ncaa football: september 15th -- september 17th ....

[gman2]

perfect mac record over the first two weeks, but this saturday slate is a yawner. i think the conference is gearing up for next few weeks, when bg and toledo head to boise and fresno for weekday games :scared

weekly notes:

dion byrum (ohio) has scored 3 touchdowns in the bobcats' first two games. the rest of the ohio offense has scored 1 touchdown in the bobcats' first two games. the problem? byrum is a cornerback and scored those touchdowns on defense (interception returns of 38 and 85 yards, and a fumble return of 62 yards) ... ohio had just 208 yards of total offense against pittsburgh, though they managed to pull the 16-10 upset ... austen everson (ohio) is just 23/49 in the first two games with no touchdowns and one interception ... akron played purdue much tougher than expected in the season opener, losing by a fairly respectable 49-24 as 30+ underdogs. the zips put up 385 yards of offense against a boilers' defense that is supposed to be one of the best in the nation ... after transferring from pitt, luke getsy (akron) went 25/44 for 283 yards and two touchdowns in his first start for the zips ... jason montgomery (akron) caught 5 passes for 154 yards and scored all 3 of akron's touchdowns ... bowling green scored 40 points and omar jacobs threw for 428 yards and 5 touchdowns against ball state, but there is no way greg brandonn can be happy with the falcons effort against a completely overmatched ball state team. bgsu allowed a pathetic ball state offense to score 31 points and put up 454 yards of total offense ... through two weeks of the season, omar jacobs has put up nintendo-like passing numbers. hes 57/94 for 886 yards and 10 touchdowns ... on the flip side, through two weeks of the season, the falcons defense has allowed 958 yards of offense and 87 points. the falcons next game? that would be on the road in boise state next tuesday. get some backup light bulbs for the scoreboard ready ... joey lynch (ball state) went 22/31 for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns against bowling green, though it was his interception that ultimately cost bsu their chance at an upset. the cardinals trailed just 34-31 with 6:00 left, but lynch was intercepted at midfield by antonio smith, who returned it 47-yards for a touchdown ... joe timchenko (bgsu) missed two extra points last weekend, which cant sit well with the bgsu coaches after they had become accustomed to consistency in the kicking game over the last 4 years with shaun suisham ... stewart sampsel (buffalo) has gone just 10/35 for 70 yards in the bulls' first two games ... the buffalo offense has generated just 260 yards of offense and a grand total of 12 first downs in the first two weeks, so its no surprise that the defense has simply worn down from being on the field so long. the bulls defense is capable of keeping them in games, but the offense has been a nightmare ... the buffalo defense has been strong in the first two quarters of both games, allowing just 10 total points ... buffalo finally gave a look to true freshman drew willy in the 2nd half of the syracuse game and he gave the bulls a much-needed spark, if only for a few series. the offense doesnt have a lot of talent at the skill positions, but willy is a building block for the future and if hofher was smart, he'd get the kid some on-the-job experience, even if he takes some lumps. sampsel has been a train wreck, and juco-transfer tony paoli is not the answer either. willy was 5/9 for 54 yards and could have been 7/9 had two bulls not dropped catchable passes. his mobility would help the bulls offense as well ... central michigan pulled off a 38-37 upset in oxford against miami as 22-point underdogs ... kent smith (cmich) had a monster day, rushing 16 times for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns, while throwing for 356 yards and 2 more touchdowns ... damien linson (cmich) had 5 catches for 204 yards ... brandon murphy (miami) gave some life to a miami running game that lost two solid backs to graduation. murphy rushed 22 times for 98 yards ... eastern michigan got back on track with a 31-10 home win against louisiana-lafayette. though the high-powered emu offense still hasnt had a breakout game (316 and 424 yards of offense in two games -- somewhat modest by emu standards) qb matt bohnet has been very efficient, going 48/69 for 430 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception ... kent state has serious issues with their running game. against michigan state, the running backs had less than 30 combined yards, and against 1-AA southeast missouri state, the backs gained just 32 combined yards ... garrett wolfe (northern illinois) followed up a big day at michigan in week one with a monster day at northwestern on saturday. he had 34 carries for 245 yards and 3 touchdowns against the wildcats ... the huskies had 539 yards of offense and scored 38 points, but they gave up 502 and 39 points to northwestern ... toledo led 42-6 early in the third quarter against western michigan before putting it on cruise control in their 56-23 win ... quarterback bruce gradkowski (toledo) was 25/35 for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns. he connected on 17 of his first 21 throws ... the rockets gained 649 yards of offense against wmu last year in kalamzaoo. on saturday, they put up 612 ... ryan cubit (wmich) returned from injury and was very rusty at first but settled in nicely and finished 20/33 for 215 yards and a touchdown ... wide receiver greg jennings (wmich) had a monster game against virginia in the season opener (16 catches for 156 yards) and had another good game at toledo, although his numbers were more down to earth, as he had 8 catches for 72 yards ... toledo held a 612-299 edge in total offense against western michigan ... redshirt freshman richard davis (toledo) had another solid game, following up his 100-yd performance in week 1 with a 9 carries for 69 yards against western michigan. he split duty with trinity dawson and quinton broussard.

will post play later

 

[deportes]

gman2, looked at betroyal for your site. couldn't find anything with gman2. what's your email?

 

[taoist]

gman, i love your work in the mac, but between you and fletcher, i'm going to go blind....


...if you would just add some paragraph breaks in there, it would be soooooooo much better and easier on the eyes, buddy.


...thanks again for all that you do around here.

 

[gman2]

taoist:

funny thing about that is that i intended to put paragraph breaks between the mac east and mac west notes. i did it last week, but as i put it together for this week, i did it all out of order... so i didnt know where to logically put the break. sorry, lol. youre right, it might be a little tough on the eyes.

deportes:

cant stress it enough. im not allowed to post email or anything else about that. its there. otherwise, youll have to do a search. thats all i can say. otherwise, it becomes a touchy issue and i dont want that. just want these threads to remain clean and respect the rules here.

 

[vyrus858]

Gman-

What do you think about Central Mich defense. I know that Penn State had some trouble with offense last year and 22 pts is a lot of chalk to lay. I am confindant in the Penn Defense. What do you think about that game?

 

[gman2]

vyrus:

without question, the defense is the chips' weak link. their offense has the potential to be very good, and they should be able to score with anybody once mac plays gets into full swing. but if theyre going to make a move toward the top of the mac west, they need the defense to improve... period. for about 3 quarters, they were very good against indiana. but then couldnt get consistent stops in the fourth quarter. against miami, they gave up a lot of yards and a lot of points. for now, cmu is gonna win with offense until the D comes around. im still high on cmich as a team, but this is a really difficult game for them coming up at penn state. it wouldnt shock me to see them stay close, because their offense is capable of scoring points. but it really wouldnt be a huge surprise if they were smashed either.

 

[Ratslla]

Thanks and good luck!

 

[mw]

Yeah, thanks - look forward to the plays.

 

[gman2]

miami,ohio (-5.5) over kent state

its the middle of september, and its already a must-win for miami if they want to have any chance of keeping pace with bowling green in the mac east. the shane montgomery era has gotten off to a miserable start, but the redhawks can take a lot of positives, at least offensively, from their 38-37 loss to central michigan. make no mistake -- that loss to cmu was a bad loss considering the chalk miami was laying. but MU put up 524 yards of offense and josh betts threw for 395 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception. brandon murphy had a solid game running the ball (22 for 98), which is big for the redhawks after they lost smith and clemens to graduation. and both ryne robinson and martin nance had solid performances last week, combining for 15 catches and 256 yards.

on the kent state side, the flashes have to be very concerned with their non-existent running game. they are so one-dimensional right now its not even funny. they're still going running-back-by-committee and the backs have rushed for a grand total of 63 yards on 24 carries in 2 games this year -- just 2.6 yards per carry. last week they played 1-AA southeast missouri state and the running backs had 14 carries for 30 yards. the lack of running game is putting a lot of pressure on machen at quarterback. this kid has the potential to be really good, but he's still learning the system and he's been forced to pass on almost every down because the flashes cant run the ball. in two games, he's thrown the ball 94 times. although kent wants to be aggressive, they certainly dont want to be dropping back and passing every down, but thats what theyve been forced to do because of their weak running game.
right now, the kent state offense is going through some growing pains. they only generated 14 first downs and 195 yards of total offense against against southeast missouri state. sure they won 33-12, but theres no way kent coach doug martin can feel good about the way the flashes have played up to this point. if the flashes cant score, they cant keep up with miami... its that simple.

because the kent offense isnt able to sustain drives (mainly due to their lack of running game), the defense is getting worn down. both michigan state and semo held solid edges in time of possession against kent, and msu/semo have combined to run 185 offensive plays from scrimmage against the flashes. to some, these might be esoteric stats, but these are numbers that have a direct impact on the outcome of game. obviously, stats can be misleading sometimes, but theres nothing misleading about these glaring facts from the 1st two weeks:

*kent cant run the ball.
* ....which has put the defense on the field for extended stretches at a time
* .... and has also forced machen to throw the ball way too much.

and although miami is 0-2, theyve got the weapons on offense to make for a long day for the flashes. and its very lilkely kent could be in the same predicament this week. miami is tough against the run -- they were #1 in the mac last year, allowing just 77 yds a game. they struggled last week with kent smith's scrambling, but held ontario sneed well in check, save for one play. miami wont have to worry about a mobile quarterback because machen is a pure pocket passer. hes big and has a strong arm, but when he drops back, hes looking to pass and pass only. so you can just about rule out any rushing yards for kent this week.

miami has had their own problems on defense, but the personnel they have on that side of the ball is solid. you hate to wager on the "its only a matter of time" theory, but they do have the best linebacking corps in the conference and a plethora of returning starters and experience on that side of the ball. montgomery talked about how disappointed he was with the defense last week and how they didnt play 'miami defense'. obviously every team wants to play 'their' defense, but at the same time, i think he recognizes the standard that has been set in recent years and miami needs to get this turned around in a hurry.

it starts saturday in kent.
miami has won 15 of the last 16 in this series and any type of legitimate struggle with kent would be cause for major concern in oxford. this team has too much experience to lay another egg. said it before the season and ill say it again -- kent will be a good team once november rolls around. but they are going to suffer some growing pains in september and october because they dont have a lot of experience on offense and they are still waiting for a running back to emerge (and its looking more and more like he's not on the roster right now). perhaps in november, we'll be talking about how machen will be one of the best mac quarterbacks in 2006. but lots of question marks surround kent right now in 2005.

 

[pt1gard]

sold for two units! thanx gman2

 

[Axle]

Great job gman2...2nd one easier on the eyes...

 

[ScreaminPain]

Lotta time went into those posts. Thanx.

P.S.-you would make e.e.cummings proud

 

[bassmaster007]

great read gman2 i a,m going to coattail as always best to you

 

[Smitty]

gman, good stuff as always.

so... when you woke up this morning, did you say to yourself... "i wonder if i'll get any e.e. cummings references today?"

 

[gman2]

screaminpain -- there are worse men than the venerable e.e.cummings to be compared with, lol.

just a random thought on the toledo game this weekend, as it appears the rockets are very much the trendy pick to be the next team to annihilate temple. with toledo's weapons on offense, it could very well happen. but just worth noting that toledo does have bigger fish to fry -- theyve got a national tv date with fresno state up next before starting mac play. having said that, this is a big week for gradkowski. in this game, he will break two of toledo's all-time passing records (he needs just 39 yards and 8 completions to break each record). factor in that its a homecoming of sorts for him (though his native pittsburgh is a bit more than a stones throw away from philly, but nonethless, hes getting a chance to play in PA) and its likely that toledo will look to throw an early haymaker, get gradkowski the record, and then cruise from there. but 28 points is just a shitload. have a feeling that the cover will be decided by backup qb cochran in the 2nd half. one thing that makes toledo such a "bettable" team in the chalk role is that theyre so deep at running back that even when they grind it out late in the game on the ground, they still move the ball effectively. hell, last week their 3rd best running back (broussard) broke one for a 46-yd score midway through the 4th to push their lead from 49-23 to 56-23. also worth noting that temple makes their move to the mac next year and (you would think) theyd do everything they can to avoid being smashed at home by a mac team. but toledo is pretty damn good and the owls might just be helpless when it comes to stopping UT. tough call. just think 28 points of road chalk is tough to lay, even though toledo could drop 50 on them.

 

[Danny Noonan]

Maybe a first half play? Toledo does tend to jump out of the gates quickly.

 

[oriole]

Curious about your opinion on the Ohio/V-Tech game. If you have a minute I would appreciate it...

 

[gman2]

oriole:

if ohio scores more than 7 points, ill be very surprised. they have one offensive touchdown in two games this year. i think what makes this game tricky is that virginia tech is a relatively vanilla offensive team, and ohio has an above-average defense, so the hokies probably wont have a lot of quick strikes. but the ohio offense is really bad, and youre gonna see a lot of 3-and-outs from the bobcats. vtech has georgia tech on deck, so a bit of a lookahead. but ohio is gonna have major problems moving the ball on vtech, so any bet on this game comes down to hokies willingness to run it up.

 

[gman2]

a few other scattered mac tidbits:

eastern michigan running back pierre walker (2nd on the depth chart) was hurt against la-lafayette and will likely miss the rest of the season. the eagles are deep at running back, so thats not a huge problem. but whats most notable is that anthony sherrell is still not seeing the field. hes rushed for more than 2000 yards over the last 2 seasons but theres obviously something going on between sherrell and the coaching staff. he was close to transferring in the offense (strange considering he only has one year of eligibility left) and hes buried on the depth chart behind two true freshmen.

over the next few weeks, toledo will be working two big pieces back into their offense (as if they need more weapons). running back scooter mcdougle (who was last seen shredding miami's defense in the mac title game) got a few snaps on special teams to re-acquaint himself with live action (he missed the motor city bowl due to injury and spent the offseason recovering). and tight end andrew clarke, who didnt play at all in 2004 because of a hip injury, is working his way back and will start to see some action. he was a first-team all-mac tight end in '03.

ball state is still going to be short handed because of suspensions due to that whole textbook fiasco before the season opener. seven more players are going to miss the game against auburn this weekend, though none of the seven are starters. the had 13 miss the iowa game, 8 miss the bowling green game, 7 for the auburn game on saturday and then five more against western michigan and boston college. but the guys that will miss from here on out are not impact guys, though it will hurt depth obviously

 

[OnAWinner]

best of luck 2 you this weekend gman