MAC Football 2008: West seems clear while East quite cloudy
Sunday, October 12th, 2008One look at the MAC football standings tells me a lot at first glance. The MAC West appears to be playing out as expected while th MAC East is wide open. The MAC Media members voted Central Michigan, Ball State and Western Michigan to take the top three spots in the MAC West in 2008, and these teams have not disappointed. Ball State has started hot at 7-0 overall, 3-0 in the MAC while Western Michigan’s 6-1 start to the season (4-0 MAC) has been a slight surprise. Meanwhile, two-time defending MAC Champion Central Michigan is 4-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play. While NIU has looked solid at 3-3 overall and 2-1 in MAC play, it’s hard to think that the Huskies can contend with these three talented squads.
Over in the East, basically everyone is in the race and controls their own destiny. The lone team with just one MAC loss is Bowling Green at 1-1 in the MAC and 2-3 overall. Akron, Buffalo & Ohio are all 1-2 in MAC play and Miami also has two MAC losses at 0-2 inside the Mid-American Conference. Temple looked like a title and bowl contender in 2008, but their 1-3 MAC start includes a loss @ Buffalo on a Hail Mary pass. Kent State appears to be the only team in the East who can be written off after losses to both Ohio and Akron in the past two weeks and a 0-3 MAC record.