Zac Dysert was the brightest star in another weekend of offensive fireworks in the Mid-American Conference.

Dysert, Miami University’s senior quarterback, became the first player in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision history to throw for 500 yards and run for 100 in a game last Saturday at Akron.

He was 34-of-49 for 516 yards and a school-record six touchdowns while running 14 times for 108 yards in the RedHawks’ 56-49 victory. The 624 yards of total offense set a new conference standard.

Not surprisingly, Dysert picked up his second straight MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week award Monday.

“Zac just continues to be the leader that he is,” MU coach Don Treadwell said during the weekly conferences coaches call. “You have a young man who’s been, in my opinion, very challenged from a schematic standpoint and philosophically because I’m his third head coach in five years and we’re in the third offensive system in five years.

“He really is this year just being able to sink his teeth a little bit more into what he’s being asked to do. I think he’s demonstrating like any good quarterback, the longer you’re in it, the better chance you have of executing it.”

The RedHawks piled up a school-record 705 yards, yet gave up 629. Zips coach Terry Bowden praised Dysert and the Miami offense, but admitted his defense wasn’t very good.

“Miami won the toss and they chose to receive and they scored, and it seemed like we were chasing points the whole day,” Bowden said.

He said his defense needs to “keep it simple” as the season progresses.

“We’re maybe trying to do too much,” Bowden said. “We couldn’t get lined up Saturday. I don’t think we ever got lined up comfortably. I have a feeling we’re running at the last minute to get lined up too often, and that did not allow them to play with the proper leverage or technique.”

That wild affair was representative of MAC play in recent years. Saturday was an especially offensive day.

Twelve conference teams were in action Saturday (Eastern Michigan was idle), and those squads averaged 522.9 yards offensively.

Three teams went over 600 yards (Northern Illinois was the third). The lightest offensive output was Buffalo’s 361 yards.

Offensive explosions are the national trend. Rule changes through the years have made it harder for defenses to stop the flow of points and yards.

“I think the teams that do play good defense are the teams that are going to be competing for championships in each league,” Central Michigan coach Dan Enos said.

“It’s hard to win with just defense right now, except for Alabama and the top teams with all the talent,” Bowden said. “Teams with all the talent can dictate how everybody plays.

“With the spread offense, the ability to combine the running game with the passing game on every play, changing the pace of when the ball is snapped, I believe offensive football in college is ahead of defensive football. But I do think something is going to come along, whether it’s the bear defense or the bump-and-run defense … something’s got to come along where the defense gets back ahead.”

Toledo coach Matt Campbell said defensive success should be defined more by points allowed than yardage totals. He also believes fundamentals need to be stressed even more on defense.

“I think everyone’s able to recruit really talented skill people,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I think there’s a lot of talented receivers out there, enough for everybody to have on their football team. The MAC has had a history of being able to recruit very, very talented quarterbacks. Everybody has such a really good short passing package — it’s almost like a running play. So it’s very difficult to blitz those kind of routes and get to the quarterback.

“Your best answer for winning football games is to be good in all three units. You better have an offensive team that can score some points. You better have a group of special-teams players that can win enough special-teams battles to give you a chance to win. And then defensively, you’ve just got to look for ways to get some turnovers and give the ball back to your offense.”

Honor roll: Beyond Dysert, the MAC announced five other Players of the Week Monday.

East Division selections included Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack (defense) and Kent State return man Dri Archer (special teams). In the West Division, the honorees were Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning (offense), Toledo linebacker Dan Molls (defense) and NIU place-kicker Mathew Sims (special teams).