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You know it’s a good week in the conference when your team can win an out of conference game on the road and still falling the rankings because of how they won.
Pretty much everyone had an ok or better week in the MAC setting up for an entertaining conference slate.
NIU is pretty clearly top half of the conference right now, perhaps even top third so things should get interesting in the West. Really the only team that looks like a hard no, at this point, is Central Michigan. Nobody else winning the west would be too shocking right now.
In the East, well, it’s a bit different.
Ohio has been playing trash football, as has Akron. And that’s the bottom. Only Kent has been playing pretty consistently good football. Miami and Buffalo have had their moments but neither looks like they can bring their best game every week.
And then there is Bowling Green. Who has to this point in the season looked better than anyone expected, but were able to break through in a BG way against PJ fleck and the Gophers. That defense could make them competitive against anyone in the MAC>.
| Team | Pre | Δ | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toledo | 1 | 0 | It was not a blowout, but a solid win over the defending conference champions at this point in the season bodes very well for Toledo. |
| 2 | Western MIchigan | 2 | 0 | This was a blowout, and the 3-1 Broncos are looking more and more like they will be the only legit threat to the Rockets this season. |
| 3 | Kent State | 3 | 0 | Solid play, but not enough to knock off a pretty decent P5 team this season. |
| 4 | Northern Illinois | 4 | 0 | They let New Hampshire keep it close for a bit but eventually stiffened up and got their "solid FCS" win of the season. And, Hey look at that, NIU is 2-2. |
| 5 | Eastern Michigan | 6 | 1 | EMU, at 3-1 may have to be discussed as a legit threat in the West. It's not just that they are winning, it's how they are doing it. Dropping 59 on an FBS team is nice |
| 6 | Miami | 5 | -1 | Miami's offense was absent pretty much the entire game vs Army, and their defense looked pretty bad against the run. |
| 7 | Ball State | 7 | 0 | From preseason darling to 1-3 *and* behind Toledo by a game in the West. BSU needs one heck of a back stretch to Bowl this season. |
| 8 | Bowling Green | 10 | 2 | Gotta bounce Bowling Green up a couple of spots for going into Big 10 Territory and completely neutering PJ Fleck's offense. |
| 9 | Central Michigan | 9 | 0 | Good win, great 4th quarter comeback. Clutching up like that at the end bumps you up a spot in the standings |
| 10 | Buffalo | 8 | -2 | It's hard to go up 35-7 and then only win after the other team misses an extra point in the waning moments of the game. UB comes out of the ODU game with a lot of questions |
| 11 | Ohio | 11 | 0 | This may be the worst Ohio team since 2003, it's hard to believe that the fall off since Solich left is so severe. Maybe they get off the turf for Conference play, but 0-4 at this point |
| 12 | Akron | 12 | 0 | Ohio State did what you expect them to do, and Akron gets to look forward to their pillow fight against Ohio next week. |