So, as you know, it was my week to host the MAC Blogger Roundtable....I've collected the answers and summarized our collective wisdom before.
To read the full text of what we have, here are the links:
Temple Football Forever
Let's Go Rockets
Over the Pylon
Bull Run
Eagle Totem
1. Northern Illinois is having a nice season and appears to be getting stronger. Do you think NIU is a Top 25 team as of today?
Clear division of opinion on this one. FalconBlog and Over the Pylon both have NIU ranked in the Top 25 on our blogpoll ballots, and Eagle Totem thinks they have been all season. Temple Football Forever needs to see a win over a decent Big 10 team in a bowl game, and Let's Go Rockets says you can't be ranked in the Top 25 on MAC games alone.
2. We talk a lot about skill players, but the game of football is often won and lost on the front line. Evaluate your offensive and defensive fronts, including your best players.
Temple Football Forever: With the exception of Adrian Robinson and Mo Wilkerson, TFF is disappointed in the play on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Note that he reports crazy skills of True FR DE Sean Daniels.
Let's Go Rockets is pleased with UT's play on both sides of the ball. The offensive line took a while to jell but has provided time for passing and space for running. The defensive line has been even better, keeping the Rockets in games. "Much of our success this year has to be credited to our D-line."
Over the Pylon: OTP sees some signs of hope inside what has basically been another year of injuries and experience on the offensive line. He points to LT Michael Switzer as a particular standout. On defense, he notes that Robert Eddins has 6 of the team's 14 sacks.
Bull Run: BR says that the change in offensive system at Buffalo has left the Bulls with the wrong body types for their offense. This, and injuries, has doomed the season. Things went better on defense, where the DC was willing to do some hybrid schemes. Note Steven Means as a pass disrupter.
Eagle Totem: ET has high praise for Bridger Buche, a LT expected next year who he thinks has NFL potential. Most of the EMU line is expected back and he expects continued improvement. The D-Line has really struggled, but is young.
Falcon Blog: I noted that the Falcons had two former defensive players and a true freshmen on the O-line and that C Ben Bojicic is a very good player when healthy. On defense, the line play has been generally adequate. Darius Smith had a nice season on the end, and Chris Jones is a DT who will be back who showed real potential.
3. Similarly, special teams are an often overlooked part of football. Evaluate your special teams thus far this season and what contribution they have made to winning....or losing.
In general, it doesn't sound like anyone is thrilled with their special teams, except for OTP.
TFF: "I thought James Nixon would be more deadly on kickoffs and Delano Green on punts. Neither one were, unfortunately. Brandon McManus had a solid sophomore season, but he could not afford to miss an extra point in the Ohio game and he did just that. He is an NFL kicker, though. No doubt."
LGR: The kicking game for the Rockets hasn’t been extraordinary this season. Injury played havoc on our punting and place kicking and both suffered. Coverage on punts and kickoffs were better than in past years. The Rocket return game has improved in the last few weeks of the season and is helping the offense in setting them up with good field position.
OTP: The special teams at BSU is actually quite good. Kicker Ian McGarvey is a very sure-footed kicker and has impressive range and power. He’s only missed three field goals all season, all of which were over 40 yards. On the punting side of the ball, Scott Kovanda continues the tradition of punter U, averaging just a smidge under 40 per, with 15 inside the 20. They haven’t made a huge difference, as they haven’t really been the deciding factor in any game, but damn I’d like to have those two missed field goals at Purdue back.
(Editor's Note: Punter U?? Really??)
BR: UB just had its first all around good day on special teams since 2008. Last season the special teams killed us, but this year our offense has been so brutal that I don't thin their awful play has been a determining factor.
ET: EMU’s special teams have certainly had their ups and downs. Early in the season, the punting game was particularly good. Jay Karutz was briefly one of the top punters in the nation, which, combined with a good story (he was an amateur Australian-rules football player whose family scraped together thousands of dollars to send him to the US to try out for several teams) got him plenty of attention. On the other hand, more recently EMU has given up several touchdowns on kickoff returns. I guess it’s a good thing that the team punts a lot more than they kick off!
FB: Special teams for Bowling Green are probably a C. Placekicking has been simply dreadful with no consistent FG threat. But the punting and kicking games have been adequate, we have made some big plays on punt returns, including 2 TDs. The kickoff return game started off well, but ended up being average to below average.
4. To date, what is your best memory of this season? And what memory are you currently seeing therapy to block from your memory.
TFF: My best memory is getting revenge against UConn, beating that team by two touchdowns, and then watching that team beat West Virginia and Pitt. My worst memory is sitting there in the rain against Ohio and watching Frank Solich run the same schemes he did a year ago against Al Golden and Al Golden, with a year to watch that film, does nothing substanitive to counter Solich.
(Editor's note: Solich isn't going to change his scheme, you know, ever).
LGR: When we look back to this season, the first quarter of the UT/BG will stick out in our minds as a time when this team really clicked and despite injuries and a few unexpected heroes, the team gelled into an efficient football unit and showed up big in an important rivalry game. Sure, the win at Purdue was bright indication of what this team could do, and winning against some MAC opponents that we “weren’t supposed” to beat are good memories from this season too — but the performance against BG was something the team (especially the seniors) needed.
OTP: The best moment this season for me was the win over Buffalo. Not only did it give us our 2nd straight win after some pretty tough losses, it was also a bit of revenge for 2008. The 08 MAC Championship Game still stings a bit, but at least the scab is starting to heal a bit. On the flip side of that coin is Western Michigan. It was an absolute embarrassment and a total meltdown after a very impressive performance and result at Central Michigan. To have Homecoming ruined by that outing was not fun. Not fun at all.
BR: The best was seeing Rivers and Neutz play so well in wee one... The Therapy is everything that has happened since.
ET: EMU has given fans a lifetime of bad memories in 2009 and 2010. Lowlights from this fall include blowout losses at Rynearson Stadium to Central Michigan and Toledo, the 52-6 loss at Vanderbilt, and frustratingly narrow losses in the first two games (to bowl-eligible teams, no less!).
There have only really been two highlights for EMU this season. The first was the thrilling, back-and-forth season opener against Army with the scoreboard and public-address system inoperable. Even though the Eagles lost the game, it was exciting, there was a good crowd in attendance, and there was something special about just watching the game with no scoreboard and no announcer. The second highlight for EMU was, of course, the comeback from down 21-0 and 28-7 to beat Ball State in overtime. As an EMU fan, there’s no one I’d rather break a losing streak against than the Cardinals. Speaking of which…
FB: I think that in future years, the memory I will most have of this season is that crazy fog game at the Doyt against Miami. As for a good memory, I'd say Marshall just because it was the only time I saw the team win in person. Therapeutic and possible pharmacological solutions are being sought for the UT and Michigan games.
5. BG and Toledo have their rivalry game this week, and your team has has one on the schedule somewhere. Do you think rivalries are important to the quality of play in the MAC, or are they a distraction that make it harder to get up for other games.
This was a very interesting question. I guess I was a little myopic when I wrote it, since BG has one and really two pretty strong rivalries. Everyone agrees that rivalries are a good thing. But, Over the Pylon (BSU), Temple Football Forever and Bull Run all point out that their issue is the lack of a rivalry game--and that they wish that one existed. Over the Pylon points out:
I would say a true rivalry game is non-existent for BSU. The fact of the matter is “The Game” each season will vary based on the circumstances of the season. For example, in 2008, our rival was Central Michigan because we were the two best teams in the MAC. This year, it was clearly Buffalo. I don’t think it makes it bad or worse that there’s no traditional rivals for us, but I’d love it if it were so.
6. Rank 'em.
- NIU
- OU
- UT
- TEMPLE
- MIAMI
- WMU
- KENT
- BSU
- BG
- CMU
- BUFF
- EMU
- AKRON
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