MAC Football

MAC Football Power Rankings: Week 5

NIU remains the king, but Cardinals leap-frog Falcons, Bobcats slip, and Rockets take a slight slide.

By Bryan M. Vance Sep 29, 2013, 3:19pm EDT

Rank	Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	What We Learned
1	1	NIU	4-0 (0-0)	NIU's victory over Purdue was historic, but beyond the historical impact it also showed that the Huskies are better than their first three games showed. They were dominating, even if the defense allowed 524 yards. With such an easy MAC schedule, NIU won't be challenged again up here until Nov. 13. Mark your calendars.
2	5	Ball State	4-1 (2-0)	Yes Ball St. allowed 415 yards, but that was to arguably the second best offense in the MAC, and one of the better teams. BSU's offense is unstoppable right now. Keith Wenning and Jahwan Edwards are two of the conference's best. The defense isn't fantastic, but is good enough to give the offense the time and space it needs to win a lot of games.
3	2	BGSU	4-1 (2-0)	BGSU wound up pulling away from Akron in the second half of its 31-14 win, but once more the Falcons struggled to play a complete game through four quarters. Akron led BGSU at halftime, before the defense locked down the Zips in the second half. The Falcons have the weapons all across the board, but until they can turn out a complete game, they're a step below BSU and its potent offense.
4	3	Ohio	3-1 (0-0)	I hate to move team's down due to a bye week, but in this case it had to be done. BSU deserved to move up, and BGSU is not worse than Ohio.
5	4	Toledo	2-3 (1-1)	In reality Toledo is better than the fifth best team in the MAC. Honestly four and five are about evenly matched. If Toledo was able to put together a successful drive at the end, it would have won. But the offense, as good as it is, turned the ball over on downs twice as it was unable to move the ball when it mattered most.
6a	6	Kent State	2-3 (1-1)	Man oh man was Dri Archer's return huge. Sure WMU isn't good, but with Archer on the field, Kent St. resembled last year's team for the first time all season. The offense had options, and was dangerous. Defensively, Kent St. has the weapons to make some games interesting.
6b	7	Buffalo	2-2 (0-0)	I almost bumped Buffalo up above Kent St., but until either team can put two consecutive strong performances together, they're going to be stuck together in the middle of the pack. UB's offense looked like a well-oiled machine against UConn, and the defense was smothering, but you can't erase the past.
8	8	Akron	1-4 (0-1)	The Zips aren't who we thought they were. Akron is a much better team than any of us could have imagined (except for this guy). Kyle Pohl is a play maker, and if Terry Bowden can get Jawon Chisholm more involved, the Zips could pull off a few upsets this season. Keep an eye out Saturday against Ohio...it could begin there.
9	9	CMU	1-4 (0-1)	Cooper "Turnover" Rush. CMU's quarterback should change his name. He continues to show signs of promise, but makes bonehead decisions as well that cost his team. CMU looked bad against NC State, it wasn't even competitive. Luckily for the Chippewas, the rest of the MAC has looked worse.
10	10	EMU	1-3 (0-1)	EMU beat the formidable foe: Bye-week.
11	11	WMU	0-5 (0-1)	TVT was bad. The defense flopped around trying to stop Dri Archer and was pummeled by Trayion Durham in the process. WMU continues to have a lot of holes in its boat.
12	12	Miami	0-4 (0-0)	The RedHawks are awful. There's no reason to waste more time discussing why.
13	13	UMass	0-4 (0-0)	Bye week, nothing to see here.