MAC Week 3 Previews

Western Michigan at Minnesota: This is a matchup between Western Michigan of the Mid American Conference and Minnesota of the Big 10. Western Michigan enters this game at 1-1 with an opening day loss to Illinois followed by a dominant win over FCS opponent Eastern Illinois. The Broncos are a pass happy offense throwing for 333 yards per game behind the arm of Alex Carder who is closing in on 8000 career passing yards with WMU. The defense has not been bad but has struggled to make momentum changing plays to eliminate any extra points from opponents. Minnesota enters this game at 2-0 with wins over UNLV and the FCS' New Hampshire. The Golden Gophers use a strong rushing attack to gain the majority of their years but does have a solid passing game as well. The defense is top 40 in points allowed per game and gave up only 27 points in a three overtime game versus UNLV. These two teams have played 3 times previously with Minnesota winning all three matchups. The last meeting was in 1977 ending a three-year streak of WMU and Minnesota playing. This is a difficult game to call for the simple fact that turnovers were the difference when WMU played Illinois and Illinois is a much better Big 10 team than Minnesota. Expect both teams to struggle to score at the rate they are used to and I am going to pull the trigger on the upset. 28-24 Broncos.

Northern Illinois at Army: This is a matchup between Northern Illinois of the Mid American Conference and FBS independent Army. Northern Illinois enters this game at 1-1 with a loss to Iowa and a win over FCS team UT Martin. The Huskies rely on quarterback Jordan Lynch who has thrown for 268 yards and ran for 179 yards on the season. The Huskies have one of the poorest passing games after two games but looked much better passing the ball in week two. Northern Illinois seem to have a much more stout defense this fall ranking 33rd nationally and playing a nice game in the season opener versus Iowa. Army enters this game at 0-1 and look to be in store for a second straight losing season this fall. The Black Knights were thoroughly dominated in their opening game versus San Diego State and ran dead last in passing so far this season. The Black Knights are 10th nationally rushing behind their triple option attack but were turnover prone in the season opener. Defensively, Army could not slow down San Diego State and gave up 42  points versus the Aztecs. This is the third time Army and Northern Illinois have met and the overall series is tied at 1 win a piece with NIU winning the most recent matchup 49-26 last fall. Army did not match up well with Northern Illinois and they do not match up well this fall either. Northern Illinois may start slowly but should take care of things in winning by 20+ points.

Eastern Michigan at Purdue: This is a matchup between Eastern Michigan of the Mid American Conference and Purdue of the Big 10 Conference. Eastern Michigan enters this game at 0-2 with losses to Ball State and Illinois State to start the season. The Eagles turned the ball over 5 times versus Illinois State and were dominated in the second half by the FCS school. Coach Ron English is squarely on the hot seat and have a strong possibility of going 0-4 to start the season with #10 Michigan State waiting in the wings. The Eagles have a -14 scoring margin so far losing both games by double digits. Purdue enters this game at 1--1 with a win over Eastern Kentucky and a devastating last-second loss to Notre Dame. The Boilermakers also lost quarterback Robert Marve to a torn acl late in the game. This is the second all-time meeting between the two schools with Purdue winning the only other matchup 49-3 in 1991. Even with the backup quarterback being forced into action with Marve's injury, the Boilermakers should roll to an easy win versus a Eastern Michigan team that has struggled in the opening two weeks. Purdue 49-10.

Massachusetts at No. 17 Michigan: This is a matchup between Massachusetts of the Mid American Conference and #17 Michigan of the Big 10 Conference. UMass is entering this game at 0-2 with losses to Connecticut and Indiana by a combined score of 82-6 and ranking 119th at rushing the ball and 121st at passing the ball. Overall, the Minutemen have the worst offense in the nation with 161 yards of offense per game. The defense is not much better giving up 41 points per game on the season. The Michigan Wolverines enter this game at 1-1 with a loss to #1 Alabama and a hard-fought win over Air Force in week two. Michigan got back on track offensively after being dominated by Alabama's defense in week 1. Quarterback Denard Robinson has over 400 yards passing and 245 yards on the ground while being responsible for 6 touchdowns on the season. The Michigan defense was outplayed and overmatched versus Alabama and out schemed by Air Force in giving up 25 points. This is the second meeting between the two schools with Michigan holding off UMass 42-37 in 2010. There is no scenario that I can see UMass hanging with Michigan much less pulling off an upset unless Michigan turns the ball over 10 times. Michigan 45-3.

Morgan State at Akron: This is a matchup between Morgan State of the FCS and Akron of the Mid American Conference. Akron enters this game at 0-2 with losses to both UCF and FIU although it took overtime for FIU to pull out the win over the Zips. The Zips have relied on a passing attack that has thrown for 284 yards per game so far this season. Quarterback Dalton Williams has thrown for 558 yards and 7 touchdowns on the season with 5 coming against FIU in the 41-38 loss. Akron is 77th nationally in yards allowed with opponents averaging 48.5 points per game on the season versus the Zips. Morgan State is 1-1 coming into this matchup with a 4 overtime win over Sacred Heart and a 22-point loss to Buffalo. The Morgan State Bears are just not on the level of a good MAC team. Akron will give up some points versus Morgan State but should take care of business in the end and win a closer than expected game along the lines of 38-28.

Ohio at Marshall: This is an interesting matchup between Ohio of the Mid American Conference and Marshall of Conference USA. The Ohio Bobcats enter this matchup 2-0 with wins over Penn State and New Mexico State to start the season. The Bobcats are rolling on offense with the #14 offense nationally putting up 541 yards per game. Quarterback Tyler Tettleton has 581 yards passing on the season with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions on the year. Ohio has been solid on defense but stepped up their play in the second halves giving up only 10 points in the second half all season. Marshall enter this game at 1-1 on the heels of an offense that leads the nation in passing with 421 yards in the air per game. Quarterback Rakeem Cato has thrown for 790 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season with 377 yards in the win over Western Carolina. While the Thundering Herd have an amazing offense through the first two games, the defense has been poor this fall. Marshall ranks 119th nationally in scoring defense giving up 46.5 points per game with 69 points given up versus West Virginia. This is the 56th overall meeting between the two schools with Ohio holding a 30-19-6 overall series record versus the Thundering Herd. They have played in each of the last three seasons with Marshall taking 2 of 3 although Ohio won 44-7 in dominating fashion last fall. Expect alot of points in this game with both offenses having explosive playmakers all over the field. The difference will be how many stops the defenses will make and Ohio should win that in route to winning along the lines of 42-28.

Bowling Green at Toledo: This is an inter-conference matchup between the Bowling Green Falcons and the Toledo Rockets of the Mid American Conference. Bowling Green enters this game at 1-1 with a loss to #23 Florida and a win over Idaho in week two. The Falcons rely on a passing game that averages 254 yards per game but only 95 yards on the ground. Bowling Green has struggled to score in the opening games with 14 and 21 points in the opening two games. The Falcon defense has played well so far giving up 27 points to Florida but being put in tough situations due to turnovers by the offense. Bowling Green held Idaho to only 13 points in the week two game. Toledo enters this conference matchup at 1-1 with a win over Wyoming and an overtime loss to Arizona. The offense for the Rockets has picked up right where it left off last fall behind the stellar play of quarterback Terrance Owens who has thrown for 434 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season. Owens has added 93 yards on the ground to the Rocket rushing attack that is 46th nationally in yards per game. The Toledo defense must find a way to fix some of the issues that started last fall and have moved in to this season. The Rockets gave up 624 yards of total offense to Arizona and 526 yards of offense to Wyoming in week two. Toledo has the third worst defense in the nation giving up 575 yards per game so far. This is the 77th overall meeting between the two schools with Bowling Green leading the overall series 39-33-4. Toledo has won the last two meetings  28-21 and 33-14. Toledo is the more talented team but their defense is such a liability that the Rockets could end up losing. The Bowling Green offense is not on the level of the Wyoming or Arizona offenses and should not put up quite the numbers of the first two games. Expect Toledo to just outscore Bowling Green 35-28 or something to that effect.

Ball State at Indiana: This is a matchup between Ball State of the Mid American Conference and Indiana of the Big 10 Conference. Ball State  is entering this game at 1-1 on the heels of a 52-27 loss to #12 Clemson on the road. Ball State has an impressive rushing attack that is averaging 290 yards per game with the passing game only putting up 197 yards per game in the air. The Cardinals did have some offensive success in the second half versus Clemson but the game was well out of reach by that point. The Ball State defense gave up 26 points to an offensively challenged Eastern Michigan team before giving up 52 to Clemson. Indiana comes into this game at 2-0 with wins over Indiana State and Massachusetts to start the season. The Hoosiers are putting up 528 yards per game of offense, albeit against less than stellar competition. Indiana is putting up 34.5 points per game making them the #43 scoring offense in the nation. Defensively, Indiana has been great with an 11.5 points per game average giving up 17 to Indiana State and 6 to UMass. Indiana leads the overall series between the two teams 4-2 although Ball State has won the last two meetings, 27-20 and 42-20. The rushing attack of Ball State is better than anything Indiana has faced this season and will be the first true test for the Hoosier defense. Ball State could play up and defeat Indiana on the road but a 7-10 point loss seems more likely. Indiana 30-21.