MAC Roundtable for this week is on the air.....

Excellent week for answers, which are detailed below.  Bull Run is out this week because of an ill-advised trip during football season and RAB Attack is still rapturing in last night's televised whup-ass over the EMUs.  Here is what we have.

1.  Now that we have reached November, what do you really think of this no-Saturday stuff? Is it a necessary evil, an unnecessary evil, or a non-issue? Do you think that the difficulty for home fans outweighs the long-term benefit of being on ESPN?

I thought we had a pretty good discussion on this one, with the consensus falling on the idea that there are lots of downsides but upsides as well.

Let's Go Rocket reminded us that...

On one hand, a weeknight game means that fans will be able to attend their MAC game without missing other popular games on tv.

Over the Pylon reminds us that the players are student athletes

The student athlete portion of the picture should be the most important one but has probably slipped to the bottom of the list. No one seems to talk about the impact to their academics and daily routines, but that may simply be a result of "student athletes" dropping the importance of the "student" piece of that identifier years ago, long before weekday MAC games were even around.

Temple Forever think it is especially odd when two teams play on a weekday and they AREN'T on TV (and he sent that before last night's thrilling un-televised Temple-Miami thriller)

I think the only non-Saturday games on should be guaranteed TV games. No more having multiple conference teams playing on the same weeknight, only to get one of the teams on TV.

Fire up Chips provided the thread's LOL moment...

And I don't see why MAC fans would have a problem with it, they don't go to the games anyways. I mean, If a criminal wanted to do a giant drug deal -- go some place where nobody would see them -- they should go to an Eastern Michigan home game.

And Rasor is probably the most negative on the ESPN deal...

Being on ESPNU doesn't do it for me. It diminishes the quality of MAC football to say we're willing to play Tuesday morning during breakfast so a handful of football fanatics get to watch live football in an unusual timeslot.

2.  As we hit the home stretch, who are your early leaders for MAC Offensive and Defensive players of the year? Coach of the Year?

On offense, LeFevour was clearly our consensus pick, with Sheehan, Barnes and Bernard Pierce getting some mentions.

Over the Pylon feels that LeFevour is kind of an obvious, casual fan kinda pick.

Defense:

This is always tougher, because you could have some beat d-lineman eating up blocks but he doesn't get numbers.  I'd say the high profile picks for us are Barry Church and Adrian Robinson, with Davonte Shannon and Nick Bellore being a little more out of the mainstream.

Coach:

Give Al Golden his hardware already.

3.  Bernard Pierce is making a huge impact as a freshmen at Temple. What freshmen are making an impact or showing promise at your program?

Let's Go Rockets:  Eric Page (duh!)
FalconBlog:  No big contributors, Dwayne Woods and Tim Moore getting reps
Over the Pylon:  Eric Williams
Temple:  (Pierce was in the proposition) their kicker McManus
Fire Up Chips:  No one major, DE Caesar Rodriguez is a guy to watch.
Rasor on Zips:  Brian Wagner, who arguably is having as good a season on defense as Pierce is on offense.

4.  Think back on your time as a fan.....what is the single most exciting or thrilling moment you recall witnessing for your team.....I'm thinking in person, but certainly not a requirement.

I was really happy with the results of this question.  It is awesome to go back and think about those games that were the magic we expect as fans.  For that reason, I am going to run everyone's answer....

Let's Go Rockets:

Certainly, our fondest memory of the Toledo football program is from 2003, when Toledo upset (then) #9 Pittsburgh in the Glass Bowl. The game, start to finish was thrilling, and the electricity in the Glass Bowl in the second half was paupable when everyone realized that we might just pull this off. As the clock wound down, the place erupted. We never step foot in the Glass Bowl without thinking about that night.

Over the Pylon:

Hands down the Toledo game in 2001. Homecoming. Ranked opponent. Game-winning kick return for the go ahead touchdown. Handing Toledo its first loss of the season. An unbelievable weekend and an unbelievable game. Close second was last year's Western Michigan contest. It was simply incredible to see the crowd, the students, and cap off a regular season at 12-0. Unreal.

Temple Football Forever

Absolutely beating California in the Garden State Bowl before 55,000 Temple fans at the Meadowlands. Cal traveled maybe 100 people. All the other fans were Temple fans. A huge homefield advantage in a bowl game.

Fire Up Chips

Western Michigan is amazing in 2000 (ranked #27 in the country) and CMU has esentially a flag football team. However, CMU wins at home in what I consider the BEST upset in CMU history.

Chilling in the press box at CMU's HUGE upset over MSU was great as well.

Rasor on the Zips;

This is easy. I was in the front row in Detroit at Ford Field on Dec. 1, 2005. Luke Getsy found Domenik Hixon on a deep post route with under a minute to play. The touchdown gave the Zips their first MAC Championship. We were going absolutely berserk, hugging complete strangers. That was a great time to be a Zips football fan. That's the point when I decided I would never sit in the press box during a football game if I can help it. You can't enjoy a moment like that without high-fives, clapping, shouting, chest-bumping, etc.

Falcon Blog:

The most exciting Falcon game I remember was my senior year in college, the Fall of 1985. We played Miami, and Brian McClure was injured. An undefeated season was on the line. Miami had a huge lead, but the Falcons rallied back with the help of an unused backup QB, TWO onside kick recoveries, a 25 yard scamper by said backup QB, and then a goal line stand. It remains the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen.

5.  Power Poll 


A few notes.

• CMU, Temple and EMU were unanimous.
• Rasor has OU 8th
• Most of these results were cast before Miami nearly upset Temple last night.

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