2021 #MACtion

OhioBobcatFan06

OhioBobcatFan06

Well-known member
Preseaon poll has Kent picked to win the East and Ball State picked to win the West.

East Division
1. Kent State (11) – 112 points
2. Ohio (2) – 96 points
3. Miami (5) – 94 points
4. Buffalo (4) – 93 points
5. Akron – 39 points
6. Bowling Green – 28 points

West Division
1. Ball State (11) – 114 points
2. Toledo (7) – 104 points
3. Western Michigan (4) – 103 points
4. Central Michigan – 68 points
5. Eastern Michigan – 44 points
6. Northern Illinois – 29 points


Hard to know what to expect from Ohio. Although Frank Solich announced his retirement a couple months ago, I'd expect this Ohio team to look very similar to past years with Frank's right-hand man and long-time OC Tim Albin taking over. I'm pretty confident Ohio will be able to put points on the board with most of the key pieces in the running and passing game back this year. Just how good Ohio is will come down to how good the defense is. We need to improve our pass rush and run defense from the last two years. If the new faces on the defensive line can do that then this could be a great season.
 
 
There are three MAC games tonight.

Here is the full Week 1 schedule, with the home team listed 2nd. Some very tough matchups.

Thursday, September 2
Away Home TIME (ET)
Western Illinois Ball State 7:00 PM
Wagner Buffalo 7:00 PM
Bowling Green Tennessee 8:00 PM

Friday, September 3
St. Francis (PA) Eastern Michigan 7:00 PM

Saturday, September 4
Western Michigan Michigan 12:00 PM
Miami (OH) #8Cincinnati 3:30 PM
Central Michigan Missouri 4:00 PM
Akron Auburn 7:00 PM
Syracuse Ohio 7:00 PM
Norfolk State Toledo 7:00 PM
Northern Illinois Georgia Tech 7:30 PM
Kent State #6Texas A&M 8:00 PM
 
Ball St getting a game. Buffallo romping. BG getting romped.

I think WMU shows something. Cinci stomps Miami. NIU and Ohio both have a shot at a win. Ohio may actually be favored. NE Ohio has some of the best football in the state and they have Akron and Kent St. Someone explain this to me.
 
Look at the first post where Kent St. is picked to win the East. But, I understand what you are saying.
 
EagleGuy said:
Look at the first post where Kent St. is picked to win the East. But, I understand what you are saying.
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I must have looked at the wrong projections but yes, generally... Akron made the MCC against Toledo a few seasons ago. Given the talent in the area, why they aren't top every year is a puzzle. Toledo I think gets more talent out of the area. Now with Fickle doing things at Cinci, that's making all the MAC find new recruiting fields.

BG decided to play. I know they're ranked "last" but I really do like their coach. That doesn't win me any points on the Toledo board, lol.
 
Just glanced at Akron's roster and counted about thirty guys from NEO and a few from Pittsburgh. Kent State 20+. Maybe, it's not the players. I dunno.
 
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I've always thought Akron football had potential, but with as bad as that program has been it really cements the fact that they would've been better off taking all that money they put into their (very nice) football stadium and invested it into their men's basketball and men's soccer programs.

...

Ohio opened as a slight favorite over Syracuse but the line has since moved to Syracuse being the slight favorite. I'm feeling confident about this one for Ohio. Ohio is going to run the ball down their throats.
 
Akron has great area players but few of them end up sticking around. The administration and community do an awful job of supporting the team. The biggest draws in their nice newer stadium are high school games (Hoban/SVSM and playoffs) and AA Founders Day. The school plays decent hoops yet plays in an awful facility while the football team is awful and has great facilities.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Akron has great area players but few of them end up sticking around. The administration and community do an awful job of supporting the team. The biggest draws in their nice newer stadium are high school games (Hoban/SVSM and playoffs) and AA Founders Day. The school plays decent hoops yet plays in an awful facility while the football team is awful and has great facilities.
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The JAR is a disgrace of a basketball arena. Build a 10k arena, put Lebron’s name on it, let area hs teams play there. That’d do more for the school than the football program does.

I’ve attended Ohio @ Akron games with lower attendance than the Highland vs Massillon playoff game I watched at Infocision.
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
The JAR is a disgrace of a basketball arena. Build a 10k arena, put Lebron’s name on it, let area hs teams play there. That’d do more for the school than the football program does.

I’ve attended Ohio @ Akron games with lower attendance than the Highland vs Massillon playoff game I watched at Infocision.
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There was a plan to put a downtown arena on the ballot 7 years ago. They were going to combine it in a levy for a countywide 9-1-1 dispatch system, Polling showed it was going to go down miserably with the arena involved and there's been no talk about a new area arena since so here we sit watching games from up top through a glass rail. The MACC Center at KSU is also awful.
 
The Zips were up 14-0 in the first quarter and 17-3 in the second quarter against awful Temple. They were down 45-17 until they scored late to make it 45-24. Yikes.
 
Ohio falls to 0-2 after a losing to FCS Duquesne ?

0-4 start is basically a lock with Louisiana and Northwestern coming up next. Yikes
 
irish_buffalo said:
Best Toledo D I have seen in years. Sound, made adjustments, and the dline was impressive rotating about 8 kids on a hot day. Vince Kehres making a difference.
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except for two drives, one at the beginning and one at the ..... Kehres hadn't prepared for the other QB either.

Fun game, were you there?
 
eastisbest said:
except for two drives, one at the beginning and one at the ..... Kehres hadn't prepared for the other QB either.

Fun game, were you there?
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I was. Great atmosphere. ND fans are friendly and there is a lot to take in. The locals played well. Koback (Springfield), Mitchell (Bowsher), Butler (Whitmer). The Maddox kid from Eds is tough. UT always finds that playmaker that no one wants because he is 5'7. I'd take em all day. I really like the Finn kid. I wish they would let him throw just a tad more.

The wrinkle with the freshman athletic QB was a tough one. They had UT beat with that RPO and Kehres figured it out to a degree. Most importantly to me was how sound they were. No glaring gaps. DB's played very well. And of course this might be the best Dline UT has ever had. They have some power 5 guys upfront who were not pushed around (even though ND's oline is not very strong - its still ND).

ND got a lot of help on that last drive. Three penalties and one awful no call on the 2 point conversion where the WR in the endzone was blocking the CB as the ball was in the air. Oh well, great game on a beautiful day in South Bend.
 
Hope they got it out of their system. Not catching passes right into their hands and the penalties, smh. Someone on the Toledo board noted that Toledo has started every game with a penalty.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
Yikes. Textbook Jason Candle formula. Play intriguingly if not competitively against a bigger school or name opponent, and follow it up with multiple bad or dumb losses.
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Same ole same ole. As a proud alumnus of Bancroft Tech I was a student when Toledo knocked off Penn State in Happy Valley. Was at the game when we beat Larry Fitz and Pitt. College roommate called in and gave Finebaum the biz after UT beat Arkansas a few years ago. Some how the Rockets always play up or down to their opponent for better or worse.
 
Akron moved from 125/130 to 124/130 based upon their impressive win over Bryant. This week they get fed to the lions at the Shoe.
 
Will be interesting to see what Kent State does the next 5 years. They're loading up their non-conference schedule with high-paying beatdowns. You have to think there's some sort of plan for that money
 
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