Taking a 60-14 year-to-date record into Oct 26, here is how I see it…as a Rocket alum I hope I'm wrong on the BG/UT game

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Ball State 37 – Akron 28
The Zips seem to play well against the better teams on their schedule and I expect that to happen again this Saturday

Ohio 34 – Miami 16
The Bobcats should have little trouble with the listless RedHawks

BGSU 27 – Toledo 23
The game of the week in the MAC’s best rivalry game, the Rockets seem to be missing something and its hard for me to put my finger on it outside of substandard QB play…the Falcons are coming off a bye week and played extremely well in their loss at Mississippi State two weeks ago

UMass 17 – Western 13
Who could have thought the Minutemen would be expected to win a game against a team that not long ago was a MAC heavy-weight

Buffalo 30 – Kent State 17
The Bulls are on their way up, the Golden Flashes have returned the type of Kent State football MAC historians like myself have come to know (outside of last season’s anomaly)

Northern 51 – Eastern 19
Hard to pick the score here, NIU will win by a lot

Would love to see the Bulls become bowl eligible this eekend.

I'm taking BG as well. Should be a great game.

I expect OU to cover the spread, but I suppose anything can happen in a rivalry game. I don't expect anything "good" to happen to us the rest of the year, but any progress towards stopping the bleeding would be nice to see.

I hope Kent State doesn't end up squandering their success from 2012. Miami fans had their dream season in 2010 and saw it collapse within years, it'd be tough to see another MAC program fall off a cliff so abruptly. Not that it's anything new to see a MAC team decline after a coach moves on to a better job, but one would hope that KSU would build off eleven wins and become consistently strong program.

Wow do I hope you are wrong on the umass wmu game. You probably aren't though.

Wmu beat umass by almost 40 last year. What a difference a year makes.

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I dunno...not going so far as to predict a Miami victory over the Bobkittens, but I do not expect a blow out win by OU...not sure if that's because Miami plays its best game of the year or that the BobCats just aren't as good as advertised.

(10-24-2013 12:31 AM)exCincy Kid Wrote:  I dunno...not going so far as to predict a Miami victory over the Bobkittens, but I do not expect a blow out win by OU...not sure if that's because Miami plays its best game of the year or that the BobCats just aren't as good as advertised.

If the weather is good that doesn't help Miami's case in this one like it did last week against Eastern Michigan.

The game time conditions are expected to be 54 degrees with 18 Mph winds. Its going to be a cold late fall day but no rain is expected.

What is the definition of a blowout win? Is it by 20 points? The spread for this one is sitting is sitting at 24.5 in favor of Ohio. Miami could cover the spread in this one and still get blown out.

(10-23-2013 10:20 PM)Nick in Cleveland Wrote:  Northern 51 – Eastern 19
Hard to pick the score here, NIU will win by a lot

Final score sounds about right. Although I'm guessing it'll be 13-10 EMU in the second quarter.

(10-23-2013 10:20 PM)Nick in Cleveland Wrote:  UMass 17 – Western 13
Who could have thought the Minutemen would be expected to win a game against a team that not long ago was a MAC heavy-weight

Hard to argue with this one.

Nick’s Picks struggled and went a paltry 4-2 this weekend and now stand at 64-16 year to date. Some very accurate picks below though.

Of the two misses, Toledo scored on a 4th and goal from the 11-yard line with 1:22 in the game to win 28-25. Obviously, I had them failing on that play, as a Rocket alum, I am glad I was wrong.

The other miss was Western Michigan who got their first win of the season as UMass failed on a 2-point conversion after scoring a TD with 22 seconds remaining. Give the Minutemen props for going for the win rather than OT. So basically I was two-minutes from being perfect this weekend – that’s how it goes sometimes.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, we are about a week away from “MAC Weekday Madness” as most of the month of November someone in our league is playing on a school night. That certainly affects attendance but the TV exposure is certainly worth it.


Nick’s Pick: Ball State 37 – Akron 28
Actual Score: Ball State 42 – Akron 24
Went as predicted

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 34 – Miami 16
Actual Score: Ohio 41 – Miami 16
Went as predicted

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 27 – Toledo 23
Actual Score: Toledo 28 – BGSU 25
Just 82-seconds away from BG winning 25-21 and nailing it

Nick’s Pick: UMass 17 – Western 13
Actual Score: Western 31 – UMass 30
22-seconds away from being right on the pick, wrong on how high the score would be

Nick’s Pick: Buffalo 30 – Kent State 17
Actual Score: Buffalo 41 – Kent State 21
Went as predicted – will UB win the east?

Nick’s Pick: Northern 51 – Eastern 19
Actual Score: Northern 59 – Eastern 20
I amaze me! Just kidding, pretty good pick though eh?

I know BG lost a game here against a touch MAC opponent BUT they have proven themselves against tough competition in recent years. BG still has the best defense in the MAC East.

Buffalo has yet to beat (or compete) with a team with a winning record. Its going to be tough to break through against BG and Ohio which have played in a lot of big MAC games. They still have to get through Ohio, Toledo and Bowling Green which could be 3 losses for the Bulls.

I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

(10-27-2013 01:18 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

Nope, it's Lou Tepper's D and the turnover margin we are winning with that is giving fans the most pride. We held EMU to 2 TD's/329 yards offense, 1 EMU TD being a long run late in the 4th against our 3rd string defenders. So what's your D's excuse for giving up 4TDS/477 yards? We just won at Kent by a similar score that BGSU did at Dix, and that was with 2 starters on D out (Colby Way and Blake Bean) and our leading tackler leaving early with an ankle injury. Next up, we're 4-2 at home vs Ohio since joining the league. Those stats say a lot.

Pretty good overall record, Nick. Two games you missed were easily the hardest picks of the day. BTW, Toledo did not score on a 4th and goal. Had Russell not crossed the plane Toledo would still have a first down (it was fourth and nine) and four more shots at scoring six.

I never expected the Flashes to be undefeated again in the MAC, but never expected them to be a 1 win team, either.

(10-27-2013 02:25 AM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 01:18 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

Nope, it's Lou Tepper's D and the turnover margin we are winning with that is giving fans the most pride. We held EMU to 2 TD's/329 yards offense, 1 EMU TD being a long run late in the 4th against our 3rd string defenders. So what's your D's excuse for giving up 4TDS/477 yards? We just won at Kent by a similar score that BGSU did at Dix, and that was with 2 starters on D out (Colby Way and Blake Bean) and our leading tackler leaving early with an ankle injury. Next up, we're 4-2 at home vs Ohio since joining the league. Those stats say a lot.

Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

As for defense, Ohio is at or near the top of several categories in the conference and is a team strength.

Ill give Buffalo props for the time being, then they can prove themselves worthy of the hype or not in the upcoming weeks

(10-27-2013 10:54 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

I see. So, again, what's your D's excuse against a EMU team with so, so much to play for at 1-6, vs when they were 1-3 coming into the UB game? You can't use your suppositions about a team's motivation as evidence.

(10-27-2013 10:54 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 02:25 AM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 01:18 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

Nope, it's Lou Tepper's D and the turnover margin we are winning with that is giving fans the most pride. We held EMU to 2 TD's/329 yards offense, 1 EMU TD being a long run late in the 4th against our 3rd string defenders. So what's your D's excuse for giving up 4TDS/477 yards? We just won at Kent by a similar score that BGSU did at Dix, and that was with 2 starters on D out (Colby Way and Blake Bean) and our leading tackler leaving early with an ankle injury. Next up, we're 4-2 at home vs Ohio since joining the league. Those stats say a lot.

Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

As for defense, Ohio is at or near the top of several categories in the conference and is a team strength.

BGSU leads the MAC in Red Zone Defense, Scoring Defense, and Total Defense.

(10-26-2013 11:59 PM)Nick in Cleveland Wrote:  Nick’s Picks struggled and went a paltry 4-2 this weekend and now stand at 64-16 year to date. Some very accurate picks below though.

Of the two misses, Toledo scored on a 4th and goal from the 11-yard line with 1:22 in the game to win 28-25. Obviously, I had them failing on that play, as a Rocket alum, I am glad I was wrong.

The other miss was Western Michigan who got their first win of the season as UMass failed on a 2-point conversion after scoring a TD with 22 seconds remaining. Give the Minutemen props for going for the win rather than OT. So basically I was two-minutes from being perfect this weekend – that’s how it goes sometimes.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, we are about a week away from “MAC Weekday Madness” as most of the month of November someone in our league is playing on a school night. That certainly affects attendance but the TV exposure is certainly worth it.


Nick’s Pick: Ball State 37 – Akron 28
Actual Score: Ball State 42 – Akron 24
Went as predicted

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 34 – Miami 16
Actual Score: Ohio 41 – Miami 16
Went as predicted

Nick’s Pick: BGSU 27 – Toledo 23
Actual Score: Toledo 28 – BGSU 25
Just 82-seconds away from BG winning 25-21 and nailing it

Nick’s Pick: UMass 17 – Western 13
Actual Score: Western 31 – UMass 30
22-seconds away from being right on the pick, wrong on how high the score would be

Nick’s Pick: Buffalo 30 – Kent State 17
Actual Score: Buffalo 41 – Kent State 21
Went as predicted – will UB win the east?

Nick’s Pick: Northern 51 – Eastern 19
Actual Score: Northern 59 – Eastern 20
I amaze me! Just kidding, pretty good pick though eh?

? How were you 22 seconds away? If the game ends 22 seconds earlier, WMU wins by 7 instead of 1.

(10-27-2013 12:09 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 10:54 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

I see. So, again, what's your D's excuse against a EMU team with so, so much to play for at 1-6, vs when they were 1-3 coming into the UB game? You can't use your suppositions about a team's motivation as evidence.

It was pouring down rain in the second quarter and led to a few Ohio 3 and outs.

Still Ohio won by 28 and put 56 on the board. That's dominating.

(10-27-2013 12:46 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 10:54 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 02:25 AM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 01:18 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

Nope, it's Lou Tepper's D and the turnover margin we are winning with that is giving fans the most pride. We held EMU to 2 TD's/329 yards offense, 1 EMU TD being a long run late in the 4th against our 3rd string defenders. So what's your D's excuse for giving up 4TDS/477 yards? We just won at Kent by a similar score that BGSU did at Dix, and that was with 2 starters on D out (Colby Way and Blake Bean) and our leading tackler leaving early with an ankle injury. Next up, we're 4-2 at home vs Ohio since joining the league. Those stats say a lot.

Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

As for defense, Ohio is at or near the top of several categories in the conference and is a team strength.

BGSU leads the MAC in Red Zone Defense, Scoring Defense, and Total Defense.

Ohio is #2 in the country in sacks behind Clemson and #3 in rushing defense.

BG's defense is probably better than Ohio's overall. Ohio's D is at the very least in the same league with Buffalo.

(10-27-2013 01:30 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 12:46 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 10:54 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 02:25 AM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(10-27-2013 01:18 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  I think with Buffalo people look and say wow you put 41 on Eastern Michigan.....then Ohio drops 56 on EMU and Northern drops 59. The conclusion is that anyone could drop 41 on EMU. Heck even Army put 50 on EMU. It just doesn't say anything.

Nope, it's Lou Tepper's D and the turnover margin we are winning with that is giving fans the most pride. We held EMU to 2 TD's/329 yards offense, 1 EMU TD being a long run late in the 4th against our 3rd string defenders. So what's your D's excuse for giving up 4TDS/477 yards? We just won at Kent by a similar score that BGSU did at Dix, and that was with 2 starters on D out (Colby Way and Blake Bean) and our leading tackler leaving early with an ankle injury. Next up, we're 4-2 at home vs Ohio since joining the league. Those stats say a lot.

Kent State has mailed it in for the season. They aren't at the same place they were at the beginning of the season.

As for defense, Ohio is at or near the top of several categories in the conference and is a team strength.

BGSU leads the MAC in Red Zone Defense, Scoring Defense, and Total Defense.

Ohio is #2 in the country in sacks behind Clemson and #3 in rushing defense.

BG's defense is probably better than Ohio's overall. Ohio's D is at the very least in the same league with Buffalo.

The 5 teams Buffalo's D played well against have a total of 6 wins.