I think Ohio is going to win the East. Thrown Akron and BG out of the mix right now, they won't be there. Kent State already washed away its win over Ohio with a loss to Miami and still has Toledo on deck. Miami blew its game vs Buffalo and beat Kent State but looks very different at QB without Brett Gabbert (out for the season, huge loss) and doesn't have the firepower to match an offense like Ohio's. Buffalo's next MAC foes is Toledo and they still have to play Kent State, and let's face it - the Bulls can't win in Athens, which is where the game is played this year. Also, Ohio's crossover schedule couldn't look more favorable at this point as WMU looks lousy, and MAC preseason favorite Northern Illinois looks even worse and is essentially already eliminated in the MAC at 1-5, 0-2 with both MAC losses to divisional opponents! AND, QB Rocky Lombardi is still out and may miss the entire season at this point. Ball State will come back to earth in November. I think Ohio's weak crossover schedule is the edge right now. And if that isn't the deciding factor, I could see a 3-way or 4-way tie in the East with Ohio getting the tie-breaking nods with wins over Miami and Buffalo as the deciding factors.

Man, this forum is bipolar. No way we win the east. I'd be happy with 6-6, okay with 5-7

One thing I don't think we can really tell how tough WMU or NIU will be based on their records. We could have the offense to take them right out of there or it could end up a Kent State style dogfight. Win those two and the cats are 5-3.

Kent also had something like 7 starters out with injury, mostly defensive, from our game against Miami.

That's true. I was thinking with respect to Miami and Buffalo are probably not more than a TD better than what Ohio is.

I was at the OU/KSU game and Kent wasn't clearly the better team at all. Yes, they certainly had more yards, but they had far more mistakes and poor execution throughout the game than Ohio did. Kent had more mishaps last week again vs Miami and this time it ended up costing them and as they lost a game they should have won. They're lucky to not be 0-2 in the MAC right now. This week they're at Toledo and I think Ohio will cruise by WMU so you're very likely going to see Ohio 2-1 and Kent 1-2 in the MAC after Saturday.

With Toledo's loss to Buffalo and Ohio's defensive improvement one has to think the next game against Buffalo or Toledo in Detroit if it happens would be within a FG on the betting line. The problem is Ohio has to keep pace with Buffalo in the loss column by defeating them to keep it in the teams destiny and then winning the three remaining games to be safe. If Buffalo defeats Ohio with the tie-breaker UB would have to lose its 3 remaining games and Ohio has to win out to take the East. Buffalo has Akron yet on the schedule so forget about them losing out.

I could care less what Vegas has to say aside from the money Ohio is making me in the MAC this season. But the scoreboard will say Ohio with more points than Buffalo when the clock hits zero. This team is going to Detroit.

B+ and some want to fire a coach after 15 months.

I've seen enough from Tim Albin to retain him imo.
Has anyone actually looked at this team? Rourke is looking like a Legitimate NFL QB and the defense gets better week to week..guys are HYPED..back ups are HYPE. They're flying around having fun.

Yeah, I don't want to be a buzzkill....and I'm not saying that Ohio is going to lose next week. Go Bobcats! Bear Buffalo!. But if I were you I'd quit while you are ahead this year or at least consider it as an entertainment expense you are doing for fun like going out to dinner or going to games and not a way to make money. That goes for everyone reading this. There are a few people out there that are good enough at prognostication to beat the house. But the casino's and websites are making so much money because the are just that, "A few". They take "juice" on bets so even if you are slightly better than the guys billionaire businessmen single out to pay to set the lines, and the wisdom of the crowd that moves it, and practically nobody is, you are still likely to lose anyway.

There is a scene in the children's classic movie "The Princess Bride" where the hero, Westley, challenges a mastermind villain, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. Vizzini is so confidant in his own genius that he is willing to accept the challenge even before the challenge is defined. This is where he is the ultimate fool and lost the game of wits before it began. Westley puts out two glasses of wine and challenges Vizzini to determine which is poisoned and to pick which one he will drink and which one Westley will drink. Afterward, Westly admits to the heroine that he spent the last few years building up an immunity to the poison and he had put poison in both glasses. Betting with a book is just like that. If you accept a battle of wits with the terms defined by the other side you are going to lose. In this case you will win some of the time but that's intentionally part of the terms they set. It's that way intentionally and with subtlety to make you think you might be able to come you ahead because they can't actually force anyone to play. Over time you almost certainly won't win.

While I would like to take the optimistic route that the Bobcats could grow into being the best team in the East, history has typically shown we blow a crucial game somewhere while on the journey to Detroit. Whether it's losing to the eventual East Champ or blowing a game against a team we should beat we almost always falter somewhere. I won't be confident until we have finished the regular season as 9-3 and are making plans for Detroit.

I will say that I don't see Albin losing his job as long as he splits the next 4 games. If god forbid we lose 3 out of the last 4 I could see the negative momentum and alumni feedback being hard for the AD to ignore.