With 177 yards against Toledo on Saturday, NIU running back Michael Turner took over the No. 1 spot as the nation’s leading rusher.

Turner is 42 yards ahead of the next closest player, Kansas State’s Darren Sproles.

Turner, a North Chicago native, has 1,482 yards this season. When Eastern Michigan comes to DeKalb for the regular season finale on Saturday, the game will feature Turner and the fifth leading rusher in the nation, EMU’s Anthony Sherrell.

Sherrell has 1,361 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also is tied for the top spot in the nation with 298 carries.

Gradkowski honored

Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was named the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Gradkowski was 24-of-27 for 301 yards and three touchdowns against NIU.

In his last two games, the Pittsburgh native is 47-of-52 for 736 yards.

As a senior in high school, Gradkowski completed 188-of-327 passes for 2,978 yards. The yardage total was the most in the 87-year history of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League.

Gradkowski’s total was more than Johnny Lujack, George Blanda, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Dan Marino, all of whom played in the same conference.

Akron coach fired

After a 7-5 season at Akron, Lee Owens was fired as the head football coach. He will be be reassigned to the position of assistant to the vice president of public affairs and development.

The announcement from Akron Director of Athletics Mike Thomas came Monday, after Akron’s 35-28 win over Ohio on Saturday.

Owens coached Akron for the last nine seasons and was 40-61 as head coach.

“He goes 7-5, what do you want?” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “They have nothing facility-wise. Something is out of whack with mid-major football. They expect us to play two or three BCS schools and he goes 7-5. I don’t know what people expect.”

Owens became the third MAC coach to be fired this season. Central Florida’s Mike Kruczek and Eastern Michigan’s Jeff Woodruff both were fired with three games remaining in the season.

Two players questionable

Akil Grant missed his third straight game in Saturday’s 49-30 loss to Toledo.

Grant sprained his left knee in practice the week before NIU’s 48-23 win over Ball State.

Grant is questionable for what could be his final collegiate game Saturday against Eastern Michigan.

Senior defensive tackle Leonard Cooksey played Saturday with a cast on his wrist after injuring it in practice last week.

Bowl eligible

Six MAC teams are eligible for a bowl. A seventh, Western Michigan, can become bowl eligible with a win against Toledo next Saturday.

NIU, Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami-Ohio, Marshall and Akron all have won the mandatory six games needed to qualify for bowl competition.

There are 28 bowls, which makes room for 56 teams. Despite being the largest football conference in the nation, the MAC has only two bowl tie-ins.

The Motor City Bowl and the GMAC Bowl are the only two bowls affiliated with the conference.