Guess I should put the Rubber Bowl on top of Dix Stadium. (and another pre-teen giggle).

I expected CMU to be favored by 2-3 points, but given that Ohio has been hot lately, and is rested, and given that Ohio has played very well on the road all year, I can see how it's a pick 'em. Here's my thoughts:

CMU's offense versus Ohio's defense:
CMU has one of the worst rushing offenses in the MAC, and Ohio has the best rushing defense in the MAC. Note that when their starting running back, Devon Spalding, has run for over 100 yards, CMU has won, but when he hasn't, they have lost the last four times. Spalding is questionable for Tuesday, but even if he plays, I don't see him getting 100 yards. If they can't establish the run, and I don't think they can, that means that from the start, CMU will have to be one-dimensional, and the front seven will be looking for sacks. CMU has one of the better passing attacks in the MAC, but because of the lack of a running attack, they have given up a lot of sacks. I expect they will give up a few more.

Ohio's offense versus CMU's defense
Ohio has a balanced offense, and CMU has a balanced defense. They have a solid defense, above average in the MAC, but one thing CMU doesn't have is a lot of sacks. Thus Maxwell or Windham should have time to throw. With an above average MAC offense against an above average MAC defense, I expect kind of average results. Ohio averages 29.3 points a game, while CMU gives up 29.3 points a game, so the high 20s sounds about right.

Special teams and turnovers
Here Ohio has a clear advantage. Ohio is averaging over 40 yards on punts, and only 2 touchbacks, while CMU averages only 35 yards a punt. Ohio is hitting 80% of field goals, at 20-25, while CMU has hit only 38.5% at 5 of 13. Ohio is +9 in turnovers on the year while CMU is -6 on turnovers. If the rest of the game is even, Ohio should win based on special teams and turnovers.

Summary
I see a hard fought physical game. The key for an Ohio win will be how much pressure Ohio can get, and whether Ohio can stop the CMU passing attack, plus how few big plays they can give up. I think the defense will hold up OK, and come away with the win. I call it an Ohio win, 27-21.

Or, CMU is a pretty mediocre MAC team (sorry for the redundancy) and if we're any good at all then we win this one for sure. Maybe not by a ton of points. And a loss doesn't matter too much as we sure have the inside track to win the MAC East. But a loss here just would not be good.

It's the time of year to take care of business. It just is.

Ohio and CMU have had sort of opposite MAC seasons. Except for the Buffalo game we've had close ones, beating Fiami by 10, BG by 6, Kent by 4 and Toledo by 5, and losing to EMU by 7. CMU has won by 3 (BSU) and 6 points (NIU), but the losses generally haven't been close: by 38 (WMU), 14 (Toledo), 20 (Fiami) and 3 (Kent). I expect this to be one of the close games, also. We've had some time to mend and they've had some time to get their heads straight. Plus it'll be Cooper Rush's last home game. He hasn't done much to impress the pro scouts lately (5 picks and only 3 tds in the last three games), so I'm sure he'll want to go with a bang instead of a whimper.

And no matter if they lose, your first take will be about.....oh wait.

You disappear when they lose.

Monroe. L.C. shared his experience sitting among the parents. Please share with us your experiences interacting with them.

You know, if the parents are happy, well, that's it for me.


And, at this holiday season, let me wish you a Happy Paul Blart!



Are you going to be getting the same gift that we've been given for the last 11 years?

Soo sorry the team has continued to disappoint you. That they disappoint and let you down is all on you. Your inflated sense of entitlement is, fortunately, shared by only a few here.

Radio open:

I have such a bad feeling about the way this is playing out. It feels like 2010 again, with the East seemingly clinched, except WHOOPS nope, we fall on our face and Fiami (FIAMI!!!) sneaks into the MACCG. Hopefully I'll feel a lot better about things around 11 pm tonight. But I really don't want to go into next week's game vs. Kron with the division on the line.

Go Bobcats.

Definitely not a trap game. Buffalo might have been closest to a trap game we've had this season, since we played them after the big Toledo win.

For me, the Tennessee/Ohio game was very definition of a trap game from Tennessee's perspective. They were coming off the huge Virginia Tech win in Bristol speedway the week before us and facing Florida the week after us. Very easy for their players to overlook Ohio when sandwiched between those big games, especially when we had the Texas State loss on our record.


Let's lock the MACC up tonite.

Great, great insight.

Mere math alone indicating that we should win a title once in 13 years in a 13 team league, then being disappointed that we haven't won a title in 11 years is truly, truly an unreasonable and inflated expectation.

Then, when you factor in that every year 4-7 of those MAC teams are quite lousy, surely it's too much to have won a title once in 11 years when your head coach is revered and deified by such as you.



cc--really insightful on your part, also. Why don't you just, once and for all, state that you really dislike me and have pre-determined that every one of my posts is the worst...and be done with it.

You are boring.