Over The Pylon

Admittedly, the MAC blogosphere has been an evolving little gem over the last several years. I guess as the MACtion on the field hit fever pitch, the MACtion on the web stepped up their game as well. What has also evolved is the MAC Roundtable. It’s not like King Arthur’s with turkey legs and wenches running around in corsets, because let’s be honest: turkey legs are a gigantic pain in the ass to eat and the service region for the MAC doesn’t lend itself well to females capable of squeezing into anything other than a giant rubbermaid trash can (Exception: the state of Indiana and BSU specifically). Have you seen some of the slumpbusters from Michigan and Ohio? Gooo. I’d rather spend an evening with a lit piece of sandpaper. But I digress.

The host of this week’s roundtable are the gents from LetsGoRockets, the Toledo blog. Normally in this space I give the host site a little good-natured ribbing but considering the beating these guys will have to endure on Saturday at the hands of the fightin’ Football Cardinals, let’s just get to it.

1) Three weeks into the season, discuss the biggest surprise (positive or negative) with your respective team?

Where to start. The biggest surprise has been without question the defensive performance. It’s been productivity unseen in ages in Muncie and benchmarks about points allowed and yardage that have been around for decades are dropping like crazy. That’s a good thing. It’s unfortunate that the year the defense decides to put up a world-class effort, the offense can’t stop stepping on its dick every fourth or fifth play. From the playcalling right on down to the execution, this season on the offensive side of the ball is reminiscent of Will Muschamp’s first season at Florida.

2) If you could augment your team with any one player (or coach) from any team in the country, who would you select and why?

If BSU had a quarterback that had a deep threat potential the offense would be off and running. Therefore, I’ll take Bryce Petty and his busted back, a thank you very much.

3) What, if any, game plan changes do you expect to see from your respective team as we dive in to the conference schedule?

There are two critical game plan edits that I’d like to see the Legendary Lembo Crew make. The first is throwing out the “Throw a short pass at the receiver’s feet” play, because that one isn’t working out as well as we thought it would. The second would be the defense of “allow a big-ass seam down the middle of the field that the opposing quarterback can abuse all day” probably needs to take a time out as well. The biggest gameplan edit I’d like to recommend would be “Win this game” because it seems like that is a sustainable strategy initiative.

4) It’s time for the first MAC Blogger ranking of the season – rank all 13 teams in the conference.

At this point, ranking MAC teams is a poopshow of futility but let it not be said that OTP was above getting muddy from time to time. The most correct MAC rankings you’re likely to find…

13. Kent State
12. UMass
11. Miami
10. EMU
9. Buffalo
8. BSU
7. Ohio6. WMU
5. Akron
4. Toledo
3. CMU
2. BG
1. NIU

Filed under: MAC Roundtable |