Just curious to see what the MAC faithful are predicting about the outcome of the Friday evening game. Lots of you have seen one or both against your teams, so what do you think will be the result??

Personally, I think it will all come down to who holds onto the ball the best. Add in a few points for the Home Field advantage, and it is going to be a very close score. CMU 24 - West Michigan 21.

My prediction:

CMU will and win 27-24.

I say it will be neck and neck till the end. CMU will have the last offensive posesion. The end of your drive will come with 40 secs. left in the game, 3rd and goal.........you screen pass....Biggers picks it off and returns it 97 yrds. for a TD and the game....... WMU 28/ CMU21
Or I could be wrong.
In that case.........WMU 63/ CMU 3
:domokun:

WMU 3 7 7 3 20
CMU 7 3 7 0 17

Western's "D" will be the determining factor.

Just went to the Western-Miami(OH) game this weekend (CMU was away at Temple) and I am now confident that CMU will beat WMU. If CMU again starts off slow (most games this year) and spots WMU a lead - then CMU will win win by less than a touchdown. If they start strong (like they finally did at Temple) - they'll win by 3 touchdowns.

24-20 CMU

Tough call. I don't know what the Vegas line is yet, but I'd guess it'll be CMU favored by a TD. If the guys in Vegas have been paying attention to our history in Mt. P, maybe it'll be more like a 10-point line.

Not really sure how to interpret our close calls lately, though I wouldn't necessarily read too much into our nailbiters against "lesser" competition, especially since the gap between the top and bottom of the conference isn't as wide as earlier in the decade.

I guess something could be said for just knowing how to win, and systematically pulling off fourth-quarter drives and scoring without showing panic. Who knows. Maybe all those slim, gut-check wins against Virginia, NIU, EMU, Miami, etc, are a good thing and will pay off.

CMU needs this more than the Broncs. We have 7 wins w/2 losses. They are a game back in the loss and win column. (This is not about the MAC but the Bowl situation.). If the Chips lose they would have 4 losses and if we only get 3 bowls that puts them and NIU in a dogfight for the 3rd bowl. If WMU loses they already beat NIU and they could still get 8 wins w/1 of their next 2 ( probably would have to Akron).

THis is a near must win for CMU to go bowling. That being said I could see he GOOD guys losing.

connerito Wrote:If WMU loses they already beat NIU and they could still get 8 wins w/1 of their next 2 ( probably would have to Akron).

I wish bowls were assigned based on records and head-to-head matchups, but unfortunately they aren't.

I'm still worried about NIU. If we lose to CMU, and NIU gets a little hot and sports a similar record to us, I could see NIU getting a bid based on Garrett Wolfe (whose national "draw" is overstated in my opinion... I don't think your average armchair Joe Six Pack is going to watch a bowl game he didn't intend on watching just to catch Wolfe, but that's beside the point).

That said, NIU has a good edge with the Wolfe factor. The whole attendance thing which started another thread is a moot point and too insignificant to play a role.

CMU 34
WMU 24

Motown Bronco Wrote:

connerito Wrote:If WMU loses they already beat NIU and they could still get 8 wins w/1 of their next 2 ( probably would have to Akron).

I wish bowls were assigned based on records and head-to-head matchups, but unfortunately they aren't.

I'm still worried about NIU. If we lose to CMU, and NIU gets a little hot and sports a similar record to us, I could see NIU getting a bid based on Garrett Wolfe (whose national "draw" is overstated in my opinion... I don't think your average armchair Joe Six Pack is going to watch a bowl game he didn't intend on watching just to catch Wolfe, but that's beside the point).

That said, NIU has a good edge with the Wolfe factor. The whole attendance thing which started another thread is a moot point and too insignificant to play a role.

If you guys lose to CMU then there's a really good chance you lose to FSU too. If bowl games were to go by head-to-head then your two-point win over us at home wouldn't be too convincing. We beat Toledo by 18 points last season at their house, and Toledo still went to a bowl game over us.

In an at large situation (or even if one of the MAC's bowl tie ins have a choice), you'd have to think that NIU would have an edge, not only because of Wolfe but also because they lead the league in attendance. That wouldn't impact the MCB, because they'd love to have either WMU or CMU as those two teams have tons of alums in SE Michigan, but NIU would likely be preferred in the GMAC or the Int'l Bowl or any other at large possibility.

I also think OU would do a nice job of supporting a bowl this year, no matter where they'd end up.

Will the game be televised in Michigan?

If all it takes is a few thousand to get nixed on a bowl invite, then WMU's athletic department will need to start getting a bit more... ahem, "creative"... when counting and reporting attendance. Let's be honest here, those compiled MAC attendance figures we see listed from time to time are like weather forecasts: Some are right, some are off by a little, and some are waaaay off.

Chris from WV Wrote:Will the game be televised in Michigan?

Yes, in most cities on Comcast Local.

Motown Bronco Wrote:If all it takes is a few thousand to get nixed on a bowl invite, then WMU's athletic department will need to start getting a bit more... ahem, "creative"... when counting and reporting attendance. Let's be honest here, those compiled MAC attendance figures we see listed from time to time are like weather forecasts: Some are right, some are off by a little, and some are waaaay off.

NIU's attendance goes by butts in the seats, not tickets sold. It seems like many MAC teams are going by tickets sold since i read many comments about how people did not see as many people at the games as were reported.

Whatever happens, it probably won't surprise me.

It ain't like the pros where everything is determined on wins/losses and it's all cut n' dry. The college football post-season is so highly influenced on things like hotel room occupancy, advertising dollars and popularity contests. For a while, our conference championship game was also sold to the highest bidder and played on one team's field for 4 consecutive years (with only one bowl bid on the line, no less).

There's still 3 weeks of football left, anyhow, so there are still plenty of scenarios left. Might as well wait to see what shakes out after next weekend.

Winning coach gets the MSU job.

Quote:Winning coach gets the MSU job.

Why should the winner get the Death Sentence?? That MSU job is not exactly a plum. I wouldn't be surprised to see it eventually go to the 3rd or 4th name on the list because the first few offered won't want it.

chipfan Wrote:

Quote:Winning coach gets the MSU job.

Why should the winner get the Death Sentence?? That MSU job is not exactly a plum. I wouldn't be surprised to see it eventually go to the 3rd or 4th name on the list because the first few offered won't want it.

It's hard to resist $1 million+. Wasn't their current coach getting $1.5 mil?