MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

After consecutive games where the offense looked like a 3-6 team rather than a 6-3 team’s offense, the Ohio Bobcats started strong Tuesday night @ Buffalo. The Bulls, a team that looks a lot like the 2008 Bobcats, were able to hold Ohio close and tie the game in the 4th quarter at 24-24, but a late FG and defensive INT sealed the road win for the Bobcats.

The win means Ohio is now 5-1 in MAC play, just 1/2 game behind East Division leader Temple (5-0).  The win also mean the Bobcats are very likely to be heading to a bowl game this postseason; their 2nd bowl appearance in 4 years after a 34-year drought that dated back to 1968. The loss for Buffalo guarantees that UB will not be playing a postseason game this season.

The Bobcats have a home game against Northern Illinois a week from Saturday followed by a home game against Temple to close the season on Black Friday. If they win out they head to the MAC Championship, however a loss to NIU means Ohio will need Temple to slip up as well before the two meet. Either way, Ohio controls their own destiny, something any team would ask for this time of year.

The current MAC bowl picture looks great for CMU, Temple and Ohio with Northern Illinois needing another win to better-position themselves. Bowling Green’s schedule may line up perfectly and Kent State controls their own destiny while WMU and Toledo need minor miracles to play in bowl games in 2009-2010. Akron, Buffalo, Miami, Ball State and EMU are all eliminated from bowl eligibility this season.

MAC football continues this week with Toledo @ Central Michigan on Wednesday night, Bowling Green @ Miami and Ball State @ Northern Illinois on Thursday night, Temple @ Akron on Friday night and WMU @ EMU on Saturday.

In the quest to advance to the MAC Championship Game the Ohio Bobcats and Kent State Golden Flashes are keeping the pressure on Temple in what is turning out to be a great race. Ohio overcame a sluggish offense to score a 4th quarter TD and pull away with a win @ Ball State and improve to 6-3 and 4-1 in MAC play. Meanwhile, Kent State showed that they are indeed for real with a impressive win at home over Western Michigan. With Temple playing out of conference for the second time in three weeks, the Owls proved they have taken the next steps as a program in picking up win #6. Here is a look at the MAC East teams still in contention:

• Temple (6-2, 4-0 MAC) - The Owls have Miami and Kent State at home and road games @ Akron and a season finale @ Ohio which could be the deciding game in the MAC East race.
• Kent State (5-4, 4-1 MAC) - With wins over Ohio and WMU in consecutive weeks, the Golden Flashes have proven they are for real and could very well win the MAC East this season. Remaining games for Kent State include @ Akron and @ Temple before a home matchup with Buffalo to finish the regular season.
• Ohio (6-3, 4-1 MAC) - Ohio looked bad on offense in their 20-17 win at Ball State, but they got the much-needed win. Looking for just their second bowl berth since 1968, the Bobcats are off until Tuesday, November 10th when they play @ Buffalo. Ohio closes the regular season with home games against Northern Illinois and Temple.
• Bowling Green (3-5, 2-2 MAC) - BG is still in the race but does not face Temple this season and faces a potential elimination game tomorrow night @ Buffalo. While BG could very well run the table in their final three games (@ Miami, vs Akron, vs Toledo), having 3 losses including to Ohio and Buffalo would put the Falcons in a tough spot.
• Buffalo (3-5, 1-3 MAC) - Last week I didn’t even include the Bulls, but a closer look at UB’s remaining schedule is the reason they are still in the picture. Buffalo needs a 4-0 finish to end 5-3 in conference play and have a lot of help for a share of the MAC East title and that starts on Tuesday night vs Bowling Green. Remaining for UB include vs BG, vs Ohio, @ Miami and @ Kent State.

In the MAC West, Northern Illinois is the lone contender for CMU’s crown and the Huskies will likely have to keep winning to create a showdown on November 27 @ Central Michigan. CMU has a home game with Toledo and @ Ball State while NIU has EMU and Ball State before @ Ohio and the big game with CMU to end the regular season.

Coming into today’s games, the MAC football standings did not give us enough data to really see who was in the race for the MAC East and West Division titles. While schedules seemed to line up well for teams like Central Michigan, Ohio and Temple in their respective divisions, we needed to see another week of data to truly draw more informed assumptions.

With Week #6 now behind us and 2-3 conference games in the books for every MAC team, the MAC West championship will once again have to go through the Central Michigan Chippewas. With their 56-8 drubbing of Eastern Michigan today, CMU improved to 3-0 in MAC play. We will know more, much more, about the Chippewas in two weeks as they travel to Western Michigan and Bowling Green in the next two weeks and still have to worry about Northern Illinois, the lone other MAC West team without a loss in conference play. NIU, meanwhile, had a week off after crushing WMU last week. The Huskies are at Toledo next weekend and have @ Ohio and @ CMU in the final two weeks of the season.

The MAC East race could be building up to the last week of the season when Ohio hosts Temple. The Bobcats are now 2-0 in MAC play with road wins @ BG and @ Akron while Temple has defeated Buffalo in Week 3 and has taken care of the scheduling break in beting EMU and Ball State in the past two weeks. With two of the next three games being out of conference, the October 24 game @ Toledo could be huge for the Owls considering they have not looked good against supposedly lesser teams including a loss to Division I-AA (FCS) Villanova. Ohio, meanwhile, could very well be 5-0 in MAC play headed into a tough final three games of the season. With Miami and Kent State at home and Ball State on the road, the Bobcats final three will be much tougher on paper @ Buffalo and at home versus NIU and Temple in the final weeks of the season.

Midseason MAC Predictions: Central Michigan will win the MAC West and Ohio will edge Temple for the MAC East title. CMU tops Ohio in the MAC Championship and CMU, Ohio, NIU and WMU will be bowl eligible. Temple’s key to bowl eligibility in 2009 will be wins versus both Army and Navy. A loss in either makes them 1-3 out of the conference needing no worse than 6-2 to have a serious shot at a bowl game, assuming they do not win the MAC East.