MAC Blogger Roundtable - Hustle Belt

1.  With Bowling Green's strong showing last week against defending MAC East Champs Kent State, they recently were bumped up to the top of our power rankings over NIU.  Would you put BGSU (or any other team) ahead of the Huskies right now?  Why or why not?

Ill be honest I was very close to putting the Falcons in front of NIU this week when I ranked the teams. 2-0 against pretty decent competition is worth a lot but then there was that first half versus Kent. In that first half Kent showed that Bowling Green's defense may not be all that we believed it to be. So right now NIU sits ahead of them.

The other team I am looking at for number one is Ball State. They have looked really sharp but have not played anyone of note.

2.  There appears to be a huge chasm between the top of the MAC (NIU, BG, BSU, Ohio, UT) and the bottom (CMU, WMU, EMU, MU, UMass, Akron) with Kent State and Buffalo leaning more towards the top.  Do you think this is good or bad for the MAC?  Do you see things possibly evening out at all?

It's not the chasms between the top and bottom of the MAC that defines us as a conference, its the chasms between the bottom of the MAC and the bottom of the Sun Belt, or CUSA. When Eastern Michigan, UMass, and Akron can dominate FCS teams pretty regularly and when they schedule and beat teams near the bottom of the other G5 conference then the MACs perception will improve.

It's not too long ago CMU fans could point at Ball State, or Ohio and ask whey they could not help the conferences perception.

3.  Even with all of the talk of the "New Association" for the AQ teams, this is still the last year of the BCS.  Which team is most poised to crash the BCS, and is this the year the MAC wins a BCS bowl game?

Actually NIU may be in the drivers seat at this point. They beat Iowa and have a great shot at Purdue. Once again they have a very favorable MAC East draw (UMass, Akron, and Kent) so the Huskies could roll into mid November against BSU undefeated with two Big 10 wins under their belt.

Then The Huskies have a crack at Toledo and Ball State who should themselves have pretty good records by then.

Toledo played themselves out of any conversation when they failed to capitalize against Missouri but if they play strong the rest of the way they could be a strong win for Ball State or NIU.

Outside of the MAC Marshall is looking good but they have not played anyone yet. Fresno has a nice win over Rutgers a successful match up with Boise may win them some points.