Scout.com: 2009 CFN MAC Week 10 Roundup

2009 CFN MAC Week 10 Roundup

By Staff

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 8, 2009

2009 CFN MAC Week 10 Staff Picks, Roundup, & More.

2009 MAC ... Week 10

East
	Conf.		Overall
Temple	5	0	7	2
Ohio	4	1	6	3
Kent St	4	2	5	5
BGSU	3	2	4	5
Akron	1	4	2	7
Buffalo	1	4	3	6
Miami	1	5	1	9
West
	Conf.		Overall
CMU	5	0	7	2
NIU	4	1	6	3
WMU	3	3	4	6
Toledo	2	3	4	5
Ball St	1	4	1	8
EMU	0	5	0	9
Players of the Week 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 11/7 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 at Northern Illinois 50 Eastern Michigan 6 Northern Illinois & Spann destroys EMU Eastern Michigan gets run over by the Huskies CFN Prediction: Northern Illinois 34-17 Line: NIU -21 at Temple 34 Miami University 32 Temple beats RedHawks on last second FG Miami Univ. loses to Temple in final seconds CFN Prediction: Temple 27-16 Line: Temple -14 at Michigan State 49 Western Michigan 14 Western Michigan gets ripped apart by MSU CFN Prediction: Michigan State 34-20 Line: Michigan State -18 at Akron 28 Kent State 20 Akron stops losing slide with win over KSU Kent State suffers crippling loss to the Zips CFN Prediction: Michigan State 34-20 Line: Kent State -3

GAME OF THE WEEK

at Temple 34 … Miami University 32
Brandon McManus nailed an 18-yard field goal with three seconds to play to give Temple the win and keep the team’s MAC title hopes alive. The Owls needed the score to overcome a total collapse. Up 31-13 going into the fourth quarter helped by three Bernard Pierce touchdown runs, Temple couldn’t stop the RedHawks in the fourth as Zac Dysert threw two touchdown passes and Thomas Merriweather ran for a two-yard score to take a 32-31 lead, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. That would prove costly as the Owls marched in the final minutes to set up McManus for his score. Dysert threw for 426 yards and three scores.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Temple RB Bernard Pierce ran 40 times for 178 yards and three scores in the win over Miami..

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Akron … at Akron 28 ... Kent State 20 ... Akron needed something, anything to get excited about after an ugly six-game losing streak, and now there’s something to build on for the final few games. The Zips screwed up Kent State’s title hopes, and it can be a spoiler for Temple next week. To get the upset, Patrick Nicely has to keep throwing like he did this week and has to keep moving the chains, and the defense has to make even more big plays. Brian Wagner was brilliant and Miguel Graham came up with a special performance in the secondary.

Ball State … Didn’t Play This Week

Bowling Green … Bowling Green 30 ... at Buffalo 29 ... With a passing game like Bowling Green has, it’s able to come back when needed. Tyler Sheehan and Freddie Barnes stayed hot to overcome yet another rough day from the run defense and another poor day from the defensive front. It’s not a good thing when safety P.J. Mahone is the main tackler with ten stops. With a favorable finishing kick, with Miami coming up next week, the Falcons have an honest shot of finishing 7-5 as long as Sheehan and Barnes continue to be Sheehan and Barnes.

Buffalo … Bowling Green 30 ... at Buffalo 29 ... This was a devastating loss. The Bulls were winning big, the running game was working, and everything was set up for a key win to keep hope of a winning season alive. But the pass defense that’s been so strong all season long couldn’t come up with a stop late and now the Bulls have to win out just to finish .500. Zach Maynard was fine throwing the ball, but the positive was the play of Jeffvron Gill, who rumbled for 172 yards and a score and gives the program a player to get fired up for the next three years. The true freshman was fantastic, and combined with Maynard, there’s reason to get fired up for the future.

Central Michigan … Didn’t Play This Week

Eastern Michigan … at Northern Illinois 50 ... Eastern Michigan 6 ... What a disaster. Instead of improving as the season goes on, EMU is getting worse with the quarterbacks, Alex Gillett and Kyle McMahon, combining to complete just 5-of-22 passes and the running game gaining a mere 100 yards. The defense wasn’t even close and had a hard time getting off the field allowing too many third down conversions. The nation’s worst run defense will have an easier time next week against Western Michigan, but it’ll get ripped up by DaJuane Collins and Toledo. The only plus was Marty Cardwell, who made 17 tackles.

Kent State … at Akron 28 ... Kent State 20 ... Spencer Keith had a big day throwing the ball and there were plenty of chances to turn things around, but the hole was too deep to dig out of. The loss to Akron was disastrous, and now it’s going to take a win at Temple in two weeks and a lot of help to win the East. The defense continues to be impressive at getting into the backfield, and the run defense was solid, but the running game didn’t produce and the secondary struggled. This was supposed to be a layup, and now the dream season might be over.

Miami University … at Temple 34 ... Miami University 32 ... The rest of the year doesn’t really matter. Miami isn’t going to a bowl game, so the goal the rest of the way is to improve and get better for 2010. This game, even in a loss, did that with Zac Dysert playing extremely well in comeback mode bombing for 426 yards on the tremendous Temple pass defense. While the defense struggled way too much early, it was fantastic when it had to be in the fourth quarter … and then came the final drive. Whatever. Dysert was magnificent and there’s hope for the future.

Northern Illinois … at Northern Illinois 50 ... Eastern Michigan 6 ... Finally, NIU played like it was supposed to against a bad team. It’s not like the Huskies played down to the competition at all, with the running game rumbling at will and the defense dropping a hammer on the miserable EMU offense. DeMarcus Grady threw well when he had to, but NIU could’ve won the game without throwing a pass. The defensive line got into the backfield all game long while the secondary was great against the passing game and getting the D off the field. Next up is another layup against Ball State.

Ohio … Didn’t Play This Week

Temple … at Temple 34 ... Miami University 32 ... The future couldn’t look brighter for Temple with two stars to work around. Bernard Pierce continues to be outstanding, rumbling for 178 yards and three touchdowns on MU, but he had to work for it with 40 carries. Meanwhile, Vaughn Charlton has stepped aside as a passer and Chester Stewart is the new quarterback to work around. He wasn’t out of this world, completing 6-of-11 passes, but he didn’t make the big mistake and he led the way to the winning score. The Owls just need to get past an awful Akron team to set up the showdown with Kent State for the MAC East title.

Toledo … Didn’t Play This Week

Western Michigan … at Michigan State 49 ... Western Michigan 14 ... The WMU defense struggled all season long and wasn’t going to start producing this week against Michigan State, but Tim Hiller and the WMU offense was supposed to be able to produce against anyone. Even when MSU took its foot off the gas, the passing game didn’t work. Hiller tried to get something going short but couldn’t even connect on the safe passes. It’s a loss, and it’s the third loss in four games, but Eastern Michigan is coming up next. 6-6 is still possible even after all the problems.

RELATED SITES

Places to go:

Things to do:

Things to buy:

Things to know: