CSNbbs

http://www.freep.com/article/20081117/CO...048/sports

What is neat about this article is that it is about the 'Big 3' in Michigan, not GM, F, and C, but MSU, UofM, and CMU.

The writer elected to write a single article about ALL THREE MI programs and their games this week (and essentially equal weights each - kind of like game 1a, 1b and 1c).

This is different then a UofM article on page 1 of the sports section, MSU also on page 1 and CMU on page 5.

Bottom line: there are 3 BIG games involving MI collegiate teams this week, not 2, the way folks usually think.

CMU kicks off Wednesday (avoids UofM and MSU Saturday) followed by the UofM and MSU doubleheader Saturday.

Sweet.

This is a great conference!

Airport KC Wrote:This is a great conference!

Indeed. the press the conference, esp. the MAC West, has been getting is amazing.

The one bit of PR I like best is that the MAC West is 4 - 3 vs. Big Ten.

That kind of statistic really impresses folks.

Quote:Toledo dominated its division, then got hit by a point-shaving scandal and the program hasn’t recovered.

what's there to recover from? Did we get hit by NCAA sanctions without me knowing? I was wondering why we weren't winning, glad I could read this article and find out.

Shrakkrocket Wrote:

Quote:Toledo dominated its division, then got hit by a point-shaving scandal and the program hasn’t recovered.

what's there to recover from? Did we get hit by NCAA sanctions without me knowing? I was wondering why we weren't winning, glad I could read this article and find out.

Well, there's all the flap all the players and coaches went through while being investigated by their own school, the NCAA, the FBI, and on and on. There's the slap to the whole university that the community felt. There was the loss of a number of players. And who knows how many recruits. There was, imo, a lot to recover from.

But this is about 3 Michigan schools and a good write-up. Some of the best treatment I've seen of a MAC school by a "big city" paper.

Quote:Though, to be fair, Central Michigan’s numbers are a little distorted by its 56-17 loss at Georgia.

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. We've also been dealing with injuries to every part of our offense. LeFevour missed 2 1/2 games; our best deep threat, Bryan Anderson, missed the Buffalo game and has played hurt much of the season; Jean Pitts, another fast threat, was lost for the season against the Bulls; and our excellent senior RBs suffered offseason injuries and are just now both looking sound again. CMU's OL has been a patchwork unit recently that is also finally getting healthy again. We may have our original starting five up front for the first time in well over a month against BSU. Toss in the substantial injuries to our secondary -- for the second year in a row! -- and the loss of our starting NT, and we've had to overcome much. I mean, we were down to our 3rd-string longsnapper last I heard.

After all that, consider that CMU has had two three-game road trips this season (we just completed the second one 3-0) . In other words, there are some reasons we haven't blown many teams out this season, although we have won three games at home by double figures. Don't count CMU out!