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It wasn't a very good Saturday for the MAC yesterday. The only teams to win their out-of-conference games were Toledo, Bowling Green and Akron. Some games were close, but losing close games doesn't always bump you up in these power rankings. And away we go:
Rank | Team | Points (First place picks) | Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 |
1 | Toledo | 13 (11) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
2 | Bowling Green | 27 (1) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
3 | Northern Illinois | 35 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
4 | Ohio | 56 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
5 | Western Michigan | 61 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
6 | Ball State | 76 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
7 | Central Michigan | 78 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 8 |
8 | Buffalo | 101 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
9 | Akron | 106 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 |
10 | Massachusetts | 118 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 |
11 | Kent State | 127 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 |
12 | Eastern Michigan | 145 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 11 |
13 | Miami | 149 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 13 |
Honestly, I was expecting to Toledo to be our unanimous first place team in the rankings, but it looks like there's somebody that thinks otherwise. The Rockets (3-0) won last night by easily taking care of the Arkansas State Red Wolves 37-7. Bowling Green flips with Northern Illinois at 2/3 again after the Falcons beat their second Big Ten opponent and the Huskies suffering a loss against Boston College.
It just seemed like a bunch of teams around the conference were close in their games but couldn't pull out with wins. The Ohio Bobcats stuck around with Minnesota, Central Michigan was in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter at Michigan State before losing by 20, Ball State suffered only a 5-point loss to Northwestern, Buffalo's loss to Nevada was only by 3, Kent State lost in double overtime to Marshall. If a couple of these ended in wins, then our rankings wouldn't be so stagnant to last week's.
But out-of-conference games just about done, so now we'll see some more movement on these polls in the coming weeks.
Voters: Alex Alvarado, Brandon Fitzsimons, Brandon Hickey, Keith Scheessele, James Jimenez, Matthew Gritzmacher, Norman Miller, Justin Coffin, Russ Johnson, Chris Manning, Nick Fries, Matt Hammond