They don't look like much.  CMU, EMU & Fiami are a combined 3-13 overall and 1-4 in the MAC, the one win being when CMU beat Fiami last week.  Except for that game, none of them has beaten a D1A team this season.  But if Ohio trips up on any one of these games, getting to the MACC or even a bowl game would be that much more difficult.  Both Buffalo and BG may be unbeaten in the MAC when we face them, but at worst they should be one-loss teams -- Buffalo's toughest opponent before 11/5 is Kent and BG really only has Toledo to worry about between now and 11/12.  We're not likely to have much wiggle room in Nov, so going into Nov unbeaten in the MAC is a real necessity for us. 

As for a bowl game, if we hope to be one of the top three in the MAC, we will likely need nine wins overall.  And if we're not one of the top three, we'll likely need nine wins anyway to be an "at-large" pick for a bowl; currently about 80 teams need to win half or fewer of their remaining games to be bowl eligible.  If we're 7-1 through Oct, we would need to win only half of the Nov games to get to nine.  If we have less than seven wins, though, we'd probably have to win three or maybe all four in Nov.  And Nov wasn't very kind to us last year.

Even though all games are important, winning these next three would have us thinking more about "where" we play in Dec instead of "if."

No, but usually one of these types of games jumps up and bites us in the arse. 

I already booked my trip to Detroit, so perhaps I should be admonished for looking ahead.

Hmmmm