Week 1 MAC predictions

[MarkL]

It's that time again!

Week 1 of college football is just about to start. The MAC has quite a few games on the first day of the season, this Thursday, and has 6 FCS, 5 BCS, and 2 non-BCS opponents. Here's the lineup:

Thursday
Murray St. at Kent St. 7:00 pm
Rhode Island at Buffalo 7:00 pm
Hampton at Cent. Michigan 7:00 pm
SE Missouri St. at Ball St. 7:00 pm
Northern Illinois at Iowa St. 8:00 pm

Friday
Villanova at Temple 5:00 pm
Arizona at Toledo 8:00 pm

Saturday
W. Michigan at Michigan St. 12:00 pm
Miami (OH) at (4) Florida 12:00 pm
Syracuse at Akron 6:00 pm
Bowling Green at Troy 7:00 pm
Wofford at Ohio 7:00 pm EDT
Army at East. Michigan 7:00 pm

So without further ado, here's my week one predictions, game by game, plus some annotation ...

Murray St. at Kent St.
Winner: Kent State. I'm never very high on Kent State and I don't believe this year will be any different than year's past, so no great season for these guys. But they won't lose to Murray State.

Rhode Island at Buffalo
Winner: Buffalo. I like new coach Jeff Quinn a lot. He is going to bring a pass-happy spread to Buffalo that may transition faster than anybody thinks. He was Brian Kelly's OC at both CMU and Cincinnati and he knows how to develop QBs in a hurry. Buffalo may surprise this year. UB wins huge.

Hampton at Cent. Michigan
Winner: Central Michigan. Dan Enos starts his career at CMU and I don't know a thing about the guy. I know he inherits a lot of talent and also a lot of holes to fill. No problem in week one, CMU wins huge.

SE Missouri St. at Ball St.
Winner: Ball State. BSU could surprise this year. They return nearly everybody, and of their 10 losses, they were in seven of them. They could have easily had a winning record and been to a bowl game, but youth led to a 2-10 season. BSU rebounds this year and is a MAC title contender. No problems with SEMO State.

Northern Illinois at Iowa St.
Winner: NIU. This is the first opportunity for a MAC upset and I think it's going to happen. ISU is prone to losing to MAC teams (Kent, Toledo). The new coach is doing some good things with the team, but I don't think they reach bowl eligibility again. NIU's QB Harnish has a great day and NIU scores the first upset of the season over a BCS team.

Villanova at Temple
Winner: Temple. 'Nova won last year, and they are defending national champs of FCS. Temple hadn't yet found the talents of Bernard Pierce. Not a problem this time around. Temple wins huge.

Arizona at Toledo
Winner: Arizona. No contest. Arizona is way too much for Toledo's Swiss cheese defense and Arizona's defense destroys UT's O-line. Toledo gets physically hammered all day long and starts 2010 on a dismal note. Arizona by at least two possessions.

W. Michigan at Michigan St.
Winner: MSU. WMU has some good talent returning but I don't see this upset happening. MSU big.

Miami (OH) at Florida
Winner: Florida. What does a team coming off a 1-11 season need in order to start the next season on a high note? A trip to the Swamp, of course! Brantley starts his year as Tebow's successor very well and Florida destroys Miami. No contest. Florida might score 70.

Syracuse at Akron
Winner: Syracuse. 'Cuse is going to take a big step forward this year. Akron's got a great QB and a new coach with a hotshot recruiting reputation. I don't know why, but I'm feeling that Akron can surprise a lot of folks this year. Not 'Cuse, though. The Orange takes care of business.

Bowling Green at Troy
Winner: BG. Clawson's been planning and recruiting for this rebuilding season since taking the job. Our youth will play better than anybody thinks. Offense takes a little while, but Geter, Wiley, and Pronty all show senior leadership and the offense rolls when it has to. Defense is faster than anybody believes and keeps the Troy offense in check.

Wofford at Ohio
Winner: Ohio. OU has arrived as a MAC East contender each and every year. Wofford plays dead for the Bobcats.

Army at East. Michigan
Winner: Army. EMU's got a chance to start out 1-0, but I don't believe it will actually happen. Army did stunningly well last year and was close to bowl eligibility. The triple option offense is tough to shut down. EMU is at this point far behind the rest of the conference in talent. If they win somehow, I'll start respecting Ron English a lot.

Let's have fun with these predictions this year. And ... GO FALCONS!!

[MACMAN]

yea that miami florida game, I still think Urban has a thing for Miami so dont look for any kindness on the score board.

[kdog27]

Arizona at Toledo
Winner: Arizona. No contest. Arizona is way too much for Toledo's Swiss cheese defense and Arizona's defense destroys UT's O-line. Toledo gets physically hammered all day long and starts 2010 on a dismal note. Arizona by at least two possessions.

Toledo always seems to be up for these games, regardless of how good or bad they are. Especially in the Glass Bowl.

I hope no MAC teams lose to any sub bowl division opponents or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

[MarkL]

Am I the only one predicting this year? C'mon people, don't let me win by default ...

[Ineedbotox]

Am I the only one predicting this year? C'mon people, don't let me win by default ...

I loved picking these games last year, but I always got burned out & there was no reward if you actually got the most right. Maybe if there was a reward for picking the most right all season, like the winner gets a Myles Pizza shipped to them. Then, I would probably do it!

[LowryFalcon]

Ok so here are my first predictions of the year. I dont think there will be to many upsets so this should be an easy week.

Kent State vs Murray State - Although Kent State has been stinking up the MAC for awhile I see them beating Murray State by atleast 14.

Rhode Island at Buffalo - Buffalo should have this in the bag and SHOULD win big.

Hampton at Cent. Michigan - Although the Chips lost some good players last year I think they still will have some depth and will do well this year. With that said, this should be an easy victory for them.

SE Missouri State at Ball State - You never know what the Cardinals will do year in and year out. They may win or lose this game. I will pick them to win though although it may be close.

NIU at Iowa State - I would love to see a MAC victory over a big 12 team but frankly I dont see it happening.

Villanova at Temple - This game could be tricky. Villanova is a good FCS team and could put up a fight against the Owls, but I will pick the Owls in this game.

Arizona at Toledo - Terdledo is going to get RIPPPPPPPPPPED by the Wildcats.

W. Michigan at Michigan St. - I would love to see the Broncos beat the Spartans but I dont think they will pull that off. Spartans will win.

Miami(OH) at Florida - Goodbye Redhawks, they will be coming home featherless and in a body bag. Pardon my french, wewe!

Syracuse at Akron - Akron should be 0-1 after this game, however if this is a home game stranger things could happen. But im gonna think logically and say the Orange will win.

Bowling Green at Troy - Hmmmm. This may be bias as bias can be but also I do believe we can beat the trojans. I think we will win but it may be close.

Wofford at Ohio - Ohio should easily win this game. If not, there going to have a long season.

Army at Eastern Michigan - you know usually when a MAC team plays either Navy or Army its usually a safe bet to go with the MAC team. However in this case with EMU its safer to go with Army......ALOT SAFER! Army will win.

[bgsufalcon24]

I'm always game for this stuff. Unfortunately, most of my picks are going to mirror MarkL's.

Side note: What's with all the games against I-AA schools this week? I understand that this is the only way for some MAC teams to get OOC home games, but it's pretty poor to see more than half the conference playing I-AA schools in Week 1. I'm proud of BG for not settling and going down that route.

Murray St. at Kent St. - Kent State

Rhode Island at Buffalo - Buffalo

Hampton at Cent. Michigan - Central Michigan

SE Missouri St. at Ball St. - Ball State

Northern Illinois at Iowa St. - Northern Illinois

Villanova at Temple - Temple

Arizona at Toledo - Arizona

W. Michigan at Michigan St. - Michigan State

Miami (OH) at Florida - Florida

Syracuse at Akron - Syracuse

Bowling Green at Troy - Troy

Wofford at Ohio - Ohio

Army at East. Michigan - Army

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Side note: What's with all the games against I-AA schools this week? I understand that this is the only way for some MAC teams to get OOC home games, but it's pretty poor to see more than half the conference playing I-AA schools in Week 1. I'm proud of BG for not settling and going down that route.

Then you are not going to like BG's future schedules set for the next few years

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/sports/2010/ ... h=football

[jpfalcon09]

Kent
Buffalo
Central
Ball St.
Iowa St.
Temple
Arizona
Florida
Akron
Troy
Ohio
Army

[jpfalcon09]

Side note: What's with all the games against I-AA schools this week? I understand that this is the only way for some MAC teams to get OOC home games, but it's pretty poor to see more than half the conference playing I-AA schools in Week 1. I'm proud of BG for not settling and going down that route.

Many more teams will be heading this route since they can use a win against an FCS team to count towards being bowl eligible. I think it makes more sense for non-AQ's to do than the AQ's.

[bgsufalcon24]

Side note: What's with all the games against I-AA schools this week? I understand that this is the only way for some MAC teams to get OOC home games, but it's pretty poor to see more than half the conference playing I-AA schools in Week 1. I'm proud of BG for not settling and going down that route.

Then you are not going to like BG's future schedules set for the next few years

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/sports/2010/ ... h=football

Well, at least we have 6 home games each season from 2011-2014. At the end of the day, I think that's far more important than anything else, and it's very difficult to schedule 6 at home by playing all 1-A teams. Usually one of the road games is going to be a 1-and-out "money" game against a really great team, a la Ohio State or Michigan. That means if you do 1's and 1's with mid-level/lower-level 1-A teams the rest of the time, you'll get 6/6 half the time and 5/7 the other half, which is what BG has this season.

I guess it's just a matter of what you want to see in our OOC scheduling. Do you rather play teams like Tulsa, Troy, Marshall, Wyoming, Idaho, etc, and play 5/7 some years as a result, or do you want 6/6 every year and sacrifice competition to do it?