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Week #1 MAC Football Recap

General MAC Football Notes:

The MAC opened with 12 games in Week #1; only Toledo did not play
Thursday night featured 5 MAC teams in action as the MAC went 4-1, while Temple completed the early action by beating Army on Friday night
In 3 games against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams the MAC finished 3-0
In 9 games against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams the MAC finished 3-6
Of the 9 games against FBS competition, 6 match-ups were with BCS Conference teams with the MAC finishing 1-5
Luke's "Win of the Week" goes to Bowling Green thanks to their win @ #25 Pitt. Honorable mention to Buffalo who had a nice win at home over UTEP, but beating a ranked team on national TV is not only great for BG's football program, but also for the entire Mid-American Conference.

Buffalo 42 - UTEP 17

Nick’s Pick: Buffalo 28 – UTEP 21

Line: UB by 3

Comment: Nick nailed this pick and was actually a bit conservative picking the Bulls by just 7. Buffalo jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead before UTEP tied the game in the 2nd quarter with 2 TDs of their own. However the Bulls were able to take over from this point en route to the 25 point victory. Drew Willy threw just 16 passes all day completing 10 of them, 4 for touchdowns. The Buffalo ground game was impressive as both James Starks (179) and Brandon Thermilus (102) both rushed for over 100 yards against Conference USA's Miners. A crowd of 16,656 showed up in Buffalo opposite a Bills preseason game, so it's clear that Turner Gill has the fans excited about Buffalo BULLS football. In Week #2 Buffalo will look to send (currently) #25 Pittsburgh to 0-2 in the MAC for the 2008 season.

Ball State 48 - Northeastern 14

Nick’s Pick: Ball State 44 – Northeastern 17

Line: N/A

Comment: Ball State rolled at home to victory, but that was expected against Northeastern, a non-FBS program. The Cardinals jumped out to a 28-0 lead and never looked back as Nate Davis threw for 290 yards and 3 TDs. Davis and his favorite target, Dante Love, hooked up on 9 passes for 171 yards and a TD continuing their chemistry from 2007 where Love caught 100 passes for 1,398 yards and 10 TDs. Navy will visit Ball State in Week #2 as the Cardinals will look to improve to 2-0.

Eastern Michigan 52 - Indiana State 0

Nick’s Pick: Eastern Michigan 41 – Indiana State 17

Line: N/A

Comment: Nick described the Sycamores as a "putrid ISU club," and based on the final score I guess he was spot-on. It's good to see EMU start off their season by winning big as they racked up 413 rushing yards and 6 TDs on the ground. Terrance Blevins led that rushing attack with 176 yards and 2 TDs while the defense picked off 3 ISU passes. Next Saturday Eastern Michigan will be @ Michigan State looking to pull off a major upset.

Central Michigan 31 - Eastern Illinois 12

Nick’s Pick: Central Michigan 36 – Eastern Illinois 31

Line: N/A

Comment: Nick mentioned a solid EIU program, but this was not nearly as close as he picked. After Eastern Illinois tied the game at 3-3, the Chippewas scored 2 TDs to take a 17-3 lead into the half. 2007 MAC Player of the Year Dan LeFevour threw for 217 yards and 3 TDs and Frank Zombo led the CMU defense with 2.5 sacks. Next up for the Chippewas is a trip to #1 Georgia where they will look to take down the top-ranked team in the nation.

Vanderbilt 34 - Miami 13

Nick’s Pick: Miami 24 – Vanderbilt 20

Line: Miami by 3

Comment: In what was likely the most disappointing game of Week #1 for the MAC, the Miami RedHawks looked overmatched and out of sync as Vanderbilt had a 17-3 lead after the 1st Quarter and never looked back. The highly-touted Miami defense and linebacking crew was picked apart by Vandy's running game which amassed 269 yards on the ground, 166 by QB Chris Nickson. Junior QB Daniel Raudabaugh made the defense's job difficult by throwing 3 INTs. Miami faces Michigan in The Big House in Week #2 as Michigan will be looking for their 1st win of the Rich Rodriguez era after their upset at the hands of Utah on Saturday.

Temple 35 - Army 7

Nick’s Pick: Temple 21 – Army 16

Line: Temple by 7.5

Comment: "Look for Temple to open 1-0 for one of the few times over the past two decades" were Nick's words last week, and while he was expecting a much closer game, Al Golden's team decided otherwise. Temple was impressive as QB Adam DiMichele returned from 2007 injury to complete 15 of 22 pass attempts for 159 yards and 2 TDs while 8 different Owl receivers had receptions on the day. While Army's offense held the time of possession edge and racked up 210 yards on the ground, the Temple defense kept them out of the endzone when needed holding Army to just 7 points. Temple will face Connecticut on ESPNU at noon on Saturday and hope that the officials have more "conclusive evidence" than in last year's game with the Huskies.

#13 Wisconsin 38 - Akron 17

Nick’s Pick: Wisconsin 38 – Akron 10

Line: Wisconsin by 26

Comment: "Akron may keep it close for a half" (Akron trailed 17-10 at the half), "but the Badgers will pull away." Wisconsin topped Akron 38-17, just an Akron TD better than Nick's pick above, but the Zips battled back from a 17-0 1st quarter deficit to make a game of it. Wisconsin's 404 rushing yards were the key stat of the game as PJ Hill's 210 yards led the Badgers. Akron got a solid game out of junior QB Chris Jacquemain who tossed 2 TD passes and had 227 passing yards as he spread the ball out to 8 different receivers, each of whom had 2 or more receptions. Akron has a very winnable match-up in Week #2 as they travel to New York to play @ Syracuse.

Wyoming 21 - Ohio 20

Nick’s Pick: Wyoming 33 – Ohio 14

Line: Wyoming by 10

Comment: Coming in as a 10 point underdog, few expected Ohio to lead much of the 2nd half, but a Wyoming 4th quarter TD gave them the lead and in the end, the win. This game was eerily similar to Ohio's match-up with Wyoming in Athens a year ago as the Bobcats could not hold a 4th quarter lead once again, but Bobcat fans should be encouraged considering Ohio was picked by the MAC News Media Association to finish 6th in the MAC East. Frank Solich's Bobcats will head into Columbus to face Ohio State next Saturday at noon as they look to be the Appalachian State of 2008.

Bowling Green 27 - #25 Pittsburgh 17

Nick’s Pick: Pitt 23 – BGSU 17

Line: Pitt by 13

Comment: "This publication is having a difficult time picking against BGSU in this contest." Dang-it Nick, then why didn't you pick the Falcons?!? Bowling Green not only picked up a nice 10 point win over #25 Pittsburgh, but they gained a ton of national exposure as ESPN and other networks analyzed and mentioned their "upset" of Pitt on broadcasts throughout the day. After falling behind 14-0 in the 2nd quarter, BG answered to outscore the Panthers 27-3 the remainder of the game as Tyler Sheehan tossed one TD pass and ran for another. Quarterback turned Wide Receiver Freddie Barnes took advantage of some nice play calling to complete 2 pass attempts for 27 yards and a TD while running the ball 5 times and catching 3 passes. Bowling Green hosts Minnesota on Saturday (7:30 kickoff, ESPNU) as the Falcons look to improve to 2-0 against BCS Conference teams in 2008.

Minnesota 31 - Northern Illinois 27

Nick’s Pick: NIU 28 – Minnesota 27

Line: Minnesota by 9

Comment: "NIU has a new coach, a new attitude, and most importantly, a very healthy squad..." were Nick's comments in the Week #1 MAC football preview, and while the Huskies did not get the win, they did lead late in the 4th quarter and almost pulled off an amazing comeback. With under a minute remaining Minnesota went for it on 4th and 1 from the 4 yard line trailing NIU 27-24. After getting a 1st down and goal at the 1 yard line, the Golden Gophers scored on the next play to take the lead. While NIU drove to the Minnesota 30 yard line with 15 seconds remaining, the final two passes of the game fell incomplete as Minnesota matched last year's win total. NIU is at Western Michigan next week as they look to start MAC play with a big road win.

Nebraska 47 - Western Michigan 24

Nick’s Pick: Nebraska 30 – Western Michigan 21

Line: Nebraska by 15

Comment: "Bo Pellini should have his troops fired up for his first game" and fired up in Lincoln they were. Nebraska jumped out to a 34-10 halftime lead and had no trouble disposing of the Broncos as a new era of Nebraska football began. WMU QM Tim Hiller had a solid game throwing for 342 yards and 2 TDs, but the Bronco defense could not stop Nebraska's offense allowing 483 yards, 5 TDs and 4 FGs on the day. Western Michigan hosts Northern Illinois in a MAC match-up next Saturday at 7 pm.

Boston College 21 - Kent State 0

Nick’s Pick: Boston College 34 – Kent State 14

Line: BC by 9.5

Comment: Nick's pregame comments included "Kent State has the talent to make this ballgame. Still, history is not on KSU’s side as BC has pulverized its last nine MAC opponents (since 2002) winning by an average of 24-points per game." True to form, Kent indeed made it a ballgame but Boston College won comfortably in the "Patriot Bowl" match-up in Cleveland. The Golden Flashes managed just 260 yards of total offense and turned the ball over 3 times. Kent travels to Ames, Iowa to face the Cyclones of Iowa State next week looking to top ISU for the second year in a row.

By Luke Jernigan
VanDelay Sports Webmaster