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2008 Week #4 MAC Football Recap

Week #4 MAC Notes:

• Week #4 featured the MAC facing BCS conference opponents in 7 games with MAC Teams going 1-6 in those games
• Overall, the MAC went 4-8 in the 12 games played in Week #4
• Luke's win of the week goes to Ball State as the Cardinals won their first game over a BCS conference opponent in beating Indiana 42-20
• Week #5 features 4 conference games and 4 non-conference games as Miami has the week off

Northwestern 16 - Ohio 8

Nick’s Pick: Northwestern 23 – Ohio 21

Comment: "OU has lost three games they could have very easily won. Is there a better 0-3 team in the country than Ohio? Probably not. Expect another bitter pill to swallow at Northwestern this weekend to add to the Bobcat misery." Nick's words proved to be true as the Bobcats once again came up short. Turnovers were the key to this game; Northwestern's turnovers (5) kept Ohio in the game and Ohio's turnovers (4) kept the Bobcats off of the scoreboard. Ohio should finally get a win next week as they host VMI on Homecoming in Athens.

Purdue 32 - Central Michigan 25

Nick’s Pick: Purdue 44 – Central 31

Comment: "Central and Purdue played a thriller last year in the Motor City Bowl. Don’t expect as much excitement this time around, but the ‘Chips still could surprise." Nick's pregame words proved correct once again as a it was 10-10 at the half and 17-10 Purdue after 3 quarters. The excitement began in the 4th quarter as Purdue went for 2 while trailing 24-23 and took the lead with 1:18 remaining. But Purdue answered with a Kory Sheets 46-yard run to put the Boilermakers back on top 32-25 with 1:00 remaining and Purdue held on for the win. CMU hosts Buffalo next week in a game that could be critical to both teams in the 2008 MAC football standings.

Penn State 45 -Temple 3

Nick’s Pick: Penn State 37 – Temple 16

Comment: Nick's Pick here saw more points on Temple's side of the ball, but I am sure Nick did not see Temple QB Adam DiMichele playing just one series of the game. The Penn State defense allowed Temple just 133 yards of total offense as the Nittany Lions picked off three passes en route to the blowout victory. The Owls host Western Michigan next week in Philly.

Akron 22 - Army 3

Nick’s Pick: Akron 22 – Army 17

Comment: "The MAC has a good chance to beat up on the Black Knights in 2008 as the league plays Army four times this season." Add Akron to the list of MAC teams with wins over Army as the Zips took advantage of 5 Army turnovers in a 22-3 victory. The Zips host the Cincinnati Bearcats in Week #5 as they will look for their second win over a Big East team in 2008.

#5 Missouri 42 - Buffalo 21

Nick’s Pick: Missouri 55 – Buffalo 24

Comment: "Buffalo may end up being the best team in the MAC this season (wow, who would have imagined that two years ago?)" were Nick's words before the game and after seeing how they hung in there with Missouri, I cannot disagree. UB trailed 17-14 late in the 1st half then cut Mizzou's lead to 27-21 midway through the 3rd quarter, but the Tigers scored the final 15 points of the game to seal the victory. The Bulls have a big matchup @ Central Michigan next Saturday as they look to improve to 2-0 in MAC play.

One final note on this game. Shame on ESPN and the (late) Saturday night SportsCenter for not giving Buffalo any credit at all for playing Mizzou tough in this game. The game highlights made this out like Missouri had a fairly easy time with the Bulls, and the scores I mentioned earlier clearly show that this game was a play away from a Buffalo lead at many points, even into the second half.

Maryland 51 - Eastern Michigan 24

Nick’s Pick: Maryland 30 – EMU 10

Comment: Maryland jumped out to a 17-0 lead in this game as EMU's defense could not stop the Terrapins' balanced offense. Maryland scored 3 TDs on the ground and 3 through the air while racking up 487 yards on the Eastern Michigan defense. The Eagles will host Northern Illinois next week as they look to make some noise in the MAC West standings in 2008.

Northern Illinois 48 - Indiana State 3

Nick’s Pick: NIU 45 – Indiana State 0

Comment: "ISU is the worst I-AA scholarship team in the country – period. In fact, they would struggle to beat the I-AA non-scholarship teams." Ouch! But sometimes the truth hurts and NIU was not afraid to tee off on an overmatched Indiana State team as NIU won easily 48-3. Nick's Pick was extremely close nailing the margin of victory and being just 3 points off for both teams. When ISU hit the FG just before halftime their sideline looked like they had kicked the game-winner despite the fact that kick cut NIU's lead to 31-3. Up next for the Huskies is a game @ Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Louisiana-Lafayette 44 - Kent State 27

Nick’s Pick: ULL 24 – Kent State 16

Comment: "KSU can win this game but has yet to prove they can play four-complete quarters of football. They will need to play a good game to beat a much improved ULL team on the road." In the end, the Golden Flashes did not get it done in what I see as a bad loss for Kent State and the MAC. Trailing 23-21 in the 3rd quarter this appeared to be a close matchup, but the Ragin' Cajuns scored 21 straight points as they rolled to a 17-point victory. After a 1-3 non-conference record Kent State begins conference play on Saturday @ Ball State, the lone undefeated team in the MAC.

Western Michigan 41 - Tennessee Tech 7

Ball State 42 - Indiana 20

Nick’s Pick: Ball State 28 – Indiana 27

Comment: "Ball State is 0-4 lifetime against IU and has never beaten a BCS program. Indiana has dominated MAC teams for over 30-years, not losing to a MAC team since 1977. Something has to give here. If the Cardinals are ever to beat IU, this is the year." Nice work on this one Nick as this was probably the toughest game to call in Nick's perfect 12-0 week. Ball State led 28-20 at the half and held that same lead until two 4th quarter TDs put the game out of reach. Ball State hosts Kent State on Saturday, but the Cardinals will be without Dante Love. The senior WR suffered a "cervical spine fracture and spinal cord injury" and while surgery seems to have been successful, we all need to keep Love and his family in our thoughts and prayers.

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Cincinnati 45 - Miami 20

Nick’s Pick: Cincy 35 – Miami 13

Comment: "After dominating this series for so many years, Miami is currently way behind the Bearcats in terms of talent. UC has crushed the RedHawks has lost three of the last four in this long-time series and those three losses were by an average of 23 points per game. Look for more of the same this week." Nick's words proved to be correct as Miami cut UC's lead to 24-20 early in the 3rd quarter before the Bearcats took over to score the final 21 points in this game. The RedHawks have an extra week to prepare for when they host Temple on October 4th.

#25 Fresno State 55 - Toledo 54 - 2 OT

Nick’s Pick: Fresno State 31 – Toledo 20

Comment: Nick's comments in the Week #4 MAC preview were: "The Rockets have a chance here to get a really nice out-of-conference win. Every year a very talented FSU team seems to lose a road game they should easily win. Hopefully for UT and the MAC, this is that game FSU takes a nap. The logical choice is to pick the more talented team – Fresno State." While he made some nice points, I don't think any of us foresaw a 55-54 double overtime thriller. The difference in this game, besides Toledo's conservative playcalling on the final drive of regulation, was Amstutz deciding to go for two at home in the 2nd OT. It's got to be hard to lose such a thrilling game on one play when the Rockets could have easily made the PAT and headed to a 3rd OT, but hindsight is indeed 20-20. At 1-2 the Rockets will look to even their record on Saturday when they host the FIU Golden Panthers at the Glass Bowl.

By Luke Jernigan
VanDelay Sports Webmaster & Marketing Director

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