Bcat, you are right on. Anyone who thinks this game is going to be a walk-over and/or an easy win for Ohio has no clue. This will be a battle, start to finish.
I agree. Buffalo has had it's ups and downs this year. For ups you have the wins over Army and Akron. For downs you have the loss to Albany and blowout losses to NIU and Kent. Which Buffalo team will show up? If it is the team that just blew out Akron, it will be a battle. Buffalo hasn't played well on the road this year, and hopefully that will continue, but you never know.
Meanwhile, oddly, Ohio has played consistently well on the road, but has yet to play an entire good game at home. The first half was good against BG and Gardner Webb, but the second half of both games was weak, and then there were the games against Texas State and EMU. Ohio needs to defend their home turf the rest of the way, and play well for 60 minutes against Buffalo.
I think Ohio matches up well against Buffalo, and I'm hoping for a solid win:
1. Buffalo hasn't put up a lot of points, and is primarily a running team, while Ohio has the best run defense in the MAC.
2. Meanwhile Ohio's rushing attack is really starting to come to life, and Buffalo is last in the MAC in rushing defense.
3. Ohio's defense has been suspect against the pass at times, while Buffalo's passing offense, and passing efficiency are next to last and last in the MAC.
4. Buffalo has a good pass defense, or maybe it's just that no one has needed to throw against them very much. I'm hoping that the same applies this game. If Ohio can run the ball effectively, hopefully they will need to throw less than 25 times.
My prediction is an Ohio win 27-10.
Edit - I note that Ohio opens as a 19 point favorite, which is about where I see it, too.
Last Edited: 10/30/2016 7:31:33 PM by L.C.