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Nick's 2008 MAC Football Championship Game Pick

Marathon MAC Football Championship Game

Friday, December 5 - 8 p.m. (ET)

#12 Ball State (12-0, 8-0 MAC) - West Division Champion vs. Buffalo (7-5, 5-3 MAC) - East Division Champion

SITE: Ford Field (Field Turf/65,000) - Detroit, Mich.

TELEVISION: ESPN2/ESPN HD (Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Rob Stone)

SERIES RECORD:

Ball State leads 6-0 ... since UB joined the MAC in 1999 the Cardinals have fashioned a 4-0 record versus the Bulls ... the most recent games were played in 2007 (a 49-14 BSU win in Muncie) and 2006 (a 55-25 BSU triumph in Buffalo).

COACHES: UB-Turner Gill (14-22, third season); BSU-Brady Hoke (34-37, sixth season).

MARATHON MAC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME NOTES:

• Both West Division Champion Ball State and East Division Champion Buffalo are making their first-ever championship game appearance.
• Buffalo joined the MAC in 1999 and is seeking its first league title. Ball State began competing in the MAC in 1975 and have won league titles in1976 (Dave McClain, head coach); 1978 (Dwight Wallace); 1989 (Paul Schudel); 1993 (Paul Schudel); and 1996 (Bill Lynch).
• Previous MAC teams to win the league’s championship game are Akron, Central Michigan, Miami, Toledo and former member Marshall.
• In the preseason MAC News Media Association Poll, Ball State was picked to finish second in the West Division and Buffalo to place third in the East. Ball State received five votes to capture the league’s championship game and Buffalo one vote.
• As an FBS (I-A) school from 1999-2005 Buffalo had an overall record of 10-69 (.126 win pct.) and a MAC record of 7-50 (.122 win pct.). In three years under Turner Gill, the Bulls have an overall record of 14-22 (.388 win pct.) and a MAC slate of 11-13 (.458). In the last two years the Bulls are 12-12 (.500 win pct.) overall and 10-6 (.625 win pct.) in MAC games.
• Ball State head coach Brady Hoke is one of 18 FBS (I-A) head coaches at his alma mater. Hoke played at BSU and earned four letters from 1977-80. He was a member of the 1978 MAC Championship team under head coach Dwight Wallace.
• Brady Hoke was an assistant coach at Michigan when the Wolverines won the 1997 National Championship. Turner Gill was an assistant coach at Nebraska when the Cornhuskers won titles in 1994, 1995, and 1997.

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

• BALL STATE - The Cardinals blazed through the MAC West Division with a perfect 8-0 record. Since the MAC went to divisional play in 1997, the Cardinals are the first program to go undefeated in the West Division in conference play. The key win of the year was a Nov. 19 showdown at Central Michigan, a game which pitted teams with 6-0 conference records. BSU came out on top 31-24, scoring the game’s last 14 points on fourth-quarter TD passes by Nate Davis. BSU then defeated Western Michigan 45-22 on Nov. 25 to complete its perfect regular season.
• BUFFALO - The Bulls played it close all year, sweating out three overtime games in conference play alone (2-1), before winning back-to-back OT games on the road in November to secure the East Division title. The Bulls went into its Nov. 13 game at Akron tied at 4-2 with the Zips. UB outlasted Akron 43-40 in four overtimes as James Starks ran for three TDs. The next week in another showdown game at Bowling Green, the Bulls rallied from a 27-7 fourth-quarter deficit for a 40-34, double-overtime victory to clinch the East title. Drew Will passed for 297 yards and three TDs in that contest. The Bulls had an NCAA record tying four overtime games during the season, also beating Army 27-24 in non-conference action. UB’s three conference losses were by a total of 11 points - 27-25 at Central Michigan and home games to Western Michigan (34-28 in OT) and to Kent State (24-21 to end the regular season.).

POLLING:
Ball State’s current No. 12 ranking in the Associated Press poll is the highest by a MAC member since the final 2003 poll when Miami was ranked No. 10 following the RedHawks 12-1 season. The RedHawks were ranked No. 14 prior to its GMAC Bowl win over Louisville. The most recent MAC team to be ranked as high as this year’s BSU team in the regular season was Northern Illinois on Oct. 19, 2003, when the Huskies were No. 12. Ball State is also No. 12 in the latest BCS listing.

Nick’s Pick: Ball State 30 – Buffalo 21

Comment: The Cardinals may not have played a very difficult schedule this season, but when confronting the best teams on their scheduled, they have responded with some outstanding victories. Earlier in the year they beat Indiana. While that might not seem like much, BSU had never beaten their in-state rival before and in fact, had never beaten a team from a BCS conference, so that was a huge accomplishment from a program standpoint. Then late in the year, the ‘Cards beat the three best teams in the MAC (NIU, Central Michigan and Western Michigan) on successive November weeks. They will rise to the challenge against a very good Buffalo team that features so many playmakers on both sides of the ball. Expect a well played and entertaining game by two teams who just three seasons ago were on the bottom of the east and west divisions respectively.