All hell broke loose in the MAC this weekend- Ball State won, Toledo lost, Buffalo finally scored some points, and Temple very nearly lost to Army. At least Akron lost badly, the one thing we could count on.
Temple 42, Army 35- I never would have guessed that these two would put 77 points on the board. Matt Brown stepped in for Bernard Pierce and ran for 226 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair in the 4th quarter that broke a 28-28 tie and then put the Owls ahead for good. Temple is now done out of conference and looks toward a huge MAC game Saturday. Next Week: Temple at Northern Illinois, Army at Tulane
Ohio 30, Eastern Michigan 17- This one was tied at halftime, but Ohio put up 20 in the 3rd quarter to send Eastern Michigan on to its 17th straight loss. Next Week: Bowling Green at Ohio, Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt
Miami 27, Kent State 21- Another MAC game with big action late, when Miami scored 17 in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat the Golden Flashes. Miami now has 3 wins for the first time since 2007, and has to be considered a contender now in a wide-open MAC East. Next Week: Akron at Kent State, Miami at Cincinnati
Idaho 33, Western Michigan 13- Idaho wins its third straight against MAC opponents over the last two years, returning the favor after WMU won big in Moscow in 2008. The Broncos pulled the game within four in the third quarter, but it was all Vandals through the rest of the second half. Next Week: Western Michigan at Ball State
Buffalo 28, Bowling Green 26- Buffalo appeared to have the game in hand, up 28-13 with 15 minutes to go, when the Falcons returned an interception 82 yards and turned the momentum, but a failed two point conversion after that play left the Bulls ahead by 9, and Bowling Green just wasn’t able to muster up two more scores. Next Week: Bowling Green at Ohio, Buffalo is idle.
Ball State 31, Central Michigan 17- I’m still processing this one. Ball State had all the makings of an 1-11 season, and I know CMU is down a bit from last year, but this is still nearly unthinkable. And it wasn’t even close, as Ball State was winning 28-3 before some near-meaningless 4th quarter scoring. Next Week: Central Michigan at Virginia Tech, Western Michigan at Ball State
Northern Illinois 50, Akron 14- NIU storms into league play by blowing out one of the weakest squads in the MAC, as expected. Next Week: Temple at Northern Illinois, Akron at Kent State
Wyoming 20, Toledo 15- Wyoming grabs a much needed victory on the road after a very difficult opening schedule- lose this one, and they could be 1-6 or worse before the schedule relents. Toledo rallied back from 20-0, but two fourth down stops on Toledo’s last drives sealed the game for the Cowboys. Next Week: Toledo at Boise State
What We Learned This Week
Toledo isn’t invincible, but they managed a decent rally at the end in the losing effort.
Ball State is not the single worst team in America this year. I have no idea what to think of Central Michigan, but at this point their only wins are over a FCS school and Eastern Michigan, so I won’t feel bad for ranking them pretty low.
Northern Illinois and Temple are both good teams, and next week’s game should be a good one.
I’m not sure what to make of Miami, but they’re at least decent and they’re in the mix in the East.
MAC Standings
| Conference | Overall | |||
| W | L | W | L | |
| East | ||||
| Miami | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Temple | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Buffalo | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Ohio | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kent State | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Bowling Green | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Akron | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| West | ||||
| Toledo | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Northern Illinois | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Ball State | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Central Michigan | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Western Michigan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Eastern Michigan | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
Week 5 Power Rankings
- Temple
- Northern Illinois
- Toledo
- Miami
- Buffalo
- Ohio
- Ball State
- Central Michigan
- Bowling Green
- Kent State
- Western Michigan
- Eastern Michigan
- Akron