The MAC got a pair of BCS wins this weekend on an otherwise predictably bad Saturday. A few others came close, but a few were on the wrong side of some major blowouts (and some bush-league play, in this blogger’s opinion).
Connecticut 45, Buffalo 21- Buffalo used a 2nd quarter rally to tie the game at 14 by halftime, but UConn switched quarterbacks and ran away in the second half.
Northwestern 30, Central Michigan 25- This game, too, was tied at halftime, but the Chips didn’t have enough time to answer the 17 straight Northwestern points that opened the second half.
Toledo 31, Purdue 20- The Rockets never trailed in this one, running out to a 17-0 lead at the break then surviving a furious rally from Purdue, who inched back to 24-20 before Toledo iced the game late. Toledo has rapidly established themselves as the team to beat in the West.
Michigan 65, Bowling Green 21- The box score suggests a little score-running-up (more on that in a minute), but the Wolverines passed only one time in the 4th quarter, for 3 yards, and still scored three touchdowns. Bowing Green just didn’t have it Saturday.
Iowa 45, Ball State 0- Not a surprising result.
Missouri 51, Miami 13- Miami is an improved team this year, but not enough to go toe-to-toe with Big 12 competition.
Penn State 22, Temple 13- The second straight week a MAC team has held Penn State to 24 or less, but again the Nittany Lions do just enough to stifle their opponents on offense. A disappointment for Temple no doubt, but they were a long shot in this one no mater what.
Ohio State 73, Eastern Michigan 20- Ok, this game was a load of crap. You’re really running trick plays up by 25 against one of the worst teams in America, Ohio State? Passing for TDs in the 4th? Congratulations, you scored the most points in some long period of time. It’s Eastern Michigan, not Michigan Michigan! Let me know when you beat somebody from the SEC.
Indiana 35, Akron 20- I know Indiana is terrible so nobody is paying much attention to their schedule, but their games are FCS, worst team in Sun Belt, possible worst team in MAC, Arkansas State (middling team in Sun Belt). Seriously? Oh, and they’ve failed to impress against the worst teams in the country. Don’t be surprised if the Hoosiers go 0-8 against big boy teams.
Marshall 24, Ohio 23- Frank Solich opted to go for the win when Ohio scored at the end of the 4th quarter to make it 23-24. The two point conversion failed, allowing Marshall to claim their second win over Ohio in 10 months.
Northern Illinois 34, Minnesota 23- NIU finally gets the BCS win they’ve been looking for all year, knocking off a struggling Gopher team on their own turf. The Huskies are back to 2-2 as they look toward league play.
What We Learned This Week
We learned that my bad day on Tuesday has resulted in some serious Big 10 bashing on my part. Seriously, I hope Ohio State gets embarrassed early and often this year. Jim Tressel’s a big, big man when playing the likes of EMU and Marshall, way to make the fans proud.
MAC Standings
Unchanged from last week, of course, since all games were non-conference.
| Conference | Overall | |||
| East | ||||
| W | L | W | L | |
| Temple | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Miami | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bowling Green | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Buffalo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Kent State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Akron | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ohio | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| West | ||||
| Toledo | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Central Michigan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Ball State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Northern Illinois | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Western Michigan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Eastern Michigan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Week 4 Power Rankings
It’s hard to make much out of a week where most teams were roadkill for Big 6 conferences- we’ll start getting better ranking fodder next week.
- Toledo
- Temple
- Northern Illinois
- Central Michigan
- Miami
- Kent State
- Buffalo
- Bowling Green
- Western Michigan
- Ohio
- Akron
- Eastern Michigan
- Ball State