Ok, I’ll try to be polite and concise.  Miami is really, really bad.  They lost their first two games by a combined 90-0, [...]]]> The Mid-Season Report Cards are a subjective look using objective numbers with a look toward the remainder of the season as well.  Teams are being reviewed in random order once they reach 6 games.

Ok, I’ll try to be polite and concise.  Miami is really, really bad.  They lost their first two games by a combined 90-0, and in fact gave up 125 points before scoring their first.  Things have been better since that start, but but not better enough to win a game.

• Wins: F. None, and never closer than 10.
• Offense: D-. Nope, not an F.  In fact, the Redhawks have the #38 passing offense in the country, averaging 240 ypg.  Unfortunately, that’s paired with the 110th rushing attack, eeking out only 88 ypg.  And the scoring offense? Last in America at 10.67, a full 3 points below Western Kentucky in 119th.  Keep the passing game going, run a little better, and get in the endzone once in a while, and Miami can still avoid 0-12.
• Defense:D-. Like the offense, it’s not good, but it’s not the worst in America either.  Total defense is up at 81st, but the scoring defense is 116th, allowing 36.67 points per game.
• Special Teams: F. Net punting 118th, Punt returns are 65th but still only 9 yards per return, and kickoff returns are the worst in the country.
• Turnovers: F. Once again, Miami is dead last in 1-A here.  Miami has given the ball away 22 times, more than any team, and only gained 5 of them back.  Their -17 margin is 6 worse than Nevada in 119th at -11.
• Grading Curve: Bonus Points, but it’s not going to help.  Miami has the 19th most difficult schedule in America to date, playing 5-0 Boise State and 5-0 Cincinnati so far.
• Final Grade: F. There’s not much to suggest that Miami would have done much better with an easier schedule here, and while the trends are upward, things aren’t getting easier any time soon.

Remaining Games:

• at Ohio
• Northern Illinois
• Toledo
• at Temple
• Bowling Green
• Buffalo

Best Case Scenario: 2-4. That’s not the worst draw possible in the MAC, but none of them are struggling outright either.  That being said, Miami’s offense did put up a few points against MAC competition, so if a team or two looks past the Redhawks, they could get stunned.

Worst Case Scenario: 0-6.  It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.  Miami didn’t draw Eastern Michigan (currently 0-5), so there’s nobody on their schedule who’s had as remotely bad a season as they have so far.

Prediction: 1-5. Knowing the way the MAC tends to deal in unpredictable outcomes, I will be a little surprised if Miami doesn’t sneak up on somebody.  I don’t really think it will happen twice.

Buffalo at Temple, 12 PM: Two teams clinging to the fact that the [...]]]> Like C-USA, the MAC has a mix of conference and non-conference games this week.  I’ll mention some of the other games, but since nobody here is contending on the national scene, we’ll mostly look at the conference games to keep an eye on tomorrow:

Buffalo at Temple, 12 PM: Two teams clinging to the fact that the real season starts tomorrow.  Buffalo started the year with a nice win over UTEP before dropping games to Pitt (badly) and UCF.  Temple started with a loss to 1-AA Villanova, followed by a 6 point effort in their loss to Penn State.  Temple fans had expected to see their team climb from the league basement, but a game against the defending conference champions won’t make for an easy start.

Akron at Central Michigan, 3:30 PM: Central Michigan became a conference favorite when they beat Michigan State, while Akron has a 1-AA win and two losses to Big 10 teams.  Neither team has played another mid-major squad, so this game should help fill in the gaps in our understanding of either team.  Central Michigan should handle the Zips here, but we don’t know exactly what Akron has yet.

Miami at Kent State, 7 PM: We have established that Miami is very bad, although their offense explosion in garbage time against Western Michigan has to give them at least a little hope.  But we’ve neglected to mention much about Kent State, who also looks very bad up to this point. You may remember that they only led Coastal Carolina by 2 at the half in week 1, before losing without a fight to Boston College and Iowa State.  Losing this game will be a major step towards finishing last in the MAC East.

Elsewhere in the conference, Bowling Green hosts Boise State, the Idaho Vandals bring some momentum to Northern Illinois, Ball State goes down to Auburn, and Toledo will play a fairly important measuring stick game down at Florida International.

Toledo is pretty good.  They [...]]]> This was an amazing weekend of college football.  So amazing that it took me a full day to start processing everything.  So we’re going to jump right into the conference weekly wrapups, beginning with the leagues I didn’t get to last week.  We’ll go with the MAC first.

What we learned this week:

Toledo is pretty good.  They got out to a blazing start and never let Colorado back in the game.  Defense is a question mark though- 90 points in 2 games.

So is Central Michigan. Their long-distance road game in Arizona was a disappointment, but they bounced back big with a win at Michigan State.

The jury is still out on Buffalo. Pitt is probably better than any of their MAC competition, especially in the East.  But they got shelled pretty bad at home regardless.  Next week’s road game against UCF will let us know where they stand with comparable non-BCS programs.

The worst three teams in America right now are in the bottom of the MAC.  Temple had the week off to recover from their Villanova loss, Miami got blown off the blue field in a shutout, and Ball State followed up their loss to North Texas with a loss to 1-AA New Hampshire.

Nobody expects the MAC to go 5-2 against BCS competition in a weekend- but the bottom half of the league has got to quit losing to 1-AA teams, or the MAC will never win the respect that teams like CMU, Toledo, or Bowling Green deserve.

Next Week in the MAC

Temple goes to Penn State (look out), Toledo “hosts” Ohio State in Cleveland, Eastern Michigan heads to The Big House, Ball State looks for its first win at Army, Northern Illinois on the road at Purdue, Ohio hosts 1-AA Cal Poly, Indiana comes to Akron (could be this week’s upset special), 1-AA Alcorn State arrives at Central Michigan, Buffalo travels to Orlando for UCF, Bowling Green down to Marshall, Iowa State comes to Kent State, and conference play opens with Miami playing at Western Michigan.

MAC Power Ratings

These are tough to do in a conference this big, no 2-0 teams, and little or no mutual opponents.  Still, we press on:

1. Toledo
2. Bowling Green
3. Central Michigan
4. Northern Illinois
5. Ohio
6. Buffalo
7. Akron
8. Western Michigan
9. Kent State
10. Eastern Michigan
11. Temple
12. Ball State
13. Miami

More weekly wrapups today and tomorrow, hopefully, and Players of the Week should drop today too.  Stay tuned.