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After what we had last year and fell short with and all the key losses from that team, this projection comes as no surprise to me. I would expect many similar predictions to follow. Here’s the breakdown:

MAC East
1. Ohio
2-t. Akron
2-t. Temple
4. Buffalo
5. Kent State
6. Bowling Green
7. Miami

MAC West
1. Central Michigan
2-t. Western Michigan
2-t. Toledo
4. Northern Illinois
5. Ball State
6. Eastern Michigan

MAC Championship: Ohio vs. Central Michigan

GMAC Bowl: Ohio

Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan

International Bowl: Akron

Other MAC Notes: Central Michigan was #43 and Ohio was #49 in Preseason Top-40 list (which extends ten out to include the Top-50).

BG’s non-conference teams: Boise State was picked to win the WAC and is #12 in the preseason Top-25 and slated for the Fiesta Bowl going undefeated, Troy was picked #1 in the Sun Belt, Marshall was picked #3 in the CUSA East and Missouri was picked 5th in the Big 12 North.

I'm a bit surprised at the placing of OU at the top of the East... they haven't been very impressive for several years, but I do understand that their recruiting class was supposed to be pretty solid.

The twisted logic of an irrational OU fan on MACbbs says Steele takes into account prior years bowl game showings in his ranking.

What worries me is Phil Steele is usually pretty good with his picks...

But, in 2007 he picked BG 5th in the East...so we got that going for us.

I honestly don't know what record to predict this year...We did lose some BiG time players. However, we do return an awful lot on O.

I'm just ready to tee it up. Watching the Cavs blow a 22 pt lead tonight to lead by 1 at the half...man. They're killing me Whitey, they're killing me. I'm ready for FALCON FOOTBALL>

GO BG

Maybe I'm missing something. What "big time" players did we have last year? We had no one on the first, second or third team ALL MAC teams last year on offense. I will give you Diyral Briggs--that's a tough loss. I just never saw that we had that great of talent last year--no game breakers.

I like Phil Steele a lot but he's known for blowing big calls in the MAC ... like picking Toledo in 2007 to be the MAC champ and potential BCS buster. Yeah ... that sure happened.

cowboyjoe wrote:Maybe I'm missing something. What "big time" players did we have last year? We had no one on the first, second or third team ALL MAC teams last year on offense. I will give you Diyral Briggs--that's a tough loss. I just never saw that we had that great of talent last year--no game breakers.

Partridge, when healthy, was a playmaker for this team the past 4 years. We lost him, but he's probably the only offensive playmaker we lost.

Defensively the 2 Smith/Lewis started a lot of games and were pretty talented by MAC standards. Briggs was a serious player to lose as well.

Even if the guys weren't big time players we still lost a lot of starters off the defense. I'm hopeful that we've got some younger players ready to step up and make up for those losses.

Well, now Clawson has some "bulletin board material." I kind of hate that term but I hope he can use it to motivate his players a bit. We seem to do well in the underdog role. It's once we're the favorite that the problems begin. Just like Cleveland teams...

I predict that these standings for the East Division are upside down...

OU has been claiming greatness for five years now and I still don't see it.

But don't they have a really awesome coach???

redskins4ever wrote:I predict that these standings for the East Division are upside down...

OU has been claiming greatness for five years now and I still don't see it.

Maybe for our division, but for the West? Who would honestly think Eastern could claim the top spot?

This is a crapshooot to say the least...the difference between 1st and 6th could very boil down to 10 plays all year long and the difference of 2 intra-conference wins...if you make those plays (key stop in last drives vs. eastern and miami, or any 4Q stop vs. Buffalo) the record is dramatically altered.
Why should this coming year be any different.

I've picked up four preseason magazines thus far and they have us picked anywhere from 2nd to 4th to 6th.....and frankly, that seems about right. I don't know what to expect from us this year.

I do expect to contend for the East and MAC titles...that should never change from year to year. We'll be right in the thick of the title chase this year. The MAC is wiiiiiiiiiiide open.

Just picked up my copy of PS's mag. Still thee best preseason mag anywhere...even though BG will finish higher than 6th in the East.