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Nick's 2007 MAC Football Picks - Week #10 Picks

> Nick's MAC Football Recap of Week #9 is now live!

 

Temple @ Ohio

Temple (3-5, 2-2 MAC East, 3-2 MAC Overall) at Ohio (4-5, 1-2 MAC East, 2-3 MAC Overall) - 7 p.m.

SITE: Peden Stadium (24,000/FieldTurf) - Athens, Ohio

TELEVISION: None

SERIES RECORD: First meeting.

COACHES: TU-Al Golden (4-16, second season); OU-Frank Solich (17-17, third season at OU;

75-36, ninth season overall).

Temple @ Ohio - GAME NOTES:
Temple was idle last week and brings a three-game winning streak into the game (Northern Illinois, Akron, Miami) ... the Bobcats won their second game in their last three with a 38-27 triumph at Bowling Green ... RB Kalvin McRae rushed for 200 yards and went over 4,000 career yards (4,026) last week and became the school’s career rushing leader ... the win also stopped the Bobcats five-game losing streak to the Falcons ... Ohio’s offense has clicked recently and has produced 38-plus points in three consecutive games for the first time since 2000 (38 vs. BGSU, 40 vs. Toledo, 48 vs. EMU) ... Temple’s defense has allowed 17.3 ppg during its three-game win streak ... the Owls rushing defense is ranked second in the MAC, allowing 168.2 ypg, and the Owls lead the MAC in total defense, giving just 366.8 ypg ... QB Vaughn Charlton replaced the injured Adam DiMichele at QB two weeks ago vs. Miami and will make his first start this season vs. the Bobcats.

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 28 – Temple 16

Line: Ohio by 8

Comment: This is a difficult game to pick since the Owls had a bye week and must replace their starting QB. Ohio hopes to have turned their disappointing season around last week at Bowling Green.

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Akron @ Bowling Green

Akron (3-5, 1-2 MAC East, 2-2 MAC Overall) at Bowling Green (4-4, 2-2 MAC East, 2-2 MAC Overall) - 7 p.m .

SITE: Perry Stadium (24,000/FieldTurf) - Bowling Green, Ohio

TELEVISION: ESPNU (Dave Ryan, Tom Luginbill)

SERIES RECORD: BG leads 8-7 ... the Zips have won the last two and four of the last five meetings

... UA took last year’s game 31-16 at the Rubber Bowl.

COACHES: UA-J.D. Brookhart (21-23, fourth season); BGSU-Gregg Brandon (34-23, fifth season).

Akron @ BG - GAME NOTES:
Both teams are coming off of divisional losses ... the Zips dropped a 26-10 contest at Buffalo and the Falcons were beaten at home by Ohio 38-27 ... both teams have also lost three of their last four games ... this will be the Zips fourth road game in its last five contests ... Akron DB John Mackey, who was thought to be gone for the season after suffering a torn ACL in his leg Oct. 13 vs. Temple, came back and played a series at Buffalo ... the combined winning percentage of Akron’s non-conference foes is 70.6 (24-10 combined record for Ohio State, Army, Indiana and Connecticut) ... WR Jabari Arthur had eight TD receptions this season and needs three to tie the school record held by Dan Ruff (1968) ... the Falcons PK Sinisa Vrvilo has made nine consecutive field goals ... BG leads the MAC in pass offense (300.0 ypg) while the Zips have the top pass defense (198.5 ypg allowed) and third overall in total defense (373.1 ypg allowed) ...Falcon LB John Haneline had 14 tackles last week and leads the MAC with his 11.4 tackles per game.

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 33 – Akron 17

Line: BGSU by 7

Comment: The Falcons were embarrassed at home last week with so many turnovers against Ohio. Akron just cannot seem to score as they rank 12th in the league with 19-points per contest. Look for BG to rally back this weekend and put up a double-digit victory over the Zips.

 



Ball State @ Indiana

Ball State (5-4, 2-1 MAC West, 3-2 MAC Overall) at Indiana (5-4, 2-4 Big Ten) – 12 p.m.

SITE: Memorial Stadium (52,354/AstroPlay) - Bloomington, Ind.

TELEVISION: Big Ten Network

SERIES RECORD: IU leads 3-0 ... the Hoosiers won last year in Muncie, 24-23 ... the previous meetings came in 1997 and 1999, both in Bloomington.

COACHES: BSU-Brady Hoke (20-35, fifth season); IU-Bill Lynch (5-4, first season at school; 86-71-3, 15th season overall.).

Ball State @ Indiana - GAME NOTES:
This is Ball State’s second consecutive Big Ten opponent as the Cardinals played last week at Illinois, a 28-17 loss ... Indiana fell at Wisconsin 33-3, suffering its third consecutive loss ...Hoosiers head coach Bill Lynch was BSU’s head coach from 1995-2002, compiling a 37-53 record, leading the Cardinals to the 1996 MAC Championship and Las Vegas Bowl ... IU has wins over MAC teams Western Michigan (37-27) and Akron (41-24) this season ... the Cardinals have not lost back-to-back games this season and are the only MAC team with such a record ...BSU QB Nate Davis has a league-leading 21 TD passes and just four interceptions ...the winner of this game will become bowl eligible with its sixth win ... Chris Miller continues to lead the nation in punting with his 46.8 average ... Ball State tops the MAC in turnover margin (+1.33) and is second in scoring offense (32.3 ppg) and scoring defense (26.3 ppg allowed) ...Hoosiers QB Kellen Lewis has 19 TD passes, the third highest total among Big Ten QBs.

Nick’s Pick: Indiana 40 – Ball State 28

Line: Indiana by 6

Comment: Indiana has not lost to a MAC school since 1977. In fact, most of their contests versus MAC foes have been blowouts. Ball State has the talent to make this an interesting affair but BSU has yet to beat a BCS team in their history and this publication does not see that happening this weekend.

> Find Ball State hats & apparel online at VanDelay Sports and Indiana Hoosiers merchandise from Big Ten Fans.

Buffalo @ Miami

Buffalo (4-5, 3-0 MAC East, 4-1 MAC overall) at Miami (4-5, 2-1 MAC East, 3-1 MAC Overall) - 3 p.m.

SITE: Yager Stadium (24,286/FieldTurf) - Oxford, Ohio

TELEVISION: None

SERIES RECORD: Miami leads 9-0 ... the RedHawks won the first meeting in 1951, 27-7...the series resumed when UB joined the MAC in 1999 ... Miami won last year’s game 38-31 at Buffalo.

COACHES: UB-Turner Gill (6-15, second season); Miami-Shane Montgomery (13-19, third season)

UB @ Miami - GAME NOTES:
These two teams that combined for four wins in 2006 will meet with first place in the East Division at stake ... UB’s 26-10 win over Akron last week marked the Bulls third win in their last four games ... Miami has dropped back-to-back games, last week at Vanderbilt (24-13) and two weeks ago at Temple (24-17) ... the Bulls four wins thus far are the most since the program went to I-A in 1999 ... UB freshman PK A.J. Principe has made six consecutive field goal attempts after connecting on just three of his first seven attempts this year ... the UB defense is allowing 5.3 yards per play, tied for the best in the MAC, and is second in pass efficiency defense (123.1 rating) ... LB Trevor Scott is tied for the MAC lead in fumbles forced (3), second in sacks (8) and fourth in tackles for a loss (11) ... the RedHawks are playing at home after back-to-back road games and are 2-1 at home this season ... Miami’s defense produced takeaways on three straight Vanderbilt possessions last week - an end zone interception by Jordan Gafford, a fumble recovery by Martin Channel and a fumble recovery by Brandon Stephens ... QB Daniel Raudabaugh has three straight games with 200-plus passing yards.

Nick’s Pick: Miami 21 - Buffalo 17

Line: Miami by 7

Comment: This is the biggest game in UB football history. If the Bulls can win, they very well may be headed to Detroit next month and play in the MAC Championship. No, hell has not frozen over people, but Turner Gill has this team believing and even though they have never beaten Miami in nine tries, a Buffalo victory is not out of the question. Considering Miami’s long and rich football tradition, this publication is picking the RedHawks to squeeze out a narrow victory over the upstart Bulls.

Eastern Michigan @ Toledo

Eastern Michigan (3-6, 2-1 MAC West, 2-2 MAC Overall) at Toledo (4-5, 1-2 MAC West, 2-3 MAC Overall) - 7 p.m.

SITE: Glass Bowl (26,248/NeXturf) - Toledo, Ohio

TELEVISION: None

SERIES RECORD: UT leads 23-11 ... EMU won last year 17-13 to stop a six-game losing streak to the Rockets ... EMU last won in Toledo in 1999.

COACHES: EMU-Jeff Genyk (12-31, fourth season); UT-Tom Amstutz (54-30, 8th season.).

EMU @ Toledo - GAME NOTES:
Eastern Michigan finds itself in the West Division race after a 19-2 triumph over Western Michigan last week ... the Rockets 70-21 win over Northern Illinois gives the Rockets back-to-back victories for the first time this season ... UT piled up a MAC record 712 yards of total offense (382 rushing, 430 passing) and added 10 touchdowns ... the Rockets have scored 30 or more points in six of nine games this season, but until last week had allowed at least 34 points in its first eight games ... Rocket WR Nick Moore has 13 receptions for 208 yards and four TDs the last two games since his return from an injury ... Jalen Parmele added 106 yards on the ground to give him six consecutive games with 100-plus yards ... the Eagles relied on defense, forcing six WMU turnovers (3 interceptions, 3 fumbles) last week ... Ryan Downard had two picks, increasing his total to six on the season, and Josh Hunt had two fumble recoveries ... Pierre Walker was the first Eagle in two years to rush for over 100 yards with his 151 yards on 33 carries ... Kyle McMahon had his first career scoring pass last week.

Nick’s Pick: Toledo 37 – Eastern Michigan 22

Line: Toledo by 8

Comment: The Rockets offense is finally awake and rolling and UT has a real shot to win out, finish 7-5 and possibly sneak in a bowl bid. Eastern has improved, especially on defense. With UT now averaging 35-points per game, it’s difficult to see them losing at home to an Eagle team that barely scores 20-points per game.



Central Michigan @ Western Michigan

Central Michigan (5-4, 3-0 MAC West, 4-0 MAC Overall) at Western Michigan (3-6, 2-2 MAC West, 2-3 MAC Overall) - 7 p.m.

SITE: Waldo Stadium (30,200/FieldTurf) - Kalamazoo, Mich.

TELEVISION: ESPN2

SERIES RECORD: WMU leads 43-33-2 ... the Chippewas won last year’s meeting 31-7 ... WMU took the 2005 contest 31-24 ... the teams have split the last four meetings.

COACHES: CMU-Butch Jones (5-4, first season); WMU-Bill Cubit (18-15, third season at school; 52-33-1, eighth season overall.).

CMU @ WMU - GAME NOTES:
The 79th meeting in this rivalry will have a direct bearing on the top spot in the West Division ... CMU is 11-1 in its last 12 regular season MAC games and is coming off a 41-32 win at Kent State (Oct. 20) ... the Broncos also last played Oct. 20, a 19-2 loss at Eastern Michigan, WMU’s second consecutive defeat ... each team has a former MAC Freshman of the Year in QBs Dan LeFevour (2006) at CMU and Tim Hiller (2005) at WMU ... LeFevour ranks second and Hiller

fifth respectively, in pass efficiency among MAC QBs ... the CMU offense has scored 40-plus points in four games this season and is averaging 32.2 ppg, however defensively the Chippewas are allowing 38.3 ppg overall and 27.8 ppg in MAC contests ... despite not producing any points from the offense last week, WMU is averaging 27.6 ppg in 2007 while the defense is allowing 32.3 ppg ... Bronco WR Jamarko Simmons leads the MAC in receptions (75) and receiving yards (865) ...CMU’s Antonio Brown is second in receptions (66) and Bryan Anderson seventh (56) ... both will be challenged by Bronco DB Londen Fryar, who has a league-leading, and second-leading nationally, 13 pass break ups.

Nick’s Pick: Central Michigan 34 – Western Michigan 30

Line: Central Michigan by 5.5

Comment: CMU/WMU is one of the very best rivalries in the MAC no matter what their records are entering the game. Western is looking to play the spoiler role in this contest and historically wins at home against their bitter rival. Central Michigan just seems to be hitting on all cylinders within MAC contests and for one of the very few times in this long-standing rivalry, should win a rare road game in Kalamazoo in a close contest.

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MAC all-time non-conference wins versus ranked teams

 

2003

  • Aug. 28 - at NIU 20, #15/#14 Maryland 13 - OT
  • Sept. 6 - BGSU 27, at #16/#20 Purdue 26
  • Sept. 20 - Marshall 27 at #6/#6 Kansas State 20
  • Sept. 20 - at Toledo 35, #9/#11 Pittsburgh 31
  • Sept. 20 - Northern Illinois 19 at #21/nr Alabama 16

 

1999

  • Dec. 27 - #11/#11 Marshall 21 vs. nr/#25 BYU 3 – at Motor City Bowl (Pontiac, Mich.)

 

Above reflects AP/ESPN USA TODAY Coaches Polls

  • Sept. 5, 1998 - Miami 13, at #12 N. Carolina 10
  • Oct. 4, 1997 - Miami 24, at #12 Virginia Tech 17
  • Sept. 16, 1995 - Miami 30, at #25 Northwestern 28
  • Sept. 14, 1991 - C. Michigan 20, at #18 Mich. State 3
  • Sept. 20, 1986 - Miami 21, #8 LSU 12
  • Dec. 19, 1981 - Toledo 27, #20 (UPI) San Jose State 25 at California Bowl ( Fresno, Calif.)
  • Sept. 16, 1972 - BGSU 17 at #18 Purdue 14
  • Oct. 13, 1962 - Miami 10 at #9 Purdue 7

By Conference

5 - Big Ten

2- ACC

2 - Big East

2 - SEC

1 - Big 12

1 - MWC

1 - WAC

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