Another exciting week in the MAC featured one Mid-American opponent knocking off a BCS squad, another taking a BCS power to the wire, and two old rivals battling it out for sixteen-spoked hardware. Who’s the best? Who’s the worst? Read on.
Remember, these ratings sum up how I think the teams would fare if the played tomorrow on a neutral field. These aren’t projections of final standings, or how good the teams will be in November.
1. Ball State So close. Ball State had Nebraska right where they wanted them, and then some. The Cardinals led the ‘Huskers by 9 when Nate Davis threw a pick-six, bringing Nebraska right back in the game, which they went on to win, 41-40. The Cardinals got their hearts ripped out in the heartland, but established themselves as clearly the MAC’s best team right now. The Cards are 2-2 with two one point, last second losses.
2. Bowling Green The Falcons don’t look great, but they haven’t had any big letdowns, and in a season where almost every MAC squad has gagged once, that goes a long way. Tyler Sheehan and the passing attack have been amazing (1034 yards, 8th in NCAA)and the defense has been great at creating negative plays (2nd in MAC in sacks, 2nd in TFL, 4th in turnover margin). The big question mark is the offensive line; BG has surrendered 9 sacks and isn’t opening holes for the backs (3.3 ypc). The Falcons are going to need a rush attack to survive the bad-weather battles of October and November.
3. Akron Here’s to you, Carlton Jackson: two weeks ago you’re fighting for playing time, now you’re hoisting the Wagon Wheel after defeating your MAC rival. Well done! On a day where more college football teams won games when getting outgained by 100 or more yards than I can ever remember, Akron got maybe the most improbable win of all. Jackson was pretty bad, completing just 7 of 20 passes for 99 yards, and the team was outgained by Kent 375-245, but the defense showed plenty of moxie, forcing turnovers on three of Kent’s last four drives to secure the win. The linebackers didn’t handle Eugene Jarvis very well, but this was a big-time performance from one of the MAC’s best D’s.
4. Kent State The Golden Flashes had the Wagon Wheel in hand but lost it, thanks to three turnovers committed in the final 15 minutes. Kent did a decent job throwing with a lead early in the year against Iowa State, but didn’t fare as well having to pass with the game on the line against Akron. The rushing offense is great, so good that Kent is definitely capable of beating any MAC team on any given day. But Julian Edelman has to have more and better receiving targets. The Flashes sure missed home run threat Shawn Bayes against Akron. You have to feel for this defense; they held Akron to 245 yards, and lead the MAC in passing yards and total yards surrendered.
5. Ohio The Bobcat defense created a whopping 7 turnovers in an ugly, ugly contest with Wyoming Saturday, but Ohio still found a way to lose, giving up a 10 point lead with 10 minutes left because they couldn’t run the ball. The Ohio D and special teams were great, getting five picks, 2 fumbles, a kickoff return TD from Chris Garrett, and 7 of 7 kicking from transfer Michael Braunstein. But the offense couldn’t move the ball, going 3 of 15 on third downs, and getting just 1.1 yards per carry. Where is the offensive line? This is a running football team that is 106th in the NCAA in sacks surrendered. That’s bad. How can a team with Kelvin McRae on it be 96th in rushing offense? The ‘Cats better get it in gear against Kent this week.
6. Buffalo There’s a giant line of demarcation below 5th in the conference right now, and any team outside NIU and Temple could probably be right here. I’ll go with the Bulls, who lost a game they could have won, but didn’t get dismantled, and still haven’t had a monstrously disappointing game like everyone else on this list. Buffalo lost 34-21 to Baylor in a game that was a little closer than the score indicated; Drew Willy finally came down to earth, throwing 3 picks against the Bears, but Buffalo was totally in the game at half, trailing 10-7, and Turner Gill had to be happy that talented sophomore James Starks acted like a feature back again, turning 18 touches in to 95 yards and three scores. Considering the competition, the Buffalo D has held up fairly well; the Bulls are 4th in the MAC in TFL, 4th in sacks, and 1st in rush D. If the offense can do a better job converting yards in to points (6th in MAC in yards, just 9th in scoring), this team could get to 4-5 wins, a huge improvement in Gill’s second year.
7. Eastern Michigan Who would have guessed that we’d be coming up on October and the Eagles would be looking like the Wolverine state’s most solid MAC team? The Eagles ripped Howard 38-15 Saturday, and it could have been worse. EMU was just 2 of 12 on third downs, and led 31-0 after 29 minutes. The defense is looking really solid; Daniel Holtzclaw is playing like a man possessed, with 51 tackles to rank 4th nationally, and DE Jason Jones is up to his old tricks with 5 tackles for loss. Andy Schmitt has been remarkably consistent at QB while increasing his yardage totals every game this year. If the offense can capitalize on great field position with an improved run game (just 112.5 yards and 1 TD per game), this squad could challenge for 2nd in the MAC West.
8. Central Michigan Oh my. The Chips got absolutely rolled by a North Dakota State squad high on efficiency but low on D-I talent. What happened to this team? I was willing to write off the Kansas and Purdue beatdowns to growing pains, but losing by 30 to the Bison is something else entirely. Playing KU and the Boilers hasn’t helped, but the D has been awful; they’re currently 112th or worse out of 119 NCAA teams in TFL, pass D, pass efficiency D, scoring D, and total D. The rush D is 87th, but teams aren’t running with such a porous secondary. CMU can start righting the ship by opening some holes for Ontario Sneed; other than a big day against the Rockets, Sneed has 28 carries for 72 yards in three games.
9. Western Michigan Maybe the media’s pick to win the MAC got back on track a little Saturday with a 51-14 thrashing of Central Connecticut State at Waldo Stadium, but I’m going to need a win over a D-1 foe before I’m convinced. Tim Hiller was efficient against CCSU, going 17 of 27 through the air, but the downfield attack just wasn’t happening. 3.4 yards per pass attempt? That’s killer, especially when your defense is struggling so much, surrendering 41.25 points an out, and that’s after holding CCSU to 14. Over/under on total points at Toledo this weekend might be in the triple digits.
10. Toledo The Rockets are still trying to figure out how they beat Iowa State Saturday, but Tom Amstutz won’t complain. RB Julian Parmele ran hard all day, and broke approximately 2,786 tackles on an 82 yard kick return to bring Toledo within 5 with five and a half to play. The Rocket D didn’t tackle or defend well, but kept a lid on Cyclone RB JJ Bass, holding him to just 4 yards a carry. If the Rocket D isn’t going to defend, apply pressure, or tackle well, the offense has to keep scoring points in droves, and the Toledo WR crew did a nice job of getting open against a Cyclone secondary that had been pretty good to date. Amstutz would be well-advised to keep feeding Parmele, the epitome of a downhill runner, and one of the MAC’s most underappreciated talents.
11. Miami The wheels have fallen off in Oxford in a hurry. After an impressive start which included a big win in Muncie and an excruciating loss at Minnesota, the Redhawks have been abused to the tune of 89-10 in crushing defeats against Cincinnati and Colorado. Granted, Shane Armstrong sees his team play every day, but I’m still surprised that Daniel Raudabaugh is taking snaps instead of veteran Mike Kokal. Kokal looked like an effective game manager at Ball State, but was benched in favor of Raudabaugh, who went 11-32 for 95 yards in Boulder. Losing RB Brandon Murphy to a serious knee injury hasn’t helped; Miami’s put up just 100 rushing yards in the two recent defeats.
12. Northern Illinois The Huskies got off the schneid with a 42-35 win at Idaho that was probably a little more impressive than it looked. Justin Anderson is emerging as a very potent feature back, topping 160 yards for the second straight week against the Vandals. How about getting some help from special teams? NIU is 118th nationally in kick returns and 93rd in punting. The Huskies will be in a lot of slugfests in the West this year; some field position would do them a lot of good.
13. Temple The Owls are the MAC’s last winless team, but they could win their next two contests against Army and Northern if they improve in a few key areas. With the wave of injuries to the RBs, the defense just has to be better. 100th nationally in rush D isn’t going to cut it. Adam DiMichele has put up some solid numbers under center, throwing for 801 yards and 7 TD in four games, but the offensive line isn’t protecting him. 13 sacks and no time to throw is a bad recipe when your QB is your best offensive option. It’ll be the resistable force against the moveable object October 6th in Philly: NIU’s D is 10th in the MAC in TFL, Temple’s line is 13th in giving up sacks.
To check out my power ratings of every BCS conference, head to www.crowdrush.com.
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