mac saturday: week 4 .....

[gman2]

mcneese state (+24) over toledo
temple (+31) over western michigan

cochran hasnt practiced all week for toledo. if he plays, he's unlikely to be 100%. rockets off their exhilarating win over kansas and would be wise not to overlook mcneese, who is a top-15 1-AA team. they were within 4 of south florida on the road heading into the 4th quarter of their season opener. toledo has a road trip to pitt up next. this could be a dangerous game for them if theyre not careful. rockets also had some defenders banged up against kansas last thursday. just saw a funny stat -- mcneese 2-0 in the all-time series against toledo. lmao. means nothing considering gms were in '80 and '88. but cowboys might be catching UT at a great time.

if temple doesnt cover here, theres no reason to think theyll cover all season. wmu gets cubit back at qb but it still remains to be seen how his hand will hold up in game action after a severe laceration. any sign of discomfort and you gotta think the broncs will put peregrin at qb to save cubit for mac play. wmu also going to be without their leader on defense (delmas) tonight. temple took wmu to the wire and lost 19-16 last year in philly. no doubt the owls are a team with a fragile psyche, but if they cant stay within 30 of wmu tonight (or at least keep it within 35 where theyre playing for a backdoor chance), then they dont deserve to be admitted to the mac next year. wmu has been a dog in all three games this year. now theyre a 30+ pt favorite? totally different mindset. temple is ugly, but they gotta find a way to hang this number.

 

[AR182]

g,

any opinion on the akron game ?

thanks...

 

[gman2]

north texas is bad news, but i would never trust akron as a DD non-conference chalk. the program has never fared well in this role - doesnt matter if it was owens or now brookhart at coach. in fact, you dont have to look too far back to see an outright loss to army last year in the rubber bowl in a similar spot. interesting to note that game was played in a steady rain and theres a chance tonights game could have the same conditions. deja vu? im not sure i could imagine north texas winning outright, but anyone who remembers last years akron/army game certainly couldnt imagine army winning outright. i believe someone already pointed out the unique scheduling for akron. theyve played 3 on the road already and have two more away from home (though one is crosstown at kent) after this one. so 5 of their first 6 gms this year are going to be on the road. you would think brookhart has them ready to take advantage of a home game since they dont have a lot of them to start the season. still, akron (-17) is something i want absolutely no part of. id go so far as to say this is north texas or nothin. but thats my humble opinion.

 

[vinnie]

hey g where did you get mcneese state can't find a line

 

[gman2]

vinnie:
5dimes has them in their ncaa extra section. pinnacle has them in their ncaa added section.

ar:
keep in mind, i think temple is worth a play today .... so i might not exactly be working with a lucid mind.

 

[vinnie]

can't pull the trigger I that one even with your blessings

good luck bud

 

[johnnyb.]

what about buffalo? can't get anymore value than that... for pizza money, gonna give temple a shot!

 

[AR182]

thanks for getting back to me on the akron game.

if the weather doesn't hamper the game i see akron winning this by at least 24 points....the problem is the weather...don't know if it will have winds & rain during the game....i know you live in the ohio area...do you live near akron ?

and as far as temple is concerned..i don't think it's as crazy as some might think.....i was considering taking them but thought the under was a better play.

thanks & good luck.

 

[gman2]

what about buffalo? can't get anymore value than that... for pizza money, gonna give temple a shot!

if nothing else, turner gill has them playing hard and thats something you couldnt always say for the prior regime. the bulls at least look like a competitive 1-A team now. of course theyre outclassed bigtime by auburn. but 35-3 or 38-7 wouldnt be a huge shocker. only thing that would make me gunshy is that garrett wolfe abused buffalo's run defense last week. if wolfe had played the 4th quarter, he would have topped 300 yds himself.

 

[Spalding]

GMAN,

You have any more insight for me on Ball State, I have talked to a few people who are mystified by the line that came out against NDSU. NDSU was -4and now the line has moved all the way to Ball State -4.5, which I think is more like it.

Do they win this game against a D1-AA team or can they just as easily lose it, in your opinion?

Spalding

 

[thisisbad]

gman you playin bg second half?

 

[gman2]

thisisbad:

bg 1h was very weird. kent scores on the first play from scrimmage on a double reverse. then they go for it on 4th and 9 in the red zone because their field goal kicking is so atrocious. they convert and get a touchdown. bowling green moving the ball but they have equally poor special teams that hurt them as well (18 yd punt to set up kents third score).

neither team looks particularly good. could easily see bg coming back to win. or see kent state maintain this 18 pt lead. hate to be so indecisiive but after watching this first half, it makes it tougher to figure out both of these teams. kent will prob be ultra conservative in the 2h in an effort to pull off another big road win. bg wont lay down. but both teams have had moments where they look horrible. and vice versa.

 

[gman2]

spalding-
i was talking to falcon about the ball state line yesterday. i really think 5dimes just made an error by making ndsu the chalk. i think they meant to make bsu the 4.5 or 5 pt favorite. no other reason makes sense, esp since game is in muncie. one thing working against bsu is the emotional letdown from being so geared up to play in-state games against purdue and indy in back to back weeks. but gotta think they have enough to take care of nodak. as far as bsu as a team. theyre ok. nothing special. lynch is a gamer at qb but they have him splitting time with a freshman. im not all that sure why. davis will have his time at qb. this should be lynch's team. theyre a below avg mac team that plays hard but isnt good.

 

[Spalding]

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking the same thing about the mistake on the original line. It will be interesting to see if NDSU can hang with them since they gave Indiana and Purdue pretty good games.

 

[GOLFSTUD]

Great call on the Buff Score 38-7

Great call on the Buff Score 38-7

Nice call Gman
I had buffalo in this one before I read your thread and was not surprised to see you nailed the score on your prediction.

For the Akron game.
I live just west of Akron and the weather currently is good. Not much rain today and clear skies right now. I like Akron tonight to get out to an early lead and dominate the entire game.
I took
Akron in Q1, H1 and game.
Good Luck