Virginia Tech 45, Central Michigan 21- The Chips couldn’t contain Tyrod Taylor as they suffer their second and final loss to a BCS team this year, first year in a while without a win over a Big 6 team. Next Week: Miami at Central Michigan
Western Michigan 45, Ball State 16- Ball State returns to their previous form as this game was over by the first play of the second quarter, when the Broncos went up 28-0. Next Week: Western Michigan at Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan at Ball State
Northern Illinois 31, Temple 17- NIU wins the battle of division favorites, breaking open a 17-17 halftime tie with stout defense and a pair of second half touchdowns. Both teams will remain favorites to set up a rematch in Detroit. Next Week: Bowling Green at Temple, Buffalo at Northern Illinois
Ohio 49, Bowling Green 25- Bowling Green’s woes continue as Ohio comes to life for the first time this season. The Bobcats scored five straight touchdowns in the span of three quarters to put the game out of reach. Next Week: Bowling Green at Temple, Akron at Ohio
Kent State 28, Akron 17- Kent State led this rivalry matchup most of the way, as Akron drops to 0-6 on the season. Next Week: Akron at Ohio, Kent State at Toledo
Vanderbilt 52, Eastern Michigan 6 / Cincinnati 45, Miami 3- These games happened. Next Week: Eastern Michigan at Ball State, Miami at Central Michigan
Boise State 57, Toledo 14- Toledo at least made the Broncos work for their 57 points, but it would have been tough to come up with a much better result over on the blue turf. Next Week: Kent State at Toledo
Picks: 5-3, where I was wrong thinking that Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green and Toledo would keep their games just a little closer.
MAC Standings
| Conference | Overall | |||
| W | L | W | L | |
| East | ||||
| Miami | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Buffalo | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Ohio | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Temple | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Kent State | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Bowling Green | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Akron | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| West | ||||
| Northern Illinois | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Toledo | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Western Michigan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Ball State | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Central Michigan | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Eastern Michigan | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
Division Championship Races
East
Week 6 is over, and Miami is winning the division with Buffalo right behind. Go figure. They obviously control their own destiny in the division, but so do Ohio and Temple, whose losses come from cross-divisional games. If they go undefeated from here on: Kent State needs Miami to take two losses, and for Buffalo to lose at least once since they don’t play this year. Akron needs Kent State to drop a pair, and Bowling Green needs all kinds of help with two East losses already.
West
NIU and Toledo lead the league at 2-0, and won’t play until November 9. Western Michigan needs a pair of losses from Toledo, Ball State just needs to see Western lose one game, while Central Michigan and especially Eastern Michigan need a ton of help to get to Detroit.
Week 6 Power Rankings
Instinct is to move Temple and Toledo down after substantial losses, but overall both still look better than most of the teams in the MAC. Meanwhile, sorting out the bottom of the league is near impossible, as there’s a lot of bad teams in the last five slots or so.
- Northern Illinois
- Temple
- Toledo
- Ohio
- Miami
- Buffalo
- Western Michigan
- Kent State
- Bowling Green
- Ball State
- Central Michigan
- Akron
- Eastern Michigan