2022 Week 4 MAC Conference Round-Up

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Results

Bowling Green def. Kent State 48-27

#5 Central Michigan def. Buffalo 20-13

Akron def. Ohio 13-10

Eastern Michigan def. Northern Illinois 27-17

#3 Western Michigan def. Miami (OH) 55-6

Toledo def. Ball State 10-9

 

Best performance of the week: Western Michigan def. Miami (OH) 55-6

It's time to give credit where credit's due. Last week I brushed aside WMU's performance to instead highlight Toledo's win. That won't be happening this week. It's tough to find any faults in QB Theo Scribner's performance as he hit nearly 70% of his passes for 473 yards, 4 TDs and no picks. Stringing together performances like this are what have Scribner in the thick of the Heisman conversation. The Broncos even had their best rushing game of the season, eclipsing 50 yards on the ground for the first time this year. WR Andy Anderson was his usual dominant self, reeling in 10 catches for 196 yards and 2 TDs. Western Michigan's defense, led by ILB Niko James, had no mercy either, holding Miami to 211 yards of offense, all while recording 7 TFLs, 4 sacks, and grabbing 2 interceptions.

 

Worst performance of the week: Toledo def. Ball State 10-9

Ball State has to leave this game scratching their heads a bit. The Cardinals are finding out the hard way what it is like to have a freshman at the QB position. The rollercoaster of a year that has been The Scott Romero Experience can leave fans dreaming of conference championships one week just to be left dumbfounded like they were this week. Romero's performance wasn't anything that pops out as all that poor, he went 19-29 for 206 yards and 1 Int. However, it's Ball State's inability to find the endzone (all of Ball State's points came from FGs) that ultimately points at the QB position. Congrats to Toledo, though, for their 2nd ever MAC win. They're on their first ever 2 game win streak.

 

Offensive Player of the Week: EMU RB Kevin Peterson; 19 carries, 192 yards, 1 rush TD, 8 recs, 99 rec yards, 2 rec TDs vs NIU

 

Defensive Player of the Week: Buffalo ILB Justin White; 11 tackles, 2.5 TFLs vs #5 CMU

 

Special Teams Player of the Week: CMU K Eric McCullers-Sanders; 4-4 FGs, 2-2 XPs vs Buffalo

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Western Michigan	1-0	4-0	at Ball State
Central Michigan	1-0	3-0	Buffalo
Eastern Michigan	1-0	2-2	at Akron
Toledo	1-0	2-2	Central Michigan
Ball State	0-1	2-2	Western Michigan
Northern Illinois	0-1	2-2	at Illinois

Western Michigan looked entirely convincing in their win over an average Miami team, putting them deservedly at the top of the West. Something that might sneak under the radar is how pedestrian Central Michigan looked against Buffalo. I get the feeling, with their super strong defense and average QB play, we're going to be seeing a lot of 7-10 point wins for CMU this season. Eastern Michigan won their matchup of sneaky good West teams against Northern Illinois, and Toledo has their all-time best position in the MAC standing after matching their win total from last season already. It can only go up from here right Ball State? Right?

 

East Division

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Akron	1-0	2-2	Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green	1-0	2-2	Miami (OH)
Miami (OH)	0-1	2-2	at Bowling Green
Buffalo	0-1	1-3	Kent State
Ohio	0-1	1-3	Bye
Kent State	0-1	0-3	at Buffalo

Again, it's pretty obvious the East doesn't stack up against a superior West Division. The only win's of the week for the East came against other East teams, with Akron sneaking by Ohio and Bowling Green racking up points against a bad Kent State team. Can any of these teams step it up to match the West? I don't think the talent is there to make it happen but you have to think that Akron and Bowling Green are the most likely candidates to represent the East in the MAC Championship game.

Edited August 9, 2022 by PoopyRhinoPickle

[Sarge]

Super good recap on a conference that has some legit national powers.

[Jieret]

Thanks for doing these!

 

(I think you forgot to update the next opponent column though)

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Yep! Sure did

[subsequent]

Central and Western are so scary....

[Rocketcan]

Week 14 at CMU is shaping up to be a de facto West MAC Championship game.