Oracle October (Take That ESPN)

The next four weeks are more or less our season. Play our cards right, and we could clinch the Division on November 2 at the Doyt with a win over the Akron Zips. Play our cards wrong, and we'll be struggling to finish .500 again this season.

All it will take is a road win against Miami, a team which has been crushing our dreams for decades....a team we beat in Oxford two years ago but is an unknown quantity this year and has a lot of injuries as well....

And a road win against Kent State, who is playing poorly, but beat us senseless at the Doyt last season....

And a home win againt OU, who is not playing well but tends to be dangerous...

And of course, the Zips, the possible East Division favorite. Game is at the Doyt.

Win those four, and at worse, we're playing Buffalo in November for the East title. At best, if Buffalo loses two games between now and then, and we're in.

With the six game schedule determining the East champion, you simply cannot afford to drop one to someone you are competing with. Your season can literally end in one Saturday. For example, let's look at Miami. They are 1-0 in the East, and if they beat us they are 2-0. Now, to win the East after losing to Miami, we would have to run the table, and hope Miami lost TWICE in its last four games (@Temple, Buffalo, Akron, @OU). For the sake of illustration, I am excluding the possibility of a three-way tie or something like that, where a different result could theoretically emerge)

Kent and OU have two losses already, so theoretically, if we beat Akron, Miami, Buffalo, and one of those two, we'd still win the East. So there might be one to burn there.

But not Miami. Right now we gotta have Miami.

This is the hardest part of the season. ON paper, it looks like any of those teams could beat us--and we could beat them. There is not one sure-thing, lock down, turn the lights out win in the next four. Two on the road, two at home. And we are going to have to play really well, every week.

• Tackle like we know we can.
• Move the ball like we know we can.
• Develop a running game.
• Continue to play special teams like we know we can.
• Get turnovers like we know we can.

I can't wait. Its going to be a real test of our team. Miami is always a tough place to play, and they are rivals of ours. We don't have a good track record down there.

This team can win the East, and play in the MAC Championship game. All we gotta do is win four games. Its time for some conference football.

After concern last year, I feel much better about our program. I think we are looking much better coached, and we have a much better product on the team. Our chances are as good as anyone's.