mac notes:
if youre a healthy mac quarterback, avoid being careless with mirrors and walking anywhere near ladders. all kinds of injuries to guys taking the snaps. toledo's gradkowski missed the fresno game with a concussion. buffalo's sampsel is out indefinitely and the bulls are now going with true freshman drew willy. western michigan finally strings together some wins, and they lose cubit to a career-ending injury that puts their season in the hands of robbie haas. some other significant injuries at other programs as well
bowling green is a bit dinged up at running back. pj pope was hurt against wisconsin, missed the ball state game, came back healthy against boise, tweaked his ankle again, but did practice this week and should play vs temple. bj lane was hurt in the boise game and has missed practice for most of the week as well. the falcons have missed 3 extra points this year, which doesnt sit well with gregg brandon. timchenko missed two against ball state and fry missed his lone attempt at boise. but timchenko will likely miss the temple game with a minor quad injury.
akron gave up 536 yards to northern illinois last weekend, but did an outstanding job containing garrett wolfe, holding him to 52 yards on 21 carries. horvath killed them through the air though, going 39/52 for 486 yards. luke getsy continues to put up big numbers for the zips. 283 yards passing against purdue, 319 against middle tennessee, and 406 against northern illinois (with five touchdowns). only thing that needs work is his accuracy -- only 68/126 for 54% on the season. but theres no doubt hes exceeded expectations to this point.
ohio was brutal on offense in the first three weeks (albeit against northwestern, pittsburgh, and virginia tech) but busted out with 518 yards of total offense last week (373 on the ground) vs. kent. austen everson actually had a nice game at quarterback too. he repeatedly missed open receivers in the first few weeks but hit 13/19 for 145 against kent.
central michigan has been erratic this year, but true freshman ontario sneed has been terrific in the backfield. obviously seymour's suspension left an enormous void, but sneed has gone for 120+ in two of his first four games. he also catches the ball very well out of the backfield and has 14 receptions on the season.
kent state's running game has been non-existent this year but got a boost from true freshman jerry flowers against ohio last week. up to this point, kent was trying all kinds of guys in the backfield -- tony smith, greg keys, john drager, and luke tillman. but flowers had some nice runs last saturday and scored on a 10-yd touchdown run and (for now) should be the flashes starter in the backfield.
anthony sherrell has left the doghouse and is back as the eastern michigan primary running back ... for now. he averaged 4.6 yards per carry on 12 runs last week, in what was his most extensive action of the season. true freshmen tim conner and dwayne harrison have continued to struggle, which certainly has contributed to sherrell getting a lot of carries again.
the season keeps getting uglier for ball state. theyve been staggering their suspensions (due to the whole textbook 'scandal') for the first month of the season so that they can continue to field a competitive team, but now theyre going to be without nine starters for the game against boston college. the cards originally planned to only be missing five guys for this game but that number has tripled now after the investigation brought some more things to light. ball state doesnt have a lot of impact players, but two of their best -- charles wynn and bryan williamson -- are both going to be out for this game. boston college can name the score on saturday, its just a matter of if o'brien sees any reason to embarrass a completely depleted team.
expecting some very strong plays in the mac this weekend. but ill finish the mac thread.... with an acc play for the week.
Wake Forest (+7) over Clemson
Clemson comes in to this one having taken a page out of Wake Forest's book from last season. In 2004, the Demon Deacons were the poster boys for "moral victories and heartbreakers", with six of their seven loses coming by 7 points or less. This year, it's Clemson who has found themselves in a down-to-the-wire thriller seemingly every week. The Tigers' four games have been decided by a grand total of just 14 points. The last two weeks have seen Clemson lose in overtime to #9 Miami and #21 Boston College.
Yes, Clemson is a break or two away from being 4-0. But they've expended a lot of energy and emotion in the last two games, having played beyond regulation twice in as many weeks. Now they're going on the road and laying conference road chalk on top of it. The spot is tailor-made for a Clemson clunker.
Wake Forest has shaken up the offense in practice this week, as QB-turned-WR Corey Randolph, who lost his preseason quarterback battle with Ben Mauk , is now returning to his natural position and head coach Jim Grobe plans to use both guys at quarterback on Saturday. The powerful Wake running game has been a bit of an enigma this year, with Chris Barclay and Micah Andrews both having some huge games... and some subpar efforts as well. But Barclay has been terrific against Clemson in his career, rushing for 89 yards on
14 carries as a freshman, 163 yards on 24 carries as a sophomore, and 179 yards on 29 carries last year as a junior. He's already got a 200-yard game under his belt this season, and his eyes have to be lighting up when he sees the orange helmets with the white paws.
This is a very winnable game for a desperate Wake Forest group. Randolph should provide a spark at quarterback, and recent history says that Barclay could put on a big-time performance. Wake Forest plus the points makes a lot of sense.
if youre a healthy mac quarterback, avoid being careless with mirrors and walking anywhere near ladders. all kinds of injuries to guys taking the snaps. toledo's gradkowski missed the fresno game with a concussion. buffalo's sampsel is out indefinitely and the bulls are now going with true freshman drew willy. western michigan finally strings together some wins, and they lose cubit to a career-ending injury that puts their season in the hands of robbie haas. some other significant injuries at other programs as well
bowling green is a bit dinged up at running back. pj pope was hurt against wisconsin, missed the ball state game, came back healthy against boise, tweaked his ankle again, but did practice this week and should play vs temple. bj lane was hurt in the boise game and has missed practice for most of the week as well. the falcons have missed 3 extra points this year, which doesnt sit well with gregg brandon. timchenko missed two against ball state and fry missed his lone attempt at boise. but timchenko will likely miss the temple game with a minor quad injury.
akron gave up 536 yards to northern illinois last weekend, but did an outstanding job containing garrett wolfe, holding him to 52 yards on 21 carries. horvath killed them through the air though, going 39/52 for 486 yards. luke getsy continues to put up big numbers for the zips. 283 yards passing against purdue, 319 against middle tennessee, and 406 against northern illinois (with five touchdowns). only thing that needs work is his accuracy -- only 68/126 for 54% on the season. but theres no doubt hes exceeded expectations to this point.
ohio was brutal on offense in the first three weeks (albeit against northwestern, pittsburgh, and virginia tech) but busted out with 518 yards of total offense last week (373 on the ground) vs. kent. austen everson actually had a nice game at quarterback too. he repeatedly missed open receivers in the first few weeks but hit 13/19 for 145 against kent.
central michigan has been erratic this year, but true freshman ontario sneed has been terrific in the backfield. obviously seymour's suspension left an enormous void, but sneed has gone for 120+ in two of his first four games. he also catches the ball very well out of the backfield and has 14 receptions on the season.
kent state's running game has been non-existent this year but got a boost from true freshman jerry flowers against ohio last week. up to this point, kent was trying all kinds of guys in the backfield -- tony smith, greg keys, john drager, and luke tillman. but flowers had some nice runs last saturday and scored on a 10-yd touchdown run and (for now) should be the flashes starter in the backfield.
anthony sherrell has left the doghouse and is back as the eastern michigan primary running back ... for now. he averaged 4.6 yards per carry on 12 runs last week, in what was his most extensive action of the season. true freshmen tim conner and dwayne harrison have continued to struggle, which certainly has contributed to sherrell getting a lot of carries again.
the season keeps getting uglier for ball state. theyve been staggering their suspensions (due to the whole textbook 'scandal') for the first month of the season so that they can continue to field a competitive team, but now theyre going to be without nine starters for the game against boston college. the cards originally planned to only be missing five guys for this game but that number has tripled now after the investigation brought some more things to light. ball state doesnt have a lot of impact players, but two of their best -- charles wynn and bryan williamson -- are both going to be out for this game. boston college can name the score on saturday, its just a matter of if o'brien sees any reason to embarrass a completely depleted team.
expecting some very strong plays in the mac this weekend. but ill finish the mac thread.... with an acc play for the week.
Wake Forest (+7) over Clemson
Clemson comes in to this one having taken a page out of Wake Forest's book from last season. In 2004, the Demon Deacons were the poster boys for "moral victories and heartbreakers", with six of their seven loses coming by 7 points or less. This year, it's Clemson who has found themselves in a down-to-the-wire thriller seemingly every week. The Tigers' four games have been decided by a grand total of just 14 points. The last two weeks have seen Clemson lose in overtime to #9 Miami and #21 Boston College.
Yes, Clemson is a break or two away from being 4-0. But they've expended a lot of energy and emotion in the last two games, having played beyond regulation twice in as many weeks. Now they're going on the road and laying conference road chalk on top of it. The spot is tailor-made for a Clemson clunker.
Wake Forest has shaken up the offense in practice this week, as QB-turned-WR Corey Randolph, who lost his preseason quarterback battle with Ben Mauk , is now returning to his natural position and head coach Jim Grobe plans to use both guys at quarterback on Saturday. The powerful Wake running game has been a bit of an enigma this year, with Chris Barclay and Micah Andrews both having some huge games... and some subpar efforts as well. But Barclay has been terrific against Clemson in his career, rushing for 89 yards on
14 carries as a freshman, 163 yards on 24 carries as a sophomore, and 179 yards on 29 carries last year as a junior. He's already got a 200-yard game under his belt this season, and his eyes have to be lighting up when he sees the orange helmets with the white paws.
This is a very winnable game for a desperate Wake Forest group. Randolph should provide a spark at quarterback, and recent history says that Barclay could put on a big-time performance. Wake Forest plus the points makes a lot of sense.
