2021 PoopyRhinoPickle's Week 7 MAC Conference Round-Up

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Results

Ball State def. Miami (OH) 33-0

Akron def. Buffalo 26-23

Eastern Michigan def. Central Michigan 13-3

Bowling Green def. Northern Illinois 26-0

Ohio def. Toledo 30-0

Western Michigan def. Kent State 27-12

 

Best performance of the week: Akron def. Buffalo 26-23

Sure, other teams won by more, but an Akron win against Buffalo, who hadn't lost a MAC game before week 7, puts them in pole position in the East. This matchup provided QB Josh Pennel an opportunity to prove he could do well against a top tier defense, and he did just that, going 24-38 for 333 yards and 2 TDs. Akron's inability to move the ball on the ground (as a team they had 19 carries for 47 yards) may be concerning when it comes to beating teams with a strong secondary, but they won't see many of those teams the rest of the season. No QB in the MAC does a better job at spreading the ball around than Pennel, as he has 3 strong weapons at WR in Paredes, Stamets and McCoy, which makes the Akron offense difficult to stop.

 

Worst performance of the week: Bowling Green def. Northern Illinois 26-0

At this point I sound like broken record when reviewing Northern Illinois' offensive performances. NIU's QB Darius Paredes went 8-14 for 30 yards and was sacked twice. On the ground, the Huskies carried the ball 32 times for 58 yards. Yes, Bowling Green has an above-average defense, but at what point will the NIU staff reassess their offensive gameplan and take a different approach with their playcalling? All signs point to seeing them continue to struggle moving the ball this year. Adding insult to injury, Bowling Green QB-turned-RB Jurickson Elflein ran the ball 34 times for a MAC record 256 yards and 3 TDs. The days when Northern Illinois beat Wisconsin seem like a dream of a prior lifetime given recent results.

 

Offensive Player of the Week: RB Anthony Fisher, Ball St, 31 atts 143 yards 1 TD, 11 recs 177 yards 2 TDs vs Miami (OH)

 

Defensive Player of the Week: DT Curtis Garcia, Kent St, 5 Tkls 2 TFLs 2 Sacks 1 Int vs Western Michigan

 

Special Teams Player of the Week: K Devin Strickland, Ohio, 3-3 FGs 3-3 XPs vs Toledo

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

 

Team	Conference	Overall
Western Michigan	3-1	4-3
Central Michigan	2-2	3-4
Eastern Michigan	2-2	3-4
Ball State	1-1	1-5
Northern Illinois	0-2	2-4
Toledo	0-3	1-5

Central Michigan really dropped the ball losing to Eastern Michigan this week. With that result, Western Michigan is in a great position to represent the West Division in the MAC Championship game. WMU still has to play both CMU and EMU, but you have to like their chances in both those games. Ball State brought home their first win on the season, and as such they can still make some noise in conference play. Next week's game against Akron would be a good opportunity to show they've learned a lot from their difficult out-of-conference schedule.

 

East Divison

Team	Conference	Overall
Akron	3-0	5-1
Ohio	2-1	4-1
Bowling Green	2-1	3-3
Buffalo	2-1	3-4
Kent State	1-2	3-3
Miami (OH)	1-3	3-4

Akron's win over Buffalo gives them the inside lane to win the East Division. With it, they have beaten 2 of the 3 teams that are on their tails in the conference standings (Ohio and Buffalo). Ohio performed as expected with their throttling of Toledo, but they still need Akron to drop 2 games this season. Bowling Green has found new life with a new offense, however they still have to play practically the entire division (except Kent State).