MAC Media Day

[jpfalcon09]

Today is media day at Ford Field, ESPN3 will be streaming the event from 1pm to 3pm for those interested. Media poll will be released around 10am.

[jpfalcon09]

MAC West

Toledo
Western Michigan
Northern Illinois
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan

MAC East

Bowling Green
Ohio
Akron
UMass
Buffalo
Miami
Kent State

MAC Championship

Toledo (9) Western Michigan (8) Northern Illinois (6) Central Michigan (1)

Clearly the media feels the East isn't any good. Only one of the previous eight preseason picks to win the MAC Championship have done so.

[Falconfreak90]

Thanks for the update. Freakin work PC won't let me streamline the day.

I would have been very surprised to see BG or anyone from the East to get a vote for the title game. I also would have been shocked to see anyone else but BG at the top of the East. NIU is still top dog in my book in the West until they are beaten. WMU will be tough and as much as I hate to say it, tsun will be solid. But I am not sold on them winning the West until we see how their brand new O line works out. Replacing 5 5th year grad students at once isn't going to be easy.

If only 1 of the last 8 preseason champs has won it all, I'm glad to see tsun getting the most votes.

One way to find out...tee it up, baby.

GO FALCONS!!!

[jpfalcon09]

For those who can/want to stream on ESPN3, Babers and Johnson will be interviewed at 2:20.

[mscarn]

I don't get their anti-East division bias. An East team won the league all the way back in...2013. It's a QB driven league and us and UMass have arguably the best at that position.

[kdog27]

I can see why. The east champ last year went 5-0 against the east and 0-4 against the west. The west is much stronger, especially at the top.

[mscarn]

And everything that happened last year will automatically carry over to the next year and play out exactly the same way. Nothing changes. That's the prevailing mindset of virtually every pre-season poll regardless of the year or sport. At the SEC Media Days this year Saban pointed out that Alabama never won the league when the media predicted they would. According to the coaches, the talent in the MAC is more evenly distributed than any other conference in the country.

[mscarn]

BTW, the media day press release has @CoachDinoBabers as his official account. It's really @CoachBabersBG (@BGathletics & @Bg_Football are others to follow)

So far lots of pictures and apparent joking around with no insight about the team or upcoming year, but the day is young.

[jpfalcon09]

Not much given from Dino at the ESPN3 interview, happy to have Johnson back and believes the offense should be much better than last year. Didn't speak much about defense. Johnson said last year made him a better teammate in helping Knapke learn the offense and to keep him motivated. Said the OOC schedule is daunting but they're excited to play those schools.

[kdog27]

And everything that happened last year will automatically carry over to the next year and play out exactly the same way. Nothing changes. That's the prevailing mindset of virtually every pre-season poll regardless of the year or sport. At the SEC Media Days this year Saban pointed out that Alabama never won the league when the media predicted they would. According to the coaches, the talent in the MAC is more evenly distributed than any other conference in the country.

Do you really think we deserve a first place vote after the way we played last year or anyone from the East for that matter. BG was downright owned by the west and made the MAC championship not because they were good but because the rest of the East looked like they belong in the FCS. Generally an unprepared and undisciplined team that played bad defense for most of the year. Harsh, but that is how I view last year's team.

The offense looks great and having Johnson back should be huge but they need to prove themselves IMO. Lot of talk last year and rather pedestrian results. Takes more than talk to win the MAC and beat UT.

[Falconwriter]

And everything that happened last year will automatically carry over to the next year and play out exactly the same way. Nothing changes. That's the prevailing mindset of virtually every pre-season poll regardless of the year or sport. At the SEC Media Days this year Saban pointed out that Alabama never won the league when the media predicted they would. According to the coaches, the talent in the MAC is more evenly distributed than any other conference in the country.

Do you really think we deserve a first place vote after the way we played last year or anyone from the East for that matter. BG was downright owned by the west and made the MAC championship not because they were good but because the rest of the East looked like they belong in the FCS. Generally an unprepared and undisciplined team that played bad defense for most of the year. Harsh, but that is how I view last year's team.

The offense looks great and having Johnson back should be huge but they need to prove themselves IMO. Lot of talk last year and rather pedestrian results. Takes more than talk to win the MAC and beat UT.

This sums up my feelings pretty well. Until BG actually proves it on the field under Babers, I don't see them winning the MAC title -- especially over Toledo, should they win the West. That defense last season was an abomination, and even with our best player back at QB, if you are giving up 40 ppg, it makes winning that much tougher.

As for beating UT, until I see a BG team actually do it, I'm going to remain skeptical. One thing about Clawson's tenure at BG: it was Cooper-esque when it comes to beating your rival. Babers hasn't gotten off to a grand start, either.

[MarkL]

And everything that happened last year will automatically carry over to the next year and play out exactly the same way. Nothing changes. That's the prevailing mindset of virtually every pre-season poll regardless of the year or sport. At the SEC Media Days this year Saban pointed out that Alabama never won the league when the media predicted they would. According to the coaches, the talent in the MAC is more evenly distributed than any other conference in the country.

Do you really think we deserve a first place vote after the way we played last year or anyone from the East for that matter. BG was downright owned by the west and made the MAC championship not because they were good but because the rest of the East looked like they belong in the FCS. Generally an unprepared and undisciplined team that played bad defense for most of the year. Harsh, but that is how I view last year's team.

The offense looks great and having Johnson back should be huge but they need to prove themselves IMO. Lot of talk last year and rather pedestrian results. Takes more than talk to win the MAC and beat UT.

This sums up my feelings pretty well. Until BG actually proves it on the field under Babers, I don't see them winning the MAC title -- especially over Toledo, should they win the West. That defense last season was an abomination, and even with our best player back at QB, if you are giving up 40 ppg, it makes winning that much tougher.

As for beating UT, until I see a BG team actually do it, I'm going to remain skeptical. One thing about Clawson's tenure at BG: it was Cooper-esque when it comes to beating your rival. Babers hasn't gotten off to a grand start, either.

I cannot possibly in enough ways stress the importance of hiring Brian Ward as defensive coordinator. Last year we did not have a defensive coordinator - we had a wide receivers coach masquerading as defensive coordinator and he was promptly fired at the end of the season in favor of Brian Ward. Brian Ward who I can't help but see as a similar coordinator to Mike Elko.

I also can't help but wonder ... what would our defense have looked like last year with a real defensive coordinator? We had a solid-but-not-great-by-MAC-standards defensive line, Lynch, Martin, Ward, Sutton, and raw young talent in Williams and Stephens. There was more than enough talent there for a defensive coordinator like Elko ... and hopefully Ward ... to turn into a solid defense. Instead we had a wide receivers coach who decided to forget about teaching fundamentals and turned them into a Jekyll and Hyde defensive - prevent one play, all-out-blitz the next - and predictably it was a disaster.

Does Babers deserve the blame for our defense last season? Yes. He's the one who didn't hire a defensive coordinator. He's the one who didn't fire his guy upon seeing how inept the defense was and didn't bring in a real coordinator or advance one of his defensive coaches to coordinator. He's also the one who did at season's end fire his defensive coordinator and brought in one of the best defensive coordinators in the FCS ranks. Even with all the seniors graduating, I am optimistic that 2015 will have a solid defense. Not 2012-2013 solid, but a fundamentally sound defense.

And BTW, I think BG proves it on the field this year. Better defense, efficient/explosive offense, more maturity, and all the most important conference games at home. Win at home and we win the east. Improve on defense and take a step forward on offense and we in the conference.

[mscarn]

I completely agree that less talk and more on-field results are what's called for. I just thought it was insulting to not receive any consideration at all as the championship game winner. The West teams should be favored, but not one single vote? Even in light of the return of MJ, last seen in the league shredding big bad NIU and now with oodles of healthy talent at the skill positions?

With all the Snapchats and Periscopes and Perichats and Snapscopes we learned almost nothing new about the team. What changes has Ward made? Anyone on the line step up to mount a challenge to the 5 returning starters? Any chance Johnson or Thomas returns to the team? Just more boring talk about what they think about the expectations, blah blah blah...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[jpfalcon09]

I completely agree that less talk and more on-field results are what's called for. I just thought it was insulting to not receive any consideration at all as the championship game winner. The West teams should be favored, but not one single vote? Even in light of the return of MJ, last seen in the league shredding big bad NIU and now with oodles of healthy talent at the skill positions?

With all the Snapchats and Periscopes and Perichats and Snapscopes we learned almost nothing new about the team. What changes has Ward made? Anyone on the line step up to mount a challenge to the 5 returning starters? Any chance Johnson or Thomas returns to the team? Just more boring talk about what they think about the expectations, blah blah blah...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Johnson, Thomas and Watson are all off the team, they've been removed from the official roster on the athletic website. More information about the team will likely be available at the local media sessions coming up in the next couple of weeks. I get a feeling that Babers was relayed to cut down on the rhetoric and hype over the spring and summer, he's been much more reserved this year in the interviews I've seen and really refused to offer any insight to what he expects out of the team.

For a comparative look at the preseason polls, the last three winners of the MAC Championship only received one vote in the media poll for those subsequent years. I hardly believe most media members really take a hard look at teams and simply rely on last year's information and a quick scan of rosters for recognizable names. I like the fact that no one has picked BG to win it all in the league, good bulletin board material after last year's debacle against NIU.

[Class of 61]

I thought the hi-lite video on BGSUFalcons was very interesting in that Johnson, and Thomas were SPECIFICALLY mentioned....and a certain #2 at RB was shown scoring along with some great runs. Hmmmmm (I believe last yrs. #2 left the team....am I right? (I'm referring to his Uni #)