I only buy 2 football magazines a year <a href='http://www.blueribbonyearbook.com/index.php' target='_blank'>Blue Ribbon Football Yearbook</a> and <a href='http://www.retro-sports.com/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemID=7037&CategoryID=160&ProductlineID=15&currentpage=1' target='_blank'>I-AA.org Magazine 2005 Fooball </a>.

Blue Ribbon has pegged EMU as finishing 3rd in the MAC West, behind NIU and UT. They have the most complete analysis of personnel of any magazine, devoting at least 2 pages to EMU alone. No one else devotes that much space to Eastern and the MAC.

Blue Ribbon is one of my faves also. I noticed that CBS Sportsline.com has published a preview mag this year too. It has EMU ranked 69th overall...far ahead of most other MAC schools...which was a real surprise. When I get home I will dig it out and post the team rankings.

Also their mag had Eric Deslauriers as 2nd team All-American, yet strangely, did not have Andrew Wellock listed at all except for All-MAC which kinda cuts down their credibility a bit.

Looks like both MAC races are battles for third with NIU & Toledo and BG & Miami battling for the MACC berths. Central is probably your biggest hurdle for third. Ball State and Western are pointed in the right direction, but have an awful long way to go yet.

The Central game could, in fact, be the key. Catching the Chips on the road a week after facing Michigan isn't exactly a beneficial scenario, although they'll be coming back from Penn State, so maybe that's a push.

Looks like a nice soft landing at the end of the year, too - Ball State & Buffalo!

Looks like both MAC races are battles for third with NIU & Toledo and BG & Miami battling for the MACC berths. Central is probably your biggest hurdle for third. Ball State and Western are pointed in the right direction, but have an awful long way to go yet.

The Central game could, in fact, be the key. Catching the Chips on the road a week after facing Michigan isn't exactly a beneficial scenario, although they'll be coming back from Penn State, so maybe that's a push.

Looks like a nice soft landing at the end of the year, too - Ball State & Buffalo!

It appears that there is a consensus building among the football mags that EMU is the 3rd place finisher in the west. I hope these predictions are true but I remember the glowing review and championship predictions from last year's basketball mags, especially Street & Smith and the ensuing disaster of the 04-05 season.