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WMU & NIU played last week to officially start the MAC schedule (WMU won 29-26 in Kalamazoo), but this weekend there are four games on tap. I’m most interested in seeing what happens in the CMU/OU game. CMU, picked to win the MAC for the third consecutive year, is very likely to be in for a battle this weekend. The Chippewas got past a decent FCS team in Eastern Illinois in their opener 31-12, but got rolled by a very good Georgia team 51-17 last week. No surprise there at all against UGA, but it’s sort of a shame how the two-time defending MAC Champs continue to get blown out in their BCS non-conference games. Last year CMU lost 70-14 to Clemson, 52-7 to Kansas and 45-22 to Purdue while also getting tagged 44-14 at home to North Dakota State.

Ohio, picked to finish back in the pack in the East, fell by a point on the road at Wyoming (21-20) in the opener and the entire country knows about the huge scare the Bobcats gave the Buckeyes last week, leading 14-12 in the fourth quarter before two special teams mishaps (fumble on a PR & allowed a TD on a KOR) helped OSU escape. Ohio has looked very impressive to me, especially on defense. On top of that, they have basically made the transition into a spread offense after a couple years of tinkering and adding it to their offense package. The days of three yards and a cloud of dust are gone in Athens. OU looks like a much stronger unit overall to me early than what I was expecting to see out of them this year. CMU might really have its hands full in Athens this weekend. I'll be pulling for CMU though because even though the MAC crossover games count the same this year, an OU loss helps BG in terms of winning the East which is what we need to do to have a shot at a MACC.

I’m also curious to see how Ball State does at Akron. The Cardinals have looked very sharp and explosive at home and this is their first road game. Akron picked up the MAC’s second win over a BCS team by rolling past Syracuse at the Carrier Dome last week, so this one should show a little about both teams. The Buffalo/Temple game could also be interesting, as these two teams are much improved from a couple years ago. I'll be pulling for UB as we get a chance to play them this year but we do not face Temple. As for UT/EMU…..that's an easy one, go Eagles!

MAC:
Central Michigan at Ohio
Temple at Buffalo
Ball State at Akron
Toledo at Eastern Michigan
Non-Conference:
BOWLING GREEN at Boise State
Western Michigan at Idaho
Delaware State at Kent State
Charleston Southern at Miami

Man, this IS going to be an interesting weekend in MAC football. CMU vs Ohio should be very interesting because, even though they are 0-2, Ohio has shown that they are far from a doormat. They'll make life tough for CMU, especially with the game down in Athens. Ball State, you never know, they might be headed for a tough one against Akron, who has also played surprisingly well to this point.

What I look for this week are for two struggling teams to get their first wins. Miami, Kent, there's no excuses, you've got to beat FCS teams at home. WMU should win against Idaho as well, they suck, even though it's a long trip. NIU won out there last year and they were 2-10. Maybe the MAC will go 2-0 against the state of Idaho this weekend.

Temple-Buffalo should be a revealing game for both teams. I'm especially interested in seeing how Buffalo's offense will match up against Temple's D.

If Ohio wants to make a statement, this is the weekend to do it. If they can put down the Chips, they will establish themselves as serious contender in the East.

I'm intrigued by the Gill/Golden Bowl (Temple v. Buffalo). Fans of both teams claim their squad is ready to contend. Saturday's game will tell a lot.

To me, the conference race is extremely exciting and very important, even for the games we don’t play in. While my attention will be on BG and Boise this weekend, these four games in the MAC will be something I’ll be paying close attention to as well. Obviously, we can control our own destiny every year by just taking care of our own business in the MAC. But since that hasn’t happened since 1992, the past 15 years have taught me the importance of also looking to get a little help on the way. I don’t think that lesson was ever any more evident than what happened in the closing weeks of 2005. BG opened up MAC play strong with wins over Ball State, Ohio and Buffalo and looked to be rolling along when all of a sudden the wheels fell off when we dropped a pair of games to WMU and Akron when Omar Jacobs went down with an injury. We rebounded with wins over Kent State and Miami (Omar returned for the Miami game) to set up an ever-important game with Toledo at home to close out the regular season, where we lost a heartbreaker overtime. Despite the painful loss, things still looked good for BG though as teams were a logjam in the MAC standings with head-to-head records and records vs. crossover teams, etc., and in the closing week and a half, there were seven….SEVEN….games that we just needed one to go our way and we were MAC Championship bound. One by one those seven games were cut down to six, five, four, etc., and in the end, not one of them broke our way. Surprise team Akron went on to the MAC Championship to face NIU and everyone thought NIU would roll. Akron won 31-30 on a last-second TD and won the MAC title. This is a perfect scenario to show that while winning is great, it’s also great to get help along the way.

I say the final score of the Buffalo/Temple game will be 2-0 in 6 OT's...I don't know who will win, but it will end after one team gets penalized so much that they go from the defenders 25 to their own 5...Holding in the endzone, game over.

Let the fun begin!