Going Out On A Limb: MAC Edition
By Kyle Kensing
Let’s put the cards on the table right now: if you don’t like #MACtion, you don’t like football. What’s better than getting home from work in the middle of the week, throwing on the TV and watching two teams put up point totals that would make basketball teams jealous? Rhetorical question, there is nothing better.
Ohio Quarterback Tyler Tettleton Joins The Illustrious 20/20 Touchdown Club
Tyler Tettleton led Ohio U. to its first ever bowl victory a season ago, along the way passing for 28 touchdowns and rushing for another 10. He lingered in anonymity somewhat though, with Chandler Harnish accruing mind blowing stats in the same conference for Northern Illinois. This season, Tettleton should take center stage and command the attention as one of the nation’s premiere dual threat quarterbacks he deserves.
Ohio U. looks like the favorite to win the MAC East, and should be in position to win its first league title. Tettleton is the chief reason. The Bobcats’ 30.5 point per game runs through him, and should be even more reliant on his playmaking abilities in the early going of 2012 while Frank Solich feels out an offense replacing its top rusher and top two receivers.
The departure of running back Donte Harden leaves nearly 1000 yards unaccounted for, but Tettleton can carry the slack while a new feature back gets acclimated. That will translate to even more goal line opportunities for the Bobcat quarterback. In the air, Tettleton was just shy of 30 scores already once. Losing stud wideout LaVon Brazill changes the passing game dynamic somewhat, so Tettleton’s production could drop in that facet. But the talented play caller should more than compensate, and in the process challenge to join the rarefied air Tim Tebow and Cam Newton occupy.
Eastern Michigan Appears In The MAC Championship Game
Ron English engineered one of the most impressive turnarounds in recent college football history last season. Did the Eagles make a bowl? No. Did EMU break .500? No. So what makes his team’s 6-6 finish last season arguably more impressive than the tangibly historic 1-11 to 10-4 turnaround Miami U. had in 2010?
Well, MU was not far removed not only from bowl appearances, but a top 15 finish with a future Super Bowl winning quarterback running the offense. The RedHawks hit hard times, but that was a blip on the radar. EMU’s existence is the blip. The Eagles have been so perpetually down, the thought of EMU contending for a bowl game, let alone making one is foreign. Last season’s pursuit came down to the final week, when the Eagles fell just short of the program’s first postseason since the 1987 California Bowl.
The 2012 season might not come down to Thanksgiving weekend for English and Co. When reigning conference champion Northern Illinois visits Rynearson Stadium, it could be a berth in the following weekend’s MAC Championship game at stake for an Eagle team with all the pieces in place to accomplish something special
Four MAC Quarterbacks Finish Top 15 Nationally In Touchdowns Scored
Aforementioned Tettleton is a player to watch this season, and likely fixture in the top few of the Ty Detmer Award voting. But he’ll have competition from his conference mates. Western Michigan quarterback Alex Carder threw for 3873 yards and 31 touchdowns last season, and tacked on another six scores with his feet. Carder loses outstanding target Jordan White, but don’t except Bill Cubit’s offense to take a dramatic turn away from the pass — the Broncos have ranked No. 31 or better nationally via the pass every season since 2007.
Add his ability to scramble to his gunslinging arm, and Carder could break the 40-touchdown barrier. Miami’s Zac Dysert isn’t a scrambler, but has rushed for five and four touchdowns in the 2009 and 2011 seasons. Dysert made strides as a passer in 2011 and has worked his way onto NFL Draft boards. MU was the worst rushing offense in the FBS last season. While the running attack is rebooted, Dysert will have ample opportunity to air it out, and that should translate to somewhere in the 30-35 touchdown range. Assuming he gets goal line carries as he has in the past, Dysert is a threat to reach 40 touchdowns.
The fourth MAC snap taker to watch is NIU’s Jordan Lynch, a first year starter who steps into a situation conducive to major individual production. Lynch learned the ropes under the explosive Harnish, last season seeing enough field time to rush for three touchdowns, throw for one, and attempt 20 passes — 15 were complete. He should fit nicely into the offense, sharing the backfield with first year starter Akeem Daniels. Daniels takes over for Jasmine Hopkins, who scored 15 touchdowns a season ago. Replacing highly productive running backs has been no problem for the Huskies, though, cycling from Garrett Wolfe, to Chad Spann, to Hopkins.
Lynch will be hard pressed to achieve the same kind of statistical success as his predecessor, a four-year starter. But he has shown glimmers of having that same kind of dual ability to put up the numbers necessary to keep NIU hovering around 40 points per game.