DETROIT, MI - DECEMBER 02: Northern Illinois Huskies head coach Dave Doeren holds up the MAC Championship Trophy after defeating the Ohio Bobcats during the MAC Championship game at Ford Field on December 2, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. The Huskies defeated the Bobcats 23-20. (Photo by Mark A. Cunningham/Getty Images)
Thanks again for everyone's participation in crowdsourcing our MAC predictions. I tabulated the results and broke them out in two different ways:
1. Straight Up — The team that had over 50 percent of the votes got the win, otherwise the loss. This created a bunch of teams at the top (six with at least six wins), many with bad records (six with at least six losses), and only one team in-between that.
2. Rounded — I added the percentages for each team. So, for example, the CMU-Miami game was picked in favor of Miami, 71% to 29%. Miami got 0.71, CMU got 0.29. This gives us a more realistic interpretation of the combined predictions.
And you can see our predicted finish if you dare cross beyond the jump.
| MAC EAST | STRAIGHT | MAC WEST | STRAIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO | 8-0 | Toledo | 8-0 |
| Bowling Green | 6-2 | Northern Illinois | 7-1 |
| Miami | 6-2 | Western Michigan | 6-2 |
| Kent State | 2-6 | Ball State | 3-5 |
| Buffalo | 1-7 | Central Michigan | 2-6 |
| Akron | 1-7 | Eastern Michigan | 2-6 |
| UMass | 0-8 |
| MAC EAST | ROUNDED | MAC WEST | ROUNDED |
|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO | 7.40-0.60 | Toledo | 6.71-1.28 |
| Miami | 5.26-2.74 | Northern Illinois | 6.29-1.71 |
| Bowling Green | 4.93-3.07 | Western Michigan | 5.60-2.40 |
| Kent State | 2.73-5.27 | Central Michigan | 3.17-4.83 |
| Buffalo | 1.87-6.13 | Eastern Michigan | 3.15-4.85 |
| Akron | 1.33-6.67 | Ball State | 2.57-5.43 |
| UMass | 0.99-7.01 |
Thoughts and other notes:
• Yes, NIU's only straight-up loss was to Toledo. Akron and Buffalo's lone wins were against UMass. Good guesses!
• On OHIO's dominance: 8-0 seems possible but also very, very difficult. The worst they did on any particular game was a lowly 87% percent confidence against Eastern Michigan at home. That's ... weird.
• Also, Toledo undefeated? Seems very unlikely given all the turnover. Maybe their schedule is easy, but the crowd liked them winning at WMU (60%) an at NIU (63%). Shows you what I think.
• I don't know if BGSU and Kent State are that far apart, yet so many people are that much higher on the Falcons. Did you see how the Golden Flashes finished last season? They got stronger, and a lot of those pieces are back. (70 percent of the crowd did pick BG to beat Kent State at home.)
• Ball State, EMU and CMU are in a nice, tight bunch. The closest game, actually, was Ball State taking 51 percent of the vote over CMU.
• 0.99? OK, maybe UMass will run into a win somewhere in there.
• If there was a home field advantage bias, it didn't show. Only 52 percent of all votes were in favor of the home team. Then again, only 58 percent of home teams won MAC games last season.
• Look, we're just going to keep trying to predict what will happen in MAC football until the season actually begins and we can talk about actual results. Until then, just be patient.
There are 3 Comments. Load Now.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.