MAC Power Rankings: Week 8

The division races continue to solidify, and while the West looks headed toward a Central/Western clash, the East is really, truly up for grabs with Miami and Buffalo sharing the lead. How does everybody stack up? Let’s check it out, it sure won’t be easy. Remember, this represents how I think the teams would fare if the played on a neutral field tomorrow.

1. Central Michigan – The Chips just keep hummin’; 21,013 took in CMU’s 47-23 win over Army this weekend, they saw Dan LeFevour post another big yards, 6 score day. Here’s where things get interesting: CMU heads to Clemson this weekend in a game they really, really could win. The key for CMU will be protection; if LeFevour gets put on his back too many times, it could not only cost Central the game, but a disastrous outing could damage the offense’s confidence for the stretch drive.
2. Ball State – I’ve got to stick with the Cardinals at #2 here, but we haven’t yet seen how their confidence in tackling MAC teams will be affected by the Central Michigan blow out. I can’t wait to see the BSU/WMU clash this weekend in Kalamazoo. Nate Davis and the Ball State offense are the 20^th ranked passing outfit in the land, and they’ll be matched up with a WMU pass D that had very high expectations entering the year. For the Cardinals to have a realistic shot to reach the MAC title game, they’ve got to win Saturday, then hope the Broncos beat the Chips. That’s a lot of dominoes, but the first one will fall Saturday.
3. Miami – The Redhawks finally won me over with the absolute woodshed beating they dropped on Bowling Green Saturday. In three MAC contests, the Miami D has held conference opponents to 13, 14 and 13 points, and that kind of consistency makes them the East favorites right now. Austin Sykes, who started the year as a third string tailback, rocked the Falcons to the tune of 124 yards on 17 carries. Can Miami keep this up? Daniel Raudabaugh moved the offense well in stead of Mike Kokal; will it continue against Temple this week?
4. Buffalo – I’ve got no choice but to get on the Bulls’ bandwagon now. When James Starks told me before the season that his MAC career would be a failure if Buffalo didn’t win a conference title in the next few years, I laughed. Suddenly, Starks’ high hopes don’t look too crazy. Buffalo put another solid beating on a traditional MAC power, licking Toledo 41-31. The Bulls put up 36 first half points, then rode Starks to victory. I don’t know what the coaching staff told Starks to turn his season around, but in four weeks he’s gone from not even being Buffalo’s feature back to running top 5 in the MAC Player of the Year race.
5. Kent State – The Golden Flashes are lurking deep in the East standings, with two losses in games they should have won, and too much talent on offense to be 6^th in the East. Julian Edelman isn’t a great downfield thrower, but the running game, with Edelman’s elusive scrambles and Eugene Jarvis lugging the ball, should be, and is, tops in the MAC. When the offense has gone wrong, the cause has been an unsteady diet of Jarvis. The little guy can still carry the Flashes to a winning season, but he needs touches.
6. Bowling Green – And from the Where-Did-That-Come-From file, Bowling Green went to Oxford and got pasted by 33 Saturday. I’ve got no idea how to explain Saturday’s result, but the Falcons will be wise to not make a habit of surrendering 47 points to the 104^th best scoring offense in the land. Corey Partridge is having a great year catching the ball, with at least 6 catches and 65 yards in 4 straight games.
7. Akron – The chinks in the Zips’ armor really came out in this Saturday’s loss to Temple. The Owls exploded for 21 fourth quarter points on the back of Adam DiMichele’s three second half TD passes. The Akron O couldn’t move the ball late, running 32 second half plays for just 119 yards, including two INTs, 4 punts and just 7 points. The defense is capable, but eventually the offense was going to lay an egg, and it finally happened.
8. Western Michigan – I had a chance to see the Broncos at Northern Illinois this Saturday, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. WMU got a nice win in DeKalb, but the passing attack wasn’t nearly as good as the stats indicated; if you take away Hiller’s first quarter, 77-yard pass and run, the numbers were very mediocre, and Hiller looked confused all day. The defense got some red zone stops, but had no answer for NIU’s Justin Anderson. No way this team can win the West with how its playing right now.
9. Temple – The Owls struck again, getting their second win, and on two consecutive weeks, no less. Getting three MAC wins would be a huge step for Temple in their first year in the conference; four isn’t out of the question, but the defense needs to apply pressure to Daniel Raudabaugh. The biggest difference between Raudabaugh and Kokal, according to Kent State head coach Doug Martin, is that Raudabaugh doesn’t make defenses fear his scrambling ability. Temple is 8^th in the league in sacks, at 1.57 per game. If the Owls can put Raudabaugh on his back three times, and ruin three Miami drives, they can beat the Redhawks.
10. Ohio – The Bobcats rode a big day from Kelvin McRae to their first MAC win of 2007. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t divisional, but its still a MAC win, and Frank Solich has to be pleased that his passing attack dropped 48 points on a solid D. Maybe my memory is fading, but wasn’t this defense better than 104^th in the nation against the run last year? Ohio might be able to win every game left on their schedule, but Toledo is the only winnable game remaining if they don’t start run stuffing better.
11. Eastern Michigan – You’re a smarter man than me if you can figure out where Andy Schmitt’s 20-28, 210 yard, 4 score performance came from against Ohio. Schmitt, not exactly the league’s best thrower, broke out in a big week against the Bobcats, as the EMU defense, usually a fairly stout unit, got rolled by Kelvin McRae and the Ohio offensive line. McRae bruised the Eagles to the tune of 32 carries, 170 yards, and left this team looking for answers on both side of the ball.
12. Northern Illinois – The Huskies have the league’s best running back in Justin Anderson, and that’s saying something in a MAC crowded with marquee skill position players. If NIU were sitting on 3 or 4 wins, Anderson would be getting a lot more publicity. As is, he’s the 9^th ranked rusher nationally at 124 yards per game, just 9 a day behind Eugene Jarvis. But the Huskies have been, by coach Joe Novak’s own admission, ‘terrible’ in the red zone. How is a team averaging 354 yards a game scoring just 19 points an outing? The Huskies haven’t been gotten to 20 in any MAC game this year.
13. Toledo – The Rockets got pounded at Buffalo Saturday, and could be in for more of the same against Ohio this week. The offense is fine and snazzy, sure, and DJ Lenehan has exceeded expectations for a third string QB. But the defense can’t stop anybody, at 117^th in the nation, giving up 43.29 ppg. It starts up front, where there’s no pass rush (109^th in sacks, 105^th in TFL), it spreads to the rush D (111^th against the run). This unit still really, really misses some of its starting secondary, and no one else is stepping up to fill the void.