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By Adam Nettina
MAC East News
Akron- The Zips were
without starting defensive lineman Eric Lively and Ryan Bain against
Wisconsin on Saturday, forcing the coaching staff to start two redshirt
freshmen in relief. The loss of experience up front was painfully
apparent for the Zip faithful, who saw PJ Hill and fellow Wisconsin
running backs Zach Brown and John Clay rush for 404 yards on 6.4 yards
per carry. Lively and Bain were supposedly back and ready to go for the
game, and are likely questionable for next week’s game in Syracuse.
Bowling Green- Head
Coach Gregg Brandon attributed much of his team’s success in their
improbable 27-17 upset of Pittsburgh to the hit suffered to the
program’s reputation in last year’s 56 points loss to Tulsa in the GMAC
Bowl. Saying the loss “lingered,” Brandon gave credit to his team’s
ability to rally behind the familiar underdog mantra, saying that MAC
teams usually “[are] not
supposed to beat these people. “ Bowling Green will have another chance
to knock off another BCS conference team when they open at home with
Minnesota on Saturday.
Buffalo- Coach Turner
Gill was impressed with the play of his relatively young defense against
UTEP, saying that the biggest difference between last year and this year
is the defense’s team speed. The Bulls got a special boost from freshmen
linebacker John Syty, who picked off two Trevor Vittatoe passes,
including one in the endzone to end a UTEP scoring drive…Buffalo
quarterback Drew Willy was named the MAC East Division co-offensive
player of the week after passing four touchdown against UTEP.
Kent State- While head
coach Doug Martin was quick to point out that Boston College’s defensive
size and speed advantage hindered the play of his offense during
Saturday’s shutout loss to the Eagles, he ultimately blamed poor
offensive execution for the Flashes’ inability to find the endzone. Of
particular concern for Martin was the number of dropped passes he saw
from his receivers, including Sam Kirkland’s dropped pass on a double
reverse pass in the first quarter.
Miami (Oh)- The Red
Hawks went into last Thursday’s game with Vanderbilt sporting what
figured to be one of the better defenses in the conference, but
struggled in containing quarterback Commodore quarterback Chris Nickson,
who rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns. This week they’ll face off
against a Rich Rodriguez spread offense which averaged only 1.4 yards a
carry last week in Michigan’s 25-23 loss to Utah, a matchup which should
leave linebacker Miami linebackers Clayton Mullins and Joey Hudson
licking their chops.
Ohio- Frank Solich took
solace in the fact that his Bobcats played a much more competitive game
on Saturday against the Wyoming Cowboys than they had last season,
chalking up his team’s inability to overcome the Cowboy lead to missed
opportunities and untimely mistakes. Solich included himself among the
culprits, saying that he’d “like to have some calls back” in reference
to a first half decision not to attempt a 33-yard field goal, instead
choosing to send his offense out on a fourth and two play which was
subsequently stopped. Ohio went on to lose the game 21-20.
Temple- Despite being
only one game into the 2008 season, Temple head coach Al Golden has
already declared that the biggest difference between the 2007 and 2008
Owls is the level of “unselfishness” of this year’s team. He was
particularly impressed with the ability of defensive line, which held
Army’s triple option offense to only 3.6 yards per carry.