MAC Power Rankings: Week 12

1. Central Michigan – The Chips are in the title game courtesy of the big win at Western Michigan last Tuesday. In my heart of hearts, I still think Ball State is better, but there’s no way to take CMU out of the top spot after they drubbed the Cardinals by 20 at Schuemann. What are the odds of a letdown now that the title is locked up with two games to go? You know EMU will be coming for the Chippewas.
2. Ball State – The Cardinals rolled Toledo last night and looked like a great candidate for the International Bowl in doing so. If Ball State wins at Northern, and it should, the Cardinals will be 7-5 with an explosive passing attack. I have a feeling the folks in Toronto would love to match up Ball State with a Big East team like Louisville. The schools are very close geographically, and the over/under would be about 150.
3. Miami – The Redhawks will be put to the test over the next couple weeks. Miami’s been great under the radar all year, but now with the East title firmly in sight, how will this squad respond to the sight of the finish line? Shane Montgomery is one of only two plausible choices for Coach of the Year; for him to win it, Miami needs to win out and then win the title in Detroit.
4. Buffalo – Don’t count out the Bulls from the East race just yet. Turner Gill’s staff has had two weeks to prepare for BGSU’s visit to UB Stadium, where Buffalo is 3-1 this year. After that, Buffalo road trips to Kent State to face a DOA Golden Flashes squad. Gill is obviously the run away choice for MAC Coach of the Year, and if Buffalo sneaks in to the MAC title game, he’ll be getting votes for the national award as well.
5. Bowling Green – I finally saw the Falcons in person last Friday in Ypsilanti, and the offense looked pretty sharp. Who’s the best passing team in the MAC? Not CMU or Ball State – the answer is BGSU, at 292.70 yards a game. The rush D is the major handicap, and I think it’ll haunt the Falcons in Buffalo this weekend. James Starks and Mario Henry should get plenty of cracks at the nation’s 114^th best rush D.
6. Toledo – All the teams in the MAC’s third tier are closely bunched; I’ll take the Rockets here, begrudgingly. The Rockets have played an astounding 7 homes games to date, inflating their record a bit. 1-point wins over Iowa State and Liberty probably go the other way on the road, but hey, they’ve gotten the job done. In 4 road games, the Rockets haven’t yet held a team under 41 points. That be bad.
7. Akron – JD Brookhart probably quelled any silly talk about his job being in jeopardy with the high scoring win over Ohio on ESPN2 last Wednesday. The task gets tougher the next couple weeks with the two division leaders, Miami and CMU. Can Akron play spoiler? Alex Allen looked like a potential first team all-MAC talent at the Rubber Bowl Wednesday.
8. Ohio – The Bobcats shot their bowl hopes in the foot with the major letdown at Akron. Ohio is the one team in the league not afraid to pound the running game over and over, but when you’re playing 3 games in 12 days, that’s tough. Ohio now gets 16 days off before getting a shot at spoiling Miami’s East title in the season finale. McRae and the line will be rested; Solich has 17 days to craft a defensive game plan. The upset is very possible.
9. Eastern Michigan – EMU has too many defensive talents to send its seniors off giving up 38 points to BGSU on Senior Night. The running game looked nasty against BGSU, but whose hasn’t? How bad will the Eagles be looking for a finale win against Central on Saturday? Answer: Really bad.
10. Western Michigan – Who’s a bigger disappointment this year, Western or Kent State? Most folks say Kent, but I’m going with Western. The secondary was highly touted, and the media (not me) picked this team for 1^st in the conference. Eyebrows are really starting to go up around the league with all the criticism coach Bill Cubit has leveled at QB Tim Hiller. Hiller hasn’t been great, but you didn’t hear a word of criticism last year when Cubit’s son was throwing passes.
11. Temple – Al Golden was spitting fire after Penn State’s 31-0 victory over his Temple team Saturday. The game was much, much closer than the score indicated, especially after three quarters. Temple had a TD called back for penalty, dropped a pass in the end zone, missed a chippie field goal, and made several other back breaking mistakes. This team will win an East title in the next three years.
12. Northern Illinois – If this is Joe Novak’s last year in DeKalb, and it may be, at least the Huskies got off the schneid in conference play by beating Kent State 27-29 this Saturday. Now NIU heads to Navy to face a Middie squad that scored 74 points Saturday…but gave up 62. Justin Anderson will be forgotten in postseason voting, but he’s been the best thing in DeKalb all year.
13. Kent State – Shield your eyes, the glare from the car accident that has been Kent’s 2007 campaign is harsh. When your pass defense gets shredded by Dan Nicholson of NIU, you know you’ve got a problem. Eugene Jarvis continues to toil in losing efforts, at 5^th nationally with 143 ypg.