2012 MAC Pick'em - Week 1

AND WE ARE BACK! In a few days we will have kickoff and the start of the 2012 football season! If you missed the initial post, we are bringing back the MAC Pick'em, including a prize this season.

If you need to see the scoring, just click here. We will not do the "National Game of the Week", as you handily vetoed it. No problem.

Also, this week we will continue with the old format of simply replying to the weekly post. However, somewhere this season, we will experiment with a poll system similar to the season predictions Suss used earlier this month.

But enough jibber-jabber, lets get to the picks. Detailed picks are worth 3 bonus points this week, as is custom of the opening week.

My picks, as always, in bold...............

THURSDAY

Central Florida @ Akron - Terry Bowden opens against a Florida school, where his daddy pretty much ran things for a good portion of the last 4 decades. Unfortunately, this is still a bad Akron team, Central Florida is ok, and I'm defending champ (I will remind you fools every week).

SE Missouri State @ Central Michigan - Yeah..............I hate picking CMU in anything, but I love a free point. Win-win for me, because if they lose I'll never stop laughing.

Towson @ Kent State - Another laugher. Kent State showed signs of life on offense late last season, and they still have Roosevelt Nix. Much easier opener this season compared to last.

UMass @ UConn - Welcome to FBS football! UMass gets a team that just 2 years ago got waxed in the Fiesta Bowl as an 8-4 team that lost to Temple who had an identical record, beat that same UConn team, but played in the MAC. Errr.........I should just stop talking about those fools. UMass gets waxed in this game.

Eastern Michigan @ Ball State - In case you're counting, that's 6 of 13 MAC teams playing on the opening night. This happens to be the marquee of the night, just by being a conference game. Neat-o. As for the game, Ball State clearly wants to Man Up this season. EMU has a stingy defense and a decent run game. Last season, this was a thrilling game, so why not expect the same this year. Nevertheless, I go against Wenning, and choose the EMUs.

SATURDAY

Miami (OH) @ #18 Ohio State - So they are banned from post-season play, but they can receive votes? Hmmmm. Anyways, Urban Meyer is no stranger to the MAC, and has more talent with Ohio State than Miami has. Meyer is a great coach too.

Ohio @ Penn State - This is the hardest pick for me. If you haven't heard, Penn State basically got the "life in jail" penalty and a few players have jumped ship. They can't play in a bowl game for 4 years, and it makes me wonder what kind of mentality they will come out in for the first game in Beaver Stadium without a Joe Paterno coaching staff at the helm. Angry? Listless? I don't know. I go with Penn State just because the students will band together for at least this game as a "Flip The Bird To The NCAA" showing.

Buffalo @ #6 Georgia - hahahahahahaha

Western Michigan @ Illinois - Oh hai Tim Beckman! We meet again. The last time WMU vs Beckman occured, we got a 66-63 game that broke multiple records. Now Beckman has an Illinois team and WMU has to break in a new WR core. The reason the Broncos hung with Illinois last season was because of Jordan White and Co. I think it will be another close game, but not as close as last season's near miss.

Bowling Green @ #23 Florida - BG is just overmatched here. Can I get a Dave Clawson Thumbs Up?!?

Iowa vs NIU (at Chicago) - Good venue in Soldier Field. Still a bad game for NIU to start the Post-Harnish era.

Toledo vs Arizona - Remember when Toledo beat Rich Rod and Michigan? I see the same thing happening against a much weaker Arizona team.

High: Toledo
Low: Buffalo

And, again, I announce the 2012 MAC Pick'em officially OPEN.