#21 Northern Illinois 44, #17 Kent State 37 (MAC Championship, FINAL)

I would love to see Hazell and the Golden Flashes go to the Orange Bowl.

I am going with Kent, 24-20.

5, maybe even 6 MAC teams could go to bowls. Right now sEcSPN bowl projection have BG, Kent, NIU, Toledo and Ohio going. I would not be surprised if Ohio gets bumped by Ball State who is 9-3. OU is 8-4.

WOW Ohio started off real good. Hard to keep the intensity all year long.

Well, in addition to struggling a bit against several teams they probably shouldn't have (marked with *) Ohio also had a pretty easy schedule the first 2/3 of the season. They played the meat of their schedule late and that showed that weren't as quite as good a team as we all thought earlier on...

24-14 W @ Penn State (started 0-2, finished 8-4)
51-24 W NM State 1-10
27-24 W @ Marshall* 5-7
44-10 W Norfolk State 4-7 (DI-FCS)
37-34 W @ UMass* 1-11
38-31 W Buffalo* 4-8
34-28 W Akron* 1-11
20-23 L @ Miami(OH)* 4-8
45-14 W E. Michigan 2-10
14-26 L Bowling Green 8-4
27-52 L @ Ball State 9-3
06-28 L @ Kent State 11-1

The first 9 opponents combined record: 26-76

The last 3 opponents: 28-8

An opponent's combined record of 54-84, only four of whom finished above .500... yeah, it's safe to say they played a fairly weak schedule.

i really hope Kent wins are crashes party and Sooners are left on the outside, but NIU is not a bad team

As far as tonight's game... I gotta go with Northern Illinois here...

1st in the MAC in rushing (245 ypg), 7th in passing (237.6 ypg), 1st in total offense (482.6 ypg), 3rd in Rush D (144.8 ypg), 4th in Pass D (220 ypg), and 3rd in Total D (364.8 ypg)...

Kent State on the other hand: 2nd in the MAC in Rushing (241.5 ypg), 13th in passing (160.7 ypg), 7th in total offense (402.2 ypg), 2nd in rush D (129.3 ypg), 12th in pass D (281.9 ypg), and 6th in total D (411.3 tpg)...

I know games aren't played on paper, but Jordan Lynch is a player that imo is kind of a hybrid between Braxton Miller and Collin Klein, his ability to run the ball is gonna keep Kent State close to the line, which opens up one of the worst pass defenses in the MAC to one of the better passing teams in the conference... Kent St needs to play D like their asses are on fire and their corners are going to be challenged with a lot of man assignments. If they throw a lot of zone coverages against a versatile guy like Jordan Lynch they're asking to get picked to pieces.


Both teams are solid against the run and present talented guys running with the ball. NIU has Lynch (235-1,611, 16 TD) and Akeem Daniels (48-304, 8 TDs) while Kent State has Dri Archer (138-1,337, 14 TDs) and Trayion Durham (236-1,176, 14 TDs).

Kent State is pretty one-dimensional offensively though as their starting QB Spencer Keith is 151/264, 1,674 yards with 11 TDs and 7 INTs and is clearly not on the same par passing as Lynch. He has to have a career game and play error free.

NIU has pretty good balance offensively. Lynch (203/319, 2.750 yards, 23 TDs, 4 Ints) has completed 63.6% of his passes, averages 363.4 ypg of total offense and has accounted for 39 TDs (23 passing, 16 rushing), makes good decisions throwing the ball, and he has a dangerous receiver to throw to in Martel Moore (67 rec., 1,015 yards, 11 TDs)... Kent State's vulnerable pass defense will be what costs them the game should they lose.

Believe me I would love to see Kent State win and crash the BCS for their first bowl appearance since 1973, but I just see NIU's offense being too versatile and explosive to contain for long.

This should be good one...


Kent State 31-23....


Then I think Darrell Hazell will have a solid chance of landing a job like Boston College, NC State, or even Purdue....


It would b pretty neat to see 3 coaches in the B1G from the Tressel coaching tree (Dantoni, Beokman, Hazell)

Kent state having a breakdown

WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,

This has been a great game... Does NIU play for the win or for OT?