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BG picked to win the East, Toledo to win the West. BG picked to win their second straight MAC Championship.

Not much of a surprise here for BG. I expected this. And I'm glad to see The team up North picked in the West. I think the league is better when those teams are both good. I'm also ready for the Falcons to take care of business in November at The Glass Bowl. As it's been stated before as much as Clawson did for the program I didn't sense any urgency or emphasis from him on this game. Every interaction I've had with coach Babers I've asked about his emphasis on the game and have gotten the sense from him that it is a priority. I certainly hope so.

So the Falcons need to win against their rivals TWICE.

The first time may have a bearing on whether or not they get to the title game again; and if they win that, then it could mean a rematch with the rock-ettes for all the marbles.

I'm not sure which I'd enjoy more: beating UT and knocking them out of a chance at the title game against BG, or beating them in a game that has no bearing on either team's title game chances...and then knocking them off a second time in the season to win the MAC title.

I think it would almost be more painful for them if they would lose at home to BG in a game that costs them a shot at the MAC title game.

In either scenario: BG needs to stop the bleeding in this series. Clawson simply didn't have "it" when it came to winning this game. It was one of his few flaws in rebuilding the program.

BG's also going to have to be "Road Warriors" this year, especially in the MAC this season. We open the regular season on the road at WKU, we open the MAC portion of the schedule on the road at UMass, and we play at Toledo (picked to win the West) and at both Akron and Ohio who are picked 2nd and 3rd in the East.

I agree with the east picks but not the west. That team up north had a senior led team last year that quit during the NIU game and quit for the year. That should not happen. A senior led team should battle all game long and even if they lose, they don't let a good team like NIU beat them more than once. They were flat against Akron, they clearly weren't motivated after losing the west, and when they had a chance to win the game late they made mistakes instead of executing well for a win.

I'm sure they'll be motivated this year but I think there are problems with the team up north. If the coaches cannot motivate a senior led team to win their final game and effectively secure a bowl bid, something is wrong. It wouldn't stun me if we see a poorly coached team this year. I'm thinking right around 6-6 and not close to the conference championship game. The team is talented but I smell problems ...

I think the picks are pretty spot on. Toledo is due to beat NIU sooner or later and this might be the year without Lynch. I think the East is largely pretty weak and BG's biggest challenge will likely come from Akron and Ohio. I'm just glad that we're within the window of camp starting in the next couple weeks.

When are the preseason teams announced?

Akron is the trendy pick to come in second but Buffalo returns a very good starting QB and Ohio always has talent. I don't see Zippy passing either one of them this year.

mscarn wrote:Akron is the trendy pick to come in second but Buffalo returns a very good starting QB and Ohio always has talent. I don't see Zippy passing either one of them this year.

I can't really say I'd call UB's QB a very good one because I haven't seen him do much other than throw to Nuetz or a quick pass to Oliver, both of which are gone now. This will be a year for him to prove himself IMO.

In the East, it's us and then everybody else. I think the West is a dog fight between NIU, tsun and CMU. Don't count out Ball State just yet. tsun has almost their entire OL back and it's a Top 20 OL in the nation. Other than that? Not much to get excited about with Owens, Reedy and Fluellen gone. Their D has a ton of starters back, though. Like Mark said, they played uninspired ball at the end of the year. Bottom line is just win the East...and we go back to Ford Field. WE MUST BEAT tsun NO MATTER WHAT. 1 is too many and 4 straight is totally unacceptable at all times. Coach Babers needs to put TOTAL PRIORITY on this game. We don't play Miami this year, either. Clawson was great beating them but fell way short in the series with tsun.

I'm with Freak on Toledo. An experienced offensive line can cover up a lot of problems. I predict BG vs UT for the MACC. Hopefully we can start a 2 game winning streak against them. There definitely better be a big hunger to beat those guys this season.

kdog27 wrote:I'm with Freak on Toledo. An experienced offensive line can cover up a lot of problems. I predict BG vs UT for the MACC. Hopefully we can start a 2 game winning streak against them. There definitely better be a big hunger to beat those guys this season.

If there isn't, then we have a big problem.

BEAT TSUN....ALWAYS!!!!

Falconfreak90 wrote: WE MUST BEAT tsun NO MATTER WHAT. 1 is too many and 4 straight is totally unacceptable at all times. Coach Babers needs to put TOTAL PRIORITY on this game. We don't play Miami this year, either. Clawson was great beating them but fell way short in the series with tsun.

It's still hard to believe that a coach as detail-orientated as Clawson didn't appear to recognize the importance of this rivalry. He wanted to win but there was a sense that he viewed it more in the context of the season as a whole and not the stand-alone, be-all-end-all game it should be.

The scheduling continues to baffle. Only in the MAC can we pull two of the top three teams in another division and manage to not play the worst team in our own.

I think Clawson was justified in treating Toledo just like any other MAC game for one big reason. Toledo-BG is a rivalry obviously, but its a cross division game. You can lose that game and have it not directly impede your progress toward the MAC Championship. Over the past several years, the games against teams like Ohio, Buffalo, and Kent State have loomed larger than Toledo because a loss in any of those would've been fatal to our championship aspirations. Kent's victory over BG in 2012 cost us a shot at the title. Had Buffalo beaten us this year then they would have gone to Detroit instead of us. In both situations, the Toledo result was ultimately irrelevant to that end goal.

I know this take is unpopular to many in the BG fanbase, but if I were in Clawson's situation then, or in Babers's now, I would have the dates against Ohio, Buffalo, and this year, Akron, circled as the big must-win games. Victory in those games virtually guarantees a trip to Detroit. A victory against Toledo is important, but a loss there doesn't leave us roadkill as far as the main goal is concerned.

A four game losing streak to Toledo is darn near unacceptable to me and it should be more so to the players and coaches.