Week 5 MAC Round-Up

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Hey everyone, welcome back to my weekly MAC round-up post. Sorry I missed early season media, I moved halfway across the country and haven't had the time to do it so there's lots to catch up on!

Week 5 results

Northern Illinois def. Kent State 13-10

Western Michigan def. Ball State 23-20

NC State def. Eastern Michigan 38-21

Akron def. Rutgers 21-16

Ohio def. Buffalo 20-9

Central Michigan def. Toledo 27-17

Bowling Green def. Miami (OH) 27-7

Top performers from Week 5

QB OG Torres - Western Michigan - 30 of 54, 433 pass yards, 2 TDs, 1 Int

QB Travis Kingery - Bowling Green - 22 of 35, 333 pass yards, 3 TDs, 2 Ints, 7 rush yards

RB Patrick Onwuasor - Northern Illinois - 22 rushes, 150 rush yards, 53 rec yards, 1 rec TD

RB Garett Cordier - Ball State - 33 rushes, 157 rush yards, 1 rush TD, 26 rec yards, 1 rec TD

RB Joshua Tocho - Akron - 31 rushes, 187 rush yards, 1 rush TD, 36 rec yards, 1 rec TD

WR Eric Luwawu-Cabaroot - Western Michigan - 12 catches, 206 rec yards, 1 rec TD

WR Lorenzo Whalen - Western Michigan - 10 catches, 177 rec yards, 1 rec TD

WR Justin Saffold - Toledo - 12 catches, 171 rec yards

TE Levi Bolden - Bowling Green - 7 catches, 135 rec yards, 1 rec TD

DT Kerry Burns - Northern Illinois - 13 total tackles, 3.5 TFLs

OLB Seantrel Garate - Western Michigan - 10 total tackles, 6 TFLs, 2 sacks

ILB Justin White - Buffalo - 9 total tackles, 4 TFLs

DT Phillip Bell - Bowling Green - 5 total tackles, 4 TFLs

 

MAC Snapshot

West Division

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

 

Looking at the standings after Week 5 there are a few surprises and some things we might have expected in the East. Let start at the top and acknowledge the job that @Ape has done with Northern Illinois. You can't say they don't deserve to be where they are with good non-conference wins against Texas Tech, UNLV, and Boise State, but it certainly is a surprise for me. If I would have done a preseason MAC power ranking like in years past I probably would have had them ranked in the 8-10 range at the beginning of the year. Now, it wouldn't surprise me if they came back down to Earth, they still need to play CMU, Toledo, WMU, and Ball State, and their 5 wins have come by a combined 24 points, but I still think they can beat some of those West teams they have left. Give credit where credit is due, they've matched a school record already for wins in a season (5-7 in 2021, 4-8 in 2022) and I expect them to easily reach bowl eligibility.

Central Michigan is about where you would expect them to be, they can compete with any school in the country talent-wise, but like to drop games along the way. QB Brandon Alexander is already the MAC career record holder with 30 interceptions and he has 8 in 5 games this season so expect that team to go as far as he takes them.

This isn't your grandfather's Toledo team. The losingest program in MAC history might not look like they're contending for much but they've largely been competitive in all their games and were able to get a win against Western Michigan. Redshirt junior QB Jeremy McNitt (290 YPG, 9 TDs, 2 Ints) has the ability to sneak up and surprise some teams this year.

Speaking of Western Michigan, @Jieret is ready to throw QB OG Torres until his arm falls off. He already set a MAC record with 80 (!) pass attempts in a game and is on pace to set a record for pass attempts per game for an entire season. The problem is that at 50.7 completion percentage it's leading to a pretty inefficient offense and bringing Jieret from his Theo Scribner-induced fever dream back to reality.

Ball State and @npklemm arguably have the best MAC win of the season so far beating UCLA 26-20 in Week 3. They dropped a game against Western Michigan but they still have a lot to play for and will be hoping to represent the West in the MAC Championship Game. They don't have the easiest crossover schedule, still having to play Akron and Bowling Green (not to mention CMU and NIU), but an offense led by Scott Romero and Garett Cordier has the potential to keep them in every game if they can nail down their consistency.

Eastern Michigan is pretty bad. Their only win has been against FCS Western Illinois. QB Treston Kleber has been impressive on the ground though, being 2nd in the conference with 461 rush yards at 7.44 yards a pop. As a team, they're 2nd in the country in rush yards but their defense has given up the most points in the conference. 

 

East Division

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

 

Once again, we'll start at the top. It's tough what to make of Bowling Green's season so far. Arguably their most important returning piece on offense, RB Frank Robinson (1,798 total yards, 19 total TDs in 2022), was injured on the first drive of the first game of the season and missed the following 4 games. Would he have made a big difference in their losses? You could see them beating Texas State with him but probably not Georgia. Redshirt sophomore QB Travis Kingery has been able to carry the offense up to this point all while leading the conference in QB Rating. The return of Robinson will provide a lift for a rush game that has been putrid. For a team that has won 12 straight games against MAC opponents expect them to be favored in most of their remaining games.

Ohio and @AFu01 will be pleased to find themselves undefeated in conference play after starting the season 0-3. Their Week 4 win against Akron will go down as one of the more surprising of the season with Akron being one of the winningest programs in conference history and Ohio coming off a historically bad offense in 2022.

If Akron can recover in conference play look for them to contend for a division title. QB Quandre Quintanilla and RB Joshua Tocho have formed quite the formidable pair having beat decent teams in non-conference (Fresno State, App State, and Rutgers). Crossovers against Ball State, Western Michigan, and Toledo will likely determine how successful this season is.

Miami's record is a bit skewed having 2 wins against FCS teams early in the year. QB Randy Weiser has performed well and their offense has some great weapons (RB Roy Clark and WR Kyle Cave), but I think a lot of their numbers will drop as they play better opponents down the stretch. An additional bright spot is CB Morgan Jefferson who already has 7 interceptions through just 5 games.

Kent State and Buffalo are similar teams in that they want to pound the rock on the ground but with both their lone wins coming against FCS schools, look for it to be long seasons for both of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see Buffalo sneak a win or two against some MAC schools though!

Week 6 Matchups

Thursday:

Northern Illinois at Buffalo

Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan

Friday:

Akron at Ball State

Central Michigan at Ohio

Saturday:

Kent State at Miami (FL)

Bye: Bowling Green, Toledo, Western Michigan

 

League Leaders

Passing Yards

1,680 - Scott Romero - Ball State - 137 of 223 (61.43%), 11 TDs, 3 Ints, 6 games played

1,669 - OG Torres - Western Michigan - 144 of 284 (50.7%), 10 TDs, 4 Ints, 5 games played

1,594 - Travis Kingery - Bowling Green - 126 of 197 (63.96%), 12 TDs, 4 Ints, 5 games played

Rushing Yards

667 - Garett Cordier - Ball State - 134 carries (4.98 ypc), 3 rush TDs, 6 games played

461 - Treston Kleber (QB) - Eastern Michigan - 62 carries (7.44 ypc), 4 rush TDs, 5 games played

457 - Austin Kelly - Buffalo - 72 carries (6.35 ypc), 4 rush TDs, 5 games played

Receiving Yards

700 - Justin Saffold - Toledo - 42 catches (16.67 ypc), 5 rec TDs, 5 games played

562 - Kyle Cave - Miami (OH) - 34 catches (16.53 ypc), 6 rec TDs, 5 games played

533 - Eric Luwawu-Cabarrot - Western Michigan - 45 catches (11.84 ypc), 3 rec TDs, 5 games played

Total Tackles

48 - ILB Damien Chachere - Ball State - 11 TFLs, .5 sacks, 6 games played

39 - ILB Zac Tate - Northern Illinois - 7.5 TFLs, 5 games played

38 - ILB Robertson Moore - Western Michigan - 9 TFLs, 5 games played

Tackles For Loss

14 - DT Phillip Bell - Bowling Green - 26 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 5 games played

12.5 - ILB Justin White - Buffalo - 35 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF, 5 games played

11 - ILB Damien Chachere - Ball State - 48 tackles, .5 sacks, 6 games played

Sacks

5 - OLB Kevin Eatmon - Northern Illinois - 18 tackles, 5 TFLS, 5 games played

4.5 - DE Luis Teague - Toledo - 14 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 5 games played

4 - OLB Michael Mata - Ohio - 13 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 1 FR, 5 games played

Interceptions

7 - CB Morgan Jefferson - Miami (OH) - 13 tackles, 1 PBU, 5 games played

3 - 5 players (Ball State CB Nate Walker IV, Buffalo CB Joe Richards, Bowling Green CBs Christian Minaya and Donald Dingus, Toledo CB Pete Ciuffo)

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by PoopyRhinoPickle

[Ape]

8 hours ago, PoopyRhinoPickle said:

and their 5 wins have come by a combined 24 points,

Cardiac Huskies. 
 

Great work