2007 Mid American Conference Preview by Marc Lawrence After 13 straight winning seasons, Miami Ohio finally tasted a losing campaign last year. The RedHawks, along with Toledo, look to be on a mission in 2007. Will they find their way back to the winner’s circle, or are they doomed to repeat their losing ways this year? Better yet, is the MAC attack back, or are they just another wannabe conference? Answers to follow... Here is one handicapper’s take on the Mid American Conference for 2007. Returning quarterbacks and starters are listed alongside each team’s name. Be sure to check out the rest of my 2007 Conference Previews updated throughout the summer. Enjoy... Akron: 5 Off, 8 Def As so often happens in horseracing, the Zips, off their best effort in recent history, bounced like a rubber ball last year. Despite having the best talent on hand in the J.D. Brookhart years, Akron fell far short of expectations in 2006. Senior QB Luke Getsy was expected to pass Charlie Frye, while fifteen other returning starters were anxious to give the Zips a winning season for the fourth straight year for the first time since 1979. The best laid plans failed to materialize when Akron scored a total of seven points in their final two games and closed out at 5-7. Getsy’s off to the NFL while Brookhart’s busy training this year’s stable. Don’t bet against him in his next race. Play on Akron as an underdog vs. Kent State. Ball State: QB, 7 Off, 6 Def Unlike its most famous alum, David Letterman, Ball State sputtered out of the gate dropping four of their first five games last year. That led to another losing season in Muncie where it’s now been 11 years since the last winning campaign. Meanwhile head coach Brady Hoke returns to his alma mater for the fifth year feeling pumped to the max now that he’s found a quarterback with star potential. That would be Nate Davis, who shone as a freshman in 2006, completing 150 of 245 attempts good for 1,975 yards and 18 TD’s in just seven starts. Remember, this team finished the season on a 4-0 ATS streak; and with Davis they want more. Pass. Bowling Green: 6 Off, 8 Def It was just four years ago, Greg Brandon’s first season as its head coach, the Falcons were perched atop the MAC world. Eleven wins, capped by a Motor City Bowl championship, found the Falcons flying high. Since then, it’s been a steady slide downhill since with win totals dissipating faster than Lake Erie perch. Brandon’s philosophy has changed 180º since his heyday. “We want to be aggressive and we want to win games with our defense,” contends Brandon. A 60 YPG improvement by his defensive troops was lost in the mix of a four-win effort last season. Unfortunately, a seven-game away slate doesn’t hold much water when trying to plug up the leak in dyke. Play on Bowling Green vs. Kent State. Buffalo: QB, 8 Off, 9 Def Now that former Nebraska QB and current Bulls head coach Turner Gill finally tasted something new, losing (he never lost a conference game as a starter), the hope is that it’s not a flavor he’ll savor. He did, however, reward his backers going 7-4-1 ATS. QB Drew Willy started the first eight games of the season in 2006 before leaving with a thumb injury. Amazingly he did not toss a pick in his first 131 throws while ending the year with just six interceptions in 231 pass attempts. The 220 points scored was the most since Buffalo moved to division 1-A in 1999. Now if they can just find a way to keep the opposition from scoring more.Play against Buffalo vs. Syracuse. Central Michigan: QB, 7 Off, 7 Def Climbing the ladder. That’s what the Chippewas have done each of the last three seasons, improving their record from one year to the next, culminating in a MAC championship in 2006. Unfortunately, the consequence for that success resulted in the loss of head coach Brian Kelly to Cincinnati. In his stead they hired Butch Jones, a former CMU assistant who will be taking on head coaching reins for the first time in his career. Jones is one of over two dozen new head coaches in Division 1-A football this season. The defending champs might be up against it in 2007 considering they’ll take to the road seven times, including four of their final five games. Look out below! Play against Central Michigan vs. Akron. Eastern Michigan: 7 Off, 9 Def After signs of resurgence in his first two years at the helm, Jeff Genyk’s Eagles plummeted to 1-11 in 2006. No matter what kind of spin you put on it, 1-11 flat out sucks. Interestingly, though, EMU actually led in the fourth quarter against three teams that became bowlers, but succumbed down the stretch. The Eagles have now finished in either sixth or seventh place in the MAC West race five of the last six years. Nine starters return from a defense that improved 19 YPG last season. On the other side of the ball the top two quarterbacks, Andy Schmidt and Tyler Jones, also return. Unfortunately each missed spring camp recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. Pass. Kent State: QB, 8 Off, 8 Def There’s a lot of chirping going on around the Kent State campus these days, and we’re not talking about robins and cardinals here. The Golden Flashes rewarded coach Doug Martin with a four-year contract extension following last year’s six-win season. Off a one-win effort the previous year, only Arkansas, Rice and Wake Forest bettered Kent’s improvement in 2006. “School’s are worried about us now,” exclaimed Martin. Not like they worry about USC, to be sure, but at least the Flashes are back on the map. Martin’s new recruits this season (nearly double last year’s total) and junior QB Julian Edelman’s return lend to the enthusiasm. Let’s see where they stand after taking to the road four of the first five weeks of the season. Play against Kent State vs. Kentucky. Marshall: QB, 8 Off, 7 Def Like last year, Mark Snyder welcomes an array of returning starters in hopes tasting a winning season with the Herd. Before that happens Marshall needs to become more competitive in games they fail to win as six of their seven defeats last season were by double-digit margins. To make matters worse they will be on the road four of the first games of the season. The best in uniform will be DE Albert McClellan, Conference USA’s defensive player of the year last season. The bottom line, as is the case with a majority of teams, is they tend to win when they outrush an opponent - going 6-2 when they do and 3-12 when they don’t under Snyder. Play against Marshall vs. Memphis. Miami OH: QB, 8 Off, 7 Def My, oh my. How the mighty have fallen. Following a school-best 13-1 season in 2003, the RedHawks have fallen harder than the Roman Empire, bottoming out at 2-10 last season. It snapped a 12-year skein of winning seasons as Shane Montgomery’s back is suddenly saturated, and there isn’t enough Old Spice in Oxford to erase the odor. To be sure, Miami was up against it last season with only seven returning starters aboard. A bevy of injuries complicated matters as the offensive line was ravished while the defense traveled with only 22 players. Key cog on offense is RB Brandon Murphy, a former 1,000 yard rusher who missed four games last year with a bad ankle. Pass. Northern Illinois: 6 Off, 6 Def Seven winning seasons in a row, and yearning for more. That’s the mantra of Husky head coach Joe Novak who has done a masterful job of bringing this program out of the sewer. Proving that patience is a virtue, Novak suffered through losing seasons his first four years with NIU before finally turning the corner. While he loses his top two offensive weapons (RB Garrett Wolfe and QB Phil Horvath), he welcomes QB Dan Nicholson with open arms. Nicholson was the MAC’s top relief pitcher last year when he led the Huskies to wins in three straight starts. Sure, there are only ten seniors on the entire roster but it won’t bother Novak in the least, he’s on a roll. Play on Northern Illinois vs. Western Michigan. Ohio U: 5 Off, 6 Def It’s not often you will find a team which more than doubled their win total (in Ohio’s case, from four to nine wins) yet decline in offensive production. When it happens, you can be assured that the defense had a lot to do with it. Such was the case last year when the Bobcats improved 149 YPG on the defensive side of the ball en route to winning their first ever MAC East title. There are two major concerns this season. One is the offense, which has gotten worse in each of coach Frank Solich’s two years with the team. The other is the inevitable reverse-bounce that usually follows a winning campaign for lower rung teams. No thanks. Play against Ohio U vs. Kent State. Temple: 9 Off, 7 Def It’s finally official. The Owls are now full-fledged members of MAC. And as excited as he is about joining their new fraternity, head coach Al Golden is equally elated about this year’s schedule. “We only have to travel six times all year and only four of those trips will be plane rides. That’s a big difference from a year ago when we played eight away games and got on a plane seven times,” exclaims Golden. The truth of the matter is Temple would have a hard time winning if every game was a home game; and not because of an overdose of Pat’s Cheesesteaks. After all, they’ve managed to muster all of four wins in four years! Play against Temple vs. Bowling Green. Toledo: QB, 8 Off, 8 Def On the heels of last year’s disappointing five-win season, Toledo’s first losing year since 1993, head coach Tom Amstutz issued a directive during spring camp. “There is a new intensity. We were not where we wanted to be last year so we are hungry to move forward,” he said. Because of last year’s results, the Rockets will take off as a mission-team in 2007. Seven home games, where they are 38-4 in their last 42 games in the Glass Bowl, along with four all-MAC first-team returnees should help elevate Toledo back to a comfortable perch. Like we mentioned last year, Amstutz is seldom out-sized or out-scored. After starving last year he’ll be hungrier than ever in 2007. Play on Toledo vs. Central Michigan (key off a loss). Western Michigan: 8 Off, 8 Def The Broncos failed to win a MAC championship, or a Division title, or a bowl game last year, but they sure had fun trying. Bill Cubit’s club was the first-ever MAC team to land a bowl bid without finishing in first place anywhere in the conference, and they did so with a sterling defense. That’s verified by defensive stats that improved a whopping 175 YPG last season. The reward was their first bowl game in 18 years, and they almost won it after rallying from 24 points down to tie the game, only to lose on a last second field goal. A relatively young team (26 sophomores and 26 juniors) will take the field looking for more. Play on Western Michigan vs. Central Michigan. Remember to get Marc Lawrence’s Guaranteed College Football Winners this year right here at Vegas Experts, where you only pay after you win! And don’t forget to check out the rest of Marc’s 2007 Conference Previews, with free College Football Picks on nearly every team!