I checked today's Sagarin rating in the USA Today.
The top 3 C-USA teams have better Sagarins then the best MAC Sagarin (Western at a mediocre 72 ranking).
Parity is nice (just ask the Kent fans) but the MAC got slaughtered yesterday in OOC games.
It is nice to have 3 bowl bids but will we be competitive in them?????
Are we hurting as our corps of recent excellent QBs are now playing on Sundays and without great quarterbacking the MAC can't beat the big boys.
Our QBing was hardly the problem. Lefevour came off the bench to throw for 360 yards and four TDs with no picks. Unfortunately, we fumbled seven or eight times in the first half, losing three.
The 4th turnover was a pick on a flea-flicker, where the receiver underthrew a wide-open target. We dug a 21-0 early hole, fought back to within 38-36, and then had a couple dropped passes and untimely penalties near the end. It didn't help that Bazuin and Sneed sat out to get healthy for Toledo (although I approve of the decision to sit them).
There's a lot of fight in CMU, I'm happy to say. We just need to get better first-quarter play and stop shooting ourselves in the foot in big games.
CMichFan Wrote:Our QBing was hardly the problem. Lefevour came off the bench to throw for 360 yards and four TDs with no picks. Unfortunately, we fumbled seven or eight times in the first half, losing three. The 4th turnover was a pick on a flea-flicker, where the receiver underthrew a wide-open target. We dug a 21-0 early hole, fought back to within 38-36, and then had a couple dropped passes and untimely penalties near the end. It didn't help that Bazuin and Sneed sat out to get healthy for Toledo (although I approve of the decision to sit them).
There's a lot of fight in CMU, I'm happy to say. We just need to get better first-quarter play and stop shooting ourselves in the foot in big games.
j
And you should consider neutering your coach's play calling - you can't really cry about a WR screwing up a flea flicker when you have a couple QBs that could throw the ball better.
Quote:And you should consider neutering your coach's play calling - you can't really cry about a WR screwing up a flea flicker when you have a couple QBs that could throw the ball better.
The play call got one of our receivers wide-open downfield, which was the whole point. Good call, poor execution. We racked up 540 yards and 36 points against an athletic SEC defense, so saying that our gameplan/playcalling was poor is
Turnovers lost this game pure-and-simple.
A couple things.
1. The MAC isn't as competetive in FB as they think. Their top teams have been when they have a Ben, Chad, Randy or Byron. Even Akron with Frye and Getsy the last couple years have been 7-5, 6-5 and 7-6. Kent is in first place this year. Thats how much the talent is down. The MAC should concentrate on BB. They get a guaranteed opportunity at a NT every year. Unlikely yes, but there is a shot. The MAC will make roughly what(?) 2 mill in bowl money compared to 37 mill for the BCS conferences.
2. They play a lot of road games. When the OSU/Iowa game was still close, the announcer(ESPN guy) made a statement that it was closer than expected. Then said you never know what is going to happen when you play on the road. Iowa wasn't the 13th best team in the nation and still hung around for some time.
Now,
You had a 2-2 (0-1 MAC) school at a 3-1 (1-0) BE school
You had a 0-4 team at a 1-3 BE school
A 2-2 (2-0) team at a 2-2 (1-1) SEC school
and finally another 0-4 MAC school at a 1-2 school.
Its hard enough to win on the road. Sending our worst teams on the road isn't good. Central is the only one that should have had a shot. At home they may win that game.
Auburn struggled at SC
Rutgers struggled at S Fla
USC struggled at WSU
Georgia struggled at Miss
CMichFan Wrote:Quote:And you should consider neutering your coach's play calling - you can't really cry about a WR screwing up a flea flicker when you have a couple QBs that could throw the ball better.
The play call got one of our receivers wide-open downfield, which was the whole point. Good call, poor execution. We racked up 540 yards and 36 points against an athletic SEC defense, so saying that our gameplan/playcalling was poor is Turnovers lost this game pure-and-simple.
No, just the crazy plays that ask a non-QB to throw to execute a play he doesn't normally execute. Why not ask your kicker to go 80 yards with an option pitch?
Quote:No, just the crazy plays that ask a non-QB to throw to execute a play he doesn't normally execute. Why not ask your kicker to go 80 yards with an option pitch?
That "crazy play" was in our book even when the conservative Herb Deromedi was in charge, and I've seen it work for us more often than not. I would have applauded that play had it worked, so I'm not about to scream at the coach, because it backfired
this time. When playing on the road against a favored BCS team and missing a couple starters (all-MAC DE and RB Sneed), you have to take some chances to win. One paid off: our punter ran for 18 yards on 4th-and-four. And BGSU fans: he's 5'8", 214lb. ;-)
For CMU to move the program forward focusing on the MAC is #1.
Being at full strength for Toledo should be key.
A MACC game should be the ultimate goal for CMU right now.
I watched the Kansas/ Nabraska game last night. #22 Nabraska almost lost this one in OT at home. KU is good and UT beat them ( in fact the anouncers even mentioned that) so what is my point? It is that there is nothing wrong with the MAC. We played a lot of ranked teams better than other ranked teams played those same opponents. And we have wins over the BCS this year.
However, what we have not done was shocked the nation with a sweep of wins all in one day, nor knocked off a top ranked team.
The rest of the conference has stepped up making it imposible for 3 or 4 teams to sweep through the ranks while racking up points. Though good, this further obscures the exploits of our most successfull teams. Unless Western can somehow upset FSU in Nov., we are going to have to wait till bowl season to impress the rest of the country and get some votes (just hope we win those).
westernwilly Wrote:I watched the Kansas/ Nabraska game last night. #22 Nabraska almost lost this one in OT at home. KU is good and UT beat them ( in fact the anouncers even mentioned that) so what is my point? It is that there is nothing wrong with the MAC. We played a lot of ranked teams better than other ranked teams played those same opponents. And we have wins over the BCS this year.
However, what we have not done was shocked the nation with a sweep of wins all in one day, nor knocked off a top ranked team.
The rest of the conference has stepped up making it imposible for 3 or 4 teams to sweep through the ranks while racking up points. Though good, this further obscures the exploits of our most successfull teams. Unless Western can somehow upset FSU in Nov., we are going to have to wait till bowl season to impress the rest of the country and get some votes (just hope we win those).
That game Kansas had w/Toledo could not have been as interesting as Kansas and Toledo pregame meal of the two head coaches. The guy at Kansas has got to be putting a ton of pressue on that heart. Its like hes daring it to stop. That man should be put on some kind of preventive program ie. stomach stapling or something urgent. He is as physically disgusting person in athletics as there is.
Kansas dominated Toledo. If Kansas didn't shoot themselves in the foot over and over, it wouldn't have been close. Toledo doesn't look good this year. They were lambasted by Pitt. Nice fight with Iowa State, but Western pounded them too.
Yes, the Western team that we all hold our hat on this year with the win at Virginia. A Virginia team that SUCKS this year, they're absolutely terrible.
A Western team that got throttled by Indiana. The same Indiana team that beat Ball State, yet lost at home to Southern Illinois and absolutely destroyed by Wisconsin.
Speaking of Ball State, they lost at home to a 1-AA also.
This may sound crazy, but I think Central has been the most impressive MAC team OOC. Could've had Boston College and Kentucky. Didn't play well at Michigan, but gave them a tussle for a while.
We got blasted by Ohio State before we knew what happened.
Who's the best team in the MAC???
I don't know.........Western, Central, Bowling Green, Toledo, NIU??
Could any of those teams be competitive with anyone in the top 25?? Unfortunately, I don't think so.
It doesn't help any that one of our "name" teams is now 0-5 (Miami).
It is what it is, it's a down year for the MAC. Hopefully better days are ahead.
niubrad00 Wrote:Kansas dominated Toledo. If Kansas didn't shoot themselves in the foot over and over, it wouldn't have been close. Toledo doesn't look good this year. They were lambasted by Pitt. Nice fight with Iowa State, but Western pounded them too.
Yes, the Western team that we all hold our hat on this year with the win at Virginia. A Virginia team that SUCKS this year, they're absolutely terrible.
A Western team that got throttled by Indiana. The same Indiana team that beat Ball State, yet lost at home to Southern Illinois and absolutely destroyed by Wisconsin.
Speaking of Ball State, they lost at home to a 1-AA also.
This may sound crazy, but I think Central has been the most impressive MAC team OOC. Could've had Boston College and Kentucky. Didn't play well at Michigan, but gave them a tussle for a while.
We got blasted by Ohio State before we knew what happened.
Who's the best team in the MAC???
I don't know.........Western, Central, Bowling Green, Toledo, NIU??
Could any of those teams be competitive with anyone in the top 25?? Unfortunately, I don't think so.
It doesn't help any that one of our "name" teams is now 0-5 (Miami).
It is what it is, it's a down year for the MAC. Hopefully better days are ahead.
Kansas outgained Nebraska 574 yds, to 511 yds.The Jayhawks also led in time of possession 33:29 to 26:31.The Jayhawks spotted Nebraska an early 17-0 lead because of turnovers.I guess the Huskers got their win over Kansas handed to them. ;-)
Oops, I totally forgot the MAC East leader, Kent State.
All they did was get slaughtered at home, no less, by Minnesota 44-0 and then lost to Army.
God help us, we suck.
It would help if teams didn't spend more time in bars and in jail this summer than the practice field. I know one team that can wait until the game over every saturday and head up town to the bars. I think the police know that team too.
Unless Western can somehow upset FSU in Nov., we are going to have to wait till bowl season to impress the rest of the country and get some votes (just hope we win those).[/quote]
The way Free Shoes U has played the past few games I'd say you have a decent chance beating them. I have to 10/28 NIU Iowa game highlighted in Bold on my calendar. Iowa couldn't stop OSU's ground game and Wolfe is better than any of their backs
niubrad00 Wrote:Oops, I totally forgot the MAC East leader, Kent State.
All they did was get slaughtered at home, no less, by Minnesota 44-0 and then lost to Army.
God help us, we suck.
Army has a decent team this year they lost to TX A&M by only 4 on the road. Bobby Ross has them on an upswing.
onlinepole Wrote:niubrad00 Wrote:Oops, I totally forgot the MAC East leader, Kent State.
All they did was get slaughtered at home, no less, by Minnesota 44-0 and then lost to Army.
God help us, we suck.
Army has a decent team this year they lost to TX A&M by only 4 on the road. Bobby Ross has them on an upswing.
And Army lost by 8 at Arkansas State and got ripped by previously winless Rice. Army is very inconsistent.
emu steve Wrote:I checked today's Sagarin rating in the USA Today.
The top 3 C-USA teams have better Sagarins then the best MAC Sagarin (Western at a mediocre 72 ranking).
Parity is nice (just ask the Kent fans) but the MAC got slaughtered yesterday in OOC games.
It is nice to have 3 bowl bids but will we be competitive in them?????
now remember the mac goes in the road a lot in the first 4 games to play team that are way above their level of talent, so they always have a slow start ..if they could play those teams in mid-season they problably could do better...even better if they could play some of those big time teams at home in mid-season, could give mac teams a good chances to win some of those games..but hey the mac schools need the money so sometimes they put those kids in situations where they will get pounded and that is a shame..just my opinion.....