With most of the games in the Mid-American Conference being between the North and South divisions, the games give an indication of relative strength, but don’t count in the standings.

 

Thus Western Michigan’s defeat of Cincinnati Saturday isn’t in the standings, and neither is their loss to Dayton. 

 

Only Miami of Ohio has registered two league victories so far, although they have actually won three games.

 

“We’re looking pretty good,” said Head Coach Jarred Moore in his circumspect way. “What I ask from the guys is to progress, and we are progressing. We have a lot of seniors and a group that’s playing well together. But we have work to do - it’s not going to come all at once.”

 

Still, Miami has scored 133 points against MAC opponents, and allowed only 40.

 

Bowling Green has been similarly tough, beating Ball State in their first standings-counting game 59-7 on Saturday.

 

“We had some pretty good passages of play, but we got a little sloppy at the end,” said Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. “We identified mistakes we made against Davenport, and did a better hob, but we looked sloppy in the last 20 minutes, and we’d like to play a full 80.”

 

BGSU has been working hard on defense in the early weeks, and the result has been good effort without the ball, but too many mistakes with it. Points given up have been the result of turnovers and penalties, so they worked harder at shoring up a tidier offensive effort, and that paid off this past weekend.

 

“What we did do well was out tactical decisions, especially with kicking,” said Mazzarella. “Our tactical kicking and putting them under pressure was very good.”

 

Dayton remains a strong contender for one of the coveted MAC playoff positions, and Central Michigan may be on that list, as well, but all of the teams still feel they have a shot.

 

Cincinnati is 0-1 in standings play, and 0-2 among all MAC games after losing 33-17 to Western Michigan. But Coach Mark Heidrich looks at his team’s 3-0 preseason record and thinks maybe the Bearcats can claw their way up.

 

“We lost five starers from last year and they were good players - two are starting for the Cincinnati Wolfhounds club now,” said Heidrich. “But we have a bunch of really good freshmen coming in, and they’ve helped us. We were a forward-dominated team last year, but our emphasis has shifted to the backline. I think there is a lot of parity in this league, so well see how we do.”