We hosted the MAC Blogger Roundtable this week and here’s a recap of the answers from the group:

1) There are several mid week MAC games this week, with only one game being played on Saturday. Which game are you most looking forward to watching or has the most interesting matchup? OU @ Buffalo (Tuesday). Toledo @ CMU (Wednesday). BGSU @ Miami (Thursday). Ball State @ NIU ( Thursday). Temple @ Akron (Friday). WMU @ EMU (Saturday).

With these games falling during the week and the bloggers answering these questions at various times, we had several different answers on this one… seems like people were generally interested in OU / Buffalo, but outside of that:

FalconBlog: Obviously, I am looking most forward to the Bowling Green game, but I also think that CMU and UT tonight has potential to be interesting. Could be a basketball on field turf kinda night.

Rasor on the Zips:Ohio and Temple are facing trap games at Buffalo and Akron, respectively. I don’t expect the West games to be tumultuous.

2) Bernard Pierce of Temple is only a Freshmen yet is the only one in the conference with over 1,000 yards rushing to date (1,211) good for 3rd in the nation. He has found the end zone 14 times already and has not yet fumbled or turned the ball over. Does Pierce have an amazing offense line or should we expect this from him for 2-3 more years?

Can’t say enough about Pierce — RAB gives less praise than FB and ROTZ but we’ll all in agreeance that he’s getting it done:

Red and Black Attack: Temple is a team shrouded in mystery. They’ve been rolling through poor opponents and play in the lesser of the two divisions. However, Al Golden should be praised for his success for making the Temple Owls relevant. As opposed to completely off of the radar. Bernard Pierce is for real. He is basically Temple’s entire offense right now. I haven’t seen Temple play on TV so I can’t have any opinion on how talented he or the offensive line is. This is just based on stats. Put up some youtube videos Owls fans!

FalconBlog: Pierce is a real testament to the difficulty of projecting recruiting. He had some nice high school numbers, but nothing to suggest that he would do what he has done this year. ESPN had him ranked as a 40, which is pretty much the default rating for an FBS recruit. I think he has a good offensive line, but it can’t just be that. For one thing, there was another starter at the beginning of the year, and he didn’t get these numbers. I expect Pierce to be a star in this conference for as long as he plays here.

Rasor on the Zips: I haven’t seen Pierce in person. I look forward to it on Friday. The scenario reminds me of when Jamario Thomas of North Texas led the nation in rushing in 2004 with 1,801 yards. His next three years of production combined did not match that freshman year. Pierce can turn out to be the best running back in the history of the conference, but nothing is certain.

3) This is a sore subject for some teams (IE – Buffalo, Toledo) but discuss the major injuries your team has endured this season and what your projected outcome WOULD HAVE BEEN if everyone was healthy. We expect 100% homerism.

Some teams have had an extra helping of injuries piled on their plate this season, but the teams who have dodged the bullet are thankful:

Fire up Chips: This year, I think we have over achieved and though we have suffered our share of injuries, I can’t complain about how things have turned out.

TFF: Aside from a linebacker, Alex Joseph, who has been playing with about as bad a foot injury as you can have and still play, the Owls have been pretty lucky.

FalconBlog: Well, I have to say that Bowling Green has been blessed with a very small number of injuries. Most of the ones we have had were at WR, and obviously the passing game remained healthy. If you want to think about what might have been, I would focus on how things might have looked if PJ Mahone had not earned a suspension after a couple games. The defense was night and day better after he got back, and BG could easily have beaten OU (for example) with a more solid defensive performance.

4) Outside of the MAC, which other college program(s) most closely mirrors your respective MAC school ? Who’s performance / problems / coaching / etc. is similar ?

Interesting answers on this one all across the board:

TFF; Rutgers. Close by. Same recruiting area. Similar coaches (great recruiters, still learning the gameday aspect). Both large state schools.

Over The Pylon: Injured quarterback, team on the ropes, coach who a large majority of the fanbase is ready to beat the piss out of? I hate to say this but it seems like we’re mimicking the University of Louisville, and my Kentucky fandom nearly vomited for having to make that comparison.

Red and Black: Over the weekend, I was watching the Stanford Cardinals beat up on the Oregon Ducks. Gerhart and crew remind me so much of what Kill is doing for this program in terms of discipline and just being efficient on each side of the ball. They overcome teams with more talent with good coaching.

Rasor on the Zips:I would have to discuss the NFL’s Browns to find a comparable disappointment. It all went south within about seven days. The starting quarterback got kicked off the team. A coach was investigated for recruiting violations, and he resigned. Another player was arrested for assault. The team lost two games by a combined 44 points. The team’s biggest donor had a serious heart problem. It was just one thing after another. It snowballed into a six-game losing streak that (graciously) ended Saturday against Kent State. … Only in Cleveland (or Akron).

Fire Up Chips: I am a huge Fresno State fan and I see some similarities between the two schools as mid majors. The only difference is that there is an entire city fully behind Fresno State athletics where as the citizens of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan could care less what CMU does.

5) If you could reorganize the MAC divisions, how would you see it divided to better promote competition, rivalries, recruiting, etc. ? What groupings would you like to see ? (Can be any number of divisions)

More than half of the blogs think the MAC should stay as it is, but nearly everyone agrees adding a 14th team would be good (TFF suggests Army):

Rasor on the Zips: Football has a great thing going in the West division. Basketball is strong in the East. I wouldn’t change anything, except maybe adding another football team to make scheduling a little easier.

TFF: I’d keep it the same and beg and conjole Army to join.

On the flipside, OTP thinks the MAC should drop a team to get an even number:

Over The Pylon: Frankly, we have one too many teams in the MAC. The imbalanced schedule, the odd number of teams, it makes it all a nightmare. For me, I would drop one of the teams in the East, and it seems like either Buffalo or Temple would be the best fit to jump to a larger conference. It’s not that I dislike either team, it’s just that both of them are not geographical great fits, and both simply seem to be biding their time until the Big East comes calling. After one of them leave, then I say we stick with 12. It’s a nice round number.

FalconBlog suggested this restructuring:

FalconBlog:That’s an excellent question. Here’s an idea:

Divide the conference into the OLD MAC and the NEW MAC.

Old: Bowling Green Miami Kent OU UT WMU

New: Temple CMU EMU Akron Buffalo Ball State NIU

For BG, this would be great, as we would play the teams our fans have the most interest in every year. It would split up Kent and Akron and CMU and WMU, who are big rivals, but might help to form some new rivals as well.

To read all the answers from the participating blogs — hit their links:
FalconBlog
Fire Up Chips
Let’s Go Rockets
Over The Pylon
Rasor on the Zips
Red and Black Attack
Temple Football Forever