MAC Blogger Roundtable - Eagle Totem

1. With three weekends remaining in the regular season, two MAC coaches are already gone. Does anyone else get fired, and if so who? Do any coaches get hired away, and if so who?

If Central Michigan really chokes away their last games Enos might be gone. The Chips squeaked their way into a bowl last season with one of the best offensive linemen that the MAC and this year they have no margin for error.

They are not a terrible club but they have almost squandered all the momentum that the LeFevour period gave to that program. CMU did not crater for too long but they have not bounced back to the position of being a MAC west contender.

While CMU have floundered Ball State has picked themselves up. At the same time both NIU and  Toledo have become year after year winners.

2. This year it seems that the conference has a top and a bottom but no middle; six teams have six or more wins already, while the other seven teams have three or fewer wins. Those bottom seven teams collectively have just a single win over the top six teams (Central Michigan over Ohio). Why is the divide so sharp this year?

You have a lot of new coaches in the MAC and a lot of rebuilding teams like Miami, Western Michigan, Kent and Akron. Few coaching changes ever really go well and even though some of these teams have a lot of the pieces in place it will take awhile for things to come together.

Then there is the team building for the first time and the team forever rebuilding. UMass and EMU each have a lot to prove program wise.

3. Six MAC teams are already bowl-eligible, and a seventh has a fair shot (Central Michigan, with games remaining against Western Michigan, Massachusetts, and EMU). Make some bold bowl predictions!

I will answer your question with a question. If CMU get's to six wins and Ohio is still reeling do the Chips get that 6th bowl?

It's hard to imagine Ohio losing to Kent or UMass but for the sake of argument if they lose to even one you have a 6-6 EMU team who beat Ohio trying to get an at large against the 7 win Bobcats.

Buffalo also has to prove themselves and their last chance to enhance their bowl resume would be against Bowling Green on the day after Thanksgiving..

I suspect that if the MAC pulls a seventh bowl someone is going to be left out in the cold this season, that might even be the case with six bowl teams so resume's are becoming very important.