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Sometimes these things are a little quirky. We take a poll of a fair amount of our writers and the votes get tallied each week. Sometimes they shake out a way that's expected, sometimes not. This week was a little wacky in that Buffalo jumped up three spots even though they lost:
| Rank | Team | Record | Previously | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Michigan | 11-2 | 1 | W - Coppin State, W - Concordia |
| 2 | Toledo | 7-4 | 2 | Did not play |
| 3 | Buffalo | 7-3 | 6 | L - at Wisconsin |
| 4 | Akron | 7-4 | 3 | Did not play |
| 5 | Central Michigan | 9-1 | 4 | W - at McNeese State |
| 6 | Western Michigan | 7-4 | 5 | W - Alabama A&M |
| 7 | Bowling Green | 7-3 | 7 | W - at South Florida |
| 8 | Kent State | 8-3 | 8 | L - UTEP |
| 9 | Ohio | 4-6 | 9 | L - George Washington, W - DePaul, L - Nebraska |
| 10 | Northern Illinois | 4-5 | 10 | L - at Notre Dame |
| 11 | Ball State | 4-6 | 11 | W - Longwood |
| 12 | Miami | 3-8 | 12 | L - at Ohio State |
Buffalo's rise was the only change this week, as we saw the top teams win and the bottom teams lose (for the most part). The Bulls led Wisconsin at halftime and are certainly one of the best teams in the conference, and now our rankings show that.
The rankings also speak to the depth of the league. Only a fourth of the teams in the MAC have losing records, with one being Ohio who has played a really tough non-conference schedule. Outside of Miami, the rest of the conference has had strong performances and key wins. The Bobcats sit in ninth, but just beat Big East opponent DePaul in Hawaii.
This week's schedule doesn't feature a lot of good games, but we do have two match-ups against ranked teams. Toledo heads to #2 Duke on Monday and Kent State strolls into Allen Fieldhouse to face the Kansas Jayhawks Tuesday. While those won't be easy games for either the Rockets or Flashes, they're good enough to cause some problems against bigger competition.
So, with Buffalo now firmly in the top three, are you happy? Is something still off? Let us know, let us know...