the mac has been downright horrible this year but the championship game offers a semi-intriguing matchup between two teams that have, if nothing else, earned their spot in the game with strong play down the stretch. cmu laid an egg at northern illinois after clinching but was unblemished in mac games that actually mattered. ohio allowed a combined 31 points in a 4-week stretch from mid-october to mid-november.
this year has been so wacked out in the mac that sometimes it has defied all conventional capping approaches, but heres how i see some edges:
offense
in terms of aesthetics and explosiveness, a definite edge to central michigan. kelly is an offensive genius. high praise to say the least but theres a reason he won an obscene amount of games at grand valley and has turned cmu around from laughingstock to contender in just three years. chips run and throw the ball out of a wide variety of formations. lefevour has been a huge surprise at quarterback. he wasnt expected to see the field this year but instead has emerged as one of the better qbs in the mac as a redshirt freshman. cmu has a solid running back duo with sneed and archer. their receivers are very good as well. ohio is old school. theyre at their best when mcrae is getting 20+ touches and they are controlling the clock and the line of scrimmage with their run game. the ohio passing game is bad news. every now and then they will surprise you with a deep ball or a well-designed pass play but for the most part, the bobcats "are what they are" -- and thats a power rushing team. when ohio drops back to pass, its an adventure.
defense
edge to ohio. they are fundamentally sound, they tackle well, and their defensive backfield is outstanding. the have pro-caliber talent in the secondary. opponents are only connecting on 50% of their passes against them in mac play and they dont give up a ton of plays. teams that move the ball on them usually do it in short chunks. theyre not the 85 bears, but the only other mac team in their class defensively is western michigan. central michigan's doesnt allow a lot of points but they have shown a tendency to give up yards in the run game and that is going to be huge against a team like ohio. chips have to shut down mcrae to win.
special teams
the special teams play in the mac has been a damn embarrassment this season. it has made the conference look division III caliber. fortunately, both cmu and ohio have punt units that are efficient and shouldnt put their respective teams in peril. it seems simple enough. snap the ball back to the punter. then let the punter kick the ball 40 or so yards. then have your coverage team tackle the returner after a minimal return. well mac teams turned punting into a circus this year with botched snaps, snaps over the head, under the legs, punts getting blocked, punts being kicked straight up in the air, punts getting shanked for 8 yards. the list goes on. but the good news is that ohio and cmu both have solid punting units. placekicking favors ohio. cmu has missed some very makeable field goals this season and is only 50% during conference play.
travel
proximity to detroit favors central michigan but ohio travels very well and should have a strong backing. chips fans didnt seem to take notice of their team until the final weeks of the regular season.
ford field
the surface itself doesnt favor either as both are field turf teams. central michigan does have some players who are familiar with the setting though as they played emu in a neutral site game here in past years.
coaching
a toss up. kelly has resurrected a complete dog shit program and made cmu matter again. a win here and he could be coaching a major college program next year. he interviewed for the michigan state and iowa state jobs before they were recently filled. depending on your perspective, that could be a potential distraction for the chips. solich has molded ohio into a junior version of his old nebraska teams. they are tough, physical, and fundamentally sound. in a conference that is filled with teams who love to beat themselves with mistakes, ohio is just the opposite. when you beat the bobcats, you know youve notched a win over a solid football team.
gut feeling says central michigan wins by 7 but ohio is a team thats incredibly similar to wake forest and rutgers. theyre not flashy, they dont throw the ball downfield a ton. but if they get a lead on you, they will grind you to death and make it almost impossible to come back.
hopefully that helped shed some light on the game. incredibly busy week, so gotta run. gl to anyone who plays the game. mac football has been a coinflip at times this year because its consistently inconsistent all around. but this should be a pretty good game. chips are better, but giving points to ohio right now is awfully tough to do.
this year has been so wacked out in the mac that sometimes it has defied all conventional capping approaches, but heres how i see some edges:
offense
in terms of aesthetics and explosiveness, a definite edge to central michigan. kelly is an offensive genius. high praise to say the least but theres a reason he won an obscene amount of games at grand valley and has turned cmu around from laughingstock to contender in just three years. chips run and throw the ball out of a wide variety of formations. lefevour has been a huge surprise at quarterback. he wasnt expected to see the field this year but instead has emerged as one of the better qbs in the mac as a redshirt freshman. cmu has a solid running back duo with sneed and archer. their receivers are very good as well. ohio is old school. theyre at their best when mcrae is getting 20+ touches and they are controlling the clock and the line of scrimmage with their run game. the ohio passing game is bad news. every now and then they will surprise you with a deep ball or a well-designed pass play but for the most part, the bobcats "are what they are" -- and thats a power rushing team. when ohio drops back to pass, its an adventure.
defense
edge to ohio. they are fundamentally sound, they tackle well, and their defensive backfield is outstanding. the have pro-caliber talent in the secondary. opponents are only connecting on 50% of their passes against them in mac play and they dont give up a ton of plays. teams that move the ball on them usually do it in short chunks. theyre not the 85 bears, but the only other mac team in their class defensively is western michigan. central michigan's doesnt allow a lot of points but they have shown a tendency to give up yards in the run game and that is going to be huge against a team like ohio. chips have to shut down mcrae to win.
special teams
the special teams play in the mac has been a damn embarrassment this season. it has made the conference look division III caliber. fortunately, both cmu and ohio have punt units that are efficient and shouldnt put their respective teams in peril. it seems simple enough. snap the ball back to the punter. then let the punter kick the ball 40 or so yards. then have your coverage team tackle the returner after a minimal return. well mac teams turned punting into a circus this year with botched snaps, snaps over the head, under the legs, punts getting blocked, punts being kicked straight up in the air, punts getting shanked for 8 yards. the list goes on. but the good news is that ohio and cmu both have solid punting units. placekicking favors ohio. cmu has missed some very makeable field goals this season and is only 50% during conference play.
travel
proximity to detroit favors central michigan but ohio travels very well and should have a strong backing. chips fans didnt seem to take notice of their team until the final weeks of the regular season.
ford field
the surface itself doesnt favor either as both are field turf teams. central michigan does have some players who are familiar with the setting though as they played emu in a neutral site game here in past years.
coaching
a toss up. kelly has resurrected a complete dog shit program and made cmu matter again. a win here and he could be coaching a major college program next year. he interviewed for the michigan state and iowa state jobs before they were recently filled. depending on your perspective, that could be a potential distraction for the chips. solich has molded ohio into a junior version of his old nebraska teams. they are tough, physical, and fundamentally sound. in a conference that is filled with teams who love to beat themselves with mistakes, ohio is just the opposite. when you beat the bobcats, you know youve notched a win over a solid football team.
gut feeling says central michigan wins by 7 but ohio is a team thats incredibly similar to wake forest and rutgers. theyre not flashy, they dont throw the ball downfield a ton. but if they get a lead on you, they will grind you to death and make it almost impossible to come back.
hopefully that helped shed some light on the game. incredibly busy week, so gotta run. gl to anyone who plays the game. mac football has been a coinflip at times this year because its consistently inconsistent all around. but this should be a pretty good game. chips are better, but giving points to ohio right now is awfully tough to do.
