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

West Division Outlook
With a win over Western Michigan on Tuesday, the defending MAC Champion Central Michigan Chippewas would secure their place in the Marathon MAC Football Championship game Dec. 1 at Ford Field in Detroit. A win would give CMU a 4-0 division record. They could finish no worse than 4-1 tied with Ball State, and the Chippewas hold the tiebreaker over the Cardinals. CMU defeated BSU 58-38 on Oct. 6.

East Division Outlook
The Miami RedHawks tied Buffalo for first place last week however, with its win over UB, the RedHawks hold the tiebreaker. Miami can advance to the MAC Championship game with wins Nov. 14 at home vs. Akron and Nov. 24 at Ohio. UB would need Miami to lose in order to be a contender for the division title, and two-loss teams Bowling Green and Ohio also need RedHawk losses to climb back into the title chase.

MAC Notes:

Central Michigan freshman Antonio Brown has 1,540 all-purpose yards; just 10 yards shy of the MAC freshman record of 1,550 by former Chippewa Jerry Seymour in 2003. Brown will go for the record Tuesday night at Western Michigan.
The MAC has sent nine different teams to a bowl game in the last three seasons. The MAC’s 12-8 bowl record the last nine years is the second best among all I-A (FBS) conferences.
Buffalo has established a school record four wins since the program moved to Division I-A in 1999, the same year it joined the MAC. The Bulls have two regular season games (Bowling Green, Kent State) to add to those four wins.

Actual Score: Ohio 23 – Temple 7

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 28 – Temple 16

Line: Ohio by 8

Pre-game 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.

Final Comment: Ohio returned to their smash-mouth type of football that was their trademark last season.

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Actual Score: BGSU 44 - Akron 20

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 33 – Akron 17

Line: BGSU by 7

Pre-game 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.

Final Comment: BG’s offense got on a roll and never looked back.

Actual Score: Indiana 38 – Ball State 20

Nick’s Pick: Indiana 40 – Ball State 28

Line: Indiana by 6

Pre-game 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.

Final Comment: Ball State hung tough as anticipated, then lost as predicted. The Cardinals still have never beaten a team from a BCS conference.

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

Actual Score: Miami 31 – Buffalo 28

Nick’s Pick: Miami 21 - Buffalo 17

Line: Miami by 7

Pre-game 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.

Final Comment: Miami withstood a big UB comeback as the Bulls are vastly improved, but Miami has played for championships before and that tradition and history of success came through.

Actual Score: Toledo 52 – EMU 28

Nick’s Pick: Toledo 37 – Eastern Michigan 22

Line: Toledo by 8

Pre-game 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.

Final Comment: UT’s offense is running on all cylinders; one week after EMU shut out Western’s offense, the Rockets put up 600 yards on the Eagles.

> Browse our online selection of MAC football merchandise & gear!

MAC vs…

0-3 vs. ACC

1-7 vs. Big East

1-15 vs. Big Ten

2-6 vs. Big 12

0-1 vs. Mountain West

0-3 vs. SEC

1-0 vs. WAC

1-0 vs. Sun Belt

5-2 vs. Independent

5-2 vs. Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA)

MAC Players In NCAA Rankings (top 25 only)

Rushing

5. Eugene Jarvis, KSU ......................... 139.9

9. Jalen Parmele, UT ............................ 130.6

12. Kalvin McRae, OU ........................ 121.3

All-Purpose Yards

5. Dante Love, BSU ............................. 198.3

6. Jalen Parmele, UT ............................ 196.7

11. Brandon West, WMU ..................... 184.1

15. Antonio Brown, CMU .................... 171.1

19. Eugene Jarvis, KSU ....................... 163.9

Total Offense

7. Dan LeFevour, CMU ....................... 317.6

14. Nate Davis, BSU ............................ 300.4

Scoring

3. Kalvin McRae, OU ............................ 10.8

Receptions per game

5. Jamarko Simmons, WMU .................. 8.33

9. Antonio Brown, CMU ........................ 7.33

10. Dante Love, BSU ............................. 7.30

13. Jabari Arthur, UA ............................. 7.11

20. Freddie Barnes, BG .......................... 6.67

Receiving Yards per game

13. Dante Love, BSU ............................. 96.6

15. Jamarko Simmons, WMU ................ 96.1

16. Stephen Willimas, UT ...................... 95.6

17. Jabari Arthur, UA ............................. 95.3

Interceptions

4. P.J. Mahone, BG.................. .63 (8 g/5 int)

5. Ryan Downard, EMU ............... .60 (10/6)

6. Josh Gordy, CMU ....................... .57 (7/4)

7. Reggie Corner, UA ..................... .56 (9 /5)

18. B.J. Hill, BSU ......................... .50 (10/5)

Punt Returns

4. Andre Jones, UA ................................ 18.5

Kickoff Returns

4. Bryan Williams, UA ........................... 32.0

21. Jalen Parmele, UT ............................ 28.4

23. Antonio Brown, CMU ...................... 28.0

Punting

2. Chris Miller, BSU .............................. 46.2

3. Brett Kern, UT ................................... 45.9

6. Jim Laney, WMU ............................... 45.7

7. Jacob Richardson, MIA ...................... 45.6

11. Andy Dittbenner, NIU ...................... 44.5

Sacks

8. Larry English, NIU .......... 1.0 (9 sack/9 g)

19. Trevor Scott, UB ..................... 0.8 (10/8)

Tackles per game

12. Daniel Holtzclaw, EMU ................... 10.9

14. John Haneline, BG ........................... 10.7

16. Clayton Mullins, MIA ...................... 10.5

23. Bryant Haines, BSU ......................... 10.3

Tackles for a loss per game

9. Larry English, NIU ............................ 1.61

10. Jason Jones, EMU ............................ 1.60

14. Larry Hutchinson, UB ...................... 1.50

22. Brandon Crawford, BSU .................. 1.30

Field Goals per game

17. Nate Reed, KSU ................................. 1.7

19. Igor Ivelijic, UA ................................. 1.6

21. Michael Braunstein, OU .................... 1.6

MAC Teams In NCAA Rankings (top 25 only)

Total Offense

14. Toledo ............................................. 464.2

Passing Offense

11. Bowling Green ............................... 300.1

20. Ball State ........................................ 282.2

Rushing Offense

12. Toledo ............................................. 223.0

16. Kent State ....................................... 214.8

Turnover Margin

7. Ball State .............................................. 1.3

25. Central Michigan ............................... .67

Kickoff Returns

12. Western Michigan ............................ 25.2

17. Central Michigan ............................. 24.4

20. Kent State ......................................... 24.1

Punt Returns

7. Akron .................................................. 17.0

Net Punting

3. Eastern Michigan ............................... 39.7

6. Toledo ................................................. 39.2

16. Buffalo ............................................. 38.0

Scoring Offense

21. Toledo ............................................... 36.5

by Nick Gerogosian

published 11.05.2007

Nick's 2007 MAC Football Picks & Recaps

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