Wednesday, September 15, 2010

MAC Blog Roundtable.....



1. For the season, excluding intraconference matches, MAC teams are 0-10 against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. Which MAC team will be the first to record an out-of-conference win against any FBS team?

This is shocking to me. I had no idea that the MAC had yet to beat any FBS team. I can give you the homer answer, which is that I think BG will beat Marshall Saturday, but I'm a little less sure about that after seeing the WVU game. I'm going to predict that Temple is the first, when they beat Army. If it won't for the coaching turmoil, I would like NIU against Illinois.

2. Three teams -- Akron, EMU, and Bowling Green -- remain winless; when will each team record a win Temple is undefeated; when will they take their first loss?

Before the season, I predicted Bowling Green to beat Marshall. If I had to guess, BG will win against Buffalo. For its part, Akron has punted its guaranteed win already. They get a first win over Miami on November 17 at InfoCision Stadium. I'm thinking EMU wins sometimes in 2011. I don't see Temple getting by Connecticut on Saturday, and if they do, I don't see them getting past Penn State.

3. Although teams have only played two games, that is nearly 17% of the season. How has your team's performance so far compared to your preseason expectations? What key factors will you be watching over the next two weeks?

This has been largely what I expected out of BG, and I had them picked to lose both games. In fact, to the extent they have both been somewhat competitive. The team is very young this year, and I'm looking for them to get better each week, especially on defense.

4. This Saturday, Central Michigan visits EMU. The last time they played in Ypsilanti (2008), a school-record 26,188 fans turned out to see the teams run 174 plays, combining for 1,171 total yards of offense, 15 touchdowns, and 108 points. How many people will show up at Rynearson Stadium this Saturday, and how many yards of offense and points scored will they see?

Well, I'm not much on guessing attendance. I hope a good number, because it would be helpful to whole conference to see EMU build its program and fanbase. I know EMU is working very hard to generate attendance. I'm thinking somewhere in the range of 54 points and 600 yards of total offense.

5. Rank 'em, worst to first.

1. Temple
2. NIU
3. WMU
4. Toledo
5. Kent
6. Ohio U
7. CMU
8. BG
9. Buffalo
10. Miami
11. Ball State
12. EMU
13. Akron

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