|
|
Another busy weekend is at hand in the MAC, who has loaded Saturday schedules all through October, then goes to a bizarre schedule in November with games nearly every day of the week.
12:00 PM, ESPNU- Central Michigan at Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech is certainly capable of looking past a team like Central Michigan, but the Chips haven’t beaten anyone on a level like Virginia Tech has played the last two weeks. Line: Virginia Tech by 22. I’m inclined to think this is a blowout, 45-20 Virginia Tech.
12:00 PM- Western Michigan at Ball State: Ball State rose up and won last week, while WMU fell to Idaho. The Broncos should win this one, unless Ball State has really turned a big corner. Line: Ball State by 5. Sorry, but I’m really not prepared to pick the Cardinals to win just yet. I could be wrong, but one game doesn’t have me convinced. Broncos win an ugly game 17-13.
12:00 PM- Temple at Northern Illinois: This could be the game of the year in the MAC. Read Post
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- Read Post
After 10 of them last week, the MAC has no games against BCS opponents today, instead mostly playing league games and a couple against non-BCS teams.
12:00 PM, CBS College- Temple at Army: Both teams are sitting in at 3-1 and playing very well, with Army coming off a win over Duke last week. Temple should have Army outmanned, but the Black Knights have been playing above their talent level all year. Line: Temple by 6. Temple should win, but I’m not comfortable spotting Army that many. Let’s go with 24-21 for the Owls.
12:00 PM- Ohio at Eastern Michigan: Ohio has been a huge disappointment so far this season, having yet to notch a FBS win. Eastern Michigan is far from a good team, and this is Ohio’s chance to break through and get on the right track. Line: Ohio by 10. Once again, far more points than I’m willing to spot a 1-3 team. Ohio should win this one maybe 28-21.
1:00 PM- Kent State at Miami: Kent State, who pushed Ohio & Temple to the end last year, has also failed to win a FBS game in two tries so far, although both were against quality BCS opponents. Miami is 2-2 and 1-0 in the league, hoping to notch another big win today. Line: Kent State by 3. I think Kent State has shown a lot on defense and may be able to stifle the Redhawks today, and win this one 30-10.
2:00 PM, WAC Sports Network- Idaho at Western Michigan: This is an interesting game, with Idaho coming in off a disappointing loss to Colorado State, and Western having been beaten soundly by Toledo last week. Read Post
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. Read Post
The MAC weekend might not have gone as well as they would have liked, but there were a few highlights to be found too. Things are shaping up to get very interesting once conference play begins.
Ohio State 43, Ohio 7- This outcome is a surprise to no one, although it would have been nice to see Ohio compete for a little while. Next Week: Ohio at Marshall
Penn State 24, Kent State 0- Kent State gave the Nittany Lions fits on defense, allowing only 3 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but never had any life on offense. Next Week: idle. At Miami October 2.
Temple 30, Connecticut 16- Temple hung around in a back and forth game until 16 points in the final quarter sealed Temple’s first BCS win since being jettisoned from the Big East, and the first of the season for the MAC. Next Week: Temple at Penn State
Illinois 28, Northern Illinois 22- Read Post
Never one to play second fiddle to anyone, the MAC has 11 game Saturday, as if to top C-USA’s 10 (although if you count the CUSA game tonight, it’s even). Five conferences are represented in the opposition, six if you count league games, of which there are two.
The western league previews shall appear in the morning.
12:00 PM, Big Ten Network- Ohio at Ohio State: Ohio is reeling a bit after losing last week to Toledo, and this is not a good way to recover from a conference loss. Line: Ohio State by 30. That’s a ton of points, but I’m not sold on Ohio’s ability to score points, especially against this team. Ohio State 40-7.
12:00 PM, ESPN2- Kent State at #20 Penn State: Kent State is still a contender in the East, but I don’t think they’re going to give Penn State much of a fight. Line: Penn State by 21. I think this game might be close at halftime, but not by the end. Penn State 35-13.
12:00 PM, Regional Cable- Connecticut at Temple: This has the makings of a huge win for Temple, but can they score any points? The offense has looked disjointed in both games so far, and if it happens again, we know there’s problems. Line: UConn by 6. I like Temple’s chances of an upset, and I really like their chances of keeping it closer than that. If they lose, it’s by 3 or 4, but I think they win it outright, 23-20.
12:00 PM, Big Ten Network- Northern Illinois at Illinois: Read Post
Busy day today on the fringe, since other distractions meant we only put up one post yesterday. Oops. So we’ll jump right in now and knock the rest out today, so we can look at the national landscape tomorrow.
We knew that Temple knocked off Central Michigan to get the weekend kicked off, in something of an ugly game. The weekend didn’t get much prettier, with not one but two losses to FCS schools and no success out of conference. Let’s look at the grim week that was:
Gardner-Webb 38, Akron 37- Gardner-Webb blocked an overtime extra point after rallying from a 31-17 deficit. Akron is settling into another long season. I would like to note that my preview noted the possibility of an upset here. Thank you. Next Week: Akron at Kentucky.
Miami 28, Eastern Michigan 21- The teams went touchdown-for-touchdown in each quarter, until the Eagles couldn’t match Miami in the 4th. Miami is now 1-1 and 1-0 in the league, which of course ties their win total from last year. Next Week: Colorado State (0-2) at Miami, Central Michigan (1-1) at Eastern Michigan
Boston College 26, Kent State 13- Akron hung around for a while, but by the third quarter the game was mostly out of reach despite the late score from the Flashes. Next Week: Akron at Penn State (1-1)
Toledo 20, Ohio 13- Read Post
We took a look at the biggest MAC game of the week that goes tonight, so we roll on into the rest of the league’s games, all of which are on Saturday.
12:00 PM- Gardner Webb at Akron: The Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs were 6-5 last season and beat Brevard College last week 28-14. Meanwhile the Zips managed only 3 points in a loss to Syracuse. No line, but this game is on upset watch.
2:00 PM- Eastern Michigan at Miami: Two schools that played much better than expected in week 1 losses face off for the second MAC league game of the weekend. Florida’s offense may have created a lot of their own problems, but Miami gave them fits nonetheless, and EMU’s 27 points against Army ties their best weekends from last year. Line: Miami by 15.5. That’s a ton of points, considering Miami hasn’t won a game by 16 or more points since 2007. I agree that they have the edge here, but maybe by a touchdown. Miami 27, EMU 20.
3:30 PM, ESPNU- Kent State at Boston College: Read Post
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.
Read Post
Weekend previews will appear in this space on Thursdays and Fridays, to look at the games happening on Saturday and some Sundays. Of course, weeknight games will get special attention, with posts of their own.
Last year, the Mid American Conference had an abysmal opening week. This one should be better, with a ton of FCS games and even some upset potential in the bigger games. We hit the Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Kent State and Northern Illinois games from tonight in our earlier posts, and we’ll give Toledo & Temple a once-over tomorrow. For now, let’s see what the weekend holds for the rest of the MAC. All games are Saturday, all times Eastern, all rankings USA Today, and lines are from Vegas.com and subject to change before kickoff.
*When Army & Navy play a non-BCS team, we’ll just lump them in with their opponents. When they play against the BCS, I’ll probably include them with the Sun Belt, since they have only 9 teams and are generally in the East.
12:00 PM, ESPN- Miami at #3 Florida: Obviously, this is not a game that many people have the RedHawks penciled in to win. Keeping it close to halftime will be an accomplishment, but after that it’s tough to compete against the depth of an elite program, especially in the 2 PM Florida heat. Line: Gators by 36.5. That’s a lot of points for a team that’s going to probably lead early and get some young players on the field. I’d take Miami plus more than five touchdowns.
Read Post
|
|