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Nick's MAC Football Picks - Week #10 Preview & Picks

Week #10 MAC Football Games:

Tuesday – October 28

• Buffalo at Ohio, 7:00pm [ESPNU]

Saturday - November 1

• Central Michigan at Indiana, Noon [Big Ten Network]
• Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan, 2:00
• Kent State at Bowling Green, 2:00
• Temple at Navy, 3:30 [CSTV]
• Idle in Week #10 - Akron, Ball State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Toledo

MAC Notes:

• Tuesday’s Buffalo at Ohio games features two head coaches who played collegiately at Nebraska. UB mentor Turner Gill served as an assistant coach at Nebraska during current Ohio head coach Frank Solich’s tenure as head coach for the Cornhuskers.

Buffalo Bulls (3-4, 1-2 MAC) @ Ohio Bobcats (2-6, 1-3 MAC)

Tuesday, October 28th, 7 p.m. ET

Ohio leads series 9-5

Television: ESPNU

Notes: The Bobcats are coming off a 14-10 loss at Temple on Oct. 21 despite holding the Owls to 143 yards of total offense ... Buffalo last played Oct. 18 in a 27-24 overtime win over Army ... the Bulls trailed by 14 points in that game before Drew Willy passed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns ... A.J. Principe won it in overtime with a 34-yard field goal ... DB Davonte Shannon set a school I-A record with 20 tackles, including 12 solo stops ... in four of UB’s last five games there have been two overtime contests and two two-point games ... Willy ranks third in the league in pass efficiency rating and has 14 TD passes with just four interceptions ... this is Ohio’s first home game since Sept. 27 and three consecutive road games ... this is also the first of three consecutive home games for the Bobcats ... in their first game without leading rusher Donte Harden (65 ypg, 5.2 ypc, 424 total yards), the Bobcats were held to 48 rushing yards at Temple ... Harden is out for the year with a shoulder injury after playing in seven games ... UB’s top rusher James Starks (515 yards, 4 TDs, 4.7 ypc) missed the Army game with turf toe and is listed as probable for Tuesday night.

Nick’s Pick: Buffalo 30 - Ohio 21

Comment: UB has extra time to prepare for this contest while Ohio is still lamenting about their 4th quarter fallout in Philadelphia last week Tuesday. Bulls QB Drew Willy has quietly built an all-conference resume thus far in 2008. Don't be surprised to see Buffalo run the table and win the MAC East.

Central Michigan (6-2, 5-0 MAC) @ Indiana (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten)

Saturday, November 1, Noon ET

Indiana leads series 3-0

Television: Big Ten Network

Notes: The Hoosiers snapped a five-game losing streak and won their first conference game last week with a 21-17 victory over Northwestern ... CMU edged Toledo 24-23 for their fourth consecutive win, the longest such streak in two years under Butch Jones ... Dan LeFevour returned after missing one game and completed his first 11 passes en route to a 24-of-31 day for 242 yards and two TDs ... Bryan Anderson caught both scoring passes (21 and 22 yards) and tied the school record with his 19th all-time TD via reception ... Ontario Sneed scored the game-winning TD early in the fourth quarter and the Chippewas held the ball for 11 of the final 15 minutes ... the IU defense had five takeaways vs. the Wildcats and backup QB Ben Chappell threw for 219 yards and a TD ... the Hoosiers regular starting QB Kellen Lewis (925 yards passing; 404 yards rushing) has missed two straight games with a high ankle sprain ... Marcus Thigpen is averaging 5.7 ypc (366 yards, 64 carries) ... IU lost to Ball State earlier this year 42-20 ... this is the second of three consecutive road games for CMU ... the Chippewas have a MAC leading 19 sacks.

Nick’s Pick: Indiana 28 – Central Michigan 27

Comment: Central Michigan should win this game but has an uncanny knack of losing to BCS teams. The ‘Chips have not beaten a Big Ten team since taking down Michigan State two years straight in the early 1990s. Look for Indiana to win a close contest, likely a heartbreaker for CMU.

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Kent State (2-6, 1-3 MAC) @ Bowling Green (3-5, 1-3 MAC)

Saturday, November 1, 2 p.m. ET

Bowling Green leads series 53-16-6

Television: BSCN

Notes: The Golden Flashes are fresh off their first conference win of the season, a 54-21 thumping of Miami ... the 54 points is the most scored by a visiting team in the 26-year history of Yager Stadium and is the most by a KSU squad since a 69-17 win over Eastern Michigan in 2004 ... KSU rolled for 305 yards rushing with QB Julian Edelman gaining 158 yards and Eugene Jarvis contributing 105 yards and a school-record-tying four touchdowns ... the Flashes defense had six takeaways with DB Brian Linehart getting two (an interception and a fumble recovery) ... Nate Reed booted a season-long 48-yard field goal and also had a 34-yard three-pointer ... KSU’s win snapped a road losing streak of six games dating back to last year and a four-game losing streak this season ... the Falcons are 0-3 at home this season ... the 16 points allowed last week at NIU tied the Falcons best effort of the year (also 16 at Wyoming) ... Adrian Baker had three tackles for a loss and BG got interceptions by P.J. Mahone and Kenny Lewis in holding NIU to 278 yards of total offense ... a win would break the Falcons two-game losing streak ... BG’s last three losses are by a total of 13 points.

Eastern Michigan (2-7, 1-4 MAC) @ Western Michigan (6-2, 4-1 MAC)

Saturday, November 1, 2 p.m. ET

Western Michigan leads 25-16-2

Television: None

Notes: WMU was idle last week and most recently played in an Oct. 18, 38-28 loss at Central Michigan ... in that game Tim Hiller set a school record with 471 passing yards ... the loss snapped a Broncos’ six-game winning streak ... this is the first of three consecutive home games at home, although the Nov. 8 game vs. Illinois will be staged at Ford Field ... Hiller is setting a torrid pass with his MAC-leading 2,517 yards, 68.8 completion percentage (231-of-336) and 25 TDs with just five interceptions ... RB Brandon West supports the WMU ground game with his 85.8 ypg, the fourth highest total in the MAC ... Jamarko Simmons has a league-leading 66 receptions, 12 more than his nearest competitor ... EMU signal caller Andy Schmitt is coming off a career-high 309 yard passing performance at Ball State and the league’s top rated pass efficiency defense ... 11 of Schmitt’s passes were caught by Tyler Jones, also a career high ... Brad Ohrman ranks third in the MAC in tackles for a loss with nine for minus 48 yards.

Nick’s Pick: Western Michigan 38 – Eastern Michigan 23

Comment: Eastern won the ‘Michigan MAC Trophy’ last year and under Genyk the Eagles always play their intra-state MAC rivals tough. Western is primed for a very special season though - building a nice resume for one of the three MAC bowl alliances.

Temple Owls (3-5, 2-3 MAC) @ Navy (5-3)

Saturday, November 1, 3:30 p.m. ET

Series tied at 4-4

Television: CBS College Sports

Notes: The Owls won their second game in the last three with a fourth-quarter rally for a 14-10 triumph over Ohio on Oct. 21 ... QB Adam DiMichele returned at QB and despite completing just 9-of-22 attempts for 79 yards and being sacked five times for minus 44 yards, tossed a game-winning five-yard TD pass to Steve Maneri with 1:51 left on the clock ... the Temple defense then secured the win by stopping the Bobcats on downs ... the winning scoring drive (5 plays, 18 yards, 2:48) was set up on a fumble recovery by Terrance Knighton ... it was Knighton’s third fumble recovery of 2008 and his sixth in the last two seasons ... Junior Galette was in on two sacks for minus 21 yards and leads the MAC with 7.5 sacks for minus 58 yards .. the Midshipmen beat SMU last week 34-7 and have won five of their last six games after an 0-2 start ... among those early losses was a 35-23 setback from Ball State ... Navy also owns a 24-17 win over then No. 16 ranked Wake Forest ... this is the third of four consecutive home games for Navy ... the Midshipmen have attempted just 48 pass attempts (completing 29 for 496 yards and 4 TDs) and rushed 453 times (2,479 yards and 21 TDs) this season ... this is Temple’s sixth road game this season.

Nick’s Pick: Navy 26 – Temple 14

Comment: The road weary Owls are facing the upstart Midshipmen on the road. Temple doesn’t have the offense to do much but their defense could surprise and frustrate a very solid rushing attack by Navy. Temple does have a chance to win this game but their offensive woes will likely continue.

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