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2008 Week #5 MAC Football Recap

Week #5 MAC Notes:

• Week #5 saw eight games featuring 12 MAC teams as MAC teams went 2-2 in the four non-conference games
• In four MAC games CMU, WMU, NIU and Ball State picked up wins over EMU, Kent State, Buffalo and Temple
• Luke's "Win of the Week" goes to Bowling Green thanks to their convincing victory @ Wyoming. The Falcons handled the Cowboys easily just a few weeks after MAC East Division rival Ohio lost to these same Cowboys 21-20.
• For the week, Nick's Picks were 7-1 making Nick 19-1 in the past two weeks with the only blemish being a bad home loss by Toledo to FIU

Northern Illinois 37 - Eastern Michigan 0

Nick’s Pick: NIU 27 – Eastern Michigan 16

Comment: NIU jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the half as they rolled on the road to a 37-0 win over the Eagles. "Look for the improved NIU team to get a divisional road win in Ypsi," said Nick, and he was right on even though I think we all expected a much closer game. The Huskies travel to face a disappointing Tennessee Volunteers team next week while EMU is @ Bowling Green.

Ball State 41 - Kent State 20

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Nick’s Pick: Ball State 41 – Kent State 23

Comment: Great pick from Nick on this one as he was just a Kent State field goal from a perfect prediction. Miquale Lewis rushed for 116 yards and 3 touchdowns and Nate Davis connected with Briggs Orsbon on 10 of his 23 completions as Ball State rolled to a 5-0 start. Kent State hosts Akron next weekend while Ball State travels to Toledo for a 7 pm kickoff on Saturday night.

Bowling Green 45 - Wyoming 16

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 23 – Wyoming 21

Comment: "The Falcons have had two weeks to prepare for this game while Wyoming has been destroyed twice this year and in fact, are just four points away from being 0-4. Look for the MAC to have an extremely rare road victory over a Mountain West team." Nice call Nick. BG bounced back from consecutive non-conference losses to pickup a solid road win. The Falcons begin conference play next weekend with a home game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Ohio 51 - VMI 31

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 36 – VMI 12

Comment: "The I-AA Keydets will not offer much of a challenge to Ohio but will the Bobcats play to their potential against a Big South program?" It looked like Nick was off on this pick as the banged-up Bobcats trailed 24-17 in the 2nd quarter. But Ohio's offense was not to be stopped often in this game as they racked up 575 yards and both the defense and special teams added a touchdown a piece as the Bobcats won 51-31. Next up for the Bobcats is a trip to Kalamazoo to face Western Michigan on Saturday.

Western Michigan 7 - Temple 3

Nick’s Pick: Western Michigan 30 – Temple 10

Comment: Nick's pregame comments were "there were many Temple fans emailing me that this season the Owls would contend for a MAC title. I stated to all of that progress is being made on Broad Street but that Temple was at least one year away from any sort of divisional contention." The Owls proved yet again to be close, but not close enough as in their four-game slide they have lost three of those games by a combined nine points. At 0-2 in the MAC it is going to be difficult for the Owls to climb out of this hole, but with four teams in the MAC East having a conference already loss it keeps Temple just one game behind each in the loss column. A tough road is ahead for Temple as they have games @ Miami and @ Central Michigan in the next two weeks.

Cincinnati 17 - Akron 15

Central Michigan 27 - Buffalo 25

Nick’s Pick: Central Michigan 37 – Buffalo 28

Comment: "This may be the most entertaining MAC game of the weekend...Look for Central to pull away in a thriller." Nick, you nailed this one. Just plain nailed it. There's something about Buffalo and thrilling conference games this year; UB is now 1-1 in the MAC with a last second win vs. Temple and a last second missed FG loss @ Central Michigan. Down 27-18 with 2:58 remaining, Buffalo scored with 1:37 remaining on a 65-yard TD pass to James Starks to cut the CMU lead to 27-25. With the clock as their enemy, the Bulls recovered the onside kick and were able to attempt a potential game-winning 46-yard field goal which was no good giving Central Michigan the win and a 2-0 start in the MAC. Buffalo has a week off before hosting Western Michigan on October 11th while CMU also has a bye and hosts Temple on the 11th.

FIU 35 - Toledo 16

Nick’s Pick: Toledo 45 – FIU 16

Comment: "FIU has only scored 19 points all season. Toledo needs a game like this after last week’s four-hour double OT marathon home loss to Fresno State." Ouch. In last week's recap I came down hard on Kent State for what I called a bad loss @ Louisiana-Lafayette, but this is far worse. Public perception may not have the MAC at the bottom of Division I-A/FBS conferences, but losses to Sun Belt teams are only going to hurt us. FIU came in at 0-3 with 99 points scored against them and they hold Toledo, a team that scored 54 in a loss to a ranked team last week, to just 16 points at home. I am so disappointed that I am just going to stop writing now...

By Luke Jernigan
VanDelay Sports Webmaster & Marketing Director

Nick's MAC Football Picks are brought to you each week throughout the MAC football season here at VanDelay Sports.