MAC Football

MAC Football Power Rankings: Week 3

Some more movement up top once again as we look at the carnage that was Week 3.

By Bryan M. Vance Sep 15, 2013, 4:00pm EDT

I'm going to use this photo for eternity.

Rank	Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	What We Learned
1	2	NIU	2-0 (0-0)	Well the Huskies are back to where they belong. The win was ugly, but it was still a win, meaning NIU still hasn't lost a regular season game since the 2012 opener. Jordan Lynch struggled, but still amassed five touchdowns. A sign of a great team is one that can pull out a win, no matter how ugly. NIU did that.
2	1	BGSU	2-1 (1-0)	I learned my lesson, so let's not beat a dead horse. I still think BG is one of the better team's in the MAC, but that beat down at the hand of the Hoosiers proved I pulled the trigger too soon last week.
3	4	Ohio	2-1 (0-0)	Some may put Toledo here, but Ohio's win came against a better team. Plain and simple. The Bobcat's 34-31 victory over the Thundering Herd of Marshall was easily the best win the MAC had yesterday. The Herd are going to win a lot of games, and make a lot of noise this year and once again the 'Cats held out for the win.
4	5	Toledo	1-2 (0-0)	Despite what I previously said, it can't be understated that this was a good win. Eastern Washington is an excellent FCS program, and the Rocket's offense looked good despite losing starting quarterback Terrance Owens for much of the game. Toledo showed what it's capable of when it's not going against SEC schools.
5	3	Ball St.	2-1 (0-0)	Ball St. struggled in the first half against Illinois State in Week 1. This time around they fell flat in the second half against North Texas. The Cardinals are good, no doubt. But to win games you need consistency, right now the team is showing some issues in that department.
6	6	Kent State	1-2 (0-1)	The Golden Flashes get a waiver considering who their competition was this past week and that they were still without Dri Archer. But if Archer can't return soon, things could start to get ugly in Kent, and soon.
7	7	Buffalo	1-2 (0-0)	Really a disappointing win. Buffalo had an opportunity to make a statement at home after getting throttled the week before. Instead they grinned out a narrow victory in five overtimes. That's right, it took five overtimes to put away the Stony Brook Seawolves.
8	8	EMU	1-2 (0-0)	This is where the MAC gets frustrating. The bottom is bad, and in a perfect world EMU would be lower than eight after its blah performances, but the MAC isn't in a perfect world. So for now the Eagles are safe at 8.
9	11		1-2 (0-0)	While Ohio pulled out the best victory, there's no denying Akron turned out the best performance of the week. It was awe-inspiring and went down to the wire against a Michigan team that was a 37 point favorite. The Zips honestly outplayed a Top-15 team, but fell just short. It's still too early to tell if Akron can play like that week in and week out, but there's reason to get excited.
10	9	WMU	0-3	The boat is sinking. WMU wasn't going to beat Northwestern, but it didn't have to be this ugly. TVT was awful as was the offense as a whole..
11	10	CMU	1-2 (0-0)	After last week's performance, one would have rightfully expected a strong showing from the Chips against a bad UNLV team. Instead CMU blew a 21 point lead to lost 31-21. The loss of Zurlon Tipton is becoming ever more painful.
12	12	Miami	0-2 (0-0)	Well look there, Miami managed to not lose to Bye.
13	13	UMass	0-3 (0-0)	UMass remains in the gutter after another lackluster performance. A.J. Doyle's two picks weren't the answer at quarterback for a Minutemen team that has struggled to even compete this season.