2022 Week 6 MAC Conference Round-Up

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Results

Eastern Michigan def. Buffalo 30-13

Akron def. Miami (OH) 12-10

Northern Illinois def. Ohio 31-0

Bowling Green def. #9 Central Michigan 20-12

#1 Western Michigan def. Toledo 45-14

Kent State - Bye

Ball State - Bye

 

Best performance of the week: Bowling Green def. #9 Central Michigan

It's not overselling it to say that this was the biggest win in Bowling Green program history. The Falcons had to know that it wasn't going to be pretty but it was enough to get the job done. Going into the game Bowling Green's offense averaged over 500 yards of offense a game. In the win against Central Michigan they only managed 279. Again, not pretty, but good enough. The main reason why it was good enough was the Falcon defense, giving up only 328 yards and picking off CMU QB Brandon Alexander 3 times, while holding him to only 50% completion percentage. On top of that, Bowling Green's defense held CMU RB Mark Davis to a season-low 112 yards on 26 carries. It wasn't long ago that Northwestern put up 50 points against this unit so they need to be proud of the turnaround they've had.

 

Worst performance of the week: Northern Illinois def. Ohio 31-0

Things just keep getting worse for Ohio. Northern Illinois isn't a bad team so it isn't a surprise that Ohio lost to them, but it's the fashion in which the team is performing that is so underwhelming. In their loss, Ohio managed just 161 yards of total offense. It's not just this game either, on the season Ohio's offense is managing a MAC-worst 237 yards of offense per game. Senior QB Devonte' Wesley was just 10-25 for 114 yards, 0 TDs and 2 Ints, and as a team, Ohio managed only 47 rush yards on 25 carries. At this rate the Bobcat coaching staff may want to throw in the towel on the season and start looking to next year.

 

Offensive Player of the Week: WMU QB Theo Scribner; 49-63 550 yards, 5 TDs, 1 Int vs Toledo

 

Defensive Player of the Week: EMU ILB De'Aaron Gomez; 12 tackles, 5 TFLs vs Buffalo

 

Special Teams Player of the Week: EMU K Daniel Richardson; 3-3 FGs, 3-3 XPs vs Buffalo

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Western Michigan	3-0	6-0	Ohio
Central Michigan	2-1	4-1	at Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan	2-1	3-3	Central Michigan
Northern Illinois	1-1	3-3	at Miami (OH)
Toledo	1-2	2-4	at Georgia Southern
Ball State	0-2	2-3	at Kent State

Congratulations to Western Michigan as they're the first MAC team to hit bowl eligibility (never really a doubt it would happen). Central Michigan's loss doesn't really change much in the conference as Central and Western still need to play each other and the tiebreak goes to the head-to-head winner, but it does show that CMU, despite their loaded roster, are not invincible. It remains to be seen if either team will trip up prior to their week 14 meeting, which will most likely determine the division champion and just might have CFP implications. The rest of the West just keeps chugging along towards bowl eligibility as they continue to prove their superiority to the East Division.

 

East Division

Team	Conference	Overall	Next game
Akron	3-0	4-2	at Buffalo
Bowling Green	3-0	4-2	Cincinnati
Buffalo	1-2	2-4	Akron
Ohio	0-2	1-4	at Western Michigan
Kent State	0-2	0-4	Ball State
Miami (OH)	0-3	2-4	Northern Illinois

It's pretty obvious at this point that the East Division comes down to either Akron or Bowling Green. Given Bowling Green's performance against Central Michigan, I think most would give the Falcons the advantage, but we won't see that matchup until week 9. Akron will be disappointed with their performance against a bad Miami team, so look for them to come out with a bit of a chip on their shoulder against Buffalo. It's a good thing Ohio, Kent State and Miami all play each other or else some of them might not get a win the rest of the season. Any of those 3 winning their game against a West foe this week would be considered an upset.