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Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
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Nick in Cleveland Offline
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Post: #1
Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
What a wonderful day to the MAC, a huge congratulations out all of the MAC teams who earned non-conference wins. Yes the big news was Toledo’s win over a nationally ranked SEC team on the road, but BG’s 28-point 4th quarter, and Ohio’s hard fought win against regional and former MAC rival Marshall can’t be overlooked and in many years would be considered the signature win of a weekend for the league.

Lost within a very successful Saturday is Eastern’s 19-point demolishing of Wyoming on the road (I love the job Chris Creighton is doing there) and Kent State’s 32-point win against anyone (take note of the stat of the weekend below).

After going 10-1 last week Nick’s Picks went just 8-5 this weekend and currently hold an 18-6 record year to date. For the games I missed where MAC teams won, I’ll gladly eat BBQ crow on those. And one additional thought on BG’s win over Maryland, that makes it nine straight years that a MAC team has now beaten a Big Ten (who can’t count to 14) school; great job!


Nick’s Pick: Maryland 38 – BGSU 33
Actual Score: BG 48 – Maryland 27
Initial Comment: First meeting between these two schools as the Terps beat I-AA Richmond 50-21 last week while Matt Johnson threw for 424 yards in a 59-30 loss at Tennessee. This is a game the Falcons can win so don’t be surprised if they do, but until their defense shows anything it’s hard to pick BG on the road.
FINAL COMMENT: Matt Johnson threw for nearly 500 yards and the Falcons erupted for 28-points in the 4th quarter. I stated don’t be surprised if they do if they could play any defense and holding the Terps to under 30-points is playing good defense.

Nick’s Pick: Penn State 26 – Buffalo 14
Actual Score: Penn State 27 – Buffalo 14
Initial Comment: UB was impressive in dismantling I-AA Albany last week 51-14 while Penn State was quite lethargic in their 27-10 loss to Temple. Again, this is another MAC/Big Ten match up that the MAC can win especially if QB Joe Licata has a big game.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…and kudos to the Bulls' effort as they trailed only 13-7 entering the 4th quarter.

Nick’s Pick: Wisconsin 44 – Miami 17
Actual Score: Wisconsin 58 – Miami 0
Initial Comment: Wisconsin is looking to forget their 35-17 loss to Alabama last week and Miami is the perfect team to come to town for that to happen. The RedHawks have a lot of youth and are two years away from contending in the MAC’s east division. Chuck Martin’s team may keep it close for a while but once the running game gets going for the Badgers it will get ugly quick.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…and sadly Miami put up even less of a fight.

Nick’s Pick: UMass 38 – Colorado 37
Actual Score: Colorado 48 – UMass 14
Initial Comment: Colorado’s program is a mess losing at lowly Hawaii last week 28-20 and going 2-10 last season which included a 41-38 win at UMass. QB Blake Frohnapfel is a legit pro prospect and should have a big day throwing to WR Tajae Sharpe.
FINAL COMMENT: How wrong can a guy be? I should have taken note when Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain Dealer picked UMass to win the MAC East that this team was doomed. Tajae Sharpe brought his A-game but no one else did in this Boulder massacre; clearly CU was pissed of how they lost at Hawaii last week and took it out on the Minutemen.

Nick’s Pick: Central Michigan 30 – Monmouth 10
Actual Score: Central Michigan 31 – Monmouth 10
Initial Comment: Monmouth opened up the season with a 27-19 loss to Holy Cross and returns 15 starters. The Chips played extremely well in their 24-13 home loss to Oklahoma State last week. Expect Central to win but the score may not be the blow out many MAC fans might expect.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…Cooper Rush is looking like the real deal.

Nick’s Pick: NIU 56 – Murray State 16
Actual Score: NIU 57 – Murray State 26
Initial Comment: Murray State beat D-II Kentucky Wesleyan last week 52-14. KWU is a very bad D-II team and would get creamed by Grand Valley State, Tiffin or Ashland out of the GLIAC. A more telling score was the Racers 45-14 loss at Western Michigan last week. For NIU this game is a welcome breather after a tighter than expected 38-30 win against UNLV and before they travel to Ohio State and Boston College for the remainder of September.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…Drew Hare is the latest NIU QB who will be a MAC Player of the Year finalist.

Nick’s Pick: Wyoming 33 – Eastern Michigan 24
Actual Score: Eastern 48 – Wyoming 29
Initial Comment: Like last week’s loss to Old Dominion, this is a game Eastern can win. The Cowboys opened the season losing at home to I-AA North Dakota 24-13 as former North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl is rebuilding the program from the ground up. Eastern has lost 16-straight road openers by an average of 28-points; this game will be much closer than those.
FINAL COMMENT: Of all of my misses this is by far the most proud I am of a MAC school’s non-conference victory. Anyone who has followed this league as long as me knows all too well of the Hurons/Eagles football struggles through the years. Chris Creighton is a terrific coach whom I officiated when he was the HC many years ago at D3 Wabash College in Indiana. You’ll note I did state this is a game Eastern can win and it’s nice to see how “can” becomes “did.” Brogan Roback threw for 330-yards.

Nick’s Pick: Arkansas 48 – Toledo 23
Actual Score: Toledo 16 – Arkansas 12
Initial Comment: If the Hogs’ 52-14 victory over NIU last year is an indication of what Toledo is walking into then this game could very well be more of the same. In last week’s non-contest against Stony Brook the Rockets offense had several passes dropped that killed drives and they missed tackles on defense. That won’t cut it this week against a team that will likely be nationally ranked by seasons end.
FINAL COMMENT: As a Rocket alum I am certainly proud of this Toledo victory and especially how well the defense played in the red-zone. This is clearly one of the programs most signature wins and that’s saying something for a program with a lot of signature wins. Coach Campbell most likely just put his name on the top of every Power Five AD’s list as a viable coaching candidate list.

Nick’s Pick: Kent State 23 – Delaware State 13
Actual Score: Kent State 45 – Delaware State 13
Initial Comment: The Golden Flashes are dreadful and their offense is very offensive. The Hornets lost to I-AA Liberty last week 32-13 and are equally bad on offense. KSU will get a much needed win but somehow, someway, they need to find some play makers.
FINAL COMMENT: Here is the stat of the weekend…Kent State outgained DSU 492 to -33, and yes that’s minus 33. Both of the Hornets TDs came on fumble recoveries.

Nick’s Pick: Pitt 33 – Akron 16
Actual Score: Pitt 24 – Akron 7
Initial Comment: The Zips handled the Panthers last year 21-10. Last week Pitt defeated I-AA Youngstown State 45-37. The Zips held their own for a half before Oklahoma took over in the second half. The good news is that Akron has the defense to slow down and compete with Pitt…the bad news is that Akron doesn’t have enough quality play from the QB position to put much of a scare into Pitt.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…and the Zips had only 8 first downs with just 110-total yards.

Nick’s Pick: Western Michigan 35 – Georgia Southern 28
Actual Score: Georgia Southern 43 – Western 17
Initial Comment: At the beginning of the year this is a game I planned on picking GSU coming off their 9-3 season. GSU returns just 13 starters and that inexperience showed in last week’s 44-0 loss at West Virginia. The shutout was the first in 20-seasons for the Eagles, 242 straight games to be exact. Western was quite impressive in their home loss to Michigan State and certainly has the playmakers to light up the scoreboard.
FINAL COMMENT: Wow, I should have just stuck to my thirty-sum years of following this league to know when Western will tank it…I did note how at the beginning of the season I really felt GSU would win. Somehow I got suckered into their effort against MSU and thought it would carry over this week; I thought wrong.

Nick’s Pick: Texas A&M 62 – Ball State 21
Actual Score: Texas A&M 56 – Ball State 23
Initial Comment: This game will be ugly no matter how good of a coach Pete Lembo is…the Aggies beat Arizona State last week 38-17 and are loaded with talent across the board. The Cards had a nice 48-36 win over VMI last week but will be clearly outclassed here.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…Texas A&M led 49-3 at the half.

Nick’s Pick: Ohio 27 – Marshall 23
Actual Score: Ohio 21 – Marshall 10
Initial Comment: On paper this should be the MAC’s game of the week. A true local backyard brawl along the Ohio River where the home team has won four of the past five contests and the Bobcats have won three of the past five meetings. Marshall needed two pick-sixes from Tiquan Lang in their come-from-behind win over Big Ten bottom-feeder Purdue last week 41-31. The Bobcats were never really threatened in their 45-28 road win at Idaho. Expect a full house in Athens, an animated crowd, a very close and hard hitting game, and an OU victory where the Marching 110 will put on a tremendous halftime and post-game show.
FINAL COMMENT: Nailed it…the Bobcats scored their final TD with two minutes remaining in this hard hitting affair. Why do these teams not play every year? Did I do OK on this pick GreenSteve?
(This post was last modified: 09-13-2015 08:02 AM by Nick in Cleveland.)
09-13-2015 07:57 AM
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Lord Stanley Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
It burns me up when the major media says "lost to [insert MAC] team" instead of the "[insert MAC] team beat."

Toledo beat Arkansas.
BGSU beat Maryland.

Not Arkansas lost to Toledo.
Not Maryland lost to BGSU.

F/ U internet ESPN sideline reporter chick and your mock incredulity.
09-13-2015 08:12 AM
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Frozenbaugh Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
You're right about Coach Campbell being on every P5 list of coaching candidates.
09-13-2015 08:50 AM
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GreenSteve Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
You did alright...01-ncaabbs

Yes, a good day for the MAC.

I was most intrigued by the Eastern Michigan game...I wonder how good they are? Kind of expected the BUGS game and was surprised by Toledo. And didn't a female score points in the Kent game?

Marshall has one more MAC game...we'll see.

GreenSteve.
09-13-2015 08:57 AM
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H2Oville Rocket Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
Must have been tough for Akron to play Oklahoma AND Pitt yesterday.
09-13-2015 08:59 AM
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pono Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
(09-13-2015 08:50 AM)Frozenbaugh Wrote:  You're right about Coach Campbell being on every P5 list of coaching candidates.

campbell is an ohio guy, mount union, bg, toledo for 17 straight years of playing and coaching. he is set up very well at toledo and has a young family rooted in the community. plus, he has the perspective of seeing his former boss and ut head coach tim beckman crash and burn by taking a lousy p5 job. i'm not saying he won't leave, but campbell is less likely than the usual rising g5 young coach to chase bigger bucks at a purdue, colorado, illinois, nc state type job. i only think he bolts for a gig at a mid to upper level p5 school, especially if it within a state or two of ohio. the toledo program is all his and has improved a little bit each year. i don't think he has any problem hanging tight and continuing to build the rockets into that byu, boise, niu. cincy type elite mid major category. if he continues to do that he will continue to be able to listen w leverage to an improving list of other options while maintaining his comfortable place at UT
09-13-2015 06:06 PM
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HuronDave Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
(09-13-2015 08:59 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  Must have been tough for Akron to play Oklahoma AND Pitt yesterday.

Uh, read it again.
09-14-2015 10:28 PM
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toddjnsn Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
Quote:And didn't a female score points in the Kent game?

Wha-wha-what? A female? I could see the guys on the team finally scoring points with a female after a big-margin win -- but a female scored points? Like, on the actual scoreboard? FG?

EDIT: She got a PAT. It was a barely-made-it kick, like an audience contest winner who used to kick FGs in high school back in the day. And she is SMALL. Wow. I figured it'd be some big brute of a woman who'd be playing softball behind home plate. But that's Great though! I can only imagine what the locker room's like -- kinda... odd.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/kent-sta...n-to-score
(This post was last modified: 09-14-2015 10:41 PM by toddjnsn.)
09-14-2015 10:38 PM
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emu steve Offline
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Post: #9
RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
The Detroit News sings the praises of the MAC's play last Saturday:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/.../72282976/
09-15-2015 04:05 AM
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H2Oville Rocket Offline
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RE: Nick's Picks Recap for Week #2 - and lots of other good stuff
(09-14-2015 10:28 PM)HuronDave Wrote:  
(09-13-2015 08:59 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  Must have been tough for Akron to play Oklahoma AND Pitt yesterday.

Uh, read it again.

I did. Three times before I posted. Still didn't get it. Toledo education.
09-15-2015 07:33 AM
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