UPDATE: EMU Officially Knocked Out of MAC West Race
Toledo beat Ball State, and EMU is mathematically knocked out of the MAC West division race.
After Toledo’s 28-21 home win over Ball State, Eastern Michigan is officially out of the running to win the MAC West division title this year.
Entering this week, EMU would’ve had to win its final three games while Toledo loses its final three games, and watch Ball State and Western Michigan also lose at least one game apiece for things to ultimately break in EMU’s favor. EMU had its chance to take control of the division by pulling off the home upset over Toledo, but it fell short by losing 28-21 at home.
Toledo took down Ball State with a late touchdown and game-sealing interception, and its only loss in MAC play was decided by one score on the road against Buffalo.
Tuesday’s home win for the Rockets knocked all of Ball State, Central Michigan, and EMU all out of mathematical contention to win the division.
Western Michigan is technically still in the race, though I wouldn’t bet any amount of money on this to happen. WMU will have to beat Northern Illinois at home Wednesday, beat CMU on the road next week, and beat Toledo at home on Black Friday. Three wins in a row plus a Toledo loss to Bowling Green at home next week would give both WMU and Toledo 5-3 MAC records to end on, and the Broncos would win the tie-breaking scenario.
Again, I wouldn’t bet on WMU shocking us that much this month, but I’m also not in control of your life. What you do with the odds is between you and your bank account.
MAC West standings (thru 11/8)
Toledo: 7-3 overall, 5-1 MAC
Ball State: 5-5 overall, 3-3 MAC
EMU: 6-4 overall, 3-3 MAC
WMU: 3-5 overall, 2-3 MAC
CMU: 3-6 overall, 2-3 MAC
NIU: 2-7 overall, 1-4 MAC
We had the best chance to catch the Rockets when we played them sans Finn. He and Kurtis Rourke are kaiju out there and having that Godzilla v King Kong matchup in Detroit is good for the conference. I think Austin Smith has the potential to get on that level, which is why I was happy to see him start last night (and why he should've started against Toledo). The biggest hinderance to his development might be Creighton's micromanagement of the QB situation and the offense as a whole. The wearing of all those hats means there's only so much time he can allot to any one of those jobs. Smith doesn't need to put this team on his back. He's got weapons galore, an experienced OL , and a defense that's playing complementary football for the first time in years. All he has to do is keep the ball, and keep it moving forward. Double QBing the Toledo game might've cost us a MAC West title, and that's one of many reasons the best thing for everyone involved is to stick with Smith, and hire some more assistants in the offseason. In the meantime a Michigan MAC Trophy would look real nice in the case.