I'd say that crowning BSU West champs is a bit premature until CMU, WMU and NIU all have their say. Yeah, they look impressive so far but until they play the other powers in the west, it is all speculation. The next 6 weeks are going to be fun with a lot of fireworks.

Ohio I think has at least a shot in the East.

The schedule down the homestretch is favorable. Temple on the road but the Bobcats can beat them.

Then Ohio has Buffalo, BG, Akron all at home in back-to-back weeks.

The final against Miami shouldn't be too difficult.

MileHighBronco Wrote:I'd say that crowning BSU West champs is a bit premature until CMU, WMU and NIU all have their say. Yeah, they look impressive so far but until they play the other powers in the west, it is all speculation. The next 6 weeks are going to be fun with a lot of fireworks.

Agreed, all three teams are much better than WKU. BSU is going to have to play better than yesterday to win those games. In the last five games for BSU they will play four defenses that are better than any they have faced to date.

These are the defenses BSU has played against to date:

Northeastern - ?
Navy - #85 total defense / 25.7 ppg given up
Akron - #96 total defense / 27.3 ppg given up
Indiana - #61 total defense / 26.8 ppg given up
Kent State - #97 total defense / 30.4 ppg given up
Toledo - #63 total defense / 31.5 ppg given up
WKU - #71 total defense / 26.6 ppg given up

These are the defenses BSU still has to play:

EMU - #57 total defense / 29.9 ppg given up
NIU - #19 total defense / 14.8 ppg given up
Miami - #41 total defense / 27.8 ppg given up
CMU - #89 total defense / 27.8 ppg given up
WMU - #60 total defense / 22.7 ppg given up


Nonetheless, Ball State is the team to beat and they're going to have to bring it every game now that they have that target on their back.

Airport KC Wrote:Ohio I think has at least a shot in the East.

The schedule down the homestretch is favorable. Temple on the road but the Bobcats can beat them.

Then Ohio has Buffalo, BG, Akron all at home in back-to-back weeks.

The final against Miami shouldn't be too difficult.

I agree. Ohio definitely has a shot in the East...who doesn't besides Kent State? Since the Flashes are 0-3, I feel they are pretty much done. Temple is teetering on the brink at 1-3 but everyone else has 1 or 2 losses with half the season to go. Should be a wild ride down the stretch.

Snoopy, I think the most important stat is SCORING defense. It doesn't matter how many yards you rack up if you can't get into the endzone.

But you do make a good point - things are about to get tougher in the West from here on out.