MAC QB's....weakest crop in years?

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:46 am

Omar left, Brucie and Betts graduated and Hiller is injured.....for the first year in my recent memory there isn't (that I can think of) a MAC QB that strikes any fear in the hearts of defenses.

Perhaps that's why there isn't a clear preseason favorite....

BGGrad01 · Post by **BGGrad01** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:54 am

Good point, Flipper. I would guess that Luke Getsy (Akron) will be preseason first team all-MAC given what he did in the MACC and Motor City Bowl. But even he only had a 53% completion percentage last year and I think he lost his all-everything receiver - Hixon.

rocketfootball · Post by **rocketfootball** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:03 am

Many MAC QB's are unproven at this point, but I wouldn't say they are weak. Remember in 2004 at this time no one thought BG would have such a strong QB in the fall. I do think many BG fans liked him and thought he would do well, but no one would have guessed he would be that good.

BG, Miami, and Toledo are in similar positions this year. We don't know what to expect from our QB's for this fall, but they could turn out to be very good.

NIU has a couple of very good QB's, but they are very inexperienced at receiver this year. Getsy at Akron should be the favorite going into the season, but who knows what will happen.

MACMAN · Post by **MACMAN** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:56 am

tis an odd and strange level of parity this year in that catagory.

bgsufalcon24 · Post by **bgsufalcon24** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:22 am

rocketfootball wrote:Many MAC QB's are unproven at this point, but I wouldn't say they are weak. Remember in 2004 at this time no one thought BG would have such a strong QB in the fall. I do think many BG fans liked him and thought he would do well, but no one would have guessed he would be that good.

BG, Miami, and Toledo are in similar positions this year. We don't know what to expect from our QB's for this fall, but they could turn out to be very good.

NIU has a couple of very good QB's, but they are very inexperienced at receiver this year. Getsy at Akron should be the favorite going into the season, but who knows what will happen.

When you talk about how teams stand at the skill positions, Toledo, Miami, Akron, and Bowling Green all have big questions to be answered. Nothern Illinois on the other hand, has just about everybody back. Huge advantage to NIU in that they will not have to spend the time to mesh everybody together. They may be weak at reciever, but reciever is one of the least important positions on the field because of its dependence on the QB. You can have great recievers and a poor QB, and your pass offense will suck, just like if you have mediocre WRs, a great QB will get the ball to them anyway.

Northern Illinois in my mind is the runaway favorite in the MAC this season.

rocketfootball · Post by **rocketfootball** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:41 am

bgsufalcon24 wrote:
rocketfootball wrote:Many MAC QB's are unproven at this point, but I wouldn't say they are weak. Remember in 2004 at this time no one thought BG would have such a strong QB in the fall. I do think many BG fans liked him and thought he would do well, but no one would have guessed he would be that good.

BG, Miami, and Toledo are in similar positions this year. We don't know what to expect from our QB's for this fall, but they could turn out to be very good.

NIU has a couple of very good QB's, but they are very inexperienced at receiver this year. Getsy at Akron should be the favorite going into the season, but who knows what will happen.
When you talk about how teams stand at the skill positions, Toledo, Miami, Akron, and Bowling Green all have big questions to be answered. Nothern Illinois on the other hand, has just about everybody back. Huge advantage to NIU in that they will not have to spend the time to mesh everybody together. They may be weak at reciever, but reciever is one of the least important positions on the field because of its dependence on the QB. You can have great recievers and a poor QB, and your pass offense will suck, just like if you have mediocre WRs, a great QB will get the ball to them anyway.

Northern Illinois in my mind is the runaway favorite in the MAC this season.

I disagree in regards to Toledo and NIU. Toledo does not have big questions to be answered at most skilled positions. Yes, we are replacing our QB and that is a question, but that is it.

Every single starting receiver and tight end is back. In fact, only one receiver graduated and he only had like 7 catches all season. Every tight end on the roster is back. Add that to a supposedly less "skilled" position of OL having all but one starter back. That's right, 18 of the 19 offensive lineman on last year's roster is back. That includes All-MAC performer John Greco and another 3 year starter and probably pre-season All-MAC performer in David Perkins. At running back we not only still have Jalen Parmele and Richard Davis, but Scooter McDougle is back this year. We also have DaJuane Collins as a redshirt freshman, this guy was rated in the top 50 RB's in the nation in the 2005 recruiting class and had over 50 DI-A offers according to Rivals.com and Scout.com. And then, whether you agree with it or not, we have Ray Williams who at this point looks like he is going to be playing this fall. If he does, he is going to be tough. I have seen him in practice and can see why he is a former Mr Football in the state of Ohio and played in the US Army High School All-American Game.

Defensively we lost four starters, and replacing our two starting inside linebackers will be the key. However, we return a lot as only one other player from the 2-deep roster graduated, so we return 17 of 22 players from the defensive 2-deep.

In contrast, NIU has a QB controversy. Phil Horvath and that redshirt freshman, can't remember his name, are in a battle right now. According to NIU fans, neither has been impressive this fall. I think a lot of that has to do with wide receiver. NIU lost Sam Hurd and Shatone Powers to graduation. These two accounted for 108 receptions and 16 TD's last year. The rest of the receivers accounted for 86 receptions and just 7 TD's. There is not a lot of experience at receiver for NIU this year. Another reason the QB's haven't looked great is because NIU loses 3 starters on the O-Line from last season. Two of them were All-MAC performers. Losing three starters could make a difference for Garrett Wolfe as well. Also, Wolfe has shown he is prone to injury. He missed 3 games because of injury last season and 2 the year before. AJ Harris was the backup last season and he graduated so he is not there to take the load if Wolfe goes down.

I think a lot of people will be surprised this year, because I think NIU is going to struggle offensively.....especially early on. And we all know their defense isn't very good.

rocketfootball · Post by **rocketfootball** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:44 am

bgsufalcon24 wrote:They may be weak at reciever, but reciever is one of the least important positions on the field because of its dependence on the QB. You can have great recievers and a poor QB, and your pass offense will suck, just like if you have mediocre WRs, a great QB will get the ball to them anyway.

Don't tell UT that receiver is least important. We would have defeated CMU and probably NIU if our receivers didn't drop so many passes and fumble the ball away when they did catch the ball last year. Our receivers didn't play good until the last two games of the season against BG and UTEP.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:54 pm

I have to admit, I don't get all this NIU bandwagoning. I expect a fierce race in the West with Toledo & NIU having to fend of Central.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:24 pm

I think Western, even without Hiller, might be the team that joins NIU and UT at the top this year. CMU is coming on and WMU lost a lot of offense in Sheffler and Jennings, but Cubit was doing a good job running that team last year and the defense had a number of freshmen playing. They're going to be tough this year.

RF actually makes a good point...(really, I'm not kidding) it is more fair to say that the QB's in the MAC this year are unproven rather than weak.
The kids at UT (Cochran, Summers and the incoming Opelt) are well regarded. Here at BG, AT has shown some the talent to be very good. Glaud and Sheehan are very talented QB's. I don't know if we've ever recruitied two QB's with that much ability in the same year before. Miami signed a kid last year that they were very glad to get and NIU did well enough recruiting at QB to move Britt Davis (a kid as highly regarded as Turner in HS) to WR.

Perhaps the key to the MAC this year will be which team's QB matures the quickest.

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:15 pm

I think we are begining to see a power shift in the MAC football race. I think Bill Cubit (Western Michigan), Brian Kelly (Central Michigan) and Brady Hoke (Ball State) all have programs on the rise. I would throw JD Brookhart (Akron) in the mix but you really can't say they are a up amd coming program when the won the MAC Championship last year and went to a bowl game. They are already up!

All of the programs feature wide open offenses that throw the ball around. I think the other programs are picking up on why BG, Toledo, Miami and Northern Illinois seemed to be the class of the league the last 4 or 5 years.

I think the MAC race is wide open this year. The MAC used to be considered the little Big Ten...three yards and cloud of dust. Not anymore!The west coast offense help the MAC schools compete with the higher escalon div 1 programs. It levels the playing field somewhat and negates the talent disparity. I think some of the before mentioned MAC programs have caught on to this formula.

If Nate Davis from Bellaire is the player he is supposed to be, look out for Ball State in the next few years. With everyone capable of lighting up the scoreboard, the team with the best defense will probably win the MAC. I don't know where that leaves our Falcons?

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:29 pm

Flipper wrote:Perhaps the key to the MAC this year will be which team's QB matures the quickest.

Well said.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:48 pm

Rollo83 wrote: If Nate Davis from Bellaire is the player he is supposed to be, look out for Ball State in the next few years. With everyone capable of lighting up the scoreboard, the team with the best defense will probably win the MAC. I don't know where that leaves our Falcons?

I remember watching the recruiting highlight video of Davis and my jaw dropped. He looks like a potential All MAC type. I believe the question with him will always be in the classroom, which is something that caused BG & UT to back off on him.

redskins4ever · Post by **redskins4ever** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:12 pm

When's the last time the Big 10 had a bumper crop of QB's that didn't attend Michigan... there haven't been much of any...

Drew Brees...

The boys from Michigan...

Thats about it...

The MAC is QB rich... we just take for granted how great we have had it...

wait until next year and the year after... the MAC will again be knee deep in QB talent.

San Diego Falcon · Post by **San Diego Falcon** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:16 pm

When's the last time the Big 10 had a bumper crop of QB's that didn't attend Michigan... there haven't been much of any...

Drew Brees...

The boys from Michigan...

Thats about it...

What about Krenzel, Orton, Randle El, and Sorgi? All those guys are on NFL rosters. Basenez and Penn State's QB's from last year have a shot to make NFL rosters this year. I think the Big 10 has more QB alums in the NFL right now than the MAC.

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:17 am

San Diego Falcon wrote:
When's the last time the Big 10 had a bumper crop of QB's that didn't attend Michigan... there haven't been much of any...

Drew Brees...

The boys from Michigan...

Thats about it...
What about Krenzel, Orton, Randle El, and Sorgi? All those guys are on NFL rosters. Basenez and Penn State's QB's from last year have a shot to make NFL rosters this year. I think the Big 10 has more QB alums in the NFL right now than the MAC.

Don't forget Tate, Henne, and Smith, all of which should make it to the NFL.

Bollinger and Navarre are hanging out on NFL rosters also, and each actually got PT last year.