The MAC has finally reached the end of its loaded Saturday schedules, which is cool because previewing & recapping 7 or 8 MAC games every week gets a little tedious. Weeknight play begins next Thursday for the league.
12:00 PM- Northern Illinois at Western Michigan: The marquee game of the week in the MAC, as Western will get their chance to beat a MAC team that isn’t mired in the bottom of the standings. Their pass offense has been on fire lately, but the NIU defense is the real deal. NIU then goes on to face Toledo, but they can’t get ahead of themselves tomorrow. Line: NIU by 8.5. I do think the Huskies should win, but a touchdown seems more appropriate. NIU will have to score points to do it though, so I’ll say 35-28.
1:00 PM- Akron at Temple: Temple came alive last week when they shut out Buffalo, and the schedule stays easy when Akron comes to town. Line: Temple by 29.5. I hate lines this big, even with a 42 point win against a better Buffalo team last week, since there’s always the potential for Temple to go up 24 at halftime and coast to the finish. That being said, I’ll reluctantly assume that they want to keep the momentum up before the schedule clamps down, and call it Temple 41-6.
2:00 PM- Louisiana at Ohio: Louisiana takes it’s struggling operation out of conference to face a rapidly improving Ohio team. Ohio came out of the gate slowly, but is back in the division race, while Louisiana watched Western Kentucky terminate their losing streak on the Cajuns field last week. Line: Ohio by 14.5. If Western Kentucky can do it, Ohio should too. 38-14 for the Bobcats.
3:30 PM- Miami at Buffalo: Miami hasn’t lost two games in a row all season, and I don’t think they’ll start this week, despite Buffalo looking to turn things around after last week’s loss. Line: Miami by 2.5. I’ll take that. RedHawks win this one 28-20.
3:30 PM- Bowling Green at Central Michigan: Bowling Green is already ineligible for postseason play, and CMU will be soon. My guess is that the Chips break the losing streak, but who knows. Line: Central Michigan by 11.5. That’s a lot of points for two bad teams. At most, CMU wins by 10, 24-14.
3:30 PM- Ball State at Kent State: Ball State can sneak up on teams that look past them, but ultimately Kent State should have no trouble handling them. Line: Kent State by 10. Ten is what I would have guessed. But if I had to lean one way, it’s always against Ball State, so let’s say Kent State wins this one 38-24.
4:00 PM- Toledo at Eastern Michigan: Toledo should have beaten Ball State by three touchdowns, but only managed a 7 point win. They should win this one, and maybe this is the week they don’t give their opponents a head start, but one of these days their carelessness is going to cost them. Line: Toledo by 11. Toledo is more than 11 points better than Eastern Michigan, but that doesn’t mean they’ll cover that. Either way, I’ll stick with them, against my better judgment. Toledo 31-10.
My picks went 3-4 last week, 6-10 total, reducing the overall record to 93-86-2. This week, they are summarized as such:
Western Michigan +8.5 vs. Northern Illinois
Temple -29.5 vs. Akron
Ohio -14.5 vs. Louisiana
Miami -2.5 at Buffalo
Bowling Green +11.5 at Central Michigan
Kent State -10 vs. Ball State
Toledo -11 at Eastern Michigan