CSNbbs

That may cause rejoicing among many, consternation among a few, and, most likely, complete and total apathy among the vast majority. Oh well, you'll only have to put up with my football drivel for one more week.

1. Marshall 21, UCF 7 - This was a battle between one team with an anemic offense and another team with a downright, well, what's a worse term than anemic? I don't know. Marshall just ain't Marshall without a gunslinger at QB and UCF just ain't EMU with half their team on suspension.

2. BUGS 41, Testicle Tech 14 - I'm a bit surprised by this score. I thought that, with the Toledump game upcoming, BUGS might just take the week off. Never thought they would lose to a team that defines mediocrity but thought it would be closer.

3. Navy 63, CMU 34 - Navy just destroyed any thoughts of a 3rd MAC bowl bid. Nobody but Michigan has beaten the Chips this badly. Not NIU. Not Toledump. Not BUGS. Nobody. Navy will finish the season 8-4 with a win over a terrible Army team and my guess is that any bowl in the world would take Navy before they took a MAC team - especially when Navy beat CMU worse than any MAC teams beat CMU. So, just as it has been, the MAC, in the best year it's ever had, will get precisely two bowl bids.

4. NIU 38, EMU 24 - EMU finishes the season a surprising 3-9. Not only that, they've actually looked decent in their last 3 games. Doesn't matter. They won't survive the attendance rule. NIU is playing for pride and will be sitting at home with a 10-2 record. Once again, OOC wins are nice but they don't count for squat if you get thumped by two Division foes. And remember, the BUGS and Toledump scores weren't terribly close. BUGS beat NIU by 16 and Toledump beat them by 19. 10-2 and sitting home in December. Wecome to the MAC.

5. Miami (OH) 49, Ohio U 31 - Miami's defense played this game at about 1/2 speed. It was enough. If their defense is off, the Redskins will beat you by scoring touchdowns in bunches. This is a very, very good team and probably a legit top 10 team. Unfortunately, Ben Jacobjingleheimerschmidt likes the colors of Iowa's jerseys more than he likes Miami (OH) red so they'll never get the chance to prove it on the field.

6. Kent 34, Buffalo 24 - Yawn.

7. Toledump 34, WMU 17 - I have no idea how the Broncos managed 17 points with only 39 yards rushing. On 25 attempts no less. Per their usual pattern, Toledump let WMU stay in the game far longer than necessary. The BUGS game will be interesting. If the Rockettes follow their normal pattern of resting the first 2 1/2 - 3 quarters of a game, BUGS will beat them. If they play for a whole game, they should be able to win the West again.

_______________________

Final thoughts:

ESPN billed this as "Rivalry Week." To a certain extent that was true. You had LSU playing Ole' Miss. You had Bama playing Auburn. You had Ohio State playing Michigan. You had USC playing UCLA. You had Kent playing Buffalo. Ummm, well, maybe that last one didn't fit the bill. In fact, none of the MAC games fit the bill.

This was a completely forgettable week in conference play. Two teams expected to compete for the East are out of it. BUGS and Toledump could have both lost or both won or one lost while the other won and it wouldn't have meant a damn thing in the West. The BUGS/Toledump winner goes the the MACC and the MCB. The loser stays home.

GOOOOOOOOOOO BUGS!!!!!

You know, right up til that last line, I liked this post a lot, you dog!

Toledo's D showed up for the 2nd week in a row and stuffed the run. Jon Drach showed the passing ability he had against Toledo in 2001. With the run stuffed, the Broncos were forced to pass, and for the most part, they did very well. Drach is going well, but he's no Gradkowski...he missed some completions Bruce would have made. Then again, Bruce missed a few he would have made too. Credit WMUs pressure (BABIN) with disrupting his comfort level. There's not another DLineman in the MAC with that guy's size, power and agility. He seemed to be everywhere last night. Good, exciting game to watch.

Oh only the Oldest Rivalary in the MAC was being played... thats nothing too special... some 80+ contests... of course that pales in comparison to Miami vs. UC.

MAKO,

I'm assuming you didn't actually see the game. We were up 35-10 at the half, 49-10 after three. We put our second and third (and fourth) stringers out there at the end of the fourth quarter. There were guys out there who had only played in the Buffalo game. We held OU to something like 87 yards rushing. And even at that, if we don't have a hit out of bounds and a third-stringer taking his helmet off, they probably only get one TD.

Josh Betts and the second team offense drove right down the field, but then Betts threw a pick. We also went for it on fourth and 12, rather than kicking a field goal.

Our defense was dominating for three quarters.

Congrats to OU, though, for scoring three TDs on our scout team!

When I speak of rivalries, I speak of current as opposed to historic (historical?) rivalries. A couple of examples.

Marshall played Moorehead State for years. The game was usually a good one and well attended. However, the last time the two teams played, Marshall won something like 70-7. We haven't played them since and no one wants to play them again. Appalachian State vs. Marshall used to be a war. The last time we played, Marshall just completely dominated Appy and Appy was a top 10 I-AA team. We haven't played them since and no Marshall fans I know want to play Appy again.

A current rivalry implies that the teams play each other annually but it also implies that the outcome of the contest be at least reasonably in question. Going back the last 20 years, Miami (OH) leads the series 14-5-1. Rivalries also imply sold out or nearly sold out stadiums. To wit: Miami (OH) turned out 27,512 folks in a 28,000 seat stadium for the Cincy game. You drew about 25k for a contest against Marshall that was played in the middle of the week. OTOH, the Bobkitties turned out a staggering 14,327 in a 24,000 seat stadium. 10,000 fans disguised as empty seats does not a rivalry make.

Slight quibble, MAKO..........Yager stadium holds about 27K...........maybe 27.5K tops. Since our stated capacity is incorrect, it's pretty hard to tell what the exact totals are to be fair. Actually, the (room for) seating in Yager today is the same as when they built the stadium in 1983.........at that time 25,183 was the stated capacity but they can squeeze more into GA, hence the 27K I came up with.

MAKO Wrote:2. BUGS 41, Testicle Tech 14 - I'm a bit surprised by this score. I thought that, with the Toledump game upcoming, BUGS might just take the week off. Never thought they would lose to a team that defines mediocrity but thought it would be closer.

Man, that Testicle Tech, that's really original. :rolleyes:

As for the score, yeah, the score was bad, but it was just 21-14 with 11 minutes left in the game. The last 11 minutes, well, they were ugly, if you're a Ball State fan. But the game wasn't as bad as the score.

MAKO Wrote:When I speak of rivalries, I speak of current as opposed to historic (historical?) rivalries. A couple of examples.

Marshall played Moorehead State for years. The game was usually a good one and well attended. However, the last time the two teams played, Marshall won something like 70-7. We haven't played them since and no one wants to play them again. Appalachian State vs. Marshall used to be a war. The last time we played, Marshall just completely dominated Appy and Appy was a top 10 I-AA team. We haven't played them since and no Marshall fans I know want to play Appy again.

A current rivalry implies that the teams play each other annually but it also implies that the outcome of the contest be at least reasonably in question. Going back the last 20 years, Miami (OH) leads the series 14-5-1. Rivalries also imply sold out or nearly sold out stadiums. To wit: Miami (OH) turned out 27,512 folks in a 28,000 seat stadium for the Cincy game. You drew about 25k for a contest against Marshall that was played in the middle of the week. OTOH, the Bobkitties turned out a staggering 14,327 in a 24,000 seat stadium. 10,000 fans disguised as empty seats does not a rivalry make.

From what I understand, the Kittens are reporting that nearly half of those in attendance were Miami fans.

In recognition of this fact, I understand that OU was nice enough to place our name in soap flakes in the middle of the field. You can say a lot about the Kittens (whose field, BTW, got inexplicably "smoky" at half-time), but you can't say they aren't hospitable! :D

BTW, we had three sellouts this year: UC, Bowling Green, and Marshall. The least attended of these three was the Marshall game.

And, not that I like being put in the position of defending OU, but after two lousy seasons, OU still averaged over 15,000 this year.

Miami Attendance 2003

HOME
Bowling Green (November 4, Tues): 28,023
Cincinnati (September 27, Sat): 27,512
Marshall (November 12, Wed): 26,286
Buffalo (October 11, Sat): 23,683
Akron (October 4, Sat.): 20,157

AWAY
Iowa (August 30, Sat): 54,128
Colorado State (September 20, Sat): 31,610
Northwestern (September 13, Sat): 24,215
Ball State (October 18, Sat): 18,396
Ohio University (November 22, Sat): 14,327
Kent State (October 25, Sat): 10,693

OU's attendance isn't bad considering how they've been Knorred the last few years. OTOH, a game just isn't a rivalry, I don't care how long the teams have played, when the outcome of the contest isn't in doubt and hasn't been in doubt for years. I would imagine that, at one point in time, and I haven't looked this up, that Tennessee and Vanderbilt were "rivals." I seriously doubt any Tennessee fan considers Vandy a rival these days. But, that's just my opinion.

MAKO Wrote:OU's attendance isn't bad considering how they've been Knorred the last few years.  OTOH, a game just isn't a rivalry, I don't care how long the teams have played, when the outcome of the contest isn't in doubt and hasn't been in doubt for years.  I would imagine that, at one point in time, and I haven't looked this up, that Tennessee and Vanderbilt were "rivals."  I seriously doubt any Tennessee fan considers Vandy a rival these days.  But, that's just my opinion.

Anecdotally, back in 2000, when Miami played Vandy, Mrs. Dodo and I were on our way up to the game, when our car broke down on I-24 near Monteagle, TN. They towed our car, and we were sure we were going to miss the game. When we finally got to the repair shop in the booming metropolis of Monteagle, the guy told us, "sorry, we close in an hour and a half, and we can't work on your car until Monday."

I turned to my wife and said, "Well, looks like we're missing the game."

"What game are you guys headed to?" the mechanic with the Tennessee hat enquired.

I told him, and he said, "Well, in that case, if you're going to go up and root against Vandy, we'll get your car fixed right away."

They fixed our car, and we got there eight minutes before kickoff.

I'm sure some of the luster is gone in the Vandy v. UT game, but they still don't seem to like each other very much!

One thing is for certain, EMU firing Jeff Woodruff was absolutely, positively the best possible thing for EMU to have done. That team played with more intensity and pride than any EMU team in the last couple of years that I've seen. They played hard despite playing out the string, and if not for a youngster at QB, they may have pulled this game out. Sherrell is a good RB - quick with good vision.