VanDelaySports.com > MAC Football > Nick's 2006 MAC Football Picks > MAC football Week #4 Recap

Nick's 2006 MAC Football Picks - Week #4 Recap

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Kent State 38 - Bowling Green 3

Notes:

• Shawn Bayes had a 79-yard touchdown run for Kent State and Gary Ham returned a fumble 36 yards for a score, one of six turnovers by Bowling Green
• Julian Edelman ran for one touchdown and threw for another as Kent State won it’s second straight after losing 11 in a row - Edelman threw a 5-yard touchdown pass and ran for a score from 2 yards out - he finished 14-of-22 passing for 141 yards and had five carries for 24 yards - Kent State is averaging 172 rushing yards per game in 2006 after gaining just 45.9 yards per game in 2005
• Chris Bullock rushed for 99 yards on 17 carries for Bowling Green

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 24 – Kent St 20

Actual Score: Kent St 38 – BGSU 3

Line: BG by 7

Comment: “Bowling Green has dominated Kent State through the years but I stated that same thing last week with Miami’s dominance over KSU and that logic ended up biting me in the tail-feather. BG has been able to win the close games thus far and playing at home is always a plus in the MAC. This is the third straight road game for the Golden Flashes. Look for a very close game but give the nod to the home team.”

My apologies to Kent State fans. I attended the KSU/Minnesota game and the Golden Flashes looked awful. Give this team and coaching staff some serious kudos with road wins at Miami and BG, two places that Kent has struggled in through years. Actually, KSU should be on a three-game winning streak losing a heartbreaker two weeks ago at Army. The Falcons are a mess right now.

Missouri 31 - Ohio 6

Notes:

• Chase Daniel threw two touchdown passes to Will Franklin and ran for another score - Daniel was 18-for-34 for 258 yards
• Ohio was held to 188 total yards, although the lone touchdown capped the longest drive of the season against a defense ranked first in the Big 12. The Bobcats had four first downs in the first quarter against a team that had not allowed any in the opening quarter
• The two blocked kicks, one on a field-goal attempt and another on an extra-point attempt, kept the Tigers' 14-6 halftime lead from being closer. Xavier Jackson blocked Matt Lasher's 38-yard field goal attempt to prevent Ohio from taking advantage of Daniel's fumble, and Lorenzo Williams blocked an extra-point kick in the second quarter

Nick’s Pick: Missouri 30 – Ohio 13

Actual Score: Missouri 31 – Ohio 6

Line: Missouri by 22

Comment: Frank Solich used to be at Nebraska and is quite familiar with Missouri football. Gary Pinkel used to be at Toledo and played at Kent State so he is quite familiar with the MAC. Ohio has the defense to make this a game but outside of one game at NIU, the Bobcats have not shown much scoring ability. Ohio has a mild chance at an upset but more likely is a relatively close game with the Tigers raising their record to 4-0 and moving closer into a top-25 ranking.

Missouri proved to be the better team as predicted, but my pick lost on the spread.

Northern Illinois 48 - Indiana State 14

Notes:

• Garrett Wolfe ran for 198 yards and scored four touchdowns Saturday to lead Northern Illinois to a victory over Indiana State and extending the Sycamores' losing streak to 21 games - Wolfe scored on runs of 12, 17, 1 and 6 yards in the first half as the Huskies grabbed a 38-0 lead - after rushing for 68 yards on the Huskies' opening drive of the second half, including a 49-yard scamper up the left sideline, Wolfe did not return to the game
• The NIU defense kept the Sycamores in check - in the first half Indiana State had just 89 total yards and five first downs - the Sycamores crossed the 50-yard line once and were forced into four consecutive three-and-out punting situations
• Overall NIU rushed for 314 yards (6.2 ypa) and had 420 total yards to just 264 for ISU

Nick’s Pick: NIU 45 – ISU 14

Actual Score: NIU 48 – ISU 14

Line: NL

Comment: Former Toledo defensive coordinator, Lou West, has yet to win a game in fourteen tries as the ISU head coach. The Sycamores are giving up an average of 50-points per game. This is the type of opponent that NIU needs before their three game road trip. The game may not be as close as predicted above.

As predicted, ISU was no match for NIU, which looked like an upper echelon MAC team with this performance.

Auburn 38 - Buffalo 3

Notes:

• Favored by six touchdowns, Auburn led by only 10 points until late in the third quarter of a game sandwiched between a physical victory over LSU and a Thursday game at South Carolina
• Auburn had 410 total yards to 177 for UB; the Tigers averaged 8-yards per rush
• UB went 3 for 4 in 4th down conversions

Nick’s Pick: Auburn 38 – Buffalo 3

Actual Score: Auburn 38 – Buffalo 7

Line: Auburn by 42

Comment: Auburn is coming off of a very hard fought and emotional 7-3 victory over SEC rival LSU. Buffalo has played very well under their new coaching staff and very easily could be 2-1. Make no mistake, Auburn is far superior than Buffalo in every phase of the game but given the Tigers may have a minor emotional let down against UB means the game should be a little closer than the odds-makers believe.

I saw this one coming – good job by Buffalo to play tough and make Auburn work in the second half to pull away.

Central Michigan 24 - Eastern Michigan 17 - OT

Notes:

• Central’s Brian Brunner threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brian Anderson for the overtime victory - the Chippewas sealed the win by stopping Dontayo Gage on a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-nine - it was the third straight overtime game between these intra-state rivals
• Trailing by seven in the closing minutes of regulation, redshirt freshman Andy Schmitt drove the Eagles 70 yards before hitting Jacory Stone on a 3-yard touchdown pass that forced a tie with 13 seconds remaining
• EMU had a big advantage in time of possession (34:24 to 25:36) but Central held an advantage in total yardage 452 to 345 – Central averaged 6.1 yards per play to just 4.4 yards per play for Eastern

Nick’s Pick: Central 34 – Eastern 31 (OT)

Actual Score: Central 24 – Eastern 17 (OT)

Line: Central by 4.5

Comment: Eastern has won two straight in this series and each contest went to overtime. Another OT battle may happen again this weekend. Eastern faces a must win game and will treat this like a bowl game since it is the first leg to the “Michigan MAC Trophy Award.” Central finally got the monkey off of their back against Akron but will need to play a good game against their intra-state rival to break this two-year spell. Look for Central to move to 2-0 in MAC play and once again and expect either overtime or the game going down to the wire in regulation.

I picked this one perfectly as well but it’s a shame to lose out on the spread when you correctly predict OT.

Akron 33 - North Texas 13

Notes:

• Andre Walker ran for two first-quarter touchdowns and Luke Getsy passed for three scores as Akron cruised to a win over North Texas - Walker had a touchdown run of 21 yards just 43 seconds into the game and another with 5:10 left in the first quarter - Getsy threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Lindsay as the Zips raced to a 20-0 lead after one quarter and led 33-7 at the half
• North Texas actually held an advantage in total offense, 287 to 278
• The only second-half scoring was UNT’s Jamario Thomas had a 22-yard touchdown run with 1:36 left in the third quarter. He finished with a game-high 120 yards on 18 rushes

Nick’s Pick: Akron 31 – North Texas 10

Actual Score: Akron 33 – North Texas 13

Line: Akron by 17

Comment: Akron has one of the MAC’s best defenses thus far but still needs work on their pass rush. UNT has lost to reigning C-USA champ Tulsa and beat C-USA bottom feeder SMU. The ‘mean green’ got bombed by Texas in week #1. Anything less than a convincing victory would be considered a disappointment for the Zips – expect Akron to win big.

Akron did what they were supposed to do, open up impressively and then win convincingly against a Sun Belt team at home.

North Dakota State 29 - Ball State 24

Notes:

• NDSU passed for 451 yards and 535 yards of total offense while Ball St had just 14 yards rushing on 24 attempts and 399 total yards
• Bison quarterback Steve Walker broke school records for passing yards and completions in a game as he rallied his team for a 29-24 victory over a stunned Ball State team
• NDSU’s final score came with a minute and half left in the game after receiving a punt with 4:32 left in the game – they engineered a 92-yard drive into a stiff wind with a light mist falling

Nick’s Pick: Ball State 33 – NDSU 17

Actual Score: North Dakota State 29 – Ball State 24

Line: NL

Comment: NDSU Coach Craig Bohl is 25-10 in four seasons for the Bison and have beaten Concordia-St. Paul and Northeastern to date, so it’s difficult to get a read on them. NDSU plays at Minnesota in late October. Ball St will win this game by a comfortable margin but again, getting a read on the Bison against a IA team is not easy.

OK, so I stated I knew nothing of this team and it showed on this pick. Congrats to the Bison for their first win over a IA team. Shame on Ball State for taking a big step backwards as a program just as progress was beginning to show. I was hoping the MAC could go the distance and not lose to a I-AA team this year but that’s not going to happen now.

Western Michigan 41 - Temple 7

Notes:

• Western’s Londen Fryar sparked a late first half surge, returning a blocked field goal attempt for a touchdown as time expired - Fryar, the MAC leader in interceptions, had his third INT of the season
• WMU had three interceptions of Temple quarterbacks Adam DiMichele and Vaughn Charlton and also recovered one of five Temple fumbles
• The Broncos have eight interceptions in their last three games, and were ranked No. 8 in the nation in turnover margin entering Saturday's game. The loss was the 16th consecutive for Temple dating back to the 2004 season

Nick’s Pick: Western 37 – Temple 7

Actual Score: Western 41 – Temple 7

Line: Western by 28

Comment: A year ago this game went right down to the wire in Philadelphia but these are two programs going in opposite directions. Western is getting better game by game and certainly will be a real factor for a MAC title this year evident by their wins over Toledo and Virginia. Expect a Bronco rout.

Western dominated as predicted.

Toledo 41 - McNeese State 7

Notes:

• DaJuane Collins ran for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Toledo pulled to a 41-7 victory over McNeese State - Toledo started the scoring on its opening drive with a 35-yard field goal by Alex Steigerwald followed by a 1-yard touchdown run by Brandon Summers
• Brandon Summers' 40-yard pass to Andrew Hawkins got the scoring started in the second quarter for the Rockets and was followed by Collins' 31- and 9-yard runs; Collins led Toledo with 91 yards on eight carries
• 270-pund RB Scooter McDougle made a return after a two year absence, he bulldozed for 36-yards on just three carriers

Nick’s Pick: Toledo 35 – McNeese State 16

Actual Score: Toledo 41 – McNeese State 7

Line: NL

Comment: McNeese State is a very good I-AA program and is currently ranked #13 for that level. They have already played one IA team, losing at South Florida of the Big East 41-10. It should be noted that USF outscored McNSU 27-0 in the 4 th period. The Cowboys are a very good team that could beat several IA teams this year, including one or two from the MAC. Expect a close and physical game with Toledo pulling away in the second half.

Several young players stepped up for UT and helped them beat up on a pretty good I-AA team.

Syracuse 34 - Miami 14

Notes:

• Miami’s offense struggled again producing just 220 total yards including just 29 rushing yards
• Miami QBs were sacked eight times
• Ryne Robinson had seven catches for 67 yards and both Miami TDs

Nick’s Pick: Syracuse 27 - Miami 16

Actual Score: Syracuse 34 - Miami 14

Line: Syracuse by 7

Comment: What is going on at Miami? At the beginning of the year this was a game that most MAC fans thought they could win over a Big East program. After last week’s results, those prognostications have changed dramatically. Miami has looked dreadful on offense in both of their home losses. They should have beaten Purdue on the road two weeks ago. Syracuse got a much needed win at Illinois last weekend. Maybe the RedHawks need to leave Oxford to have a chance in this game considering their putrid play at home.

A fantastic week for Nick's Picks with a 8-2 overall and 5-2 ATS record in Week #4.

published 09.25.05