Quote:Im in agreement. If NIU makes any noise this year, all the pundits will look at the MAC Schedule and then the PRESBYTERIAN game.
Yes, Lesboterian is not a good D1AA school. However, say it was a 7-5 D1AA school they won by 30, instead of beating a lowly D1AA by 50+? Who cares? It's a gimme-game either way.
The MAC schedule? OK. Depends on how well the MAC pans out this year. It won't be 2003, "The Year of the MAC" -- but if it turns out above-par, that'll be a good thing.
Compared to last year:
GOING UP:
Miami-OH: ND QB Transfer, great new HC. Miami can only go up and has talent & new HC to do so.
WMU: DJ PJ Fleck has more talent this time around, and more importantly, more grounding, so they can only go up.
Akron: They showed signs of it last year. Expect this year for them to be challenging BGSU for the Mac East title
Kent State: Improved, but nothing very special
EMU: New HC who doesn't really lose; EMU has only been good at scaring some teams; this year they'll be nothing special at all, but a notch up
GOING DOWN:
Ohio: Maybe not all that much; they've been disappointing when they should have been better last couple years
NIU: They pretty much can only go "down", but they're solid & keep the ball rolling year to year -- expect this to be a "down" year with 3 or possibly 4 regular season losses.
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Overall, I see the MAC improving from last year. NIU likely won't be a national mid-major powerhouse, but still one to be respected and will be in a barn-burner for the MAC title again, since they have Toledo at home to help squeak out the MAC West title, breaking any tie-breaker with Toledo for 1st place.
The bottoms of the MAC will get a jolt up, with the exception of UMass who shouldn't even be in the conference unless they're also playing basketball. That'd be like Indiana joining the SEC football-only. WTF? Anyway, that + Akron cruising up -- the MAC will be a better conference.
Mountain West
American Athletic
MAC
Conference USA
Sun Belt