mac notes for the week
this week: from a betting perspective, lots of value in a handful of the lines within the conference this saturday. from a fans perspective, dumping hot sauce in ones eyes might be better than watching some of these matchups.
last week: a very very good week in the conference. still havent lost a mac side all season through seven weeks. mac totals got back on track with ball state and toledo under.
while the weather and high winds certainly helped level the playing field for buffalo the last two weeks, it is worth noting that they held two of the best passing offenses in the mac (akron and bowling green) well below their season averages. the bulls held akron's getsy to a miserable 12/32 for 145 yards, and they also did a very respectable job on omar jacobs, who had the worst statistical game of his college career -- 18/34 for 187 yards and 1 touchdown/ 2 interceptions. (on a side note, those are hardly terrible numbers, so it goes to show how high jacobs has set the bar for himself). give buffalo their credit though. theyre overmatched in every game they play, but theyve held a lot of good passing offenses in check this year (rutgers, bowling green, akron). the bulls secondary has met two challenges in a row. a third awaits them on saturday when gradkowski and toledo come at them.
the bye week couldnt have come at a better time for western michigan, as it allowed them an extra week to recover from their five-overtime marathon game against ball state. the only problem is that bowling green is next up for the broncos on saturday. last year, bowling green completely dismantled wmich to the tune of 52-0 and it could have been so much worse if bg hadnt called off the dogs. the falcons led 49-0 at halftime and had 551 yards of total offense in the first two quarters. as noted last week, wmich is expected to go with freshman tim hiller at quarterback. hiller was splitting time with senior robbie haas after the season-ending injury to ryan cubit in the temple game. he played well in spot duty against buffalo and ball state. but its really puzzling that the wmich coaching staff is giving him his first career start on the road at doyt perry stadium, where they were annihilated a year ago.
kent state qb michael machen looked pretty good in his first game back after suffering a strained mcl against ohio a few weeks ago. he was wearing a brace and showed some decent mobility on a couple of scrambles. no reason to think the injury will linger for the rest of the season. he was 25/41 for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns/2 interceptions against navy last week. particularly impressive was his 65-yard touchdown pass to pruden on a designed rollout to the right and then throwing the ball 50-yards on a rope down the left sideline for the completion and score. the deep ball has been something kent has excelled at. a lot of the spread offenses in the conference (and country for that matter) dont really stretch the field vertically. but doug martin's gameplan usually includes a couple of home run balls to keep the defenses honest, and machen and pruden have hooked up a few times this year for some very long completions.
its a bit of a misconception that toledo is a pass-first offense just because they have a great quarterback in gradkowski. the fact is that the rockets have been hammering teams on the ground this year with their deep stable of running backs. in their last two games, they rushed for 295 yards against eastern michigan and 231 yards against ball state. they're averaging 221 yards on the season and 5.4 yards per carry with the carries split mainly between dawson and parmele, but with broussard and davis also getting their reps as well. buffalo brings in one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation (102 out of 117) so its likely that the toledo gameplan this week will be centered around the rushing attack. even though toledo can throw the ball with the best of 'em, they might not need to.
more on the way
this week: from a betting perspective, lots of value in a handful of the lines within the conference this saturday. from a fans perspective, dumping hot sauce in ones eyes might be better than watching some of these matchups.
last week: a very very good week in the conference. still havent lost a mac side all season through seven weeks. mac totals got back on track with ball state and toledo under.
while the weather and high winds certainly helped level the playing field for buffalo the last two weeks, it is worth noting that they held two of the best passing offenses in the mac (akron and bowling green) well below their season averages. the bulls held akron's getsy to a miserable 12/32 for 145 yards, and they also did a very respectable job on omar jacobs, who had the worst statistical game of his college career -- 18/34 for 187 yards and 1 touchdown/ 2 interceptions. (on a side note, those are hardly terrible numbers, so it goes to show how high jacobs has set the bar for himself). give buffalo their credit though. theyre overmatched in every game they play, but theyve held a lot of good passing offenses in check this year (rutgers, bowling green, akron). the bulls secondary has met two challenges in a row. a third awaits them on saturday when gradkowski and toledo come at them.
the bye week couldnt have come at a better time for western michigan, as it allowed them an extra week to recover from their five-overtime marathon game against ball state. the only problem is that bowling green is next up for the broncos on saturday. last year, bowling green completely dismantled wmich to the tune of 52-0 and it could have been so much worse if bg hadnt called off the dogs. the falcons led 49-0 at halftime and had 551 yards of total offense in the first two quarters. as noted last week, wmich is expected to go with freshman tim hiller at quarterback. hiller was splitting time with senior robbie haas after the season-ending injury to ryan cubit in the temple game. he played well in spot duty against buffalo and ball state. but its really puzzling that the wmich coaching staff is giving him his first career start on the road at doyt perry stadium, where they were annihilated a year ago.
kent state qb michael machen looked pretty good in his first game back after suffering a strained mcl against ohio a few weeks ago. he was wearing a brace and showed some decent mobility on a couple of scrambles. no reason to think the injury will linger for the rest of the season. he was 25/41 for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns/2 interceptions against navy last week. particularly impressive was his 65-yard touchdown pass to pruden on a designed rollout to the right and then throwing the ball 50-yards on a rope down the left sideline for the completion and score. the deep ball has been something kent has excelled at. a lot of the spread offenses in the conference (and country for that matter) dont really stretch the field vertically. but doug martin's gameplan usually includes a couple of home run balls to keep the defenses honest, and machen and pruden have hooked up a few times this year for some very long completions.
its a bit of a misconception that toledo is a pass-first offense just because they have a great quarterback in gradkowski. the fact is that the rockets have been hammering teams on the ground this year with their deep stable of running backs. in their last two games, they rushed for 295 yards against eastern michigan and 231 yards against ball state. they're averaging 221 yards on the season and 5.4 yards per carry with the carries split mainly between dawson and parmele, but with broussard and davis also getting their reps as well. buffalo brings in one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation (102 out of 117) so its likely that the toledo gameplan this week will be centered around the rushing attack. even though toledo can throw the ball with the best of 'em, they might not need to.
more on the way
