Big 4 no more?

Germainfitch1 · Post by **Germainfitch1** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:00 pm

Mid American
Toledo 4-1 6-2
C. Michigan 4-1 5-3
W. Michigan 3-2 5-3
Miami (Ohio) 3-2 5-3
Akron 3-2 4-4
Bowling Green 3-2 4-4
Ohio 3-2 4-4
Northern Illinois 3-2 4-4
E. Michigan 2-3 3-5
Ball St. 2-3 2-6
Kent St. 0-5 1-7
Buffalo 0-5 0-8

What do you guys think? Is the Big 4 that have commonly been at the top of the MAC standings no more.

By the end of the year will the usual big 4 weed themselves out from the big group at 3-2 or not?

It seems that Western and Ohio are making strides and I can't really knock out an Akron team that smoked us.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:38 pm

I think the rest of the MAC is stepping up. The Big 4 are in a dogfight to survive this year. It is about as even as I've seen the league in a long time.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:40 pm

Falconfreak90 wrote: It is about as even as I've seen the league in a long time.

The MAC is definitely even this year. What disappoints me is that it seems the top and bottom tiers have met at some middle ground.

Certainly teams like CMU & WMU are better than they have been in recent years, but its also the sad truth that the big 4 are nowhere near as good as they were a year or two ago

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 2:31 pm

I agree with Hammb. There are no great teams this year, and while Kent and Buffalo are winless, the bottom teams are much more competitive this season.

Damn parity.

OptionQB · Post by **OptionQB** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 6:11 pm

My theory is simple. The two or three years that some of these newer coaches have had in recruiting of telling kids at the "lower tier" of the last five years, "come to (insert school) and play right away" is paying off in recruiting, but also in the on-field product. Teams like BG, UT, Miami and Northern have settled on recruits rather than going out and getting the upper-tier players so when the CMUs, Westerns and Ohio improve it's a noticeable difference. Also, the fact that MAC schools aren't as deep and do have to go through rebuilding stages is quite apparent this year as well.

redskins4ever · Post by **redskins4ever** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:42 pm

New coaches in new places in the MAC... the down teams are having an upswing... some of the upper teams are having lesser years... and the doormats are still the doormats of the league... it will only be parity if the league is the same way again next year... which I doubt.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:29 am

hammb wrote:The MAC is definitely even this year. What disappoints me is that it seems the top and bottom tiers have met at some middle ground.

Bingo.

I don't think anyone would be as nearly antsy about the state of Bowling Green football if the MAC had done in nonconference play what it did in 2003.