Went 4-1 last week and sit at 27-6 on the year. I started in week 7, so maybe a bit unfair because I got to see some teams play.

Picks I missed throughout the year are; Akron over Kent, UB over Ohio, WMU over UMass, UMass over Miami, and USA over Kent, and Kent over Ohio.

NIU 63 WMU 7
This will be ugly. NIU knows they need style points and I expect them to absolutely hammer WMU. The Fighting Boat Rowers are pathetic this year.

UT 41 Akron 17
Akron has shown they can hang with some good teams, but I don't see them lasting against UT who is in search of a good bowl game.

BSU 35 Miami 0
Miami is pathetic and I don't think they will score a point here. BSU is a legit team that nearly beat NIU.

UB 31 BGSU 28
I think UB is a huge threat to NIU if their defense shows up for the whole game. This will be a close one and I think UB may win it last second.

Ohio 41 UMass 20
Ohio has really crapped their pants the last 3 weeks, they will take it out on poor UMass and hammer them pretty good. UMass scores some garbage points.

CMU 31 EMU 24
For some reason, CMU has always had a tough time with EMU. Even in our championship days from 2006-2009, we managed to go 2-2 with 3/4 games being decided by 1 possession or less. EMU was terrible during those years. CMU has a chance to go to a bowl game here and needs a win. Too much is at stake and I don't see them blowing this game. However, I think it ends up being closer than it should be.

I'd be surprised if we won by that margin. NIU takes out many of its starters very early in the 3rd when up by a lot at halftime, as seen in the EMU and UMass games.

(11-25-2013 09:04 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I'd be surprised if we won by that margin. NIU takes out many of its starters very early in the 3rd when up by a lot at halftime, as seen in the EMU and UMass games.

They may want to re-evaluate that strategy...they need to put a hurtin' on WMU for style points for the voters (human side)...

Toledo/Akron should end up being quite a bit closer. It was just announced yesterday that Fluellen has a broken bone in his ankle, which evidently was suffered weeks ago in the BG game...he played with it against Northern, but is now "out" for Akron, and perhaps the season (and therefore his UT career) unless the Rockets get invited to a late bowl and he has some time to heal. Between his various injuries last season and this season, he has missed all or parts of 9 games. Can only imagine what his career yardage total would have been. Toledo has had some very good running backs--he was certainly amongst the best. As for the Akron game, our #2 back (Hunt) is also a bit dinged up, our #3 is injured and won't be playing. Some other players are gonna have to step up for Toledo.

(11-25-2013 09:04 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I'd be surprised if we won by that margin. NIU takes out many of its starters very early in the 3rd when up by a lot at halftime, as seen in the EMU and UMass games.

Even with pulling your starters in the 3rd, that margin is still attainable.

It's supposed to be pretty windy, NNW winds. If the new IPF doesn't block that wind it might be harder to throw the ball and keep the score down.

(11-25-2013 10:35 PM)wleakr Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 09:04 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I'd be surprised if we won by that margin. NIU takes out many of its starters very early in the 3rd when up by a lot at halftime, as seen in the EMU and UMass games.

They may want to re-evaluate that strategy...they need to put a hurtin' on WMU for style points for the voters (human side)...

Fresno has been playing that game of leaving their starters in for longer. Against New Mexico last week they were up by 30+ at halftime and they didn't take out Carr until basically the beginning of the 4th qtr.

Maybe we should play for style points too, but i don't think its worth the risk to starters. I'd rather our backups get meaningful time and game experience, especially our backup QBs since we lose Lynch after this season.