydirt. Buffalo responded with an extended drive that led to a Hodges 20-yard strike to Daniel Williamson to make it 31-26, but CMU forced the visitors to spend all their timeouts and never let them get another chance.

This is Manning’s ninth 100-yard rushing performance of the season and his sixth consecutive. He has accumulated 1,055 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground over this stretch.

Matt Burnsides brought down Hodges in the second quarter, picking up his team-high eighth sack of the season.

Carnegie Mellon will face No. 19 Toledo in the MAC Championship Game on Saturday, December 12 at 8:00 PM. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN2.

Buffalo Bulls at Carnegie Mellon Tartans
Nov 28, 2009	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Buffalo Bulls (6-6, 3-5 MAC)	7	6	6	7	26
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (7-5, 6-2 MAC)	3	21	0	7	31

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		BUFF	CMU
7:48	(BUFF) Aaron Connacher 7-yard run (Jason Franklin kick)	7	0
3:50	(CMU) Jon Foster 32-yard field goal	7	3
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		BUFF	CMU
13:17	(CMU) Jim Manning 5-yard run (Jon Foster kick)	7	10
10:16	(BUFF) Brett Hodges 53-yard pass to Skyler Hagg (run failed)	13	10
3:53	(CMU) Jim Manning 4-yard run (Jon Foster kick)	13	17
0:25	(CMU) Justin Keyes 4-yard run (Jon Foster kick)	13	24
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		BUFF	CMU
5:16	(BUFF) Da’Von McCune 2-yard run (pass failed)	19	24
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		BUFF	CMU
7:14	(CMU) Jim Manning 16-yard run (Jon Foster kick)	19	31
2:58	(BUFF) Brett Hodges 20-yard pass to Daniel Williamson (Jason Franklin kick)	26	31

Buffalo Bulls PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Brett Hodges 18/30 242 2 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Brandon Thermilus 12 57 4.7 0 Brett Hodges 7 39 5.6 0 Da'Von McCune 4 27 6.7 1 Aaron Connacher 2 15 7.5 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Daniel Williamson 6 123 20.5 1 Skyler Hagg 6 83 15.8 1 Jesse Rack 2 11 5.5 0 James Carter 1 9 9.0 0 Brandon Thermilus 1 7 7.0 0 Aaron Connacher 1 7 7.0 0 Brett Hamlin 1 2 2.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Dane Robinson 9 2 0 0 Greg Pittman 8 1 0 0 Justin Hansbro 4 0 0 0 Ben Mann 4 0 0 0 Andre Thompson 3 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Jason Franklin 0/1 2/2 2 -- PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Dominique Nicholson 2 89 44.5 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Skyler Hagg 3 54 18.0 0 Kendric Hawkins 2 29 14.5 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Skyler Hagg 1 1 1.0 0

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Justin Keyes 9/17 140 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jim Manning 24 187 7.8 3 Justin Keyes 12 69 5.7 1 Nate Satele 3 17 5.7 0 David Young 1 11 11.0 0 Korey Harper 1 4 4.0 0 Clarence Cabral 1 2 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Stephen Carter 3 75 25.0 0 Kevin Cousins 3 58 19.3 0 David Young 1 6 6.0 0 Issac Schroeder 1 2 2.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Chris Hill 8 0 0 0 Matt Burnsides 7 1 0 0 Jason Ervin 6 0 0 0 Zac Hood 4 0 0 0 Todd Andriano 2 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Jon Foster 1/1 4/4 7 32 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Andy Fitzhugh 2 87 43.5 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Stephen Carter 3 53 17.7 0 Calvin Burton 1 25 25.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Stephen Carter 1 6 6.0 0