Written by MikeSpinelli

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Week Four is upon us already, with Kent State playing Buffalo tonight at 7pm. This ESPNU game brings together two very similar teams from the East in our Game of the Week. UMass travels to Miami for their conference openers. And the Zips travel to Tennessee.

 

Kent State (1-1) travels to Buffalo (1-1). I picked these teams to finish 4^th and 5^th in the East. Despite playing FCS Towson Kent still ranks 103^rd in FBS in passing, Buffalo ranks 113^th in points against. What happens when a stoppable force meets a movable object? On the other side of the ball, the Bulls Branden Oliver is the 12^th ranked rusher in the FCS, while Kent’s run defense is only allowing 27.5 yards per game.

There are no common opponents, although both teams have beaten FCS schools, while losing to SEC schools. However Kent lost by 33 to 79^th ranked Kentucky while Buffalo lost to 6^th ranked Georgia by 22.

That and having home field advantage have me picking Buffalo in a close one. The game starts at 7:00 on ESPNU.

On Saturday, UMass (0-3) travels to Miami (1-2) in the other conference game. UMass has had a rough start to their FBS play, losing by a collective 145-19. Miami is better than their record shows, taking on top 25 caliber Ohio State and Boise State in their non-con. Miami uses this as a tune-up for the rest of their schedule.

Akron (1-2) travels to Tennessee (2-1 0-1), bringing the 5^th best passing attack in the FBS (378 ypg). But the Volunteers are a lot closer to UCF (who beat the Zips handily) than they are Morgan State. Tennessee also likes to air it out, led by Tyler Bray, who has 900 yards passing and 8 td’s. Justin Hunter is his favorite target with 22 catches for 295 yards and 3 td’s. Rajion Neal is the top runner with 205 yards on the ground and 3 td’s.

Akron is a better team than they were in week one, when they played UCF, but nowhere near the top 50, where UCF and Tenn reside. The Volleys win this one big. ESPN3 again carries the Zips; game time is 7:30pm.

Bowling Green (1-2) travels to Virginia Tech (2-1. The Falcons held #23 Florida to within two touchdowns, but only managed 15 against Toledo last week. They could keep this one close as well, but I’m still going with the Hokies. This game is on ESPNU at noon.

Central Michigan travels to Iowa, their second straight Big Ten sacrifice. Big Ten Network shows this one at noon.

In my upset of the week, Western Michigan hosts UConn in what could be another close game. I think UConn’s defense neutralizes the Broncos this week.

Ohio brings in Norfolk State for a scrimmage. I hope the Spartans bring their insurance cards.

Eastern Michigan (0-3) travels to #21 Michigan State, after losing 54-16 to Purdue last week. By not playing UMass they could run the table this year. Big Ten Network has this one, not sure why…

Northern Illinois hosts Kansas in another interesting matchup. They have very similar passing and rushing stats, give up almost the same number of points, the big difference is NIU’s ability to score more points. And playing at home. Gimme the Huskies.

Ball State hosts USF, a former conference foe. Ball State’s running game behind Jahwan Edwards is going to cause a lot of trouble for the Bulls, but they pass and defend well. Ball State just isn’t there.

Toledo hosts Coastal Carolina for a warm-up. They don’t need it.