On The MAC: Ranking the 2007-08 Out of Conference Schedules

Year number two of the MAC’s 16-game league schedule looks a lot like the first season. The same teams scheduled non-league slates that border on the verge of murderous while the usual suspects will try to bump up their overall winning percentage by munching their way through a buffet of would-be cupcakes. The one thing that’s different this season is that the favorites — Miami, Kent, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Toledo — are playing the toughest OOC foes unlike like last season when unanimous favorite Akron played a slew of CYO and intramural sides on it’s way to getting — rightfully — excluded from post-season play.

The other thing that jumps out this season is the amount of games between MAC and Valley teams, which has prompted us to include a new category for each side called “Valley Vengeance” meant to highlight those games where the MAC teams can get big wins against college hoops current Mid-Major darlings.

1. Miami (schedule here): Charlie Coles has done it again, as his defending MAC champs are embarking on the most ambitious OOC schedule in the league. Road games at potential Big Dance sides Louisville, Kansas, Illinois, and a “home game” against Cincinnati being played in Cinci, as well as a season-opening visit from potential Top 25 Xavier are among the highlights on a Redhawks schedule that could be one of the toughest ever Coles has put together.

Fatten Up On: Miami’s diet is so lean Jack Sprat could dine happily on it. A visit from the hapless Chicago State Cougars on December 18, 2007 should be a pleasant respite from the frying pan for Tim Pollitz & Co.

Valley Vengeance: Valley bottom-feeders Indiana State come calling on December 4th in what should be a sure win for the good guys.

Will Beat: The Bearcats in Cinci on December 29th; Xavier in Oxford on November 13th; and Illinois in Champaign on December 20th.

2. Toledo (schedule here): Stan Joplin’s feeling pretty secure about his job as Rockets head coach and it shows in a schedule that is as grueling as sitting through an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” The Rockets open with blockbuster non-league home games games against Missouri State of The Valley and Vanderbilt and then hit the road like Jack Kerouac, for a brutal six-game stretch that will see Kashif Payne & Co. visit Old Dominion, Dayton, Rhode Island, and Pittsburgh amongst others. Toledo’s reward for that barnstorming tour? A home scrap with Colonial comers Drexel.

Fatten Up On: Summit League contenders
Oakland are as soft as it gets for Toledo in OOC play this season.

Valley Vengeance: The Rockets will tip off the season in style, beating Mo State at Savage Hall on November 10th.

Will Beat: Vanderbilt at Savage Hall on November 13th..

3. Western Michigan (schedule here): While not the grindfest that Toledo or Miami are facing, Steve Hawkins side plays their fair share of challenging opponents during non-league play. A season-opening trip to Eugene, Oregon for something called the World Vision International tourney, gives the MAC title contenders shots at Oregon and Big West Pacific. Visits to solid mid-majors Detroit, Loyola (IL), and Valpo, along with a trip to SoCal to play San Diego State and home dates with Big Dance perennials Davidson and Southern Illinois are the other OOC highlights for the Broncos.

Fatten Up On: North Carolina Central makes it’s first-ever trip to the ‘Zoo on January 2nd for what should be little more than a glorified scrimmage for the Broncos before MAC play begins.

Valley Vengeance: The Salukis are going down at the ‘Zoo on December 18th.

Will Beat: The uptempo Broncos get Oregon on the final night of the World Vision International tourney in a game that has all the makings of a big OOC win for the MAC.

4. Ball State (schedule here): This is not the season for the Cardinals to be taking up this ambitious of an OOC slate. From start of the season visits to Muncie by Horizon League powers Butler and Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Big East title contenders Georgetown to a five-game swing that sees Ball State visit the likes of Purdue, St. Joe’s, and Valpo, new head coach Billy Taylor has his work cut out for him. Especially with the recent dismissal of Micah Rollin from the squad.

Fatten Up On: Peyton Stovall & Co. should beat Northern Colorado and the IPFW Mastodons when both sides visit Muncie but it ain’t like the Cardinals are going to take them behind the woodshed or anything like that. Any win counts as a good win for Ball State this season.

Valley Vengeance: In a battle of bottom-feeders, Ball State will beat Evansville when the Purple Aces come calling on November 24th..

Will Beat: Butler in Muncie to tip-off the season in what should be one of the season’s bigger upsets.

5. Ohio (schedule here): After what has to be considered kind of a disappointing season — the Bobcats went 9-7 in MAC play after going 10-6 in OOC action — Tim O’Shea has amped up the Bobcats non-league slate, as evidenced by the six road games Ohio will play against Holy Cross, Temple, Maryland, Kansas, St. John’s, and Bucknell. Starting the season with a visit by WAC faves New Mexico State ain’t exactly a walk through quaint Athens, Ohio either.

Fatten Up On: The Bobcats are playing the college hoops version of a vegan diet this season. Lots of tough nuts to crack and lots of things that are plain old tough to eat. A visit by down-and-out St. Bonaventure to Athens on December 5th should give Leon Williams & Co. a chance to put the hurt on an opponent.

Valley Vengeance: Looks like the teams from The Valley are ducking Ohio this season, as the Bobcats don’t play any teams from that league.

Will Beat: St. John’s on December 19th. The Red Storm isn’t what it once was but a win over the Big East is still a good win.

6. Central Michigan (schedule here): Ernie Zeigler’s squad is facing a less daunting OOC slate then the college hoops murderer’s row they played last season but the rapidly improving Chipps will still get a chance to strut their stuff. A season-opening visit to perennial MAAC contender Niagara followed by an away game at rebuilding Big Ten side Minnesota is a tough enough way to start the season but when that stretches finishes with games against good teams — Illinois-Chicago (home) and Detroit (away) — from a good league — the Horizon — we should know just how real the still youthful Chipps are. Mid-December visits to Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a home game against Big West faves Cal-State Fullerton are the other OOC highlights for CMU.

Fatten Up On: The Chipps will lay a licking on a rebuilding Clevo State side coached by from Kent State head man Gary Waters.

Valley Vengeance: All the teams in The Valley were too chickenshit to play the MAC’s most athletic side.

Will Beat: Michigan at Ann Arbor on December 15th.

7. Kent State (schedule here): It’s not the Golden Flashes have tamed their typically tough schedule to notch 20-win season 508 in a row because they haven’t. The reason Kent’s OOC slate is ranked seventh is because the other MAC teams are trying to do things the Kent, Miami, and Toledo way. Of all the MAC teams, the Golden Flashes have always been the side most willing to play other good mid-major teams and this season is no different, as Jim Christian’s team will square off with the likes of TAMU-CC, George Mason, Detroit, Hampton, and Coppin State. A January 2nd visit to Chapel Hill and late November tilts with Atlantic 10 favorite Xavier and A-10 member St. Louis are Kent State’s other OOC marquee match-ups.

Fatten Up On: Longwood on November 20th.

Valley Vengeance: Valley teams don’t want no part of the Kent State juggernaut.

Will Beat: Xavier on November 20th.

8. Northern Illinois (schedule here): Not sure if the change at the top is what caused the Huskies to vastly improve their OOC scheduling but the fact is new head coach Ricardo Patton’s side is playing a formidable slate in the former Colorado head man’s first season in DeKalb. From visits to Valley powers Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois to an away date at Notre Dame, the Huskies have their work cut out for them. That’s not even mentioning the visit by UMass or Horizon League road trip — games against Loyola (IL) and UW-Green Bay — in December.

Fatten Up On: I’m not seeing it. As it stands right now, NIU isn’t a very good team and if they aren’t careful, games against teams like Lamar and Stephen F. Austin from the low-majors will see the Huskies on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

Valley Vengeance: NIU will beat Indiana State at the Hulman Center on November 20th to score another one for the good guys.

Will Beat: Not this season.

9. Eastern Michigan (schedule here): There are plenty of challenges for this up-n-coming squad in OOC play this season. Charles Ramsey’s Eagles will square off with the likes of Notre Dame, Illinois State, and Temple. Throw in scraps with solid mid and low-majors like Detroit, Manhattan, TAMU-CC, Oakland, and Radford and this is a slate that should challenge Carlos Medlock & Co.

Fatten Up On: Beat up on Brown and Chicago State, bookends to EMU’s non-league schedule, and the Eagles just might be a dangerous side when MAC play rolls around. Struggle to beat, or even lose to the Bears and Cougars, and EMU’s probably still baby-stepping it’s way back to respectability.

Valley Vengeance: Illinois State in Ypsilanti on December 4th.

Will Beat: Temple in The City of Brotherly Love on December 22nd.

10. Akron (schedule here): Some people — Shrub and Vice spring to mind — just don’t learn from their mistakes. Add Akron coach Keith Dambrot to that list. One season after his 26-7 Zips were, correctly, excluded from the post-season due to an embarrassingly shoddy OOC slate, Dambrot has put together another schedule that while marginally more challenging than last season’s, is still laden with cream puffs. From a season opening game against something called USC-Upstate to scraps with middling low-majors Binghamton, NC A&T, and Youngstown State to a home against D-I newbies North Carolina Central this is yet another exercise in under-scheduling from Dambrot. Only games against Dayton, Temple, Wyoming, and a Bracket Buster-initiated visit to Winthrop redeem the Zips OOC slate.

Fatten Up On: Every game with the exception of the latter three mentioned above.

Valley Vengeance: Why play games against The Valley when NC Central is ready to rumble?

Will Beat: Dayton in Dayton in their final non-league go-round on January 2nd.

11. Buffalo (schedule here): I broke down the Bulls schedule a bit less than a month ago but it’s still important to point out that the 2007-08 OOC slate is, while an improvement over last year’s scrimmage-like slate, still not challenging enough for a team that would like to avoid finishing in the MAC East cellar and bowing out of the MAC tourney in the first round like they did last season. Games against Pitt, Wyoming, and possible tourney scraps with UConn and UTEP keep the OOC part of the Bulls season from being a waste of time.

Fatten Up On: Coach ‘Spoon’s squad should find games against Florida International, Ohio Valley State, and UNC-Asheville to their liking.

Valley Vengeance: Evansville comes calling on December 1st. Look for the Mighty Maniacs and Andy Robinson & Co. to provide a rude welcome to the Purple Aces.

Will Beat: Wyoming in the opening round of the Sun Bowl Tourney.

12. Bowling Green (schedule here): In year one of the Louis Orr era, the Falcons are playing a non-league slate that’s decidedly Dan Dakich-like. That’s to say that challenges are as few and far between as Upper West Siders that think Shrub’s doing a heckuva job. Only a visit to Cincinnati and home games against Temple and Illinois State keep Bowling Green’s schedule from being an utter embarrassment. Just like last season, the Falcons may enter MAC play with double-digit wins and then chalk up double-digit losses in the MAC.

Fatten Up On: This is a schedule is so chuck full of fat that it’s the college hoops equivalent of a diet designed for Hollywood scarecrows like Angeline Jolie or Nicole Richie. Games against Northern Colorado, Eastern Illinois, and SoCon lesser lights Furman and Western Carolina should give Ryan Hamblett & Co. plenty of easy dubbyas.

Valley Vengeance: Pity the poor Illinois State Redbirds, as new coach Tim Jankovich’s side is the MAC’s bitch this season. Bowling Green will prove that by beating the Redbirds on December 18th.

Will Beat: Get a good game from 6-9 sophomore big Otis Polk and the Falcons can upend a middling Bearcats squad.