MAC
East
Akron
|
Bowling Green
|
Buffalo
|
Kent
State |
Miami Univ.
|
Ohio
West
Ball State
|
Central Mich
|
Eastern Mich
|
No.
Illinois |
Toledo
|
West
Michigan
Past MAC Predictions:
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4
|
Week
5
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
Week 8 |
Week 9 |
Week 10 |
Week 11 |
Week 12 |
Week 13
Get
Tickets for the MAC Championship
How'd we do so far? 72-19 straight
up, 45-38-2 ATS
Central Michigan (8-4) vs. Ohio (9-3)
Thursday Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m. ET,
ESPN
While neither of these programs figured
to be favorites for the MAC championship to start the season, these
have been the league's most consistent teams throughout the year.
Ohio is GMAC Bowl bound while Central Michigan will stick around
home and go to the Motor City Bowl, but first, the two have to play
in what should be a program-defining game.
|
National
Rankings |
|
Central Mich |
Ohio |
|
Total Offense |
|
35th 373.83 ypg |
104th 285.42 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
75th 353.17 ypg |
22nd 291.58 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
24th 29.5 ppg |
79th 21.58 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
71st 24 ppg |
19th 16.17 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
69th 126.58 ypg |
36th 161.08 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
55th 135.25 ypg |
52nd 130.08 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
20th 247.25 ypg |
114th 124.33 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
83rd 217.92 ypg |
13th 161.5 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
44th 0.25 |
66th -0.08 |
|
Central
Michigan
B. College L 31-24
at Michigan L 41-17
Akron W 24-21
at E Mich
W 24-17 OT
at Kentucky L 45-36
at Toledo W 42-20
Ball State
W 18-7
B. Green
W 31-14
at Temple
W 42-26
Western Mich W 31-7
at No. Illinois L 31-10
at Buffalo
W 55-28 |
Ohio
UT Martin
W 29-3
at N Illinois W 35-23
at Rutgers L 24-7
at Missouri L 31-6
B. Green L 21-6
W Mich W 27-20
at Illinois W 20-17
Buffalo
W 42-7
at Kent St W 17-7
at E Mich W 16-10
Akron W 17-7
at Miami U. W 34-24 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
C |
5
highest
1 lowest |
O |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
3 |
|
4 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
2.5 |
|
4 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
4 |
|
4 |
Linebackers |
4.5 |
|
3 |
Secondary |
4 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
4.5 |
|
4.5 |
Coaching |
4.5 |
|
Ohio is looking for its first MAC
championship and ten-win season since 1968, but even though it's won
two of the last three games against Central Michigan, the Chippewas
have an 18-4-2 all-time record in the series. Head coach Frank
Solich has turned around a Bobcat program with only one winning
season in the last eight years thanks to one of the MAC's best
defenses and the running of junior Kalvin McRae.
CMU is looking for its first MAC title since 1994 and can stay on
pace for its first ten-win season since 1979. Head coach Brian Kelly
is one of the nation's hottest young coaches who has been rumored
for several job openings. His team has won eight of its last nine
games with one of the MAC's best passing attacks even though they
had to replace several top receivers from last year.
The first hint of
how good CMU could become came in a tough 31-24 opening day loss to
Boston College with a late rally almost pulling off the upset. After
getting thumped by Michigan, CMU beat defending MAC champion Akron
24-21 to set the tone for the conference season, and then survived
overtime against Eastern Michigan on the way to a 6-0 MAC start.
With few problems against anyone else in the league, and a 31-7 win
over Western Michigan clinching the West, the team suffered a 31-10
letdown at Northern Illinois before finishing up with a blowout at
Buffalo.
Ohio's veteran team made it's big move early on beating Northern
Illinois 35-23 on September 9th before the offense went into the
tank on a three-game slide losing to Rutgers, Missouri, and at home
against Bowling Green by a combined score of 76 to 22. The offensive
line got in a lather, the defense started stopping everyone cold,
and the Bobcats went on a roll with a seven-game winning streak
highlighted by a thrilling 20-17 comeback win at Illinois which
seemed to give the team a shot of confidence going into the second
half of the season.
These are two completely different teams with contrasting styles
that should make for an entertaining game that has the potential to
be the most competitive championship game of the weekend. Ohio will
want to pound the ball, Central Michigan will try to throw the ball,
and each team will play solid special teams. There's no wrong answer
here; these two teams are the best in the MAC with the winner being
the no-doubt-about-it champion.
Players to watch: Ohio junior Kalvin McRae has been
the centerpiece of the offense for the last two years with 2,851
career yards and 25 touchdowns while catching 53 career passes for
three scores. He's not all that big and he's not all that fast, but
he's a durable, ultra-productive workhorse who's always moving
forward and always cranking out yards in chunks. It's this simple:
Ohio was 1-4 when he ran for fewer than 100 yards this year, and 8-0
when he passed the century mark.
Central Michigan came into the season planning on sophomore Brian
Brunner to be the main main at quarterback. He suffered a
concussion on the first play against Boston College, Dan LeFevour
stepped in, and the Chippewa offense and became the MAC's best
new star. While he doesn't have a huge arm, he's accurate, good on
the run, and became a great decision maker once he got his feet wet.
Can he light up a good team? He rocked against horrendous
secondaries like Kentucky's, Toledo's, Temple's and Buffalo's, but
he wasn't always on against the better teams.
Two of the MAC's best defensive players will be on display with Ohio
LB Matt Muncy and Central Michigan DE Dan Bazuin each
getting a national showcase for the NFL scouts. Muncy is a tackling
machine with good range in pass coverage. With two games to go, he
has a shot to finish his career with 350 tackles, currently at the
324 mark, with 11.5 sacks and 37 tackles for loss. Bazuin has been
dinged up a bit and wasn't quite the same after bulking up this
off-season, but he still finished with eight sacks and first-team
All-MAC honors.
Ohio
will win if...
it takes advantage of the
inevitable CMU turnover or three and makes the Chippewa offense
one-dimensional. As good as LeFevour has been, he'll throw an
interception here and there when trying to make a play that isn't
there. CMU's attack works best when it's mixing things up with
Ontario Sneed and Marcel Archer taking the pressure off LeFevour. If
the Bobcats win the turnover battle and keep the Chippewa running
game to around 100 yards, it'll have no problem getting the win.
Central Michigan will win if... it stuffs the
run. It's that simple. The CMU linebackers are terrific and should
keep McRae from breaking decent gains into backbreakers. The D line
isn't going to get to the quarterback since the Ohio offensive line
doesn't allow much in the way of pressure, but the CMU weakness, the
secondary, still won't be exposed since the Bobcats can't throw with
any regularity if the ground game isn't rolling at will. If CMU can
get out to a fast start and force Ohio to try to throw in comeback
mode, it's over.
What will happen: Chalk this one up to those who buy into the
defense-wins-championships cliché. While LeFevour is talented, the
Ohio secondary is playing too well to give up too many big plays,
while the corners will be helped out by Muncy and the linebacking
corps taking away the short to midrange passes. The active Bobcat
defensive front will frustrate LeFevour into two interceptions
leaving the Ohio offense short fields to work with. That'll be all
McRae will need.
Line: Central Michigan -3 ... CFN Prediction:
Ohio
23 ... Central Michigan 16
The 2005 MAC Championship
Akron 31 ... Northern Illinois 30
Domenik Hixon overcame cramps and dehydration to come off the
bench and catch a 36-yard touchdown pass with :13 to play to send Akron
to its first bowl game since going to D-I. NIU's Garrett Wolfe was
magnificent rushing for 270 yards and two touchdowns, but the Huskies
couldn't handle Akron's short passing game and couldn't get any pressure
on Zip QB Luke Getsy. NIU held a 24-10 lead going into the fourth
quarter, but Akron scored 21 points in the final frame with touchdown
runs from Getsy and Brett Biggs.
Player of the game: Akron QB Luke Getsy
completed 30 of 50 passes for 413 yards and a touchdown with an
interception and ran for a seven-yard score.
Stat Leaders: NIU - Passing: Dan
Nicholson, 7-17, 110 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Garrett Wolfe, 42-270, 2 TD. Receiving:
Britt Davis, 2-41
Akron - Passing: Luke Getsy, 30-59, 413 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Brett Biggs, 20-70, 1 TD. Receiving:
Domenik Hixon, 8-144, 1 TD
