started ugly for WMU but quickly the football Gods are swinging Mo in the WMU direction.

If I understand correctly here's what has to happen for each team to win the West-

NIU- beat WMU and they are in.
WMU- beat NIU and Toledo loses to EMU and they are in.
Toledo- beat EMU and NIU loses to WMU and they are in.

For all of the complaining about our team this season its hard to believe that if Ohio had beat BGSU on homecoming we would be going to Detroit. And BG didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. 500 yds of offense and just 1 TD, 153yds of penalties, that was all on us.

We also ran 110 plays. That turnover on our first play from scrimmage allowed BG to get up 14-0 early and we never recovered.

7th turnover of the game for WMU. NIU to Detroit.

Agreed Ted NIU has established that never quit Gonna win this somehow attitude. You can see it in their locker rooms, in the practice facility and the mental makeup of the football players

Actually, after the first 1:07, Ohio totally dominated the game in all ways but one. That one, however, is the key one, the ability to put the ball into the endzone. After the horrid start, where BG was up 14-0 in 67 seconds, BG could do very little offensively and most drives ended in a 3 and out. They had only three times in the entire rest of the game where they moved the ball more than 25 yards in a drive, however those three times resulted in 2 TDs and a FG.

Meanwhile, Ohio had drive after drive, numerous of which resulted in no points. In the end, over the last 59 minutes, Ohio gained 499 yards, while BG gained 243, but even over the last 59 minutes BG won 17-13 because Ohio just couldn't get into the endzone. You can't come from behind if you don't get into the endzone.

If you look only at the scoreboard, BG dominated. If you look at the actual game itself, it tells another story. In my mind, that game was the turning point, especially for the defense. The only team after that that really burned the defense was WMU. Other than WMU, the defense was impressive the rest of the way. The yards gained against BG was really the best offensive show up to that point, but the offense needed to finish drives, and most importantly, the team needed to learn that they could come from behind and win.

No, Ohio didn't "nearly win", but they certainly played some of the aspects of the game well enough to win, and they made some major improvements in other areas.

As I said above, to me that game marks the turning point. Ohio did a lot more things right against BG than they did against CMU, Marshall, or Kentucky.

That's a championship outfit

with BG's loss to Ball St today a win over BG or NIU would have gotten us to Detroit. That says more about how down the MAC East is this year than how good Ohio is.

In the last 5 seasons during conference play NIU is 3-2 vs CMU and 35-0 vs 13 different MAC teams. But, during that same time frame NIU is only 2-2 and both wins were down to the wire, a last second field goal to complete a 20-0 halftime deficit and another come from behind and eventual win in 2OT.

As challenged as the Bobcats have been at times this year I know for some this ill sound crazy but I would have liked our chances against NIU in Detroit and am bummed we came close but couldn't make it happen.

This 6 loss Ohio team is very different from last year's 6 loss Ohio team.

you're right. my bad, don't know what I was thinking. I blame the turkey.

Monroe, as I posted in another thread, most of the teams you mentioned will graduate a lot of players. There are three schools in the MAC that were playing a lot of Freshmen and Sophomores this year, those being BG, Ohio, and WMU. Those are the rising teams that will be strong for the next several years.

With regards to CMU, say what? This was the best year that CMU has had since 2009. Just as this was a low point in Ohio's rebuilding cycle, this was a high point in CMU's cycle, as they had 19 returning starters. With 12 starters graduating this year, I personally expect them to be back under .500 in league play next year. I suspect Enos' seat is pretty warm.

In any case, as I said elsewhere, I think a 6 year window is about right to evaluate programs because that exceeds the years of any one class, and it thus includes a cycle of rebuilding. The records of the various MAC teams over the last 6 years for MAC-only games is:

NIU 43-5 .896
Toledo 35-13 .729
Ohio 31-17 .646
BG 28-20 .583
CMU 26-22 .542 (but since 2009, they are 18-22)
Ball St 26-22 .542
Kent 24-23 .511
WMU 23-25 .479
Buffalo 18-29 .383
Miami 16-32 .333
Akron 10-38 .208
EMU 9-39 .188

As far as consistency, "year after year", only NIU has >.500 records every year. Only NIU and Ohio have no losing records. Toledo has one losing season (2009). BG has two losing seasons (2010, 2011). WMU, CMU and Ball State each have 2 losing seasons and a .500 season along with 3 winning seasons.