2022 Week 2 MAC Conference Round-Up

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Results

Buffalo def. Rutgers 38-14

Iowa def. Kent State 14-6

Miami (OH) def. Temple 30-10

Eastern Michigan def. Middle Tennessee 21-14

Bowling Green def. Ohio State 15-14

UConn def. Ball State 21-10

Northern Illinois def. Troy 34-3

Ohio def. Syracuse 16-9

Central Michigan def. Boise State 53-16

Northwestern def. Akron 37-31

Louisville def. Toledo 19-6

Western Michigan def. UCLA 24-20

 

Best performance of the week: Western Michigan def. UCLA 24-20

There were honestly quite a few solid wins to choose from this week, but I decided to go with the win against the best opponent. UCLA was ranked #5 going into the game and really put a beating on Florida State in their Week 0 game. WMU QB Theo Scribner was able to find the endzone more often than his first game against Minnesota and that was what put them over the edge to beat UCLA. WR Durham Simmons stood out with 10 catches for 192 yards and 2 TDs. Despite only 6 yards rushing on 14 attempts WMU's pass attack is clearly enough to carry them this season. The Bronco's defense performed good enough against a good offense as well, getting into the backfield consistently with 9 TFLs.

 

Worst performance of the week: UConn def. Ball State 21-10

Sentiment was pretty high on Ball State after their Week 0 win against Purdue, but I think they saw this week some of the struggles with consistency of a Freshman QB. QB Scott Romero looked like a world beater in their first game but returned back to earth going 14-23 for 125 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int and being sacked 7 (!) times. A combination of poor protection and holding on to the ball too long is going to spell trouble for any young QB. Add in stud RB only had 21 touches this game (as opposed to 33 in their win against Purdue) and Ball State just struggled to move the ball as needed.

 

Offensive Player of the Week: Northern Illinois RB Patrick Onwuasor; 40 carries, 298 rush yards (2nd all-time in MAC), 1 TD vs Troy

 

Defensive Player of the Week: Toledo ILB JT Jungmann; 11 tackles, 5 TFLs (tied most all-time in MAC) vs Louisville

 

Special Teams Player of the Week: Central Michigan K Eric McCullers-Sanders; 4-4 FGs, 5-6 XPs vs Boise State

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

 

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Central Michigan	0-0	2-0	BYE
Western Michigan	0-0	2-0	Washington (2-0)
Ball State	0-0	1-1	New Mexico State (2-0)
Eastern Michigan	0-0	1-1	Michigan State (1-0)
Northern Illinois	0-0	1-1	Arizona (2-0)
Toledo	0-0	0-2	Pitt (2-0)

The 2 strongest teams remain at the top after good wins from both. Western Michigan vs Washington will be another big matchup between undefeated ranked teams. Ball State's loss drops them a bit but not anything that can't be salvaged, even with a sneaky game against NMSU this week. Northern Illinois looked like the team their talent says they should be and really pounded the rock on the ground in their win against Troy. The MAC West has a difficult slate this week, with every team facing an opponent who hasn't lost yet.

 

East Division

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Miami (OH)	0-0	2-0	Cincinnati (2-0)
Akron	0-0	1-1	at Wisconsin (0-1)
Bowling Green	0-0	1-1	at Northwestern (1-1)
Buffalo	0-0	1-1	Middle Tennessee (0-2)
Ohio	0-0	1-1	at UConn (1-1)
Kent State	0-0	0-2	BYE

Miami continues to surprise and impress and were candidates for best performance of the week considering the discrepancies in talent on their roster vs Temple's. Akron's defense is looking to be their achilles heel after a disappointing loss against Northwestern. Bowling Green will look to avenge that loss this week while heading to Chicago. Ohio finally found a little life on the offensive side of the ball, we'll see if they can learn any lessons from Ball State's loss to UConn.

Edited July 26, 2022 by PoopyRhinoPickle