2014 marks the 68th season of Mid-American Conference football, a league which has escaped the latest round of realignment relatively unscathed. In this segment, Sports Events Guide gives you its preview of the MAC, starting with the West Division. Teams will be listed by predicted finish from first to last.
NCAA Football: 2014 MAC West Division Preview
Toledo Rockets
Phillip Ely comes in at quarterback as a transfer from none other than Alabama. He figures to be the starter in Toledo’s season opener against New Hampshire, although sophomore Logan Woodside might have something to say about that in the preseason. Running back Kareem Hunt had a productive freshman campaign as the second leading rusher in 2013, and is the clear cut starter going into summer camp taking the reins from the now departed David Fluellen.
The defense returns two immensely talented linebackers in Junior Sylvestre and Chase Murdock, who combined for 227 tackles and nine sacks last year. Sylvestre himself returned two fumbles for touchdowns. The key going forward will be to improve performance in the red zone, where opponents scored 90.2 percent of the time, tenth worst in the nation.
Jeremiah Detmer comes into this season as a legitimate Groza Award candidate, given to the best kicker in college football. His 95% field goal percentage ranked third in the nation in 2013, so needless to say Toledo will have a lot of confidence winning games that come down to his foot.
Prediction: Toledo’s non-conference opponents are tough, with Missouri coming to the Glass Bowl in Week 2 and two road games at Cincinnati and Iowa State. They return enough starters on both sides of the ball to be a force in the MAC West and I anticipate seeing them in Detroit playing for the conference title. 8-4 (7-1)
Northern Illinois Huskies
Jordan Lynch leaves the Husky program as the most prolific quarterback in school history. Last year, he finished second in the nation in rushing yards and accounted for 47 touchdowns combined through the air and on the ground, leading to a third place Heisman finish. Clearly, he will be missed and his successor has a tough, almost impossible act to follow.
Going into fall camp, the new starting quarterback remains a mystery. Coach Rod Carey was remarkably honest about his assessment of the situation, saying at Media Day in Dekalb, “I don’t know. You guys think I’m lying to you, but I’m not.” Redshirt junior Matt McIntosh is the only upperclassman in the running with redshirt sophomores Drew Hare and Andrew Maddie also gunning for the starting role going into the season opener. It’s highly likely a decision won’t be made in this regard until the end of preseason camp at the earliest.
Other than Lynch, pretty much the entire offense returns, including 1,000+ yard rusher Cameron Stingily. He’ll miss the first few games of the season recovering from an injury, which means that senior Akeem Daniels will probably shoulder the workload to start off. He himself redshirted the entire 2013 season due to an injured foot.
The defense is drastically short on experience, with only five starters returning from a unit that ranked second in the MAC in takeaways. Three of those five returnees are in the secondary, who despite giving up a lot of passing yards were able to force 19 interceptions in 2013. Unfortunately, seven of those picks came from the now departed all-MAC safety Jimmie Ward.
Tyler Wedel will take over kicking duties from Matthew Sims, who was sketchy at times, making only 58.6% of his field goals.
Prediction: The Huskies lose too much firepower on both sides of the ball to repeat as MAC West Champions, but they should still remain in the upper echelon of the division. Three non-conference roadies, including games at Northwestern and Arkansas, will provide a tough early season challenge. 8-4 (6-2)
Ball State Cardinals
The situation in Muncie with respect to quarterback is almost identical to the predicament at Northern Illinois. Gone is Keith Wenning who finished his career with virtually every significant passing record at Ball State. Spring ball did not settle anything with regard to Wenning’s successor, so much like the Huskies coach Pete Lembo might be forced to go the entirety of August before naming a starter.
Running back Jahwan Edwards is poised for a breakout senior season after leading the Cardinals with 1,110 yards on the ground in 2013. His 100.9-yard average per game is second among returning MAC backs. He’ll have a relatively experienced line blocking for him, and if he can stay healthy he should garner all-conference recognition. The receiving corps loses Willie Snead’s 15 touchdowns, but Jordan Williams had ten in 2013 and should be ready to add to that total in his junior year.
Three of four return from a secondary that had a respectable season last year. Brian Jones, Dae’Shaun Hurley, and Eric Patterson finished second, fourth and sixth respectively on the team in tackles. The issue could be up front, where they lose leading sack man Jonathan Newsome at linebacker along with having only one returning lineman in Nick Miles. Stopping the run was the biggest issue for Ball State on defense last season, finishing 92nd nationally.
There is room for improvement in the kicking game, with senior kicker Scott Secor connecting on 79.2% of field goals and punter Kyle Schmidt’s average slightly over 40 yards per punt.
Prediction: Quarterback play is a huge question mark, and most likely holds this team back in the quest for its first MAC title since 1996. They still should be in the hunt for the postseason though, with an expanded lineup of bowls targeting MAC teams this year. 8-4 (5-3)
Central Michigan Chippewas
We’ve touched upon quarterback uncertainty in the division, but with respect to the Chippewas it involves two returning players. Cooper Rush enters his sophomore season as the favorite, but he was highly mistake-prone in 2013 stepping in for Cody Kater who was injured in Week 1. Whoever takes the reins this season has perhaps the best pass-catching weapon in the league. Wide receiver Titus Davis will attract a great deal of interest from NFL scouts over the course of the season going into his senior year. All five starters from the offensive line last year return as well.
The secondary comes into 2014 relatively intact, including Kavon Frazier and Jason Wilson who combined for six interceptions last year. Linebacker Justin Cherocci who led the team in tackles (121) and sacks (4) also returns. Central Michigan’s defense needs to improve its ability to stop the run, ranking 95th in the nation in 2013.
Ron Coluzzi will most likely take over punting duties in addition to placekicking now that Richie Hogan, who had a top 20 national punting average, has graduated.
Prediction: Expectations will be elevated in Mount Pleasant in coach Dan Enos’ fifth year, and I think this team can finish the season bowl-eligible. If they can surprise Ball State at home, they might be able to finish ahead of the Cardinals in the division standings. 7-5 (5-3)
Western Michigan Broncos
Western Michigan locked up a potentially program-changing recruit when quarterback Chance Stewart decided to de-commit from Wisconsin and sign with the Broncos. His presence should make the battle in fall camp with incumbent starter Zach Terrell quite interesting. This team had a lot of trouble scoring and generating any momentum in the running game last year. They were among the nation’s worst in points per game (17.2).
Opposing teams are going to struggle mightily throwing the ball against the Broncos, who return three of four starters from a secondary that allowed only 169.2 yards/game in 2013, fourth best in the nation. That said, if an inexperienced front seven doesn’t improve quickly, teams could abandon the pass in favor of the run. Western Michigan had the nation’s sixth worst run defense last season.
Prediction: In his second season, Broncos head coach P.J. Fleck has this program riding a lot of momentum with two stellar recruiting classes. The future looks bright in Kalamazoo especially with Stewart as the quarterback of the future, and that should translate into vast improvement after last year’s 1-11 campaign. 5-7 (3-5)
Eastern Michigan Eagles
First-year head coach Chris Creighton has a massive reclamation project ahead of him in Ypsilanti. There is some hope on offense, as LSU transfer Rob Bolden comes in at quarterback with one year of eligibility remaining. Senior running back Bronson Hill ranked in the top 30 nationally last year with 100.1 yards/game. Turnovers were a major concern all season though, as the Eagles margin ranked fourth worst in FBS.
The defense is going to need to make massive strides in preseason practice if they want to have any semblance of competitiveness. Only four regular starters return from a unit that could not keep opposing offenses out of the end zone. The Eagles’ defense ranked 121st in scoring defense (45.2 points/game) last season and forced a measly 11 turnovers last year.
Prediction: For whatever reason, this program has continuously struggled to find the right formula. Former coach Ron English had things going in the right direction for a while, but went down in flames last year before being fired midseason. Creighton has his work cut out for him if he wants to turn Eastern Michigan football into a consistent winner. 2-10 (1-7)
This division should be fairly top-heavy with any of my top three picks equally capable of coming out on top and representing the West in Detroit at the MAC Championship game in early December. Whichever team can get their respective quarterback situations on the firmest ground, especially going into conference play, will be in the best shape at regular season’s end.
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