Now that the MAC has completed an unexpectedly successful bowl season, the time has come for our version of baseball’s Hot Stove League.
Ohio is probably the hottest team coming out of bowl season and they are looking forward to having Kurtis Rourke healthy next fall. Buffalo builds on its bowl win and has its Rutgers transfer QB coming back. Bowling Green made significant improvement this season but couldn’t beat NM State to get to 7-6 after the late hit out of bounds took McDonald out of the game early. Back-up Camden Orth - the LIU transfer we played two years ago - appears to be their trigger man going into spring.
Akron showed significant signs of improvement late this season and will probably hit the portal hard. They will predictably be a tougher out next season with DJ Irons coming back.
Kent State will probably take a nose dive. Losing their head coach and about a half dozen of their most skilled players will hurt them badly. They appear to be a rebuild under completely new management. The good news for the Flashes is the won’t face Washington, Oklahoma and Georgia in September like they did this season.
And then there is Miami. After finishing 6-7 with an anemic offense, it appears there aren’t going to be any significant changes in the coaching staff. Gabbert decided to come back - at least for one more year - and Aveon now has game experience. The RB room and OL underachieved this season and lost Shelton and Schaefer from those two groups to the portal. Miami’s best receiver departs through graduation. Additions from the portal have been slow to materialize and there is still a lot of inexperience in a lot of places. At this stage I’d call us a wild card in the East. The RedHawks should get Buffalo, Bowling Green and Akron at Yager and Ohio and Kent on the road.
Here’s my early impression of how I see the East shaking out in 2023:
I don’t see our running game as totally underachieving. Keyon Mozee had some great play. He put up a huge number at NW and while they had a bad year, that’s against BIG (whatever the number is now,22) caliber talent. Not say the Presbyterian Hose. As did Kevin D. And Shelton. Our run game was much improved INO. Maybe in part due to Aveon’s numbers.
Tough to run the ball with 8 defenders in the box because no one fears your quarterback. Our offense should be more balanced next season. Need to figure out the WR spots.
They weren’t good. But maybe it was bad coaching. You gotta think on some level they have talent we lost out to. Heck, I know a few years ago they scooped a QB from us Chuck was high on. Kid from Wyoming high school in Cincy.
Mediocre seems to be what we’re stuck on - a .500 team in a .500 division of a .650 conference.
Looking at the OOC games on MAC East schedules it looks like four of us stand a good chance of going 2-2. Kent looks like 1-3 and Buffalo a possible 3-1. Ohio still needs to add one FBS game to its schedule. Nobody plays a true murderers row next season.
Miami is poised to finish 1st. The only thing that stops that is an injured Gabbert. We have to find a true QB 2 that can eventually be our QB1. Line play will improve. Defense will be strong again. Special teams, arguably the best in the MAC will be strong again. The rest: Ohio, Buffalo, BG, Kent State and Akron in that order.
I think you might be right on that one, Dick. He was listed as a Senior this season but has only used three years of eligibility in his six years in two FBS programs due to a redshirt year as a freshman, sitting for a pre-portal transfer year in 2019, and the COVID year. He was a regular only in 2021 and 2022. He either has one or two years left. Although he only played in two games at BC in 2018, I think it counts because it wasn’t due to injury.
I was at the NW game and there were no 50mph winds. The only bad weather was a rainstorm about an hour after the game that us fans had to drive through.