2006 MAC Football Predictions

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:31 am

hammb wrote:My predictions for the MAC is that the East will suck, and the West will be marginally better. The championship will go to either UT or NIU. The best team in the East will be Akron. Wolfe for POY. We'll all get drunk and have fun at the tailgates, but BG will be a 6-6 team, beating those they should and losing to those they should.

Fair, if painful, assessment, hammb. The Falcons have a lot of talent, but plenty of holes and question marks, too. If we're in the hunt going into the final two games, that would be an accomplishment.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:42 am

I'm going all out and predicting final records as well:

East:
1. Akron (MAC 7-1, Overall 9-3)
2. BG (6-2, 8-4)
3. Miami (4-4, 5-7)
4. Ohio (3-5, 4-8 )
5. Buffalo (2-6, 3-9)
6. Kent (1-7, 1-11)

West:
1. NIU (8-0, 10-2)
2. Toledo (7-1, 10-2)
3. Ball St (5-3, 6-6)
4. Western (4-4, 5-7)
5. Central (1-7, 2-10)
6. Eastern (0-8, 0-12)

MACC - NIU over Akron
GMAC Bowl - NIU
Motor City Bowl - Toledo
International Bowl - Akron

svillefalcon · Post by **svillefalcon** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:35 am

so you have BG at 8-4 not going to a bowl?!?!?! that would be robbery. We got jobbed last year at 6-5

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:35 am

bigzipguy wrote:If some of you expect to make it to MACC, your defense has to be a lotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt better!!!!!!!

I think you'll see much improvement on defense AND special teams in 2006. We're gonna take a step or two back on offense but the other 2 phases of the game will be significantly better. That said, I think BG has as good a shot to win the MAC as anyone. There is no dominant team going into 2006 and this league is wide open.

I like our chances in the East....

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:52 am

svillefalcon wrote:so you have BG at 8-4 not going to a bowl?!?!?! that would be robbery. We got jobbed last year at 6-5

I couldn't disagree with the 2nd part of your statement anymore. We did NOT deserve a bowl game last year, we were a bad team.

As for 8-4 and not going bowling? It's happened plenty of other times in MAC history, and even adding a bowl will likely not prevent it from happening again.

bgsufalcon24 · Post by **bgsufalcon24** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:16 am

hammb wrote:My predictions for the MAC is that the East will suck, and the West will be marginally better. The championship will go to either UT or NIU. The best team in the East will be Akron. Wolfe for POY. We'll all get drunk and have fun at the tailgates, but BG will be a 6-6 team, beating those they should and losing to those they should.

Losing to the teams that we should? What teams are there in this conference that we should lose to? I don't see any, other than maybe NIU, and we don't play them until the MAC Championship game if both teams get there. Toledo is a maybe but they got just as banged up from players leaving as we did, so I'm not sure that they are a two we should lose to. Sure as hell not Akron or Miami, the only reason Akron beat us last year was because they got lucky that Omar was hurt, I still feel they are inferior to us, certainly with Getsy playing QB and now that Biggs is gone. Biggs was practically their whole offense last year until the last 2-3 games. As for Miami, they got decimated with players leaving as well, and we smashed them on their home field last year. They've got to be behind us going into this season. Only if we lost to NIU would I not feel dejected about a conference loss.

@ Warthog - Central Michigan going 2-10 this season?! That's an obnoxious prediction.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:29 am

hammb wrote:
svillefalcon wrote:so you have BG at 8-4 not going to a bowl?!?!?! that would be robbery. We got jobbed last year at 6-5
I couldn't disagree with the 2nd part of your statement anymore. We did NOT deserve a bowl game last year, we were a bad team.

As for 8-4 and not going bowling? It's happened plenty of other times in MAC history, and even adding a bowl will likely not prevent it from happening again.

No way did BG deserve a bowl last year. And we had our chance to get to the MACC. Looking back, beat Akron or UT and we were there...and those were HOME games.

We had a very good offense with a poor defense and abysmal special teams.

We weren't a bad team in '05...but we weren't a good team either. Maybe that's why we finished 6-5.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:38 am

Falconfreak90 wrote:
hammb wrote:
svillefalcon wrote:so you have BG at 8-4 not going to a bowl?!?!?! that would be robbery. We got jobbed last year at 6-5
I couldn't disagree with the 2nd part of your statement anymore. We did NOT deserve a bowl game last year, we were a bad team.

As for 8-4 and not going bowling? It's happened plenty of other times in MAC history, and even adding a bowl will likely not prevent it from happening again.
No way did BG deserve a bowl last year. And we had our chance to get to the MACC. Looking back, beat Akron or UT and we were there...and those were HOME games.
We had a very good offense with a poor defense and abysmal special teams.

We weren't a bad team in '05...but we weren't a good team either. Maybe that's why we finished 6-5.

I could make a case that we were a bad team just because the teams we beat were mostly the bottom feeders of 1A. Also I didn't like how we were below average (putting it nicely) in 2 of the 3 phases of the game. Still, I'd say the record says we're mediocre, and I think it's pretty fair to say that's where we were. That's just semantics anyways, and either way you slice it we did not deserve a bowl bid, and we were not "robbed" We had countless opportunities to play our way into a bowl game or the MACC, and we choked them away.

As for the teams that we should lose to? I don't think we're ready to compete with either of the Big 10 teams on our schedule. I don't think UT lost nearly as much talent as we did, and we're playing them in their house (which we always struggle with). I don't like the matchup against Akron either, they've got their QB back and lots of experience now...plus it's in the Rubber Bowl. I'm not sure about FIU either...we haven't been too great in OOC road games of late, but I know nothing of their team.

What I saw at the spring game (and I realize that they will grow as the year goes on, but only so much can be expected from FR, etc) was a team that is in the bottom 50 of 1A right now. I think they can stay afloat in the MAC East race because there is no dominant team in this division, and I think only Akron is going to go in much better on paper than we are. But therein lies the rub. This team has looked pretty on paper for awhile, and we haven't lived up to our paper description, for the most part. So this year we don't look so hot on paper, in the 7-5, 8-4 range. I'm gonna stick with the trend of us not playing as well as the paper should indicate and put us at 6-6.

I'm sorry, but I have no faith in this staff to get the most out of their team, and right now this team is not anymore talented than a good portion of the MAC. I'd like to be wrong, but I'll set the bar low this year and hope to be surprised

BGSUfalcons · Post by **BGSUfalcons** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:41 am

What is the lesson from last year?

(1) Don't be so darn optimistic
or
(2) Don't underestimate the importance of defense and special teams

I'm going with (2). I think the offense will be average to slightly above average and the defense and special teams will be vastly improved.

My prediction for the regular season: 9-3 overall, 7-1 in MAC

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:52 am

8-4 in the MAC isn't necessarily deserving of a bowl. Assuming that two of those losses come to OSU and WHisky and the other two are road losses at Akron and UT.....that leaves wins over Temple, FIU, OU, Kent, Buffalo, Miami, EMU and CMU.

That's not really a bowl worthy slate of wins....

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 3:27 pm

bgsufalcon24 wrote:[@ Warthog - Central Michigan going 2-10 this season?! That's an obnoxious prediction.

They are my pick to take a step back. Kent Smith is gone and I think they struggle a bit this year. They lose 4 of their top 5 receivers and 6 of their top 7 tacklers. They made a big leap last year in beating Miami and Akron on the road, but they also lost to Eastern and needed OT to beat Ball State. Next year, their OOC games are Boston Coll, Michigan, Kentucky and Temple. I give them a win over Temple. In the MAC, they play at Toledo and NIU, two probable losses. So that is 1-5 right there. The rest of the games, especially those at home-Akron, BG, Western, Ball State, could go either way, but I had to pick one team to step back and that was Central, so I have them losing all those games, especially since Ball State is my pick to move up this year. They could easily win those four games plus the other two (Eastern and Buffalo), but I am making a guess that Central struggles this season.

Feel free to bring this thread up when they woop our butts and end up going 8-4 or something.

bgsufalcon24 · Post by **bgsufalcon24** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:32 am

Warthog wrote:
bgsufalcon24 wrote:[@ Warthog - Central Michigan going 2-10 this season?! That's an obnoxious prediction.
They are my pick to take a step back. Kent Smith is gone and I think they struggle a bit this year. They lose 4 of their top 5 receivers and 6 of their top 7 tacklers. They made a big leap last year in beating Miami and Akron on the road, but they also lost to Eastern and needed OT to beat Ball State. Next year, their OOC games are Boston Coll, Michigan, Kentucky and Temple. I give them a win over Temple. In the MAC, they play at Toledo and NIU, two probable losses. So that is 1-5 right there. The rest of the games, especially those at home-Akron, BG, Western, Ball State, could go either way, but I had to pick one team to step back and that was Central, so I have them losing all those games, especially since Ball State is my pick to move up this year. They could easily win those four games plus the other two (Eastern and Buffalo), but I am making a guess that Central struggles this season.

Feel free to bring this thread up when they woop our butts and end up going 8-4 or something.

Well, going into our season, I saw the October 19th game at Mt Pleasant as the most dangerous on our entire conference schedule other than maybe Toledo, much more dangerous than Miami or Akron. But then again, its true that they could regress too. With all the upheaval in the conference this year really anybody could go up or down, other than maybe Kent and Fuffalo.