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#1 Central Michigan: Temple having a pretty shaky game bumps the Chips up just in time for the last three games of the season. The final week show down against Northern Illinois increasingly looks like it will be the game that decides the West Division. |
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#2 Northern Illinois: They jump over Temple because they took care of business in their punishing win over the Eagles. Even though Miami is a far superior team than EMU (at this point in the season) but 420 yards on the ground is impressive no matter who the competition is. |
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#3 Temple:.Dropping three spots after winning might seem a tad unfair but not too much separates the top four teams right now. Temple was lucky to escape with a win against Miami who is finally getting their act together. The RedHawks may have exposed something in the Temple pass defense, you can be sure Doug Martin and his staff will look for what that was. |
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#4 Ohio: Ohio gets a nice little bump this week while they are getting ready for a Buffalo team with nothing left to play for but pride, if they win they virtually lock up a bowl bid and stay on pace for a final week showdown against Temple. |
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#5 Kent State: Akron exposed a serious weakness in the Kent State defense, they do not handle an offense well when it get to the line quickly. The defense seemed to be on it's heels the whole game and the flashes went from a team that controlled its own destiny to one that may be out of the Bowl Picture unless they upset Temple next week. |
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#6 Bowling Green: Revenge for the Falcons. While the prize was nothing compared to what Buffalo won last season going into Amherst and mathematically eliminating UB still had to feel good. Right now Bowling Green has a very outside shot at securing an at large bowl game if they win out. |
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#7 Western Michigan: I don't think too many objective people were expecting the Bronco's to pull off a win this weekend but to get pasted in the manner that they did, and a loss to Kent, a near upset to Buffalo, pushes WMU behind the pack of teams fighting for the East Division. |
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#8 Toledo: Toledo is one of three MAC schools dreaming of either securing an at large bid (if they win out) or at the very least playing a spoiler in the west. The Rockets will have a chance to do both when they travel to Central Michigan next week. A very promising season has fallen to a struggle to stay above 500. |
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#9 Buffalo: Speaking of promising seasons falling apart. If one believed in football god's they would have little doubt that UB sold its soul last season and is paying the price this year. UB has serious issues with special teams, perhaps its time they hired a coach specifically for that phase of the game rather than splitting time between Dodson and Chambers. |
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#10 Akron: Patrick Nicely continues to impress, it's a shame they had to burn his red shirt this season but despite losing a year of his play on a seemingly doomed season the Zips won the wagon wheel an struck a serious blow to Kent's hopes of taking the East. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe the Zips are finally coming together but in either case they deserve to be ahead of the one win teams right now. |
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#11 Miami: I am very impressed at the way the RedHawks have developed through this season. In addition to beating Toledo they had Temple on the ropes with less than a minute left in the game. Dysert clearly should have been the starter all year. Right now they have a very realistic shot of taking out both Buffalo and Bowling Green. |
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#12 Ball State: With their next two games against NIU and CMU don't expect a win anytime soon. Still for a team that has lost five games by a touchdown or less I would not be surprised if they played spoiler for somebody. |
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#13 Eastern Michigan: It would take a small miracle for EMU to climb out of the cellar at this point. Miami, Ball State, and Akron have all played respectable games against MAC opponents where as, aside from a collapse against Ball State, the Eagles have not managed to play anyone in the conference tight. |
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