Week 9 MACtion Power Rankings & Roller coaster of a Halloweekend in Akron
EMU's now had two-straight 18-point comebacks, but didn't come away winners the second time around.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Two Saturdays ago: Eastern Michigan rallied back in the last 13 points from an 18-point hole with 22 unanswered points to beat Central Michigan at home. It was a rivalry game, part one of the Michigan MAC series — all’s well for a weekend.
This past Saturday: I kid you not, they did it again.
Well, sorta.
EMU was down 18-zilch at halftime. Did they come back from that? Yes they did; EMU got 21 points to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but enough time for Akron to storm back on its one good offensive drive of the second half.
Down four and under four minutes to play, EMU was driving down to Akron territory, and initially, it looked like Elijah Jackson-Anderson would get all of the tough yards he possibly could to give his team a chance to rally for its fourth-straight touchdown drive. Jackson-Anderson’s 36-yard run was set to give EMU a new set of downs in the red zone as the clock wound down to its 2-minute pause in the fourth quarter.
Then the officials had too much time to [decide to?] review.
An injury timeout came after the run (about 40 seconds), then the officials let the clock re-start to wind from 2:03 to 2:00 for the new in-game timeout. During the timeout, officials reviewed the tape to see what actually happened at the end of Jackson-Anderson’s run. Hard to catch at first in real time (may have require many freeze frames and a magnifying glass to see), but Jackson-Anderson lost possession of the ball just before his knee hit the turf, and the Zips re-took possession of the ball late.
But when, exactly, did the officiating crew decide to take a look at the play?
“I don't know exactly when, but I know it wasn't right away,” Chris Creighton said during Monday’s media availability. “We were surprised by that. I'll be honest though, I did not see the ball come out. I mean, I looked away prior to that, don't know if a whistle had blown or not. (It) caught all of us off-guard.”
EMU did force Akron to one more punt, and EMU got the ball into Akron’s side of the field before it tried a Hail Mary throw in the end zone with two seconds left on the clock. The throw to the back of the end zone was too high and incomplete, and EMU felt the pains of an unimaginable heartbreaker.
As far as the record book shows, this is the first time EMU’s had a season like this: not just having two 18-point comebacks in the same season, but to do so with two different end results? That’s a first in at least three ways.
No, that’s not the kind of history EMU wanted to record in the first place, but it’s exact kind of position this year’s team has found itself in, and now there are four games left on the regular season schedule, and the margin for error only gets slimmer from here.
EMU hosts Toledo (5-3, 2-2 MAC) this week, then it flips to Wednesday MACtion matchups at Ohio (5-3, 3-1 MAC) and versus Buffalo (4-4, 2-2 MAC), then it will finish the regular season at Western Michigan (5-3, 4-0 MAC) on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
MAC Football Power Rankings through Week 9
Welcome back to checking in on the most impossible task a MAC football writer gets to do: rank these teams in the middle of the conference seasons. Parents out there: Don’t let your kids grow up to be college football writers with a niche following. There aren’t enough good health insurance options readily-available for people like me.
This week’s MAC power rankings:
Western Michigan (5-3, 4-0 MAC | Last week’s ranking: 1) — Western Michigan is the only team in the MAC that’s still undefeated in MAC play. Unfortunately, the rest of this list just ends up being a mess so I appreciate WMU’s early success for simplicity’s sake.
Miami OH (4-4, 3-1 MAC | LW: 4) — Miami had a tough start with Toledo, but the RedHawks are improving while the Rockets suffered its second MAC loss this year. But, again, there’s so much interchangeability throughout this list. On the obvious positive, all three MAC wins came by 10 points or more. I wouldn’t be surprised if Miami kept its stride throughout its MAC slate (remaining games: at Ball State, vs. Kent State, vs. Northern Illinois, at Bowling Green).
Bowling Green (4-4, 3-1 MAC | LW: 8) — Sort of up-and-down in the second quarter of the season, but BGSU whipped Kent State and Toledo and look much better than it did against Akron (barely won) and NIU (lost by 10 at home). BG, still has a real shot at getting to Detroit.
Ohio (5-3, 3-1 MAC | LW: 6) — Imagine how much better of a stat line Coleman Owen would have if Ohio could have efficient passing games every week. He had 146 yards and 2 scores on six catches and is currently fifth in the MAC with 44 catches for 682 yards with 5 TD. What a tremendous revelation he’s been as a graduate transfer from Northern Arizona.
Toledo (5-3, 2-2 MAC | LW: 3) — Something seems broken with Toledo. Maybe their heads are in the clouds because they’re too busy thinking of themselves as a Mountain West school right now, but Toledo has not look as good as it should in its last three games.
Buffalo (4-4, 2-2 MAC | LW: 2) — Beat a talented Toledo team, then lost to first-place WMU and just got smoked by Ohio. Buffalo still has a good chance of going bowling if it can find two wins in its next four games against Akron, ball State, EMU, and Kent State.
Eastern Michigan (5-3, 2-2 MAC | LW: 5) — What a roller coaster of events it’s been for EMU. Falling to Akron’s not a good look but Akron’s been in
Ball State (3-5, 2-2 MAC | LW: 9) — Ball State’s playing decent football! The Vanderbilt loss was only by 10 points, and every MAC game this season has been a one-score game, including its 25-23 win over NIU. Not sure how much success it’ll have the rest of the way (Miami, Buffalo, BGSU, Ohio coming up), but Ball State’s certainly showing improvement, it’s just hiding behind a 3-5 record.
Northern Illinois (4-4, 1-3 MAC | LW: 7) — Since beating Notre Dame with a walk-off field goal, NIU has lost to walk-off field goals twice in MAC play this year. First it was Buffalo in overtime. Now, Ball State joins the club.
Akron (2-6, 1-3 MAC | LW: 11) — Snapped a four-game losing streak and has seen its point total go up each week in this five-week span as well. Remember, Akron played WMU well two weeks ago (had a double digit lead early on). With Buffalo and NIU next, maybe Akron can get a little winning streak going in November. Shoot, I’ll say it right now, I won’t be surprised if the Toledo game ends up being a nail biter the way things have gone for both teams.
Central Michigan (3-5, 1-3 MAC | LW: 10) — First big stinker (39-point loss) after four-straight one-possession games. CMU hasn’t had a 100-yard passer since Labas went down, and the schedule doesn’t get much easier the rest of the way (BGSU, Toledo, WMU, NIU).
Kent State (0-8, 0-4 MAC | LW: 12) —I’m hoping Kent State finds one win in its final four games this year. This group can be a fun watch, and I don’t want to see things finish with an 0-12 record.
