Scout.com: 2009 CFN MAC Roundup

2009 CFN MAC Roundup

By Staff

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 3, 2009

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

2009 MAC ... Week 10

	CFN EXPERT PICKS	Fiu	Rich	Matt	Michael	Clucko	PICK
	Tuesday, Nov. 3
7:00	BGSU at Buff. -3.5	BG	BU	BU	BU	BG	BU
	Thursday, Nov. 5
7:30	EMU at NIU -21	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
7:30	Miami U. at Temple -14	TU*	TU	TU	TU	TU	TU
	Saturday, Nov. 7
12:00	WMU at MSU -18	MS	MS*	MS*	MS*	WM	MS*
3:30	Kent St -3 at Akron	KS	AK	AK	AK	KS	AK
	Straight Up	59-22	60-21	56-25	61-20	44-37	60-21
	ATS	43-38	45-36	32-39	34-37	32-39	30-41

East
	Conf.		Overall
Temple	4	0	6	2
Ohio	4	1	6	3
Kent St	4	1	5	4
BGSU	3	2	4	5
Buffalo	1	4	3	6
Miami	1	4	1	8
Akron	0	4	1	7
West
	Conf.		Overall
CMU	5	0	7	2
NIU	3	1	5	3
WMU	3	3	4	5
Toledo	2	3	4	5
Ball St	1	4	1	8
EMU	0	4	0	8
Players of the Week 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 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 at Arkansas 63 Eastern Michigan 27 Eastern Michigan gets blown away by the Hogs CFN Prediction: Arkansas 63-17 Line: Arkansas -38.5 Kent State 26 at Western Michigan 14 - Kent State & Keith outgun the Broncos - Western Michigan gets sacked by KSU CFN Prediction: Western Michigan 24-20 Line: Kent State -2.5 Ohio 20 at Ball State 17 - Ball State loses tough battle to the Bobcats - Ohio struggles in win over the Cardinals CFN Prediction: Ohio 31-10 Line: Ohio -7 Temple 27 at Navy 24 Temple & Pierce outrush Navy CFN Prediction: Temple 23-20 Line: Navy -7 at Boston College 31 Central Michigan 10 Central Michigan struggles in loss to BC CFN Prediction: Boston College 28-21 Line: BC -5 at Northern Illinois 27 Akron 10 - Akron is awful in loss to the Huskies - Northern Illinois runs wild on the Zips CFN Prediction: Northern Illinois 30-14 Line: Northern Illinois -11 at Miami University 31 Toledo 24 - Miami Univ. gets first win thanks to Dysert - Toledo suffer disastrous loss to RedHawks CFN Prediction: Toledo 28-16 Line: Toledo -5

GAME OF THE WEEK

Ohio 20 … at Ball State 17
Matt Weller hit four field goals and Terrence McCray caught a seven yard touchdown pass and a two-point conversion to give Ohio the win over the Cardinals. The McCray score came with 3:11 to play, and the defense held. Ball State got a one-yard Eric Williams touchdown run and a 35-yard Jeremy Hill touchdown catch, but the defense couldn’t hang on late.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Temple RB Bernard Pierce ran 29 times for 267 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Navy.

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Akron … at Northern Illinois 27 ... Akron 10 ... Seven penalties, 0-of-10 third down conversions, and 80 of the 235 yards of total offense coming on one play, and that was a gimmick. The Zips are getting worse instead of better. The ground game is non-existent partly because NIU was able to tee off into the backfield with no fear of Patrick Nicely making anything happen through the air. On a six-game losing streak, there isn’t much hope to turn things around right away with Kent State and Temple, arguably the two best teams in the East, coming up next.

Ball State … Ohio 20 ... at Ball State 17 ... Basically, if the running game is roaring, the Cardinals have no chance. Tanner Justice and the passing game are miserable, with 35 of the 78 yards coming on one play, and with NIU and its decent run defense up next, something has to start clicking better through the air. Ball State, as bad as it has been, has been alive in games, five of the losses have come by a touchdown or less, but there are too many holes to reasonably hope for a big improvement over the final three games.

Bowling Green … Didn’t Play This Week

Buffalo … Didn’t Play This Week

Central Michigan … at Boston College 31 ... Central Michigan 10 ... This was supposed to be a chance for CMU to make a big statement for the MAC and for itself, and instead it struggled to get the offense moving and the defense couldn’t come up with a big stop in the third quarter to try to turn the game around. While the loss might not be a plus for the team’s confidence, it doesn’t take away from the excellent seven-game winning streak, and it doesn’t distract from the task at hand. If CMU’s head is on straight, there should be no problems getting wins over Toledo and Ball State in the next two weeks and take control of the MAC West for good.

Eastern Michigan … at Arkansas 63 ... Eastern Michigan 27 ... At least the offense moved the ball a bit. Yeah, EMU was down 49-0 to Arkansas before Kyle McMahon, but the attack finally produced with a flurry in the third quarter. EMU is 118th in the nation in offense and 112th in passing efficiency, and the problems should keep getting worse with three road games in the next four with the home game against Western Michigan. Considering the run defense is dead last in America, the offense had better find some consistency in a hurry.

Kent State … Kent State 26 ... at Western Michigan 14 ... Kent State turned it over three times, had problems with the running game with WMU getting into the backfield on a regular basis, and had to come up with a scoring drive late to put the game away, but Spencer Keith did a great job of moving the chains helping the offense convert 10-of-14 third down chances. The pass rush continues to be phenomenal and continues to mask any concerns elsewhere on defense. Now it’s on to Akron where the Golden Flashes can’t blow the layup before the showdown at Temple for the East title.

Miami University … at Miami University 31 ... Toledo 24 ... It’s just one win, but for a Miami team that had been close and had been improving, this shows that there really is hope for the future. Zac Dysert is now firmly established as the player to build the team around, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. The defense did a great job against Toledo, but not it has to take things to another level to have a shot against Bernard Pierce and Temple next week. The lines weren’t bad, but they need to be better.

Northern Illinois … at Northern Illinois 27 ... Akron 10 ... NIU continues to have a nasty habit of playing down to the mediocre. The defense was terrific against the lowly Zips, but it took a fourth quarter rally to turn the game around and finally pull away. DeMarcus Grady didn’t push the ball down the field, but he was efficient at moving the chains and letting Chad Spann and the running game carry the attack. There’s no reason to not drill Eastern Michigan and Ball State by two touchdowns each over the next two weeks, but the offense has to start putting up more points early on to avoid having to play catch-up late.

Ohio … Ohio 20 ... at Ball State 17 ... Ohio kept its MAC East title hopes alive, but it was shaky. The defense did its job of stuffing a Ball State running game that went crazy on Eastern Michigan the week before, while QB Theo Scott came through with a nice final drive after struggling for most of the game. The offense isn’t explosive and too many drives finished with field goals instead of touchdowns, but at 4-1 with a trip to Buffalo up next, the Bobcats are still alive.

Temple … Temple 27 ... at Navy 24 ... Temple really and truly is bowl eligible. The Owls are doing it with great defense and Bernard Pierce, who’s carrying the offense. The passing game continues to be miserable with Vaughn Charlton struggling yet again with just 37 yards and two interceptions, but Pierce carried the load and the D came through when it had to. On a six-game winning streak, now it’s back to MAC play with winnable games against bad Miami and Akron teams up next before the showdown with Kent State.

Toledo … at Miami University 31 ... Toledo 24 ... The Rockets can’t blame the loss or the slide on the loss of Aaron Opelt; he played and the team still struggled. Now the Rockets are out of the MAC chase after this disastrous loss, and all the positive things they did over the first half of the season are gone. Of course, this team is just flaky enough to come out roaring against Central Michigan next week, but the defense has to get more production from the front and the punting game has to quit being such a liability. s

Western Michigan … Kent State 26 ... at Western Michigan 14 ... Tim Hiller and the high-powered Western Michigan passing game have a hard time producing when defensive linemen are sitting on the star quarterback’s head. Kent State not only do a strong job of getting into the backfield, but it threw at will on a struggling WMU secondary that isn’t getting any help. The pass rush isn’t there, it’s one of the worst in America, and the defensive backs aren’t making any plays to make up for the problems. While the season ends up with layups against Eastern Michigan and Ball State, the only real hope for a bowl game is to pull off the upset at Michigan State next week.