Quote:CMU is your kryptonite in recent years, it seems. In the past, you guys still seem to win the division even with the CMU stubbed toe, so I'm not counting you out yet.

Yes and no. Yes, CMU is their krytonite anyway -- they're in for a rough ride as if they're WMU facing CMU. However, looking at last year -- they weren't As good as their record indicated... namely their O wasn't firing on all cylinders all the time. OK, post-Lynch, getting rust out, transition... alright. They could "turn it on", like they did to US 2nd half last year... or a big sha-bang for the whole game like they did to BGSU in MACC revenge. But also sputter whole games like against EMU, Kent, and Ohio.

But this year, it didn't seem to take a step Up -- although their D has. UNLV, losing at the half, turned it on 2nd half. Even against Murray State, their D bailed them away from a way-too-close halftime score by an end-zone INT, so they ended up at halftime with a "comfortable" 10pt lead before they turned it on big 2nd half. Against OSU -- we had 338 yards on O. OSU has a great D, but against a Good G5 O, they're not going to leave you in a ditch the Whole game. NIU was. I was waiting for them to turn it on, say, 4th Q. NIU's impressive D made it a barn-burner. Not their O. As Carey said -- you can't get 5 turnovers and have any excuse not to win.

So overall, it's not "bad luck", bad mismatches, etc. It's a lesser O than last year, a better D -- but even that O last year was a step down from Lynch & Harnish era... but people figured that was just an adjustment, and as it still showed some pop on many occasions. I think now, 5 games into the season -- it's safe to say that the burden of proof is on them to show their O is consistent and/or strong.... otherwise one should wisely assume it's not all there, and they're a good Defensive team who doesn't have all the pieces in place on O.

Good News for NIU: They have a good D. And everyone in the MAC is going to beat up on each other. That can bide them some time to get their O at least to 'par'.

(10-03-2015 09:28 PM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  On the WMU board, I said that the EMU game would be close with LSU pulling away in the second half.

With few exceptions, this OOC season has been different in the MAC. Once upon a time, we'd see gobs of "31-0 at halftime" type scores, even against unranked teams. But that's rarely been the case this year.

The W-L record may not show it, and I know we're trying not to over-emphasize moral victories, but these games have been more competitive than usual. And plenty of close calls. From a Bronco perspective, no way we rip off a 6-game winning streak in the conference like we did last year.

Well stated.

The vast majority of OOC games have been a + for the conference.

The conference isn't getting embarrassed this year. A number of games vs. top 25 were close at the half or well into the 2nd half.

From the locker room with Whipple and then AD Ryan Bamford.
"The MAC championship runs through Amherst." OK Buffalo, not that Amherst.

Yet, far too often for far too may decades the league automatically gets dismissed by the media as a conference of nothing but substandard teams. For instance, during the Arkansas-Tennessee game it was said that the Razorbacks had lost to "A MAC team, Texas Tech and Texas A&M". In my opinion it was intentional he didn't say "Toledo", because it wouldn't carry as much of a negative connotation as saying "A MAC team".

I don't believe CUSA or even the Sun Belt gets such derisive treatment. I believe it's due to the fact the Midwest press and Big Ten fans have looked down for so long at our league that it has percolated throughout the nation. Especially when you consider the number of those persons who cover college athletics nationally are from the region.

Maybe we simply need to wear it as a red badge of courage. Perhaps a video should be made showing a great victory by each school (in various sports); each one followed by a flash of the slogan, "We're just a MAC team", in huge letters on the screen.

(10-04-2015 09:31 AM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  Yet, far too often for far too may decades the league automatically gets dismissed by the media as a conference of nothing but substandard teams. For instance, during the Arkansas-Tennessee game it was said that the Razorbacks had lost to "A MAC team, Texas Tech and Texas A&M". In my opinion it was intentional he didn't say "Toledo", because it wouldn't carry as much of a negative connotation as saying "A MAC team".

I don't believe CUSA or even the Sun Belt gets such derisive treatment. I believe it's due to the fact the Midwest press and Big Ten fans have looked down for so long at our league that it has percolated throughout the nation. Especially when you consider the number of those persons who are now cover college athletics nationally that are from the region.

Maybe we simply need to wear it as a red badge of courage. Perhaps a video should be made showing a great victory by each school (in various sports); each one followed by a flash of the slogan, "We're just a MAC team", in huge letters on the screen.

+1000

(10-04-2015 12:48 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 09:31 AM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  Yet, far too often for far too may decades the league automatically gets dismissed by the media as a conference of nothing but substandard teams. For instance, during the Arkansas-Tennessee game it was said that the Razorbacks had lost to "A MAC team, Texas Tech and Texas A&M". In my opinion it was intentional he didn't say "Toledo", because it wouldn't carry as much of a negative connotation as saying "A MAC team".

I don't believe CUSA or even the Sun Belt gets such derisive treatment. I believe it's due to the fact the Midwest press and Big Ten fans have looked down for so long at our league that it has percolated throughout the nation. Especially when you consider the number of those persons who are now cover college athletics nationally that are from the region.

Maybe we simply need to wear it as a red badge of courage. Perhaps a video should be made showing a great victory by each school (in various sports); each one followed by a flash of the slogan, "We're just a MAC team", in huge letters on the screen.

+1000

Agree, I do not get why detroit media just hates the mac so much. It seems like it has always been like this. If the media would give the mac some props the conference would gain a huge boost. However when radio hosts on 97.1 continually call cmu a bad team for no reason nor do not give any mac teams props for their ooc wins it just pisses me offer