MAC (and Army) Week 1 Wrapup

The Weekly Wrapups will look back at the games of the weekend, such as it is, and present my conference power rankings.  They get shorter when conference play starts.

The MAC went 6-7 against 13 out of conference teams this weekend, a much better start than they had in 2008.  Broken down, the league was 6-0 against FCS teams, 0-1 v. Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, and independent Army.  So it wasn’t great, since nobody in the MAC beat a FBS team.  That will change Thursday, no matter what.  Let’s look at the games.

Ball State 27, Southeast Missouri State 10- It took until the third quarter for Ball State to pull away in this one, which does little to help their case in the ‘worst team in the MAC’ argument.  Next Week: Liberty at Ball State

Buffalo 31, Rhode Island 0- Always nice to earn a shutout, no matter the competition.  A good start for the Bulls under new management.  Next Week: Buffalo at Baylor

Central Michigan 33, Hampton 0- Another new coach, another shutout.  CMU takes care of business getting warmed up for a big week 2.  Next Week: Central Michigan at Temple, Thursday Night

Kent State 41, Murray State 10- Murray State hung around for a little while, but KSU left no doubt that they’re the much better team.  Next Week: Kent State at Boston College

Iowa State 27, Northern Illinois 17- The loss will hurt NIU’s chances to break onto the national scene, but little else.  They competed well against they Cyclones for the most part, but couldn’t recover from a slow start.  Next Week: Northern Illinois at North Dakota

Temple 31, Villanova 24- I’m willing to let Temple off the hook for this one- Villanova is the defending FCS champ and an in-town rival, and it took a last minute field goal for Temple to win it (they then recovered a fumble on the kick to open the gap). Next Week: Central Michigan at Temple, Thursday Night.

Arizona 41, Toledo 2- The Toledo defense showed signs of life Friday night, but the offense did not.  Arizona is a favorite in the Pac-10 this year, so time will tell whether their defense is pretty good or the Toledo offense is that miserable.  Next Week: Toledo at Ohio

Michigan State 38, Western Michigan 14- The Broncos ended the first quarter tied with the Spartans, but a 21 point second quarter erased all doubt.  Michigan State is highly regarded, so it’s hard to say what this means for the Broncos this year.  Next Week: Nicholls State at Western Michigan

Florida 34, Miami 12- If Miami’s luck had been absolutely perfect, they could have beaten the Gators Saturday.  Instead, they played a part in the Gators looking dreadful, but I think we may have a much better RedHawk team this year.  Next Week: Eastern Michigan at Miami

Syracuse 29, Akron 3- Akron was pretty inept at home, against a middling Big East team, which does not bode well for their season.  They’ll get a chance to get on the right track in week 2. Next Week: Gardner-Webb at Akron

Ohio 33, Wofford 10- Ohio held Wofford to a strange 0-4 passing night, which should mean they’re the #1 pass defense in America after one week.  Another FCS game that wasn’t competitive after the first quarter.  Next Week: Toledo at Ohio

Army 31, Eastern Michigan 27- Army needed a last minute touchdown to knock off a much maligned Eastern Michigan team, and we thought Army was going to be pretty good this year.  Perhaps EMU is closer to turning the corner than we thought.  Their week 2 game might be a good one.  Next Week: Eastern Michigan at Miami, Hawaii at Army

Troy 30, Bowling Green 27- A last minute field goal broke the tie in what had been a scoreless fourth quarter, as Troy exacted their revenge for last year’s defeat in Ohio.  Next Week: Bowling Green at Tulsa

What We Learned in Week 1

Miami and Eastern Michigan might not be as bad as we thought, or as bad as last year.  Their game Saturday should tell us more.

Ball State could be in trouble again.  They took too long to put Southeast Missouri away.

The Other 5 Teams That Played FCS Schools are better than FCS schools.  Those games don’t tell us much more than that.  Except maybe Temple, who didn’t yield when the going got tough against a legit opponent.

Toledo has a lot of problems- that performance was more than just Arizona being good.  Same for Akron.

Northern Illinois might not be quite as good as we hoped, but we won’t know for a while yet.  Same for Army, although our expectations aren’t as high there.

Bowling Green isn’t as bad as I thought, and it will be interesting to see what they can do against a defense as bad as Tulsa’s.

MAC Week 1 Power Rankings

Power Rankings look at the entire season but try to assess where each team is right now, simultaneously.  That can get tricky when some teams inevitably collapse in week 12, but this week it’s not so bad.

1. Temple
2. Central Michigan
3. Ohio
4. Buffalo
5. Kent State
6. Bowling Green
7. Northern Illinois
8. Ball State
9. Miami
10. Western Michigan
11. Eastern Michigan
12. Toledo
13. Akron