MAC Blogger Roundtable....

Let's Go Rockets is this week's host....Here are my answers to some provocative and interesting questions.

1) There are several mid week MAC games this week, with only one game being played on Saturday. Which game are you most looking forward to watching or has the most interesting matchup? OU @ Buffalo (Tuesday). Toledo @ CMU (Wednesday). BGSU @ Miami (Thursday). Ball State @ NIU ( Thursday). Temple @ Akron (Friday). WMU @ EMU (Saturday).

Well, I like the OU/Buffalo matchup. I have a feeling that OU's kicker is going to save the game with a long FG. (Just kidding). Obviously, I am looking most forward to the Bowling Green game, but I also think that CMU and UT tonight has potential to be interesting. Could be a basketball on field turf kinda night.

2) Bernard Pierce of Temple is only a Freshmen yet is the only one in the conference with over 1,000 yards rushing to date (1,211) good for 3rd in the nation. He has found the end zone 14 times already and has not yet fumbled or turned the ball over. Does Pierce have an amazing offense line or should we expect this from him for 2-3 more years?

Pierce is a real testament to the difficulty of projecting recruiting. He had some nice high school numbers, but nothing to suggest that he would do what he has done this year. ESPN had him ranked as a 40, which is pretty much the default rating for an FBS recruit. I think he has a good offensive line, but it can't just be that. For one thing, there was another starter at the beginning of the year, and he didn't get these numbers. I expect Pierce to be a star in this conference for as long as he plays here.

3) This is a sore subject for some teams (IE - Buffalo, Toledo) but discuss the major injuries your team has endured this season and what your projected outcome WOULD HAVE BEEN if everyone was healthy. We expect 100% homerism.

Well, I have to say that Bowling Green has been blessed with a very small number of injuries. Most of the ones we have had were at WR, and obviously the passing game remained healthy. If you want to think about what might have been, I would focus on how things might have looked if PJ Mahone had not earned a suspension after a couple games. The defense was night and day better after he got back, and BG could easily have beaten OU (for example) with a more solid defensive performance.

4) Outside of the MAC, which other college program(s) most closely mirrors your respective MAC school ? Who's performance / problems / coaching / etc. is similar ?

That's an excellent question. When I look at our program, I think about a team that has been very good over the last 8-9 years in general, but has no conference championships to show for it, and only one division title. From that perspective, I think we look a little bit like Wisconsin or maybe Kansas.

When I think about challenges, I look at the whole lower tier of the FBS and the upper tier of FCS. When you coach at this level, you have to be able to succeed while "making do" and that requires a very specific kind of coach.

As for coaching, I think a bunch of MAC teams have tried (as BG did) to replace a highly successful coach with someone internal. Those efforts have mostly flamed out, though some more (Miami) than others (Toledo). When things are good, it is so tempting to try and keep it going, but college football is a coach's game and you need the right guy.


5) If you could reorganize the MAC divisions, how would you see it divided to better promote competition, rivalries, recruiting, etc. ? What groupings would you like to see ? (Can be any number of divisions)

That's an excellent question. Here's an idea:

Divide the conference into the OLD MAC and the NEW MAC.

Old:

Bowling Green
Miami
Kent
OU
UT
WMU

New:
Temple
CMU
EMU
Akron
Buffalo
Ball State
NIU

For BG, this would be great, as we would play the teams our fans have the most interest in every year. It would split up Kent and Akron and CMU and WMU, who are big rivals, but might help to form some new rivals as well.