Athlon picks BG first in the MAC East

[BGSU33]

.....but has BG losing to Toledo in the MAC Championship. You can't expect people to pick BG over UT until the Falcons prove they can beat the Rockets.

Here's the breakdown:

MAC East
1. BG
2. UMass
3. Akron
4. Ohio
5. Buffalo
6. Kent State
7. Miami

MAC West
1. Toledo
2. NIU
3. WMU
4. Ball State
5. CMU
6. EMU

MAC Championship: Toledo over BG

They had BG with a predicted record of 8-5 overall, 7-1 in the MAC. Meaning they think we'll go 1-3 to start the year in the non-conference (and to lose in the MACC).

BG's positional rankings in the MAC:
QB: 2
RB: 3
WR: 1
OL: 1
DL: 8
LB: 11
DB: 7

BG's All-MAC picks:

First Team
WR Roger Lewis
OL Alex Huttel
K Tyler Tate

Second Team
QB Matt Johnson
RB Travis Greene

BG's recruiting class was ranked #9 in the MAC, but James Morgan was rated the #1 recruit in the MAC.

BG was rated #78 nationally. Here is our opponents and the rest of the MAC:

22. Tennessee
57. Maryland
59. Memphis
75. Toledo
78. BG
80. NIU
81. WMU
84. Purdue
92. UMass
94. Ball State
97. Akron
98. Ohio
105. Buffalo
111. CMU
119. Kent State
121. Miami-OH
127. EMU

BG was predicted to play Nevada in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

The MAC was also ranked 8th out of the 10 conferences (ahead of CUSA and the Sun Belt).

[Flipper]

WTF are you posting this for..it's May!!

j/k...good to know. Did they include Eilar Hardy in our secondary

[BGSU33]

WTF are you posting this for..it's May!!

j/k...good to know. Did they include Eilar Hardy in our secondary

Hardy was not mentioned but it did mention Robbie Rhodes (transfer) and Bryan Thomas (back another year). Write-up essentially says what we already know, offense should be good (if we stay healthy), special teams look solid, but the big question is the defense.

[mscarn]

Sporting News also picked BG to win the East.

Over in the West, they're quite enamored with the boat-rowers which has to irritate NIU and others who've won more consistently. Fleck yaps and self-promotes like no other, yet as much as we hate it recruits seem to love it and that's what matters. If his approach forces other schools to recruit harder then it's worth it for the conference.

A new trend seems to be graphics, and BG has produced some nice ones that recruits like and are retweeting. EMU recently posted an opening for a recruiting GA specifically for graphic design work. Meanwhile, according to the directory we're down to two GA's after having four last year and have had the Director of Football Operations position listed as "To Be Announced" for months. Is this a matter of simply not hiring anyone, not announcing the hires or (relating to the post about finances) not having the resources to staff the program consistent with the schools we're competing against?

[Falconfreak90]

I am not sold on tsun. They lose their entire O line from last year (all 5th yr grad students and it was a hell of a line). I agree about beating them...5 effin years is WAAAAAAAAAY too long. Hell one year is too many. My money is still on NIU until someone knocks them off the mt. WMU will be very good as well.