Written by Mike Perry

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Northern Illinois made a statement with its 31-17 victory over Temple, establishing itself as the dominant team in the Mid-American Conference. But the Huskies have a long way to go before they can start celebrating a berth in the MAC Championship Game.

In fact, this MAC season has been as confusing as any this writer can remember, and we’re only in the second week of steady conference play.

Though the Huskies are in the driver’s seat in the race for the West title, if they were to face the Owls again in Detroit they would probably have to deal with sophomore running back Bernard Pierce, who missed Saturday’s game with an injured ankle. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

There are quite a few teams with legitimate division title aspirations in both divisions, but no one has, with the exception of the Huskies, proven to be consistent enough to be tabbed as the favorite in the East or West.

Take Ohio University for instance. The Bobcats (3-3, 2-1) just pinned a 49-25 whipping on Bowling Green, but they lost to Toledo earlier this season at home. And what about Toledo? The Rockets (3-3, 2-0) looked like world-beaters after toppling Purdue at home a few weeks ago, but have since lost to Wyoming at home, 20-15, and hammered on the road at Boise State, 57-14. This after winning three games in a row following a season-opening blowout loss to Arizona in the Glass Bowl. One thing in the Rockets’ favor is that all three of their losses have come outside the conference.

How about Miami? The RedHawks (3-3, 2-0) were pretty much written off before the season started. Why not? They were returning most of the players from a one-win team. But the RedHawks have beaten Eastern Michigan and Kent State in the conference and are sitting atop the MAC-East standings. But Miami just suffered a humiliating 45-3 loss to Cincinnati, a two-win team with a loss to pitiful Fresno State on its resume.

And then there is Western Michigan. The Broncos (2-3, 1-1) lost three of their first games, including a 37-24 home loss to Toledo. Then, this week, Western dominated a Ball State team, in Muncie, that was coming off a huge win over Central Michigan. And how about those Cardinals? After winning their first game of the season over Southeast Missouri State, Ball State (2-3, 1-1) lost two games it was not expected to win…at Purdue and at Iowa. They then shocked CMU in Mt. Pleasant before getting blown out at home by Western.

And no one should sleep on Buffalo. The Bulls sit at 2-3 overall, but they have won their only conference game. The next two weeks will tell the story for Buffalo, who has a relatively easy road the rest of the way after a trip to Northern Illinois this weekend and a home game against Temple.

As I have said, Northern Illinois is the only team that has really separated itself from the rest of the conference both talent-wise and with wins and losses. The rest of the conference is wide open, and pretty much all a team has to do is get on a hot streak and a division title could be theirs for the taking.

The MAC on STO

I have to tip my cap to Al Pawlowski and Frank Stams, STO’s broadcast duo for the Kent-Akron game as well as the rest of the MAC Football games that will air on the station this season. They did an outstanding job of staying out of the way of the on-field action while, at the same time, keeping the viewer informed as to what was going on.

Stams was especially sharp at breaking down defensive coverages and explaining what defenses were doing and why they were doing it. There were a few hiccups with the on-screen graphics and the timing coming in and out of breaks, but overall the entire STO crew got sharper and sharper as the game wore on. This is going to be a fun season.