2021 PoopyRhinoPickle's Week 9 MAC Conference Round-Up

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Results

Miami (OH) def. Buffalo 27-3

Ohio def. Kent State 40-27

Ball State def. Toledo 33-0

Akron def. Bowling Green 29-27

Central Michigan def. Northern Illinois 30-14

 

Bye: Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan

 

Best performance of the week: Miami (OH) def. Buffalo 27-3

Miami improved to 4-4 on the season with a really solid performance over Buffalo. Redhawk QB Joely Dykstra was able to tear up the Bulls defense with 168 yards and a TD on 18 carries. He has shown the ability to do that against teams who aren't prepared to spy him. He wasn't the only one to do well on the ground with Jeff Needham carrying the ball 9 times for 97 yards. Overall, Miami was able to rush for 330 yards on just 37 carries in their best offensive performance of the season.

 

Worst performance of the week: Ball State def. Toledo 33-0

Ball State only had 1 win coming into this game. QB Jay Larkin went 20-31 for 315 yards, 2 TDs and 2 Ints. His favorite target was RB Anthony Fisher, who has had a few really solid weeks in a row now. Fisher's night ended with 31 carries for 199 yards, 1 TD, 6 catches for 156 yards and 2 TDs, for an offensive player of the week honor. This performance was really offset by Toledo's 64 yards (!) of total offense. Toledo has gone back and forth between QBs Parry Medeiros and Eric Diekman to try and kickstart their offense, but the result is only 1 game over 100 yards passing. Meanwhile, they have never had someone rush for over 100 yards in a game. Next season can't come soon enough for Toledo as they look to take the redshirt off QB Jeremy McNitt.

 

Offensive Player of the Week: RB Anthony Fisher, Ball State, 31 atts 199 yards 1 TD, 6 recs 156 yards 2 TDs vs Toledo

 

Defensive Player of the Week: DE Austin Lee, Ball State, 8 Tkls 4 TFLs vs Toledo

 

Special Teams Player of the Week: K Devin Strickland, Ohio, 4-4 FGs 4-4 XPs vs Kent State

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

 

Team	Conference	Overall
Western Michigan	4-1	5-3
Central Michigan	3-2	4-4
Ball State	2-2	2-6
Eastern Michigan	2-3	3-5
Northern Illinois	0-4	2-6
Toledo	0-4	1-7

Western Michigan maintains their lead in the West with Central Michigan just a game behind them. WMU has Akron this week for the MAC game of the week and a potential preview of the Championship game. A loss there will make the WMU/CMU matchup at the end of the season the de facto division championship game. Ball State looks to be figuring out their offense and utilizing Anthony Fisher in the best way possible as they could be favored in 3 of their final 4 games of the season. Toledo will look to get their first conference win in the next couple weeks as they have some opportunities against Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.

 

East Division

Team	Conference	Overall
Akron	5-0	7-1
Ohio	4-1	6-1
Bowling Green	2-2	3-5
Kent State	2-3	4-4
Miami (OH)	2-3	4-4
Buffalo	2-3	3-6

Akron squeaked by for the second week in a row as they beat Bowling Green 29-27. Are we starting to see some cracks in their armor? The matchup against Western Michigan this week will be their last major hurdle to seeing their way into the Conference Championship game. Ohio won't give up that easy though as they maintain pace with the Zips and will be favored this week against Eastern Michigan. Bowling Green will look to bounce back as they take on a tricky Miami (OH) team and try to keep their bowl dream alive.

[Rocketcan]

This content is the gold standard for conference weekly breakdowns!

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Thanks!