Mac Smack

So long...farewell...auf weidersehen goodbye...

30 Games in 30 Days: #18 Temple at Penn State

30 Games in 30 Days: #19 Western Michigan at Michigan State

30 Games in 30 Days: #20 Akron at Buffalo

DiMichele has more competition for the Eagles Job

Two MAC place kickers named on the Lou Groza Award watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #21 Northern Illinois at Central Michigan

Former Temple QB DiMichele Signs Free Agent Contract with Eagles

30 Games in 30 Days: #22 Bowling Green at Miami

BSU Men's Golfer Ross Cosat Wins Indy Amateur

Zips Men's Soccer Ranked No. 1 in Preseason Poll

Five MAC wideouts named on Biletnikoff watchlist

30 Games in 30 Days: #23 Eastern Michigan at Michigan

MAC-Smack Pre Season top 25

My Totally unaffiliated, unabashed, and irrelevant

Pre-Season top 25

Hiller, Lewis represent the MAC for Walter Camp

MAC News 8/10/2009

30 Games in 30 Days: #24 Ball State at Western Michigan

Barry Church named to Jim Thorpe Watch List

30 Games in 30 Days: #25 Ohio at Buffalo

30 Games in 30 Days: #26 Army at Eastern Michigan

Another Bronco nominated on an award watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #27 Toledo at Ball State

Martina Gavier Places 18th in the U.S. Women's Amateur Publinx

Ron English dismisses DB Derrick Hunter

Five MAC Halfbacks on the Doak Walker watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #28 Miami at Kent State

Two MAC quarterbacks put on the O’Brien Award Watch List

Mid-American Conference All-Decade Football Team

30 Games in 30 Days: #29 Morgan State at Akron

Football Football

Grading the Rankers, CFN (Scout)

Team USA Captures a Gold, Coached by a Huskie

30 Games in 30 Days: #30 Temple at Navy

Eric Steger wins the IGA Match Play Championships

Grading the Rankers, Mid-American Media

Ball State Golf at the IGA Match Play Championships

Grading the Rankers, VanDelay Sports

Vitek Earns GLSCL All-Star Game MVP Honors

More MAC Baseball

Zips Vollyball gets 9th AVCA Academic Award

MAC Baseball Players making the most of the summer

NIU gets a home and home with Kansas

MAC-Smack hitting the beach

Ashley Vogl appointed as Director of Volleyball Operations

Temple Football Team Receives Levy Service Award

Mace Named Great Lakes Pitcher of the Week

Ball State Golf dominates the IGAPL

Northern Illinois picks up a new Basketball Director of Operations

Grading the Rankers, The Quad

Morning Links and Stuff 6/7

Ball State being investigated for Title IX Violations

Grading the Rankers, Sporting News

Hapy Fouth of July

Miami Loses Womens Track and Field Coach

MAC Smack Poll Results

Mac Smack

So long...farewell...auf weidersehen goodbye...

30 Games in 30 Days: #18 Temple at Penn State

Temple

@ Penn State

30 Games in 30 Days: #19 Western Michigan at Michigan State

Western Michigan

@ Michigan State

30 Games in 30 Days: #20 Akron at Buffalo

Akron

@ Buffalo

DiMichele has more competition for the Eagles Job

Two MAC place kickers named on the Lou Groza Award watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #21 Northern Illinois at Central Michigan

Former Temple QB DiMichele Signs Free Agent Contract with Eagles

30 Games in 30 Days: #22 Bowling Green at Miami

BSU Men's Golfer Ross Cosat Wins Indy Amateur

Zips Men's Soccer Ranked No. 1 in Preseason Poll

Five MAC wideouts named on Biletnikoff watchlist

30 Games in 30 Days: #23 Eastern Michigan at Michigan

MAC-Smack Pre Season top 25

My Totally unaffiliated, unabashed, and irrelevant

Pre-Season top 25

Hiller, Lewis represent the MAC for Walter Camp

MAC News 8/10/2009

30 Games in 30 Days: #24 Ball State at Western Michigan

Barry Church named to Jim Thorpe Watch List

30 Games in 30 Days: #25 Ohio at Buffalo

Ohio

@ Buffalo

30 Games in 30 Days: #26 Army at Eastern Michigan

ARMY

@ EMU

Another Bronco nominated on an award watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #27 Toledo at Ball State

Toledo

@ Ball State

Martina Gavier Places 18th in the U.S. Women's Amateur Publinx

Ron English dismisses DB Derrick Hunter

Five MAC Halfbacks on the Doak Walker watch list

30 Games in 30 Days: #28 Miami at Kent State

Miami

@ Kent

Two MAC quarterbacks put on the O’Brien Award Watch List

Mid-American Conference All-Decade Football Team

30 Games in 30 Days: #29 Morgan State at Akron

Morgan State

@ Akron

Football Football

Grading the Rankers, CFN (Scout)

Team USA Captures a Gold, Coached by a Huskie

30 Games in 30 Days: #30 Temple at Navy

Temple

@ Navy

Eric Steger wins the IGA Match Play Championships

Grading the Rankers, Mid-American Media

Ball State Golf at the IGA Match Play Championships

Grading the Rankers, VanDelay Sports

Vitek Earns GLSCL All-Star Game MVP Honors

More MAC Baseball

Zips Vollyball gets 9th AVCA Academic Award

MAC Baseball Players making the most of the summer

NIU gets a home and home with Kansas

MAC-Smack hitting the beach

Ashley Vogl appointed as Director of Volleyball Operations

Temple Football Team Receives Levy Service Award

Mace Named Great Lakes Pitcher of the Week

Ball State Golf dominates the IGAPL

Northern Illinois picks up a new Basketball Director of Operations

Grading the Rankers, The Quad

Morning Links and Stuff 6/7

Ball State being investigated for Title IX Violations

Grading the Rankers, Sporting News

Hapy Fouth of July

Miami Loses Womens Track and Field Coach

MAC Smack Poll Results

Which defense will be tops in the MAC for 2009

Who will win the MAC West?

Which defense will be tops in the MAC for 2009

Who will win the MAC West?

2009-08-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a learning experience, but no matter how much I enjoyed the way blog has forced me to get to know teams around the MAC. The fact I seem to be stepping on the toes of other MAC bloggers takes the fun out of blogging.

Thanks to The Mac Daily and Lets Go Rockets for the support, thanks to LakeThePost for having me over to discuss EMU and Miami. But the crap slung at me from others, some of it deservedly so but most of it not, is too childish for me to tolerate. I suppose I've gotten too old for school yard taunts and cliques to be recreational.

I'm going restart Bull-Run where I will just deal with UB Football and Basketball, I know subject in far more depth and it will be nice to keep my UB fan hat on while I post. Plus as there is not a huge presence for UB bloggers so I doubt anyone will have a conniption fit if I talk about the same thing they do.

If you want to see news about the MAC please go to The Mac Daily, if you want detail on anything go to the blogs listed on this pages sidebar...

-Peace

2009-08-17T22:08:00.000-07:00


Temple	@ Penn State

When: September 19th

Where: State College Pennsylvania

All Time Series: Penn State 34-3-1

Last Ten Games:

Date	Temple	PSU
September 20, 2008	3	45
November 10, 2007	0	31
November 11, 2006	0	47
August 30, 2003	10	23
September 13, 1997	10	52
September 21, 1996	0	41
September 16, 1995	14	66
October 1, 1994	21	48
September 12, 1992	8	49
October 5, 1991	7	24

While its usually not at the top of the list Al Golden's name seems to end up somewhere in almost any conversation about possible coaches for Penn State when and if Joe Pa finally steps down (I swear the guy is Bionic). Golden has a nice collection of requisites for the Penn State job, Before being the youngest DC in division one while at Virginia he was a linebackers coach for Penn State, He was the captain of the 1991 squad and a Ridge Riley Award winner. Al Golden has deep recruiting roots in PA and has shown he can develop great football players (James Farrior, Jamie Sharper, Frank Chamberlin and Erik Storz). The only thing Al Golden does not have is a winning season(s) as a head coach.

There is no denying that what he has done at Temple is impressive, 2008 represented the best Owls season since 1990, his teams are winning civic awards, and the recruits are getting better every year. Still while finishing 3rd in the MAC East and going 1-3 out of conference was not bad enough to keep him off of the Syracuse radar a team like the Nittany Lions are going to have a higher standard.

Temple has not won a game in this series since before World War II and last season PSU cleaned Temple's clock when they blew up for 31 second quarter points en route to a 45-3 victory. Some of this is due to DiMichele going down so early in the first but the complete lack of a running game did not help backup Chester Stweart against a Nittany Lion defense picked him off three times and held the Owls to 138 offensive yards.

Temple will be a better team this year, I have them edging out Buffalo in the East but I don't envision a scenario in which they win this game. They should, however, keep it far more interesting than it has been in previous years (not that it would be particularly hard to do so, the filed goal last year were the first points in the last three meetings which were scores 123 to 3 in favor of PSU).

You can Tune Into the Big-10 network to watch the game, but really, do you want to watch this game on TV? If Temple ever gets its program going like it has the potential to this can someday be a true must see rivalry game, at the very least you can get a live look at Al Golden on the sideline of Beaver Stadium if you make the three hour drive.

2009-08-15T09:06:00.000-07:00


Western Michigan	@ Michigan State

When: November 7th
Where: East Lansing Michigan

All Time Series: Michigan State 5-0

Date	WMU	State
August 30, 2003	21	26
September 6, 1997	10	42
September 27, 1986	10	45
September 28, 1985	3	7
September 27, 1980	7	33

It was hard to pick between the game opener at Michigan or this game, one one hand I expect the Bronco's to beat the wolverines and a week one win over a Big-10 teams would be a nice kick off to the season but on the other hand a win over Michigan State could be the marque moment for the 2009 Bronco's.

This is a low risk high reward game for Western Michigan, by this point WMU has the potential to be 7-1 or 6-2, a win over Michigan State could start netting votes in some of the top 25 polls. A loss, on the other hand, does not hurt their chances at the MAC or at an at large should they not win the division. WMU has a recent habit of beating big ten teams late in the year Iowa (2007) and Illinois (2008) were both kept out of Bowl contention by a late season defeat.

In short, while right now the game against MU looks more important (because its winnable) if the season plays out even close to how they should for the Bronco's a win here will be the one fans are talking about during the off season. Of course if the Broncos should falter early in the season this game could be the most meaningless of the year.

Western Michigan has never beaten the Spartans losing by an average of twenty points and beating them will be a tall order for Western Michigan. While the Spartans personnel losses include key personnel (Javon Ringer) they are few in number. Ringer was the Spartan offense last season but on the ground Michigan State still only managed 130 yards a game, with improved depth this year the Spartans don't expect the running game to fall off. The defensive strength of the Spartans is at linebacker so losses on the defensive line are not going to diminish that units performance.

So far I have not found any mention of TV coverage, MAC crossover games this late in the season are not going to get seeding over the big name conference match ups. The two schools are a little over two hours apart so it should be easy for Bronco's fans to make the trip for this game.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

#25 Ohio at Buffalo

#24 Ball State at WMU

#23 Eastern Michigan at Michigan

#22 Bowling Green at Miami

#21 NIU at CMU

#20 Akron at Buffalo

2009-08-14T18:52:00.000-07:00


Akron	@ Buffalo

Where: Amherst, NY

When: October 17th

All Time Series: Akron 8-2

Date	Buffalo	Akron
November 13, 2008	43	40
October 27, 2007	26	10
November 9, 2006	16	31
October 8, 2005	7	13
October 9, 2004	21	44
September 27, 2003	21	38
November 16, 2002	10	21
November 17, 2001	14	41
November 11, 2000	14	49
September 11, 1999	10	17

Like most teams in the MAC East the Akron Zips spent years as the beneficiary of football futility coming out of Western New York. With the Bulls seemingly righting their ship the potential for a decent divisional rivalry is emerging. During the Football season Buffalo broke Akron's heart, and their back and The Zips returned the favor the following spring when they defeated Buffalo in the championship round of the MAC basketball tournament.

For UB this game is the first at home against an Eastern division team and, probably, the first in conference game Buffalo should be expected to win. If UB falters here they could be looking at an 0-3 to start divisional play with their next two games against the Broncos and the Falcons. In other words a loss to Akron could be the game that, for all intensive purposes, knocks them out of the divisional race.

Akron comes into this game with a bit more breathing room than the Bulls. Of their two divisional games before hand, one is a very winnable home game against Ohio. No game is a throw away but a loss here still give Akron two very winnable games (Kent, EMU) and another two should be able to compete in (home against Temple / away at Bowling Green).

In short should Akron manage to beat Ohio the week before they can lose to Buffalo and still have a very good shot at a 5-3 divisional record where as unless the Bulls shock Central Michigan, Western Michigan, or Temple, a loss at the hands of Akron realistically limits them to a 4-4 divisional mark.

Last year's game between Buffalo and Akron was one of the best games in the Mid American Conference, if not college football. The game sent the two teams on distinctly different trajectories with UB defeating Bowling Green the following week to clinch the MAC East and Akron falling out the the divisional race and bowl contention by dropping their last two games.

Two times in the first half UB went ahead by ten, 10-0 eleven minutes into the first quarter and 17-7 slightly more than ten minutes into the second. Akron would close and tie it at 17-17 early in the third. From that point the two teams just traded punches until Dennis Kennedy's one yard run with 23 seconds left sent the game into overtime. The teams continued to trade punches in overtime until Chris Jacquemain coughed up the ball on the first possession of the fourth overtime. UB would kick a field goal to end the game minutes later.

Its a three and a half hour drive from Akron to Buffalo which, for a Saturday afternoon game, leaves plenty of time to tank up and take 90 into Amherst for some pregame tailgating.

2009-08-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the I briefly talked about the Philadelphia Eagles signing former Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele, today the Eagles made another quarterback move, this time signing Michael Vick. While its obvious this makes DiMicheles road to the pro's more difficult how it effects him in the near term is not yet certain. Vick will not be available until later into the preseason so there may be time for DiMichele to make an impression for the eagles and any other teams out there.

2009-08-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

Toledo Kicker Alex Steigerwald (per LGR) and Northern Illinois senior kicker Mike Salerno (per HuskieWire) have been named to the Lou Groza award watch list.

2009-08-12T18:27:00.000-07:00


NIU	@ CMU

When: November 27
Where: Mount Pleasant, Michigan

All Time Series: Northern Illinois 12-11

Last 10 Games:

Date	CMU	NIU
November 12, 2008	33	30
September 29, 2007	35	10
November 17, 2006	10	31
November 5, 2005	28	31
October 16, 2004	10	42
October 11, 2003	24	40
October 19, 2002	0	49
October 27, 2001	24	33
November 18, 2000	6	40
October 16, 1999	27	31

This is one of many key late season games for in the MAC West. Like the Ball State at Western Michigan match up which takes place only a few days prior, the outcome of this game will probably have implications for the top four teams (NIU, CMU, WMU, and Ball State) in the MAC West. Whoever did the scheduling for the MAC could not have done a better job setting up the end of the season on the Western side of the slate.

Northern Illinois will probably be vying for at at large bowl spot with Division rival Ball State and whoever is behind in the Western / Central Michigan race for the division. The Huskies have seven games that they should win before they square off with CMU, which should be enough for a Bowl bid, but given the MAC's performance last season it may take eight wins to guarantee one of the at-large spots.

Central Michigan is the favorite to win the division but they have Western Michigan nipping at their heels and a very punishing schedule. Six of Chips first nine games are on the road including divisional rival WMU, Defending MAC Champion Buffalo, and East Contender Bowling Green. Adding to their in conference slate of games the Chips have a difficult set of out of conference games with Arizona, Michigan State, and Boston College on the road. If the Chips should falter against Buffalo and/or Western Michigan they may very well be fighting, along with the Cardinals and Huskies, for an at large instead of the division.

Last season's game between these two teams was a classic. The Chippewas needed overtime to defeat Northern Illinois after the Huskies rolled off 24 unanswered points in the last 16 minutes of the game but Josh Gordy's interception of Chandler Harnish on the first overtime possession allowed Central Michigan to salvage the victory.

The loser of this game will find themselves missing out on either the division or the bowl picture, if the game is half as exciting as last years its a must see contest.

Its a heck of a road trip from DeKalb to Mount pleasant (seven hours) so any Husky fans wanting to make the trip are going to have to take the day off, pack up the car, and drive safely. If you cant make it to the game it has been picked up by ESPN360/ESPNU.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

#25 Ohio at Buffalo

#24 Ball State at Western Michigan

#23 Eastern Michigan at Michigan

#22 Bowling Green at Miami

2009-08-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Adam DiMichele, who started three years for the Temple Owls, has signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. DiMichele was originally signed as a rookie free agent by the Eagles taking part in almost all spring practices before being released on June 11. Kevin Kolb's recent MCL sprain gives the Owl's fourth all time passer a second chance with the team.

"I can't put it into words. I was at home eating a sandwich with my family, and my phone rang. The Eagles wanted to bring me in as soon as possible. I have no details yet, but I'm not worried about it. It's just another opportunity for me. I'm excited, and my family is excited." -- Adam DiMichele

DiMichele has himself had a hard time staying healthy missing eleven complete games over his last two seasons and parts of others.With his limited playing time he still managed an impressive thirty touchdowns against only sixteen interceptions in the thirteen games he did play.

The Eagles host the New England Patriots on Thursday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field. Donovan McNabb will start and probably play into the second quarter. Following McNabb A.J. Feeley's will likely play the bulk of the game. DiMichele may get some playing time in the fourth quarter if Andy Reid holds true to form; In last years pre-season opener against Pittsburgh Andy Reid gave significant opportunity to all three of his quarterbacks.

2009-08-11T22:52:00.000-07:00


Bowling Green	@ Miami

When: November 12th

Where: Oxford, Ohio

All Time Series: Miami 27-15-4

Last 10 Meetings

Date	Miami	BG
October 18, 2008	27	20
October 13, 2007	47	14
November 15, 2006	9	7
November 15, 2005	14	42
December 4, 2003*	49	27
November 4, 2003	33	10
November 3, 2001	24	21
October 14, 2000	24	10
October 9, 1999	45	31
October 10, 1998	24	12

*MAC Championship Game

Why this game? Two new coaches for two venerable MAC teams, Miami (1948, second oldest member), and Bowling green (1952, Sixth oldest member). In the 54 years that both teams have been members one or the other has been the Conference champion 22 times. The Timing of this game so late in the season will also add weight to its outcome.

Bowling Green has new leadership on the sideline is, in no small part, due to Greg Brandon's epic meltdown after the Buffalo Game. His 44-30 record belies the fact that he had not won an outright division title in five seasons, and that his last three seasons the falcons had record of 18-19. Even with the recent record up until the Buffalo loss there were only whispers about replacing Brandon but after the worst press conference of all times there was little doubt change was coming:

"That crowd was pitiful and I'm so disappointed. The fans that showed up, that's awesome because they're the true fans. Our kids deserve so much better than that. To be in a championship with so much on the line and [having] that kind of crowd, disgusts me," -- Gregg Brandon

He is replaced by Dave Clawson who has had a very successful career at the FCS level vastly improving the Fordham and Richmond football teams winning a total of 3 conference titles in eight seasons before spending one season under Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee.

Miami's coaching change was anticipated far earlier in the season as the RedHawks Shane Montgomery finished his career with a four year 17-31 record including two 2-10 records. He resigned his position at the end of November and in early 2009 took up the offensive coordinator duties for the Akron Zips. Montgomery's replacement, Mike Haywood, has spent time as an assistant coach at some of college footballs big name programs (LSU, Texas, and Notre Dame). While this is his first time as a head coach he has an impressive list of mentors through his career including S Nick Saban, Mack Brown, and Lou Holtz.

Last year Bowling green was a hairs breath from division title. While it was the collapse against Buffalo that cost Bowling Green the upset division the loss to Miami kept them out of a Bowl Game. Bowling Green, in a tie game, deep in Miami Territory through a late interception off of which Miami would drive for the go ahead score.

Bowling Green is expected to compete for the MAC East division title and this game is late enough in the year to be a make or break contest. Miami could drive a stake through the heart of the Falcons as they have the past two seasons (their head to head victory in 2007 game Miami the East Division and their 2008 win kept the Falcons out of a Bowl).

These two schools are three hours apart so Falcon fans wishing to make the trip will have to, at least, take the afternoon off if they want to be at the game, for those unable to make the trip there is always espnu.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

#25 Ohio at Buffalo

#24 Ball State at Western Michigan

#23 Eastern Michigan at Michigan

2009-08-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ive talked several times this summer about Eric Steger and in just about every mention the name Ross Cosat has come up. He finished in the top four at the Indy Armature match play championships, played well at The Indiana Golf Association Public Links tournament finishing seventh. This time he took it all winning Indiana Golf Association Indianapolis Amateur at Winding River Golf Course in Indianapolis.

The Ball State senior shot a 66-67 to win the event:

Tournament	Score	Place	Points
IGA Indianapolis Amateur	66-67--133	1	0
IGA Match Play Championship		3	15
IGA Public Links Championship	70-67--137	7	7
Indiana Open Championship	74-74-71-71--290	9	7.5
E-Z-GO Indianapolis Open	79-78--157	17	0
Indiana PGA Monticello Open	76	22	0
Indiana Amateur Championship	71-76-78-72--297	36	5

The event did not yield any points for the IGA John K. David Player of the Year where he currently stands 12th, teammate Steger stands second.

2009-08-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well the bar has been set pretty high by the Akron Zips soccer team who, Despite losing the top scorer in the nation and maybe best goal keeper in the Akron history history, are Top Drawer Soccer, which awarded the Zips a No. 1 in their 2009 pre-season poll Tuesday. (from gozips.com)

"Caleb Porter’s program gets the nod as the #1 selection in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 48 Men’s College Soccer pre-season ranking, continuing the Mid-American Conference school’s rise to nationally-elite status over the past few years. Despite losing all-everything forward Steve Zakuani, standout goalkeeper Evan Bush and others, the Zips continue to bring in top recruiting classes each season and should be able to more than make up for the loss of the departing seniors." -- Top Drawer Soccer

The Zips, who were ranked No. 9 in the final CSN and NSCAA/adidas polls a year ago, return seven of their 11 starters most noteaballyAnthony Ampaipitakwong, Sarkodie and Darlington Nagbe – from a team that recorded the second-highest win total in school history in 2008.

The Full top drawer pre-season rankers are as follows

2009 Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Poll

1. Akron
2. St. John's
3. Creighton
4. California
5. Maryland
6. Indiana
7. Wake Forest
8. Northwestern
9. North Carolina
10. UC Santa Barbara
11. UIC
12. South Florida
13. Notre Dame
14. Connecticut
15. Tulsa
16. Virginia
17. Louisville
18. SMU
19. Dayton
20. UCLA
21. Boston College
22. San Francisco
23. Dartmouth
24. Michigan
25. Denver
26. Duke
27. Michigan State
28. George Mason
29. Ohio State
30. Santa Clara

2009-08-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

Five Mid American conference receivers were put on the 2009 Biletnikoff Award Watch List. The Fred Biletnikoff Award has been presented since 1994 to America's top college football receiver by the TQC Foundation, Inc. (The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc.), an independent not-for-profit organization.

A national selection committee consisting of over 150 journalists, commentators, broadcasters, and former players selects the award winner. No member of the board of trustees of the foundation has a vote. Any college player who receives the football through the forward pass is eligible (wide receiver, running back, tight end) to be selected as the award winner, although every winner since 1994 has been a wide receiver.

Not since 1997 when then Marshall's Randy Moss won the award has a player form the MAC won this award. This years Nominees from the MAC are:

Antonio Brown, Central Michigan:

Last year the then sophomore came up just short of a thousand yards for the second straight year (950 in 2007, 998 in 2008) but in terms of overall yardage he was ranked fourth in the nation. Brown is also a proficient returner with leading the nation in punt return yardage (20.5 ypr) last year and taking one punt back for a touchdown, He also is an All MAC kick returner. He is so diverse as a player that he is just one of just two players in NCAA history to earn all-conference first-team honors at three positions in the same season

Naaman Roosevelt, Buffalo:

Roosevelt gained national attention for his walk off Hail Mary reception against Temple last year but his 1,402 years receiving was good for fourth in college football and his 13 touchdowns tied him for eighth in the FBS. Last year he set single-season school records for receptions (104), yards receiving (1,402) and receiving touchdowns (13) and came on strong late in the year with five of his seven 100+ yard games.

Taylor Price, Ohio:

Taylor Price enters his Senior following a 2008 campaign where he managed 694 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions, his most notable game was against MAC East rival Akron where he caught eight passed for one hundred yards and three touchdown to help the Bobcats walk away with a 49-42 decision. With the loss of Tight End Andrew Mooney, whoever wins the Bobcats starting quarterback job may have to rely more heavily on the wide outs this season, so there is room for Price to go over a thousand yards this year if that's the case.

Jacory Stone, Eastern Michigan:

The performance of Jacory Stone in 2008 gives hope to Eagles fans for 2009. His 943 receiving yards was in the top fifty nationally among all receivers (43) and more than double his sophomore numbers. His performance in the late season loss to Temple and win against Central Michigan, a combined 28 catches for 248 yards, were two of his best games. He will face both teams again and should not have too much trouble getting himself over a thousand yards for his senior campaign.

Stephen Williams, Toledo:

Best vid I could find, let me know if you have something better
Stephen Williams fell off a bit last year in total yardage (781) but his eight touchdowns, first on the team, were huge throughout the year. His best two efforts of the year came in losing games (114 yards two touchdowns against Fresno and 136 yards with two touchdowns against Akron). With the departure of Nick Moore Williams becomes the main weapon for Aaron Opelt and should break a thousand this year.

2009 Biletnikoff Award Watch List

Kris Adams, UTEP
Seyi Ajirotutu, Fresno State
Brandon Banks, Kansas State
Doug Beaumont, Louisville
Arrelious Benn, Illinois
Dezmon Briscoe, Kansas
Antonio Brown, Central Michigan
DeAndre Brown, Southern Miss
Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State
Tyron Carrier, Houston
Eric Decker, Minnesota
Jacoby Ford, Clemson
Cortez Gent, Florida Atlantic
Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati
AJ Green, Georgia
Rashaun Greer, Colorado State
D'Andre Goodwin, Washington
T.Y. Hilton, Florida International
Shay Hodge, Ole Miss
Jerrel Jernigan, Troy
Damaris Johnson, Tulsa
Julio Jones, Alabama
Brandon LaFell, LSU
Detron Lewis, Texas Tech
Kerry Meier, Kansas
Dennis Pitta, BYU
Taylor Price, Ohio
Aldrick Robinson, SMU
Naaman Roosevelt, Buffalo
Greg Salas, Hawaii
Jordan Shipley, Texas
Jacory Stone, Eastern Michigan
Golden Tate, Notre Dame
Damian Williams, USC
Stephen Williams, Toledo
Ryan Wolfe, UNLV

2009-08-10T21:45:00.000-07:00


EMU	@ Michigan

Where: Ann Arbor, MI
When: September 19th

All Time Series: Michigan 3-0

Date	EMU	Michigan
October 6, 2007	22	33
September 17, 2005	0	55
September 19, 1998	20	59

I went back on fourth on this one, this series has no real history, the game will likely not decide any MAC teams fortune, and I doubt it will be close but the 'in state' David and Goliath coupled with coaching connections makes it relevant. Maybe Michigan gets caught looking ahead to its conference opener against Indiana and EMU is able to play scrappy for awhile but in the end a big ten team, even a struggling one, has too much depth for most mid majors to hang around with, especially programs as downtrodden as Eastern Michigan.


Ron English Now	And Then

For Michigan this will be the second of three instate games this year. Mid American West contender Western Michigan opens their season in Ann Arbor, EMU makes the trip in week three, and the wolverines make the trip to Michigan State in week five. Its a shame that they could not swap Central Michigan for Delaware state.

Eastern Michigan comes in to Ann Arbor the week after travelling to Northwestern, and one week before the open conference play by hosting Temple. Last year Toledo shocked Michigan and a loss to a, then, low tier MAC team has really stung MU fans. Expect Michigan to not overlook any team from the MAC this year, unfortunately for the Eagles I don't see them beating Michigan unless they catch the wolverines looking past them.

Michigan football is a shadow of where it usually is and a stronger team like Western *might* be able to take advantage of this but the Eagles, who have occasionally played great games, would have to have to play as hard as they did last year against Central Michigan to even be in this one.

The last time these teams met the Eagles kept the game close until well into the third quarter when an Andy Schmitt touchdown run made the score 16-14 in favor of the wolverines. The wolverines would roll off 17 third quarter points to shut the door, some of the highlights of that game including an amazing fake hand off by Schmitt which fooled Englishes defense, the camera, and the announcers:

Hopefully the Eagles can keep it close again but unless Michigan has a second terrible year I don't see Eastern Michigan holding on too long.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

#24 Ball State at Western Michigan

2009-08-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

1.		Florida
2.		Texas
3.		Oklahoma
4.		Alabama
5.		USC
6.		Penn State
7.		LSU
8.		Ohio State
9.		Virginia Tech
10.		Mississippi
11.		Oklahoma State
12.		California
13.		Georgia
14.		Oregon
15.		TCU
16.		Georgia Tech
17.		Boise State
18.		Utah
19.		Florida State
20.		North Carolina
21.		Nebraska
22.		Brigham Young
23.		Cincinnati
24.		Iowa
25.		Michigan State

This is the MAC-Smack SWAG (Scientific Wild @#$ Guess) preseason top 25 Poll. With OTP, TFF, LGR and OAB all being officially respectable members of the CBS Blog Poll I thought there might be room in the ranks of the insignificant for me. Congrats to the MAC bloggers I mentioned.

2009-08-10T08:51:00.000-07:00


Tim Hiller	MiQuale Lewis

Two Mid American Conference Seniors made the Walter Camp "watch List". The award which started in 1967 (and was won its first two years by O.J. Simpson) is awarded every year to the player seen as the 'player of the year' by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-A head coaches and sports information directors under the auspices of the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

No school that is currently not in a BCS conference, outside of Notre Dame, has ever won this award so its going to be a major task for them to be taken seriously as contenders. Should Hiller eclipse his totals from last year or Lewis lead the league in rushing and touchdowns they may have a chance but short of the publicity that a BCS bowl run has its difficult to get the national attention for such awards.

Last year MiQuale Lewis rushed for 1,701 yards (3rd in the nation) and scored 22 touchdowns (Tied for first). He also caught more than 30 passes for three hundred yards making him one of the most potent threats in all of College football. This year he will have to make due with a new line and without Nate Daivs who left early for the NFL draft.

Tim Hiller set seven Western Michigan passing records in 2008 He ranked tenth in the nation in yardage (3725), 7th in touchdowns (36), and 24th in quarterback rating (143.81). Off the field he earned a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate and is well on his way to his MBA. Hiller will have to go through the year wideouts Jamarko Simmons and Schneider Julien. He will also be missing Tight end Branden Ledbetter. But he does return most of his offense outside those positions.

2009 Walter Camp Player of the Year “Watch List”
Jahvid Best, RB, Junior, California
Arrelious Benn, WR, Junior, Illinois
Eric Berry, DB, Junior, Tennessee
Sam Bradford, QB, Junior, Oklahoma
LaGarrette Blount, RB, Senior, Oregon
Dez Bryant, WR, Junior, Oklahoma State
Daryll Clark, QB, Senior, Penn State
Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Junior, Georgia Tech
Mardy Gilyard, WR, Senior, Cincinnati
Jermaine Gresham, TE, Senior, Oklahoma
Max Hall, QB, Senior, Brigham Young
Tim Hiller, QB, Senior, Western Michigan
Jerry Hughes, DE, Senior, TCU
Kendell Hunter, RB, Junior, Oklahoma State
MiQuale Lewis, RB, Senior, Ball State
Taylor Mays, DB, Senior, USC
Colt McCoy, QB, Senior, Texas
Kellen Moore, QB, Sophomore, Boise State
Todd Reesing, QB, Senior, Kansas
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Sophomore, Oregon State
Evan Royster, RB, Senior, Penn State
George Selvie, DE, Senior, South Florida
Jordan Shipley, WR, Senior, Texas
Rusty Smith, QB, Senior, Florida Atlantic
Jevan Snead, QB, Junior, Mississippi
Brandon Spikes, LB, Senior, Florida
C.J. Spiller, RB, Senior, Clemson
Golden Tate, WR, Junior, Notre Dame
Tim Tebow, QB, Senior, Florida
Sean Weatherspoon, LB, Senior, Missouri

2009-08-10T08:29:00.001-07:00

Dog Days of Summer:

The rather nice mid-western summer has ended just in time for football camps so now, instead of pleasant days in the 70's MAC football players are running their drills in heat indexes of over one hundred degrees.

On Saturday three NIU huskies were treated and released for dehydration after practices ended, there seemed to be no serious threats to health but when temperatures start getting on ninety and the humidity is as high as it has been its best not to take chances.

Akron practiced Sunday in a heat index of 111 degrees, UA head coach J.D. Brookhart.said ""I think we started a little slow due to the heat, However, the team picked up the pace and we had another good practice."

Central Michigan

Central Michigan director of track and field/cross country Willie Randolph today announed the three coaches who will complete his 2009 staff.

Among them are former Olympian Dione Henley, University of Oklahoma coach John Ridgway, and graduate assistant Kristen Paulsen.

2009-08-09T19:24:00.000-07:00


Ball State	@ WMU

When: November 24th

Where: Kalamazoo Michigan

Series: Western Michigan 19-16

Last 10 Meetings

Date	WMU	Ball State
November 25, 2008	22	45
October 20, 2007	23	27
October 21, 2006	41	27
October 8, 2005	57	60
September 25, 2004	14	41
November 8, 2003	28	20
November 2, 2002	7	17
November 24, 2001	31	35
November 4, 2000	42	3
October 23, 1999	28	0

For the second year in a row these two teams play in the last week of the regular season. Last years game clinched the Western Division and a perfect season for the Cardinals, this season this game may well again decide the Western Division. Western Michigan is seen as being one of the two teams to take the west because of the timing this game may rank up with the CMU / WMU contest for importance in the conference.

On the flip side while Ball State is not being picked to win the but this game could very well have Bowl implications for the Cardinals. The contest is the last of three against some of last years top teams in the west (NIU, Central Michigan, Western Michigan), for the MAC winning 8 games almost clinches an at large bowl bid. Should they falter at any point in the season (Temple, Toledo, Bowling Green) they are going to need one of this series to make that mark.

Last year Ball state had little trouble taking care of the Bronco's, forcing Tim Hiller into more interceptions than touchdown's (only happened to Hiller one time last year). They also forced Western Michigan into fifty yards of penalties and managed to stop seven out of thirteen first downs. Offensively Nate Davie moved the ball well and MiQuale Lewis racked up 120 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

The Cards are fortunate that their two most difficult, and important, divisional games come a the end of the season. Any early jitters or hick ups that Kelly Page and the new offensive line have to work out should be well taken care of so the Bronco's could be in for as much a game as they had last year.

This is going to be a nationally televised games (ESPN2), unfortunately its a week night game and its something of a drive from Muncie to Kalamazoo so unless you're a real diehard chances are your going to be watching this one on TV.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

#25 Ohio at Buffalo

2009-08-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Toledo Senior Barry Church was the sole representative of the Mid American Conference to be named on the Jim Thorpe watch list for best defensive back in the nation.

The Jim Thorpe Award "watch list" is determined by analysis of the pre-season All-American teams listed in at least six pre-season college football annual magazines. Four points are awarded for first team, three points for second team, two points for third and one point for honorable mentions. This procedure determines approximately 30-40 players on the pre-season watch list. This list is not final and players who haveoutstanding seasons are added as the season progresses.

Church is a three time All-MAC defensive back with 256 career tackles and eight interceptions. A "Screening Committee" of Jim Thorpe Association members follows these players throughout the season, watching games and researching information sources to grade Thorpe Award candidates on the basis of performance on the field, athletic ability and character. The committee meets on the first Monday in November to narrow the field to 10 or 12 semi-finalists.

2009 Jim Thorpe Watch List

Javier Arenas, Alabama
Aaron Berry, Pittsburgh
Eric Berry, Tennessee
Ahmad Black, Florida
Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech
Kendric Burey, North Carolina
Crezdon Butler, Clemson
Kam Chancellor, Virginia Tech
Chris Chandler, Clemson
Barry Church, Toledo
Kurt Coleman, Ohio State
Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State
Ras-I Dowling, Virginia
Van Eskridge, East Carolina
Dominique Franks, Oklahoma
Joe Haden, Florida
Duke Ihenacho, San Jose State
Reshad Jones, Georgia
Jordan Lake, Baylor
Myron Lewis, Vanderbilt
Trevard Lindley, Kentucky
Taylor Mays, USC
Amari Spievey, Iowa
Darrell Stuckey, Kansas
Earl Thomas, Texas
SydQuan Thompson, California
Walter Thurmond, Oregon
Alterraun Verner, UCLA
Stephan Virgil, Virginia Tech
Deunta Williams, North Carolina
Kyle Wilson, Boise State

2009-08-07T18:20:00.000-07:00


Ohio	@ Buffalo

When: November 10th

Where: Amherst, NY

All Time: Ohio 7-5

Date	Buffalo	Ohio
October 28, 2008	32	19
October 6, 2007	31	10
October 21, 2006	7	42
October 29, 2005	20	34
September 25, 2004	0	34
October 25, 2003	26	17
September 28, 2002	32	34
November 3, 2001	44	0
October 7, 2000	20	42
September 25, 1999	6	45
September 21, 1963	7	0
October 27, 1962	6	41

Last years victory in Athens Ohio, the first for UB in more than 40 years, kicked off Buffalo's run of East division victories leading to their first outright division since joining the MAC back in the late nineties. For Ohio the loss removed the possibility of bowl contention and highlighted an area that killed them all year, turnovers and missed opportunities. Four fumbles, several losses due to downs, an interception late in the first half, and missed extra point were the difference in a game where Ohio put up more yards than Buffalo including torching the Bulls through the air for almost three hundred yards and still lost by a pretty convincing score.

One reason this game makes the top 30 in the MAC is because of the paths crossed by its coaches. Turner Gill played and coached on Nebraska teams under Tom Osborn while Frank Solich was on staff so this game should have interested fans in Lincoln, Buffalo, and Athens. Both Coaches have won a MAC East title but of the two Gill is the only to add a conference championship to his resume.

Ohio enters this season with a slight quarterback controversy as Boo Jackson played well when Theo Scott was sidelined for the year early in the season.

Another reason this make the list is because by this point in the season the loser of this game will likely find themselves behind the eight ball in the eastern division:

Ohio should be more in the mix for the East division this year than last when losses to CMU, WMU, and Temple put them in a hole. For Ohio this years game is in the middle of their most difficult stretch along with the Bulls they face Ball State, Northern Illinois and Temple in consecutive weeks. The Bobcats are going to need to take one, maybe two games in this stretch to be bowl eligible and Buffalo is a team they know well.

Turner gill gets close to the hardest cross division draw in the season CMU at home and WMU on the road. Combine their west draw with an early trip to Philadelphia to play divisional rival Temple and the other five divisional games become critical for UB. Ohio is their last home game of the year before road trips to Miami and Kent, Buffalo will likely need this game if they are going to win the east.

This game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 so if you can't make the trip to Western New York just turn on your TV or find a decent sports bar.

#30 Temple at Navy

#29 Morgan State at Akron

#28 Miami at Kent

#27 Toledo at Ball State

#26 Army at Eastern Michigan

2009-08-06T21:48:00.000-07:00


ARMY	@ EMU

The beginning of the Ron English era in Ypsilanti is marked by one of the more winnable games on their schedule. Army is, perhaps, the weakest team the Eagles face this year and they have to travel to Michigan. A home win against the Black Knights could be a great storyline for English to start his career.

Where: Ypsilanti, Michigan
When: September 5

All Time: Army 2-0

Date	EMU	Army
October 11, 2008	13	17
October 31, 1992	17	57

Last year Army did not complete a pass in two games. The first was when FCS New Hampshire soundly defeated the Black Knights in week two and the second was when they rolled off 341 rushing yards in a comeback victory over Eastern Michigan at west point.

As much as keeping Army under three hundred yards may have helped offensive miscues late in the game kept Eastern Michigan from recapturing the lead. Four drives averaging 7 yards per drive in the fourth quarter doomed any chances the Eagles had.

Ron English has been very upfront with his belief that the his squad, if more consistent, could be tough enough to win out games like the one last year against Army

"consistency-the truest measure of toughness!" -- Ron English

This game lands in the top 30 because its the official kickoff of the biggest rebuilding job college football has seen in years. Should Ron English, eventually, establish EMU as a power in the MAC it would eclipse both what Turner Gill did at Buffalo and what Brady Hoke did for Ball State.

On the other sideline another new coach Rich Ellerson has his own rebuilding project. Fortunately he is well versed with the option meaning Army is going away, for good, from their failed experiment at the west coast set. The service academies always have their own set of challenges when it comes to recruiting so righting the Army ship may take a few seasons.

This game which may not mean a whole lot on either the national land scape nor in the MAC but it should be close and a good kickoff to two new coaches.

#30: Temple at Navy
#29: Morgan State at Akron
#28: Miami at Kent
#27: Toledo at Ball State

2009-08-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

Western Michigan football is having a great week. Beside camps finally getting under way a day does not go by when a Bronco is not put on a national award watch list. Tim Hiller for the Davey O'Brien, Brandon West for the Doak Walker, and now Ben Armer is one of nine, and the only MAC player, nominated for the Ray Guy award given every year to the nations best punter.

to be one of only two sophomores on this list speaks to the outstanding year the red shirt freshman put in. With an average of 40.6 yards per (including 11 punts of 50 or more yards) ranked him among the top 50 players in the nation. Equally impressive was his whistle to whistle participation while on the field the All-MAC Freshman (Rivals.com) recorded the second-most tackles by a kicker/punter in a season(5).

The Ray Guy Award winner is determined by a national selection committee of FWAA sports writers, college coaches, sports information directors, and past Ray Guy Award winners. Among the statistics used to identify the winner are total yardage punted, number of times a punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, net average, average returned yardage, and percentage of punts not returned. The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline, and have a positive impact on the team’s success.

2009 Ray Guy Award Watch List

Bryan Anger, California, Sophomore
Ben Armer, Western Michigan, Sophomore
Travis Baltz, Maryland, Junior
Matt Dodge, East Carolina, Senior
Ryan Donahue, Iowa, Junior
Derek Epperson, Baylor, Junior
Chas Henry, Florida, Junior
Zoltan Mesko, Michigan, Senior
Ross Thevenot, Tulane, Senior

2009-08-05T23:05:00.000-07:00


Toledo	@ Ball State

Last year Ball State ran away with the MAC before being tripped up by turnovers in the championship game. The Cards finished nationally ranked, solid on both sides of the ball, and kept one of the top three running backs in the nation. Last year Toledo limped to a 3-9 season, failed on several occasions to close out winnable games and only looked good against Miami (OH) and EMU. The total record of the teams they beat was 8-28 and when these two teams hooked up in Toledo the Rockets did not manage to score one point. Both teams lost their coaches as Brady Hoke was tempted away by San Diego, and Toledo Tom was replaced to help breath life into a Toledo team that used to compete year in and year out.

Where: Muncie, Indiana
When: October 3rd

All Time: Ball State 17-16-1

Last 20 meetings:

Date	Ball State	Toledo
October 4, 2008	31	0
November 13, 2007	41	20
November 14, 2006	20	17
October 15, 2005	14	34
October 2, 2004	14	52
October 25, 2003	38	14
October 12, 2002	17	37
October 20, 2001	24	20
November 11, 2000	3	31
September 18, 1999	10	23
October 10, 1998	6	27
November 8, 1997	35	3
November 16, 1996	24	14
October 7, 1995	14	17
October 8, 1994	24	24
October 9, 1993	31	30
November 7, 1992	9	10
November 9, 1991	9	3
September 22, 1990	16	28
September 23, 1989	22	29

So let me get this straight, you go 12-2 finish nationally ranked, bring back arguably the #1 running back in the nation and you're picked by your conferences own media outlet to finish 5th? The Ball State bulletin board has to be absolutely pasted with media articles about how poorly they are going to do this year, how easy their schedule is, how without Davis and Hoke they are a lost cause, and so on.

The Cardinals have great players, a coach who has years of experience with the team, and a divisional home opener on the heels of a game against a very vulnerable Auburn team. Ball State entering this game with a 3-1 record is probable, 4-0 is realistic. Kelly Page and his OL will have had four weeks of game experience including against an SEC defense to warm up for divisional play.

Tim Beckman is coming back to the MAC five year's spent coaching at BCS level schools (Ohio State, Oklahoma). Like Ball state this game marks the opening of Division play for Tim Beckman so we will all know, and quickly, if the lofty expectations being floated aroud by some publications (e.g. 3rd by Scout, 4th by MAC Media) are realistic.

Toledo is not bereft of talent, on the contrary they have as much individual talent as most MAC teams but those individuals have never put it together in any way that seems to translate into winning seasons. Beckman can change that but not knowing the players in any substantial way is going to impede on his ability to take massive steps forward this year.

Why this game means more to Ball State:

Even though its early in the season there should be a fair share of pressure on Ball State. As the new head coach of a program Parrish does not get the breathing room most new coaches are given. He knows the personnel, recruiting connections, scheme's, and community. Coach Parrish also follows on the heels of a ranked 12-2 campaign on a team that's improved every year for some time. I don't think anyone expects Ball State to improve or repeat over last years edition but most fans think anything short of seven wins is unacceptable.

Their last three games are likely to be their most difficult of the season so if they want a shot at getting to a Bowl Game they need to have at least six wins by week nine.

Away games at Temple and Auburn mean they really only have one more game to spare (yes they may beat Temple and/or Auburn but losing either of them will not be earth shattering). If they lose to Toledo in the MAC opener they could go into mid October at 3-3 with a conference mark of 0-2. As good as they may be they are not good enough to out of that large a hole.

Why Toledo could shock:

While media outlets have the rockets doing some damage this year I think the expectations of fans are far lower. Toledo does not bare the burden of needing this game while fans would be ecstatic with a bowl appearance were Toledo to win five games, perhaps even four paired with one big upset like Temple or Colorado at home or Ball State on the road many would consider 2009 a success.

While Beckman does not know his players, his players all know each other. Toledo returns pretty much everybody so just about every starter will remember the 31 to nothing drubbing Ball state put on them last season. A chance to take it to the Cardinals while they are breaking in a new line and quarterback may be enough to bring out the best in a Toledo team that showed last year it *can* play with teams like Fresno State and CMU.

Its a bit over a three hour drive so with a noon kickoff fans who want to make the trip should get up before the sun, if have to drive more than an hour to get there its a sin not to tailgate for a while once there.

#30: Temple at Navy
#29: Morgan State at Akron
#28: Miami at Kent

2009-08-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Kent State Golfer U.S. Martina Gavier finished one under in the second round bringing her to Par and placing her in the top 20 at the 33rd annual event.

To be eligible for the tournament Golfers must follow the USGA's guidelines for amateur status. The Public Links, like the U.S. Women's Amateur, has no age restrictions. The golfers with a USGA handicap index of 18.4 or lower, not be a member of any golf clubs not open to the general public (outside of memberships gained via their educational instution, status as a veteren, or emplyment by the club).

This is the same event in which 13 year old Michelle Wie jumped onto the scene which her unexpected victory in 2003. Won the 2007 South American Amateur Championship and placed strongly in the South American Junior Championship (3rd), Copa Friocol (5th), The Argentina Golf Association Ranking Tournament (6th), and the Chilean Amateur Championship (9th).

During her sophomore year she posted a perfect 3-0 record to help KSU to the consolation bracket title at the NGCA Match Play Championship and tied for sixth at the Mary Fossum Invitational, helping the Flashes to the tournament title

For her part Gavier Represented Argentina at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championships finishing 19th

2009-08-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Derrick hunter's run in with the police forced Ron English, who is trying to turn around a long suffering Eastern Michigan football program, to dismiss him from the Eagles..

Hunter had been recruited as a wide receiver out of South Filed H.S. in Michigan before being moved to the defensive backfield. Hunter had missed the entire 2008 season with Injury after seeing light work in his sophomore year (49 Tackles, 1 int, 1 fumble recovery, 1 touchdown).

With two years and a new coach Hunter had opportunity to play a more prominent role. All of that ended when on August Second the police were called to his home on a report that a firearm discharged. Police are seeking charges against junior defensive back Derrick Hunter, 21, his 23 year old roommate.

2009-08-05T08:06:00.000-07:00


MiQuale Lewis	James Starks	Brandon West	Eugene Jarvis	DaJuane Collins

Five Mid American Conference running backs are on the list of 33, in the 19 years this award has been given no MAC player has ever won. While it will be a tall order for MiQuale Lewis and James Starks to match their level of play play from 2008 now that they missing their Davis and Willy not to mention significant portions of their offensive lines. Both finished in the top 20 for the nation last year and could be in the running when the season is over. Jarvis and West lost much of to injury and it will be interesting to see what he can do with 12 games....

Which MAC Running back has the best chance of winning the Doak Walker Award

because I missed DaJuane Collins I will have a runoff when this expires

The Doak Walker Award, named after the SMU legend, is presented ever year to the best college running back in the nation. The Doak Walker award is the only in college football that requires its recipient be in good academic standing and on target to graduate within a year of his current class.

Four Mid American Conference running backs are on the list of 33, in the 19 years this award has been given no MAC player has ever won. While it will be a tall order for MiQuale Lewis and James Starks to match their level of play play from 2008 now that they missing their Davis and Willy not to mention significant portions of their offensive lines. Both finished in the top 20 for the nation last year and could be in the running when the season is over. Jarvis and West lost much of to injury and it will be interesting to see what he can do with 12 games.

Last year MiQuale Lewis rushed for 1,701 yards (3rd in the nation) and scored 22 touchdowns (Tied for first). He also caught more than 30 passes for three hundred yards making him one of the most potent threats in all of College football.

James Starks put up monster numbers despite missing nearly three games last year (11 quarters). Before the loss to UConn he was among the best in the league in yards per game. His 1333 yards per game was 17th in the nation and his 16 touchdowns ranks him tied for 13th.

In his Junior year Brandon West cracked a thousand yards (1026) ranking him in 48th nationally. Like Starks West missed significant playing time last year sitting against CMU and playing seeing only limited carries against Ball State. This year with WMU losing some key wideout he may have quite a few more touches.

Eugene Jarvis missed three games last year and never really got back on track after leaving the Delaware game with a 'minor' injury that ended up putting him on the sideline for three games. Even with that he managed more than a thousand total years (801 on the ground, and 273 receiving) and ten total touchdown. If he can stay healthy this year he will almost certainly improve those numbers.

DaJuane Collins (sorry for missing him the first time around) also pent time on the sidelines and never seemed quite the same after the game against Fresno, still with two missed games and some injuries putting up 700 years rushing paired with five touchdowns was good enough to get him on the list. With an experienced and offensive line returning and new leadership over one thousand yards seems very realistic.

The recipient of the 2009 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on ESPN on The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards on Thursday, December 10. The Doak Walker Award Presentation Banquet will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, February 19, 2010.

2009 Doak Walker Award Watch List

Armando Allen (Jr.), Notre Dame
André Anderson (Sr.), Tulane
Reggie Arnold (Sr.), Arkansas State
Baron Batch (Jr.), Texas Tech
Jahvid Best (Jr.), California, Berkeley
LeGarrette Blount (Sr.), Oregon
Chris Brown (Sr.), Oklahoma
Donald Buckram (Jr.), UTEP
John Clay (So.), Wisconsin
DaJuane Collins (Sr.), Toledo
Jeff Demps (So.), Florida
Noel Devine (Jr.), West Virginia
Andre Dixon (Sr.), Connecticut
Shaun Draughn (Jr.), North Carolina
Jonathan Dwyer (Jr.), Georgia Tech
Jamelle Eugene (Sr.), North Carolina State
Darren Evans (So.), Virginia Tech
Damion Fletcher (Sr.), Southern Mississippi
Toby Gerhart (Sr.), Stanford
Cyrus Gray (So.), Texas A&M
Nicolas (Nic) Grigsby (Jr.), Arizona
DuJuan Harris (Jr.), Troy
Roy Helu, Jr. (Jr.), Nebraska
Dan Herron (So.), Ohio State
Kendall Hunter (Jr.), Oklahoma State
Mark Ingram (So.), Alabama
Eugene Jarvis (Sr.), Kent State
MiQuale Lewis (Sr.), Ball State
Darius Marshall (Jr.), Marshall
Brandon Minor (Sr.), Michigan
DeMarco Murray (Jr.), Oklahoma
Daniel Porter (Sr.), Louisiana Tech
Jacquizz Rodgers (So.), Oregon State
Charles Scott (Sr.), LSU
Da’Rel Scott (Jr.), Maryland
Jake Sharp (Sr.), Kansas
Michael Smith (Sr.), Arkansas
C.J. Spiller (Sr.), Clemson
James Starks (Sr.), Buffalo
Curtis Steele (Sr.), Memphis
Phillip Tanner (Sr.), Middle Tennessee State
Vai Taua (Jr.), Nevada
Jordan Todman (So.), Connecticut
Joseph Turner (Sr.), TCU
Brandon West (Sr.), Western Michigan

2009-08-04T18:31:00.000-07:00


Miami	@ Kent

For two teams being picked to finish towards the Bottom of the east division this could be *THE* game that defines their season. Kent had a nice pair of close upsets last year against Temple and Buffalo but their victory over Miami Was the high point of 2008. Miami upset Bowling Green last season before dropping every other conference game when one week later Kent dropped more than fifty points on them.

When: September 26, 2009
Where: Kent, Ohio

All Time: Miami 37-10

Last 20 games

Date	Miami	Kent
10/25/2008	21	54
10/6/2007	20	13
9/16/2006	14	16
9/17/2005	27	10
10/9/2004	47	27
10/25/2003	38	30
9/21/2002	27	20
11/24/2001	20	24
9/23/2000	45	14
10/16/1999	17	10
11/14/1998	56	0
10/11/1997	62	26
8/31/1996	64	6
9/9/1995	39	0
11/12/1994	24	14
11/13/1993	23	14
11/14/1992	31	14
11/16/1991	20	9
11/10/1990	31	10

For a first year coach in a program that's not used to losing this is a must have game. For a 5th year head coach who's team is going the wrong way this game is a potential Job saver. Kent - Miami might not seem like an important game but in so far as it may hint at the the direction these programs are going it deserved to be in the top 30 for the year.

Miami, as per usual, has one of the MAC's most respectable out of conference schedules with North Western, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Boise State (Three of the four made Bowl Games last year). Add to their OOC drawing Western Michigan and Northern Illinois the Red Hawks will face six of 2008's Bowl Teams (Buffalo makes six). There is not a harder schedule to be found in the MAC East if not the entire MAC. Wins are going to be very hard for Mike Haywood to come by in 2009. Short of another MAC program under performing Kent and Toledo look like the only games Miami might be expected to compete in.

On paper this game may look less important to Kent, they have a much more forgiving schedule than the RedHawks including FCS Coastal Carolina and an EMU team that has not been to a bowl game in the lifetime of many College students but in reality its probably even more critical for the program. Even if they pull off an upset or two versus a MAC East rivals like they did last year against Buffalo and Temple if they fail to beat Miami the Flashes are looking at back to back 4-12 seasons (at best). If You're Doug Martin does another 3-5, 4-12 season keep you on the sideline?

Kent does have Eugene Jarvis coming back after a full off seasons worth of rest, for a defense that gave up 147 on the ground last year to a Kent team without their Doak Walker candidate this does not bode well.

If Jarvis stays healthy Kent may be a whole new team this year, all they lacked last year was consistency and a EJ on the field every down may provide that. Doug Martin has to keep his team, and himself, focused and relaxed for this game if things well for Kent (1-2 with a respectable showing for BC) it may be easy to overlook a Miami team that could be coming in on the back of three muggings.

The Talent level of the Red Hawks has not seriously declined so the fall off in performance is going is related to the discipline (on and off the filed), Maturity, and Focus of the players. If Haywood can turn all of that around this game *might* have implications beyond a feel good victory for Haywood or Martin keeping his job.

It's a five hour drive from corner to corner of Ohio but its a Saturday evening game so that should present no problems for RedHawk fans to make the trek. This game gets no coverage on ESPN, CBS, or other networks so chances are if you want to follow it you will either have to listen onthe Radio or drop the eight dollars to mac-sports.com to watch the stream.

#30: Temple at Navy
#29: Morgan State at Akron

2009-08-04T10:47:00.000-07:00


Dan LeFevour	Tim Hiller

For the second time in as Many years Dan Lefevour is on the watch list for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback award, this year he has competition from fellow MAC West Quarterback Tim Hiller.

LeFevour enters the this season first among active FBS players in completions (853), attempts (1,307) and total offense (11,702), second in passing yards (9,467) and fourth in touchdown passes (74). His total offense career yardage ranks 14th in Bowl Subdivision history. He is also a three-time Academic All-MAC (communication major 3.57 gpa)

Tim Hiller set seven Western Michigan passing records in 2008 He ranked tenth in the nation in yardage (3725), 7th in touchdowns (36), and 24th in quarterback rating (143.81). Off the field he earned a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate and is well on his way to his MBA. With all his free time he is very active in his community service and faith-based mission work.

The Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, is presented annually to the adjudged to be the best of all NCAA quarterbacks. Unlike the Johnny Unitas Award the Obrien Award is not restricted to only seniors so these players are recognized as the best quarterbacks among the 120 FBS football programs.

The selection committee will announce the award’s semifinalists Oct. 26, finalists Nov. 23 and winner Dec. 10.

Considering Schedule, Health, Exposure, and Ability which MAC QB has a better chance at winning?

2009 O’Brien Award Watch List
Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Jarrett Brown, West Virginia
Daryll Clark, Penn State
Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame
Aaron Corp, USC
Robert Griffin, Baylor
Matt Grothe, South Florida
Max Hall, BYU
Tim Hiller, Western Michigan
Jordan Jefferson, LSU
Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
Case Keenum, Houston
Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan
Jake Locker, Washington
Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon
Colt McCoy, Texas
Kellen Moore, Boise State
Josh Nesbitt, Georgia Tech
Tony Pike, Cincinnati
Taylor Potts, Texas Tech
Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State
Todd Reesing, Kansas
Kevin Riley, California
Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State
Riley Skinner, Wake Forest
Rusty Smith, Florida Atlantic
Jevan Snead, Mississippi
Tyrod Taylor, Virginia Tech
Tim Tebow, Florida
Adam Weber, Minnesota
Juice Williams, Illinois
Russell Wilson, North Carolina State

2009-08-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

CBS has announced their selections for the 1999-2008 Mid American Conference All-Decade team. Because Marshall departed and UCF used the MAC as a stop over several alumni from schools no longer on the list in the MAC lineup.

Larry English, the Mid American Conference Player of the Decade (per CBS) caps off a group of four Northern Illinois Huskies on the team, the most of any school in the conference. Followed by three from Marshall, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan.

Your 2008 Team:

CB	Dwight Smith	Akron
P	Chris Miller	Ball State
OL	Kory Lichtensteiger	Bowling Green
CB	Janssen Patton	Bowling Green
OL	Joe Staley	Central Michigan
LB	Red Keith	Central Michigan
DL	Dan Bazuin	Central Michigan
K	Andrew Wellock	Eastern Michigan
LB	James Harrison	Kent State
QB	Byron Leftwich	Marshall
WR	Darius Watts	Marshall
DL	Jonathan Goddard	Marshall
LB	Terna Nande	Miami (Ohio)
Ret	Ryne Robinson	Miami (Ohio)
RB	Garrett Wolfe	Northern Illinois
RB	Michael Turner	Northern Illinois
OL	Doug Free	Northern Illinois
DL	Larry English	Northern Illinois
CB	Dion Byrum	Ohio
OL	John Greco	Toledo
OL	Nick Kaczur	Toledo
CB	Atari Bigby	UCF
WR	Greg Jennings	Western Michigan
TE	Tony Scheffler	Western Michigan
DL	Jason Babin	Western Michigan

Buffalo and Temple were the only two teams in the conference who did not place a player among the 25 players.

2009-08-03T18:09:00.000-07:00


Morgan State	@ Akron

Yes I know Morgan State is an FCS school, Yes I know they have never even played Akron, and Yes I know Baltimore and Akron are some distance apart. The game itself ranked as low as any FCS game in the end I decided a MAC house warming party deserves some mention. You can bet the game will be sold out and loud. Given the quality of opponent you can also assume Akron will walk away with a win.

When: September 12th, 2009
Where: Akron, Ohio

All Time: 0-0

If you're an athletics department that has secured sixty one million dollars this is not a bad way to spend it. Thirty three thousand people (counting standing only capacity) will be there as Akron brings in their token division FCS team right off the bat. This game will not answer any questions about this season but it be a nice kickoff to the season for Akron.

The Zips Squandered last season away starting with a four overtime loss in the last game played at the Rubber Bowl and on average they are being picked to finish fifth in the east. A win here probabaly gets them to 1-1 and warms the stadium up for their first real home opponent Indiana. A winning record heading into MAC play is possible for the Zips and with Syracuse a 3-1 out of conference record is quite realistic.

There is not allot to say about Morgan state they are a team well past their glory days but whatever you do don't leave senior Edwin Baptiste open.

Count Down:

#30: Temple at Navy

2009-08-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

The buzz going around is about New Motor City Bowl Sponsorship. With the Auto industry in full retreat the Bowl Committee is shopping around for new sponsorship. Two of the Big Three have been through various stages of Bankruptcy and Ford is enjoying a nice, albeit unused, credit line from Washington change is in the air... And it smells great.

George Perles, A Motor City Bowl Executive told the Free Press.

"We're trying to make a proposal to Little Caesars, We don't know anything, but maybe in a couple of weeks."

I hope they find some dignified name, such things are a rarity now but the 'Motor City Bowl' had a nice ring to it. Maybe something Roman like the Parthenon Bowl, The Forum Bowl, the Colosseum Bowl, or the Gladiator Bowl.

We should know by the Time the season starts what the new name will be, but 2009 might very well be the last Motor City Bowl.

2009-08-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Scout is one of the larger integrated sports publishing companies out there. Scout directly provides more than two million people with content making Scout the most read independent sports publisher in the country. So its no surprise than in July and August folks tend to start to look for their annual preview. They finished up the Mid American Conference last week and I am finally getting around adding them to the 'grading the rankers' series.

Slowly some consensus is starting to build around Buffalo and Central Michigan winning their divisions. Western Michigan continues to be seen paired with CMU as the two legitimate powers in the MAC. Only up to five polls so far and I expect more to roll in so we will see how things work out as the summer rolls on.

CFN (Scout)

	Correlation	2008 Grade
East	58	54
West	78	74
Overall	64	64

The Quad Finally has some company as previews that failed last year. They are also the most off of MAC-Smacks 2009 predictions so I can hope they are as wrong last year as they were this year (disclaimer: I root for Buffalo so I hope that CFN is right on the Bulls).

CFN (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Buffalo
Western Michigan	Bowling Green
Toledo	Akron
Northern Illinois	Miami
Ball State	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Temple
	Kent

Mac Smack (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Ball State	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

Temple finishing 6th in the East kind of seems way off, This year should either be like last year (contender for the east) or better. Temple has enough returning talent and enough quality new blood that they should challenge, if not win, the MAC east division. Nobody has picked them to finish lower than 4th and a 4-8 season with only two conference wins would probably, and rightly so, put Al Golden on the hot seat.

Kent Remains the only team to be picked last in every poll while Miami gets their best look so far being predicted to finish 4th in the East. Outside of Temple and Miami everything shapes up pretty much in line with other publications.

In the west Ball State gets picked to finish 5th, what people are seeing in the Cardinals I don't know. Losing Davis, Hoke and so much of the OL is going to bite them quite a bit but do people honestly think they will fall lower than Toledo and EMU who both had poor seasons last year and are breaking in new coaches?

Scout is one of the few that does not just predict finish but also the records and individual game results. They have Buffalo winning The East with a 6-6,5-3 over Bowling Green by head to head tie breaker. They have Central Beating Buffalo setting up a a similar situation to 2007 when Miami won the East with a 6-6 and was 6-7 after losing the championship game to Central Michigan (thus technically Bowl Ineligible)

Scout did a terrible job picking the MAC last year, the worst yet having Miami finishing 1st and Buffalo finishing last. Not to mention Ball State finishing 4th and Toledo finishing second.

MAC Media 2008

West	East
Western Michigan	Miami
Toledo	Bowling Green
Central Michigan	Ohio
Ball State	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Buffalo

Mid American Conference 2008

West	East
Ball State	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

So far here are the polls I have seen and their scores:

Another seeming low pick for Ball State shakes up the West a bit and and there seems to be a trend in the east with Temple and Bowling Green, who have the benefit of not playing each other, fighting over second place. The tie breakers that might be brought to bear in the east get really ugly With Buffalo, Bowling Green, and Temple let alone the other teams in the east.

West	Score	East	Score
CMU	1.20	Buffalo	1.40
WMU	1.80	Temple	3.00
NIU	3.40	BG	3.20
Toledo	4.20	Ohio	3.80
Ball State	4.60	Akron	4.40
EMU	5.80	Miami	5.60
		Kent	6.80

As always if anyone out there knows of a preview for which I can get the 2009 and 2008 data please give me a shout..

The Criteria for grades is as follows: Correspondence Score:

Penalty Points: For every spot off a team is between predictions a single point is taken off (Example: SN picked Central to win the West, I picked them second so that's minus one per team, or I picked Temple to win the East and SN pick them to finish third that would be minus two).
Total Points: The total points is the maximum number of penalty points for a division, for the 6 team west that is 18 points and for the 7 team east that is 24 points.
Score: The penalty points are taken from the total points (18 for the west, 24 for the east) and then a simple percentage is calculated. For the west there were two penalty points (one for CMU and one for WMU) so that's 16 points out of a possible 18 or 88.5%

Mac-Smack Prediction Grade:

Predict the Conference Champ: 10 points, if your predicted champ finishes second, 5 points.
Predict the Worst Team in the conference 6 points, if your predicted worst finisher places second to last, 3 points.
For each team in the west if you predict correctly their place 14 points, if you are one place off 12 points, two places off 9 points, three places off 5 points, four places off 1 point.
For each team in the east correctly predicting correctly will get you 12, one place off 11, two places off 8 three places off 5, four places off 2, five places off 1.

2009-08-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

For the fourth straight year Carol Owens has coached the United States Under 19 National Team to a a Gold Medal. This time she closed out by defeating Spain 88-71 Sunday at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Bangkok, Thailand.

Owens Team exacted revenge on the Spanish team for their fist round defeat when a late 21-1 run gave the Spanish Nationals a huge lead that the USA was unable to overcome. The Americans would not another team to finish close through the rest of the tournament winning by an average nearly 30 points over China, Canada, Russia, Spain, France, Japan and Mali.

2009-08-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Kickoff is just 30 Days away and what better way to work towards the Mid American Conference 2009 season than by looking at some of the key games of the season. MAC-Smack will be counting down our completely subjective top 30 games for 2009. I considered things like MAC implications, series history, school proximity, and media coverage.

So to get us kicked off it's our football only member Temple visiting Navy


Temple	@ Navy

When: October 31, 2009
Where: Annapolis, Maryland

All Time: Navy 5-4

Date	Temple	Navy
November 1, 2008	27	33
August 31, 2007	19	30
November 18, 2006	6	42
November 19, 2005	17	38
August 30, 2001	45	26
September 2, 2000	17	6
November 8, 1997	17	49
October 19, 1991	21	14
September 17, 1988	12	7

This game is all about redemption. Redemption for Al Golden who did not put pride aside and instead of taking a knee tried to run up the middle. Redemption for Kee-ayre Griffin who put the ball on the ground in the waning minutes of the game after trying to get a meaningless yard. Redemption for Steve Maneri who dropped a 4th down touchdown pass the in overtime. Redemption for Jake Brownell who missed a PAT early in the fourth quarter.

Temple had Navy dead to rights; a knee down, a ball held, a catch in OT, or an extra point makes the Owls 6-6 with a win over a quality out of conference opponent likely getting them to a Bowl game.

While Temple has all the motivation in the world for this game Navy might very well get caught looking ahead to their rival Notre Dame who will host the Midshipmen November 7th. Navy was very lucky to beat the Owls last year and the coaching staff knew it:

"I'm kind of stunned right now,The way [we] won that game is just unbelievable." -- Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo

This is what temple fans had to watch last year

If Temple fails to win the East Division a win over Navy would probably be a feather in their cap when at large Bowl selection begins. As an institution they have a great television market and a road win over decent out of conference opponent will likely be the icing on the cake for any Bowl left looking for a team.

While this game has no implications on the Mid-American Conference there is an amount of recent history between these teams. After being ejected from the Big East temple spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as an Independent program, they have lost to Navy Every year since then. Temple blew a chance to recapture the series lead lead last year and have to be aching to even this series out.

The Schools are only about two hours apart so Temple Fans can have a relaxed breakfast get the carpool together and still make it to Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium with time to Tailgate. If you cant make the drive you'll need Direct TV as the game is being broadcast on CBS College Sports Network (Channel 613).

2009-07-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Ball state went 1-1 in the semi finals of the Indiana Golf Association Match Play Championship. Today Eric Steger won his finals match at The Trophy Club in Lebanon Indiana.

Steger won this fifth match of the tournament, needing extra holes for the first time, defeating Erich Johnston, of Fort Wayne in 21 holes. This is the second IGA tournament the Ball State Junior has won this month.

In ten tournaments he has finished eighth or better eight times. The Match play victory places Sterger 1.25 points behind Erich Johnston in the IGA John K. David Player of the Year standings.

2009-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today, during the Mid American Conference Football media event at ford field the MAC News Media Association preseason poll was released.

In the East Buffalo received 155 points followed by Temple (144), Akron (128), Ohio (116), BGSU (101), Kent State (51) and Miami (33) according to the MAC media members. In the west Central Michigan was picked to win division, capturing 154 points Western Michigan was close behind with 126 points, followed by Northern Illinois (103), Toledo (71), Ball State (58) and Eastern Michigan (34).

For the championship game Central Michigan lead with (18), followed by Western Michigan (4), Buffalo (2), and Temple (2).

MAC News Media Association

	Correlation	2008 Grade
East	67	56
West	89	79
Overall	78	68

Mac Media barely passes last year, they did relatively poorly in both the East and West divisions. They do line up pretty well with other publications in the West for this coming year but like everyone else they have their own take on the East.

MAC Media (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Buffalo
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Ball State	Bowling Green
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

Mac Smack (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Ball State	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

Add another vote for Buffalo to make an appearance to the Championship game so far 60% of the polls I have seen have Buffalo winning (the other 40%, Including MAC Smack have Temple) . Last years Western Champ, Ball State, does better here than in Van Delay's but 5th place still seems low. The Cardinals are a team that I think can finish as high as Third if Kelly Page comes along and the Offensive line plays even marginally well.

I am surprised at how poorly some publicans are placing the Falcons? While a new coach usually means some growing pains Bowling Green only has new leadership because Greg Brandon was foolish enough to call out students after an already heart breaking loss. Outside of 2006 the Falcons have not had a losing season in more than six years finishing First and Second in the East division the past two seasons. They are a healthy Program with a somewhat favorable schedule finishing lower than third would be a very big surprise (BTW the last time the Falcons were picked this low they finished tied for first in the East and went to a Bowl).

Speaking of Bowling Green the MAC Media Poll had them winning last year, one of the few that did not have Miami Winning in 2008. Though not hurt as badly as some by Miami having Kent at 4th cost them some 2008 points.

MAC Media 2008

West	East
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Ball State	Miami
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Toledo	Kent
Eastern Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Ohio
	Akron

Mid American Conference 2008

West	East
Ball State	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

So far here are the polls I have seen for their east and their scores:

	Sporting News	The Quad	VanDelay	MAC Media
2008 Grade East	61	40	57	56
2008 Grade West	96	79	92	79
Correlation East	75	83	50	67
Correlation West	89	100	68	89

MAC Media Shook up the Rankings a bit, another vote for Toledo over Ball State moves the Rockets into fourth and the low pick for the Falcons drops them along into 4th.

West	Score	East	Score
CMU	1.20	Buffalo	1.40
WMU	1.80	Temple	2.20
NIU	3.20	Ohio	3.60
Toledo	4.40	BG	3.80
Ball State	4.60	Akron	4.40
EMU	5.80	Miami	6.20
		Kent	6.60

As always if anyone out there knows of a preview for which I can get the 2009 and 2008 data please give me a shout..

The Criteria for grades is as follows: Correspondence Score:

Penalty Points: For every spot off a team is between predictions a single point is taken off (Example: SN picked Central to win the West, I picked them second so that's minus one per team, or I picked Temple to win the East and SN pick them to finish third that would be minus two).
Total Points: The total points is the maximum number of penalty points for a division, for the 6 team west that is 18 points and for the 7 team east that is 24 points.
Score: The penalty points are taken from the total points (18 for the west, 24 for the east) and then a simple percentage is calculated. For the west there were two penalty points (one for CMU and one for WMU) so that's 16 points out of a possible 18 or 88.5%

Mac-Smack Prediction Grade:

Predict the Conference Champ: 10 points, if your predicted champ finishes second, 5 points.
Predict the Worst Team in the conference 6 points, if your predicted worst finisher places second to last, 3 points.
For each team in the west if you predict correctly their place 14 points, if you are one place off 12 points, two places off 9 points, three places off 5 points, four places off 1 point.
For each team in the east correctly predicting correctly will get you 12, one place off 11, two places off 8 three places off 5, four places off 2, five places off 1.

2009-07-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Eric Sterger's strong summer of Golf continues, after winning the Indiana Golf Association Public Links tournament in June Sterger along with six other Ball State golfers advanced to the round of 32 and then passed two of those golfers to the final eight. In the final eight they are making their presence felt and due to fortunate seeding if Sterger and Ross Cosat continue their strong play they may face eachother for the title

In his quarter final match Steger defeated first seed Seth Fair and Cosat defeated Justing Tereshko to advace to the final four where they will face Chase Wright and Erich Johnston respectivly. Sterger clinched after the 17th round while Cosat requied one tiebreaker round to clich his enterance to the quarterfinals.

The semifinals are just starting so tonight or tommorow I will update as to where the pair ends up.

--

Update: Sterger wins his semi final 2 & 1 Cosat loses 2 & 1...

2009-07-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

The folks over at VanDelay run about one of the best sources of MAC info out there and they have released their 2009 MAC football predictions. Its been awhile since I did a 'grade the rankers' and this is one of the few I can find which is complete for 2009 and for which I can find their 2008 predictions. For those of you who are not familiar with VD's MAC blog what it lacks in appearance it more than makes up for with content and organization.

VanDelay's Pigskin Preview

	Correlation	2008 Grade
East	50	57
West	68	92
Overall	59	75

VanDelay did pretty well last year as pretty much everyone gets a pass on the east because in addition to Miami falling flat any number of plays from any number of games shuffles around the top 4-5 teams.

VanDelay Sports (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Buffalo
Western Michigan	Ohio
Toledo	Akron
Northern Illinois	Temple
Eastern Michigan	Bowling Green
Ball State	Kent
	Miami

Mac Smack (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Ball State	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

The Pigskin preview stands out in several ways:

Most noticeably they have Ball state at the cellar of the MAC West, you have to love Coach English of the Eagles and Toledo's Beckman but to see either of those teams eclipsing Ball State this season is way out of whack with what most people, myself included, were expecting. They were one of the publications calling for Ball state to take it all last year so maybe they have a pulse on the cards but I would be surprised if BSU falls short of 7 wins and amaze if they fall short of 6.

In addition to Ball State falling off they have the Huskies falling below Toledo making them the only preview not to have NIU following after some iteration of Western and Central Michigan.

On the east side they are thus far the only publication that has had Temple lower than 3rd in the east and have Ohio finishing higher than anyone else at second. Looking at temples favorable schedule its hard not to seem them coming in first or second in that division.

Miami cost Van Delays 22 points last year (10 for division crown and 12 for placement) 25 if you count that their terrible season kept Ohio from finishing second to last but they fared about as well as everyone else in 2008.

Pigskin Preview 2008

West	East
Ball State	Miami
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Kent
Toledo	Temple
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Eastern Michigan	Ohio
	Akron

Mid American Conference 2008

West	East
Ball State	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

So far here are the polls I have seen for their east and their scores:

	Sporting News	The Quad	VanDelay
2008 Grade East	61	40	57
2008 Grade West	96	79	92
Correlation East	75	83	50
Correlation West	89	100	68

With four sets of data its also probably worth putting up the average team rankings.. each teams score is their average ranking...

West	Score	East	Score
CMU	1.25	Buffalo	1.50
WMU	1.75	Temple	2.25
NIU	3.25	BG	3.50
Ball State	4.50	Ohio	3.50
Toledo	4.50	Akron	4.75
EMU	5.75	Miami	6.00
		Kent	6.75

If anyone out there knows of a preview for which I can get the 2009 and 2008 data plaease give me a shout..

The Criteria for grades is as follows: Correspondence Score:

Penalty Points: For every spot off a team is between predictions a single point is taken off (Example: SN picked Central to win the West, I picked them second so that's minus one per team, or I picked Temple to win the East and SN pick them to finish third that would be minus two).
Total Points: The total points is the maximum number of penalty points for a division, for the 6 team west that is 18 points and for the 7 team east that is 24 points.
Score: The penalty points are taken from the total points (18 for the west, 24 for the east) and then a simple percentage is calculated. For the west there were two penalty points (one for CMU and one for WMU) so that's 16 points out of a possible 18 or 88.5%

Mac-Smack Prediction Grade:

Predict the Conference Champ: 10 points, if your predicted champ finishes second, 5 points.
Predict the Worst Team in the conference 6 points, if your predicted worst finisher places second to last, 3 points.
For each team in the west if you predict correctly their place 14 points, if you are one place off 12 points, two places off 9 points, three places off 5 points, four places off 1 point.
For each team in the east correctly predicting correctly will get you 12, one place off 11, two places off 8 three places off 5, four places off 2, five places off 1.

2009-07-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

For the second time this month a player from the Mid American conference became the all star MVP in a summer wooden bat league. Last week it was Buffalo's Jacob Rosenbeck in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

This week its Ball State third baseman Kolbrin Vitek bringing home the hardware after the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.

The first team All MAC junior hit a second inning solo home run which adds to a very impressive season with for the struggling Lake Erie Monarchs.

Vitek has been to the plate114, hitting an astounding .386 and contributing to his on base percentage of .450. His team leading four home runs and six triples contribute to a .711 slugging percentage which is nearly double any monarch with more than three at bats.

The numbers are no surprise to Ball State fans who watched him put up an average of .389 and a slugging percent of .736 last season for the Cardinals.

2009-07-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

More mid-american baseball news today, this time its Miami.

Miami: The Red Hawks currently have 19 players in six different wooden bat summer leagues.

Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (7)
Coastal Plain League with (5)
Prospect League with (4)
Cape Cod League (1)
Northwoods League (1)
Chicago Suburban Baseball League (1)

Jon Edgington (.337 with 16 RBI), Brad Gschwind (Pictured left, .282 with 16 RBI) and Kyle Weldon (.278 with 11 RBI's) we all selected to the GLSCL All-Star game.

Matt Rosinski did noit make the All Start game but has been impressive with a team-high-tying 10 appearances for the Stark County Terriers, going 1-1 with a 5.25 ERA and one save in 12.0 innings of work.

Jamaal Hollis in the coastal plains league has a 4.61 ERA in 12 appearances, with his three saves ranking second on the team he has an impressive 26 strikeouts in just 13.2 innings of work. Also in the CPL are Jordan Jankowski, Chase Stewart, Tyler Melling, and Ryan Curl.

Other rehawks in Summer action are r Kyle Donawerth and Samuel Dawes of the Prospect League, Adam Weisenburger in the Northwoods league, Brandon Meister plays in the Chicago Suburban Baseball elague, finally Adam Eaton of the Cape Cod League has yet to see action due to injury.

2009-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

The American Volleyball Coaches Association Academic Award was established in 1992/93 so for a team to have won nine of them in 17 years speakes volumes of that programs attention to academic success. The award is presented to collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

Whats even more impressive than winning it every other year (on average) is the recent performance winning it five out of the past six years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and now 2009)

Seven of the 71 teams receiving the Team Academic Award this season represent the MAC (Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo and Western Michigan).

2009-07-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Before vacation I talked about how Ryan Mace of Kent was owing in the summer leagues, as the weeks wear on more and more MAC players are getting noticed. Buffalo and Western Michigan both have numerous players representing them in various summer all star games.

Buffalo: Third Baseman Jacob Rosenbeck one of 15 UB players seeing action this summer was named Most Valuable Player of the New England Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Game. His two hits and game tying RBI were enough to secure the honor.

In 32 games with the Holyoke Blue Sox his .311 batting average is ties him for second on the team, he is joined on the Blue Sox by fellow Bull Rob Lawler.

The Melville Millionaires of the Western Major Baseball league also have two UB players in Kevin Crumb (second on the team with his 3.83 ERA) and Brian Lattanzi.

Western Michigan: The Bronco's put up four All Star players in their respective leagues. Casey Webber received his first all-star nomination while Chris Lewis, Kyle Galbraith and Brian Stroud repeated as all-stars for the second summer in a row.

The Chillicothe Paints were fortunate to have first year Bronco Casey Webber who ranks third in the Prospect League with a 0.98 ERA (four earned runs in 36.2 innings pitched) and 50 strikeouts. On July 11, Webber fanned 14 batters in a seven-inning, complete game effort.

The Battle Creek Bombers (Northwoods League) Have Chris Lewis who is batting .333 with 35 RBIs (second best in the league for both categories).

2009-07-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Director of Athletics Jeff Compher announced that after months of work he has secured a home and home series with the Kansas Jayhawks. In 2011 the Huskies will travel to Lawerance with the Jayhaks coming to DeKalb in 2012. Its been six years since Northern Illinois has hosted a BCS team and more than 20 since they last played Kansas.

This is just another item in a string of good news for the Huskies as they bounce back to form after a disappointing 2007 season by going to a bowl game in Jerry Kills first season.

Jerry Kill is from Kansas and is looking forward to the series both for the hig profile home game in 2012 and the chance to go play in Kansas in 2011

"Bringing a team like Kansas to DeKalb for a home-and-home series is huge for our program and great for our fans. For me and the guys on our staff, not only do we get to play them here at Huskie Stadium, but when we go to Kansas, we get to go `home' where we were born and raised, where many of us coached before and have a lot of friends and family, so that is a neat aspect of this deal."

Compher has indicated he considers such home and homes with automatic BCS teams in the future a high priority for the Northern Illinois football program.

"It's always a challenge, knowing that we have to schedule our non-conference opponents many years out, but this is a scheduling philosophy (home and home series) that we want to continue over time."

2009-07-10T07:08:00.001-07:00

Taking a vacation with the wife and kids, everyone have a nice week...

2009-07-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

The newly created post of Director of Volleyball Operations was given to ex-player Ashley Vogal yesterday. Colleen Munson was very high on having someone who had been through the Bronco's program take up the responsibility:

"Having gone through our program as a student-athlete for five years, she knows what we do. Now, she will help organize and orchestrate behind the scenes to make the experience of the current student-athlete what her experience was and enable them to just focus on volleyball."

The position touches every aspect of the Volleyball program; community outreach, acting as an alumni liaison, and working with the Marketing Office to promote the team. She will also be a resource for the coaching staff to use in handling their administrative activities like, recruiting, travel arrangements, and organizing Summer Camps.

The position is not just a first job for Vogl it is a chance to give back to a program which she took great joy in being a part of:

"I thought this was a nice way to give back to something that has given me so much. I appreciate the coaching staff for giving me this opportunity to stay involved in the program."

2009-07-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

The TU Football Team received the 2009 Philadelphia Sports Congress Robert P. Levy Community Service Award. The team put in more than one thousand hours of community service last summer, signed up a record six hundred and thirty bone marrow donors, donated their per diem to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Team members routinely visit St. Christopher's Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House, and helped the homeless of Philadelphia though their numberous thanks giving food drives.

Coach Golden could not have been more proud of his squad:

"On behalf of Temple University, our Athletic Department, and our football program, all of our staff and coaches, and ultimately our student-athletes who have chosen a mission outside of oneself, we humbly, humbly accept this award and thank the Wanamaker folks and the Philadelphia Sports Congress"

Later that night Temple was, rightfully, honored at the Philadelphia Phillies' game.

2009-07-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ryan Mace was named the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL) Pitcher of the Week on the back of six shutout Innings, yielding only three hits, for the Canton Terriers as they defeated Southern Ohio.

Mace is absolutely owning GLSCL opposition but the win ofver Southern Ohio was his first decision. In 16 innings of work this season Mace has allowed just six hits in and a .111 opponent batting average.

2009-07-08T06:50:00.001-07:00

(File this under a bit dated but worthy of mention) Ball state Golfers made their presence known at The Indiana Golf Association Public Links tournament. Three Ball state golfers finished in the top 12:

The Tournament was won by Ball State Junior Eric Sterger who completed a six under par second round, including three birdies on the last five holes, to overcome a four stroke deficit to brooks snider. Sterger more recently finished seventh at the Indiana Amateur Golf Championship.

Eric Sterger:

Par	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	3	35	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	5	36	71
Round 1	4	4	4	3	3	4	2	5	3	32	5	3	2	4	4	5	3	4	5	35	67
Round 2	5	4	4	3	4	3	3	4	2	32	4	4	3	4	3	4	3	4	4	33	65

Ball state Senior Ross Cosat who, the back of a strong second round placed seventh.

Ross Cosat:

Par	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	3	35	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	5	36	71
Round 1	5	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	2	34	4	3	3	4	4	4	4	5	5	36	70
Round 2	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	5	3	33	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	4	5	34	67

Finally sophomore Zac Treash finished in twelfth at three under par.

Zac Treash

Par	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	3	35	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	5	36	71
Round 1	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	2	35	4	4	2	4	4	4	3	4	5	34	69
Round 2	5	4	4	3	4	3	3	5	3	34	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	36	70

2009-07-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Northern Illinois named former George Mason Basketball Director of Operations Kent Dernbach to the same post for the Huskies Mens basketball team. Mens coach Richard Patton, now with a complete staff, lauded Dernbach:

"Kent comes to us from a program just a few years removed from making an appearance in the Final Four. Now, with he and coach (Todd) Townsend, we have two guys on staff that can really relate to our players about that process. I'm very pleased with the make-up of my staff heading into next season."

Dernbach will be responsible for the academic progress of athletes, team travel management, supervision of the team managers, assisting in the recruiting process, and maintenance of compliance documents with the NCAA and Mid American Conference.

2009-07-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of the more followed preseason previews has been Paul Myerberg's "The Quad Countdown" Hosted by the New York Times. I have seen updates relating to this list on just about every MAC team board I spend any time reading. They are in depth, lengthy and in general a fun read. They just placed Western Michigan at 56 and this, through process of elimination, lets me look at their 2009 rankings compared to Mac Smack, and the Sporting News.

The Quad Countdown

	Correlation	2008 Grade
East	83	40
West	100	79
Overall	92	60

As with Sporting news I will start by looking at the correlation between The Quads predictions for the Mid American Conference and those posted on MAC Smack

The Quad Countdown (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Ohio
Ball State	Bowling Green
Toledo	Akron
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

Mac Smack (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Ball State	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

The West seems to be an easier pick this year teams breaking in new quarterbacks never do too well in preseason predictions so Ball State is going to drop (in the previews who knows what happens when the game is played). NIU losing so much of its defense drops them down along with the Cardinals leaving WMU and CMU to contend. Right off the bat most publications are going to have the same 1-2, and 3-4 pairings this means the same 5-6 pairing and in those EMU will more often than not be on the bottom.

In the east the high correlation score is due to parity more than anything else. While I disagree with three of the seven teams we are, most one or two off on these instance, this keeps the score high. When the season is played the difference between first and fourth (or even fifth) could be one division loss and some tie breakers.

Paul Myerberg had a very difficult time picking the east last year. He Picked last place Miami first (as did most publications) and third placed Temple to finish last.

The Quad Countdown 2008

West	East
Central Michigan	Miami
Ball State	Ohio
Western Michigan	Bowling Green
Toledo	Buffalo
Eastern Michigan	Kent
Northern Illinois	Akron
	Temple

Mid American Conference 2008

West	East
Ball State	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

So far here are the polls I have seen for their east and their scores:

	Sporting News	The Quad
2008 Grade East	61	40
2008 Grade West	96	79
Correlation East	75	83
Correlation West	89	100

I altered the scoring guidelines as the east has more teams than the west. Obvious I know but I neglected to consider that thus creating a maximum score of 113 in the east division. I went back and fixed the Sporting News post from yesterday. the new guidelines are:

The Criteria for grades is as follows: Correspondence Score:

Penalty Points: For every spot off a team is between predictions a single point is taken off (Example: SN picked Central to win the West, I picked them second so that's minus one per team, or I picked Temple to win the East and SN pick them to finish third that would be minus two).
Total Points: The total points is the maximum number of penalty points for a division, for the 6 team west that is 18 points and for the 7 team east that is 24 points.
Score: The penalty points are taken from the total points (18 for the west, 24 for the east) and then a simple percentage is calculated. For the west there were two penalty points (one for CMU and one for WMU) so that's 16 points out of a possible 18 or 88.5%

Mac-Smack Prediction Grade:

Predict the Conference Champ: 10 points, if your predicted champ finishes second, 5 points.
Predict the Worst Team in the conference 6 points, if your predicted worst finisher places second to last, 3 points.
For each team in the west if you predict correctly their place 14 points, if you are one place off 12 points, two places off 9 points, three places off 5 points, four places off 1 point.
For each team in the east correctly predicting correctly will get you 12, one place off 11, two places off 8 three places off 5, four places off 2, five places off 1.

2009-07-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

NIU has named a replacement for outgoing soccer coach Steve Simmons in the person of Eric Luzzi. Luzzi had been simmons top assistant for the past three seasons and seemed the natural choice to keep the program on its current trajectory.

Eastern Michigan placed two golfers in the top 20 at the Pengrowth Glencoe Invitational with the tandem team of Nicholas Banfield who placed 12th and Brad Larente (Pictured left) who finished in 19th.

Bowling Green Basketball coaches have been stockpiling awards of late LaMonta Stone was ranked 15th by college insider among all basketball assistant coaches and womans head coach Curt Miller (left) was put on the list of the top Mid-Major head coaches in NCAA Division I by the National Women's Basketball Insider website.

2009-07-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Indystar reported last week that Ball State is the target of an Title IX investigation triggered by a complaint filed in march 2008

The investigation itself took place on the Ball State campus a little over a month ago (6/8 - 6/10) and was run by a four member team. The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights dispatched the team to go over program budgets, resource access (e.g. the weight room), and the sizes of locker rooms.

The team gathered data and left with no word on the status or when Ball State will learn the outcome of the investigation.

"They came in and did (the investigation), and then they left," Ball State athletic director Tom Collins said. "We're cooperating with them, and we haven't heard back from them since they left."

The exact nature of the complaint has not been made public but usually when an audit is being performed and the question of general budgets comes up nothing is off limits.

"They were very vague when they were here, so I don't know where (the investigation) is right now," Collins said. "We're cooperating fully. The ball's in their court. We respond to them when they have questions for us, but again, the ball is kind of in their court."

A reasonable assumption is that coaching salaries have something to do with this investigation:

"According to the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) of 2005-06, Ball State University's then nine full-time female coaches made $730,757, with the average salary of $81,195.23. All nine were coaches of women's sports, and the only male that coached a women's sport was then coach Randy Litchfield. The eight male coaches, including Litchfield, made $974,022, with the average salary of $121,752.75. Coaching salaries also include benefits, bonuses paid by the university and related entities and other compensation and benefits paid by a third party, according to the EADA." -- BSU Daily News

2009-07-05T23:01:00.001-07:00

Mid Summer is a time of fireworks, camping, trips, and of course College Football prognostication. From now until mid august there will be an increasing number of people, publications, and organizations telling how they think college football teams will fare.

Rather than just post their predictions I thought I would compare them to mine and dig up their 2008 results and apply an objective grade¹.

Sporting News
	Correlation	2008 Grade
East	75	61
West	89	96
Overall	82	79

Ill start by comparing sporting news 2009 picks to the MS picks published last month along with a correlation score I'll explain below:

Sporting News (2009)

West	East
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Northern Illinois	Temple
Ball State	Ohio
Toledo	Miami
Eastern Michigan	Akron
	Kent

MAC-Smack (2009)

West	East
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Bowling Green
Ball State	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Miami
	Kent

On the West MS and Sporting news have nearly identical outcomes for the 2009 season Agreeing on the placements of all but Central and Western Michigan. October 17th is the big difference as I have CMU beating Western and I have to assume sporting news sees that game going the Bronco's way. In east there is far more discrepancy, I'm going to assume that this will be seen with other publications as their is so much parity. The only two teams not really in the running are Miami and Kent, and even one of them winning the division would not be Earth Shattering.

So how did sporting news do in 2008? not too shabby in the west but like many Miami and parity burned them in the east.

Sporting News 2008

West	East
Ball State	Miami
Central Michigan	Temple
Western Michigan	Bowling Green
Toledo	Buffalo
Northern Illinois	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Akron
	Kent

Mid American Conference 2008

West	East
Ball State	Buffalo
Central Michigan	Bowling Green
Western Michigan	Temple
Northern Illinois	Akron
Toledo	Ohio
Eastern Michigan	Kent
	Miami

In the west NIU surprised allot of people last year and Toledo fell way short of expectations but other than that sporting news nailed the division getting a Mac-Smack prediction score of 95, in the east they did pretty poorly (even beyond Miami they were way off on Buffalo and Akron) getting a 67.

The Criteria for grades is as follows: Correspondence Score:

Penalty Points: For every spot off a team is between predictions a single point is taken off (Example: SN picked Central to win the West, I picked them second so that's minus one per team, or I picked Temple to win the East and SN pick them to finish third that would be minus two).
Total Points: The total points is the maximum number of penalty points for a division, for the 6 team west that is 18 points and for the 7 team east that is 24 points.
Score: The penalty points are taken from the total points (18 for the west, 24 for the east) and then a simple percentage is calculated. For the west there were two penalty points (one for CMU and one for WMU) so that's 16 points out of a possible 18 or 88.5%

Mac-Smack Prediction Grade:

Predict the Conference Champ: 10 points, if your predicted champ finishes second, 5 points.
Predict the Worst Team in the conference 6 points, if your predicted worst finisher places second to last, 3 points.
For each team in the west if you predict correctly their place 14 points, if you are one place off 12 points, two places off 9 points, three places off 5 points, four places off 1 point. For each team in the east correctly guessing will get you 12, one place off 11, two places off 8 three places off 5 four places off 2, five places off 1.

2009-07-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Time off from fun and games to focus on something more important...

2009-07-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

Rita Arndt-Molis has resigned her position as the Women's Track and Field/Cross Country with Miami University effective July 31. Named the position last August there is no word on the reasons for her resignation. In her first year she lead the Miami Women's Cross Country team to their first ever MAC championship and was awarded the conferences coach of the year award. The redhawks solid season landed many high water marks for both team and individules.

Two runners were named first-team all-league with a top-seven placing
Three runners earned second-team honors
Miami was ranked as high as fourth in the Great Lakes Region during the season and finished sixth at the NCAA Regional competition.
The RedHawks also stood as high as 35th in the national rankings.

The redhaws women indoor track team also had an impressive season finishing tied for third, sending five runners for the NCAA Mideast Regional, and two others earned a place in the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships. Before coming to Miami after four years at Michigan State the program garnered top-15 NCAA Championship finishes in cross country in 2007 (5th), 2006 (12th) and 2004 (14th) with the women’s team earning national championship meet appearances from 2004-07 and the men’s team earning an NCAA Championship berth in 2006. Under Arndt-Molis, Michigan State athletes turned in eight All-America, 23 NCAA Great Lakes All-Region and 21 All-Big Ten performances.

2009-07-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

7/9: Which Defense will be tops in the MAC for 2009
7/9: Who will win the MAC West
7/7: When Is it OK to Recruit
8/4: LeFevour or Hiller for the Obrian
8/5: Doak Walker Award, Who can win

When is it OK to recruit HS football players

Considering Schedule, Health, Exposure, and Ability which MAC QB has a better chance at winning

Which MAC Running back has the best chance of winning the Doak Walker Award

Sporting News

08 Grade East

08 Grade West

Correlation East

Correlation West