Scout.com: 2009 CFN MAC Roundup

2009 CFN MAC Roundup

By Staff

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 14, 2009

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MAC 2009 Game of the Week, Player of the Week, Roundup & Standings

2009 MAC ... Week 12

	CFN EXPERT PICKS	Fiu	Rich	Matt	Michael	Clucko	PICK
	Wednesday, Nov. 18
6:00	UB -2.5 at Miami U	UB	UB	UB	UB	MU	UB
8:00	CMU -16.5 at Ball St	CM	CM	CM	CM	BS	CM
	Friday, November 20
5:30	Akron at BGSU -12.5	BG*	BG	BG	BG*	AK	BG*
7:00	EMU at Toledo -19.5	TO	TO	TO	TO	EM	TO
	Saturday, Nov. 21
1:00	Kent St at Temple -13.5	TE*	TE*	TE*	TE*	KS	TE*
2:00	NIU at Ohio -1	NI	OH	OH	OH	NI	NI
	Straight Up	69-23	69-23	66-26	69-23	47-43	70-22
	ATS	52-40	50-42	39-43	39-43	35-47	36-46

East
	Conf.		Overall
Temple	6	0	8	2
Ohio	5	1	7	3
Kent St	4	2	5	5
BGSU	4	2	5	5
Akron	1	5	2	8
Buffalo	1	5	3	7
Miami	1	6	1	10
West
	Conf.		Overall
CMU	6	0	8	2
NIU	5	1	7	3
WMU	4	3	5	6
Toledo	2	4	4	6
Ball St	1	5	1	9
EMU	0	6	0	10
Players of the Week 11/14 11/7 Bernard Pierce, QB TU 10/31 Bernard Pierce, RB TU 10/24 MiQuale Lewis & Cory Sykes, RB BSU 10/17 Fred Barnes, WR BG 10/10 Fred Barnes, WR BG 10/3 Aaron Opelt, QB, Stephen Williams, WR, Toledo 9/26 Dan LeFevour, QB CMU 9/19 Meco Brown, RB NIU 9/13 Dan LeFevour, QB CMU 9/5 Tyler Sheehan QB & Freddie Barnes, WR, BGSU Games of the Week 11/14 Ohio 27, UB 24 11/7 Temple 34, MU 32 10/31 Ohio 20, BSU 17 10/24 WMU 34, UB 31 OT 10/17 Toledo 20, NIU 19 10/10 BG 36, KSU 35 10/3 Toledo 37, BSU 30 9/26 Idaho 34, NIU 31 9/19 NIU 28, Purdue 21 9/13 CMU 29, MSU 27 9/5 Villanova 27, Temple 24 Scoreboard Ohio 27 at Buffalo 24 - Ohio keeps East hopes alive in win over UB - Buffalo loses to Bobcats on late field goal CFN Prediction: Buffalo 30-27 Line: Buffalo -1 at Central Michigan 56 Toledo 24 - Central Michigan & LeFevour blow past UT - Toledo turns it over 5 times in loss to CMU CFN Prediction: CMU 34-20 Line: CMU -17 Bowling Green 35 at Miami University 14 - BGSU's Barnes is at it again in win over MU - Miami Univ. fizzles in loss to the Falcons CFN Prediction: BGSU 45-34 Line: BGSU -3.5 at Northern Illinois 26 Ball State 20 - NIU gets Harnish back for win over Cardinals - Ball State loses yet another close game CFN Prediction: NIU 31-17 Line: NIU -17.5 Temple 56 at Akron 17 -Temple keeps on rolling with blowout win - Akron collapses vs. TU after big 1st quarter CFN Prediction: Temple 31-23 Line: Temple -4 Western Michigan 35 at Eastern Michigan 14 -- Western Michigan's West sets record in win - EMU gets big day from Gillett in loss CFN Prediction: Western Michigan 45-31 Line: WMU -11

GAME OF THE WEEK

Ohio 27 … at Buffalo 24
Matt Weller nailed a 47-yard field goal with 1:25 to play to break the tie and keep Ohio in the MAC East title race. The Bobcats got out to a 24-14 lead helped by fumble recovery in the end zone and touchdown runs from Tyler Tettleton and Vince Davidson, but Buffalo was able to get back into the game in the second half with a 22-yard Naaman Roosevelt touchdown catch and a 26-yard A.J. Principle field goal, but Ohio answered with a 5:33 drive to get the final points. Roosevelt also scored from 76 yards out in the first quarter and on a 21-yarder with three seconds to play in the first half.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour completed 29-of-36 passes for 341 yards and two scores, and he ran 14 times for 19 yards and four touchdowns in the winover Toledo.

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Akron … Temple 56 ... at Akron 17 ... Just when it seemed like Akron was pulling up out of the nosedive after pulling off a huge win over Kent State, all but ruining the Golden Flashes’ MAC title hopes, there was this performance. After a strong first quarter when the Zips were able to get up early and looked like they were ready to make a huge statement for the last few weeks of the season, nothing worked. The special teams had a breakdown, the offense sputtered and gave up a score, and the Temple floodgates opened. The string will be closed out at Bowling Green and against Eastern Michigan; there’s no reason to not at least split.

Ball State … at Northern Illinois 26 ... Ball State 20 ... Ball State continues to have problems in close games. The Cardinal are 1-9 this season with six of the losses coming by a touchdown or less, and while the offense isn’t coming up with the timely scores to turn thing around, and the passing game continues to be a disaster, the team isn’t all that far away from being a lot better in the record book. But that’s for next year. As bad as things have been, if BSU can beat Central Michigan next week, it would be a huge momentum boot for the Stan Parrish era this offseason. It would show that the team really can play a little bit.

Bowling Green … Bowling Green 35 ... at Miami University 14 ... Bowling Green might not be that pretty and it might be struggling to consistently move the ball when Freddie Barnes isn’t producing, but there’s hope for a nice close to the season with relatively easy home games against Akron and Toledo. Win those, and this is a 7-5 yards after a 1-4 start. However, with an awful running game and poor play from the defensive front, it’s not a layup to win those last two games, and at this point in the year, the team isn’t going to make any radical changes from what’s working: Tyler Sheehan to Freddie Barnes.

Buffalo … Ohio 27 ... at Buffalo 24 ... This was a disappointing end to all hopes of making something positive happen this season. The defense didn’t force the big mistakes this year like it did last season, and the running game hasn’t been consistent enough to rely on week in and week out. Naaman Roosevelt showed once again why he’s one of the MAC’s premier playmakers, but for all the big plays he made, the Bulls still couldn’t do enough to hold on late. The string will be played out at Miami University and at Kent State, with the Bulls looking to play spoiler against the Golden Flashes.

Central Michigan … at Central Michigan 56 ... Toledo 28 ... Dan LeFevour continues to set records and he continues to cement him legacy as one of the MAC’s greatest players. He has turned his game up a few notches with a flawless performance against the Rockets, getting hot with the passing game at the right time and closing with short rushing scores. He got help from a big day from Antonio Brown and a nice running day from Bryan Schroeder, and now it’s a one game season. It doesn’t matter what happens against Ball State; it’s all going to come down to the November 27th game against NIU.

Eastern Michigan … Western Michigan 35 ... at Eastern Michigan 14 ... Even though the Eagles had yet another awful game, there was a sign of life for the future with Alex Gillett running well, taking off for 105 yards, but he threw three picks as part of the six turnovers that put Western Michigan in a position to stay ahead easily. With two games left, both on the road at Toledo and Akron, an 0-12 season is more than likely, and with the way the team is playing defensively and inefficiently offensively, it’ll be lucky to make the games close.

Kent State … Didn’t Play This Week

Miami University … Bowling Green 35 ... at Miami University 14 ... Miami stayed alive early on two long scoring drives and decent play from Zac Dysert, and then the mistakes started flowing and the game was over. The running game was non-existent and Dysert couldn’t pick up the slack. The defense wasn’t awful, Anthony Kokal made 13 tackles and a tackle for loss, while Jerrell Wedge had a big game with 13 stops, a sack, and 2.5 tackles for loss, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the mediocre offense. The miserable season is closed out at home on Wednesday against Buffalo.

Northern Illinois … at Northern Illinois 26 ... Ball State 20 ... It wasn’t a perfect performance with the running game kept in check and the defense needing to battle for a full sixty minutes against a bad Ball State offense, but the wins keep on coming, now on a four-game run, with the big boys to come. It’s a two-game playoff to get to the MAC title game, with next week’s battle at Ohio a must win to set up a MAC West title game against Central Michigan. Now that Chandler Harnish is back, the offense has even more options. There weren’t any plays made down the field, but Harnish and DeMarcus Grady only missed once on the short to midrange throws. The passing game needs to do more, it’s currently last in the MAC, to get by CMU.

Ohio … Ohio 27 ... at Buffalo 24 ... The Bobcats are still alive for the MAC Eat title needing to beat Northern Illinois in a few weeks to set up a showdown against Temple. The running game was disappointing, but Theo Scott was accurate and careful throwing the ball to keep the chains moving, and he helped engineer the game-winning drive. Matt Weller saved the day with two huge kicks, nailing blasts from 46 to 47 yards out, and he’s going to be a factor over the final few games. The punting has to be better; Peter Fardon has struggled this year and averaged just 37.8 yards per boot against the Bulls.

Temple … Temple 56 ... at Akron 17 ... With this win, now Temple might get a bowl bid even if there’s a loss to Kent State or at Ohio. With the Bobcats continuing to win, the MAC East title will come down to the showdown in Oxford, but if the Owls keep dominating on defense and if Chester Stewart can provide some semblance of a passing game, even if there’s just a threat, then Bernard Pierce and the running game should be able to do even more. The defensive line is dominating at the moment while the running game continues to produce. Outside of the mediocre passing game, Temple has a nice mix.

Toledo … at Central Michigan 56 ... Toledo 28 ... Toledo has the firepower to keep up with a team like Central Michigan, but four interceptions and a fumble, and no takeaways, opened up the floodgates in the blowout win. Aaron Opelt was back in a full-time role under center, but he was rusty and he made too many mistakes. After losing four of their last five games, the Rockets need to get past the layup against Eastern Michigan and beat Bowling Green to finish 6-6. That’s not bad, but after a strong start to the season, this has been a disappointing and disastrous second half to the year as the offense has sputtered.

Western Michigan … Western Michigan 35 ... at Eastern Michigan 14 ... Even though it was a 35-14 win, and it wasn’t a hard one, it should’ve been even more of a blowout with six takeaways. Tim Hiller had a nice day, making the plays needed to capitalize on mistakes, while Brandon West was fantastic in his historic day. For all the yards he has come up with on the way to being the NCAA’s all-time record holder, he still needs to do more. He and Hiller get to close out their careers (most likely) against Ball State, and while it would take a miracle to get a bowl bid, going 6-6 isn’t all that bad after a disaster of a run in the second half of the year.