We made it guys, we finally made it. Football season has been upon us for about two months now, and it has been awesome. But the MAC is back.
Nothing beats getting together with the boys early on a Saturday and slamming as many light beers of your choice as possible all afternoon while watching 18-22 year old guys bash each other’s skulls in. Then, doing it all over on Sunday with an outrageous hangover. We’ve enjoyed 8 weeks of that already, and trust me, I do not take it for granted.
But if you’re a real football fan (degenerate gambler), today marks the season we LIVE for. MACtion is back. That means the next day that there won’t be a football game on TV is 12/5. DECEMBER FIFTH. That is 41 straight days of football leading us right into bowl season, which some prudes also like to call “holiday season.”
Now, I use the term “football” loosely. MACtion is to football as cricket is to baseball. If you had only watched NFL, or big college games before, you might not really understand what’s happening. They play by a different set of rules. You’ll see QBs punting on third down, snaps going over the QB’s and punter’s heads, laterals, drop-kick field goals, all the shit you’d never see in a real football game. And when they try to play by the real rules, they’re usually not very good at it. I’m talking upwards of 10 turnovers in a game, and I’m going to love every single one.
Now, let’s get into a preview of the games tonight, and how the next 6 Tuesdays-Thursdays will play out.
Eastern Michigan (2-5) @ Northern Illinois (5-2): NIU -7.5, O/U 47.5
Eastern Michigan has really been struggling since beating Rutgers. Not a great win, but a Big 10 win for a MAC team nonetheless. Trust me, they were beat up after battling in the trenches with Rutgers to squeak that win out. They never got blown out, but they dropped a few close games. Shit, they only lost by 5 to a 6-1 Toledo team, and have had 5 weeks to recover from their battle with Rutgers. They are much better than their 2-5 record indicates, but unfortunately they’re running into a buzz saw in Northern Illinois. Northern Illinois wins this one at home, but don’t expect a blowout.
Toledo (6-1) @ Ball State (2-5): Toledo -26, O/U 56.5
Toledo’s only loss is against Miami, and they still were able to put up 30 against them. This team is a high powered offense, whose coaches clearly don’t care about recruiting defense. Ball State’s only wins come against a home for the blind (Tennessee Tech) and a team that just had their football program reinstated two years ago (Alabama Birmingham). Ball State really has no shot in this game. So, watch Toledo go up another touchdown every time the score comes up on the ticker while you’re watching the other game.
Championship Preview:
It’s unfortunate that both Toledo and Northern Illinois are both in the West. They’re the best two teams in the conference. Next week when they meet up will be the de facto championship game, which I believe Northern Illinois will pull out. Over in the West, even though Akron is only 4-4 right now, they’ll survive and advance the rest of the season all the way to the championship game. Unfortunately, they’ll get slapped around by either NIU or Toledo. Northern Illinois wins this conference, and probably gets to play for the Boca Raton Ponzi Scheme Awareness bowl so congratulations to them.
Bets For Tonight:
I’m #AllIn on overs in the MAC. Turnovers and special teams are chaos in this conference and it’s a beautiful disaster to watch unfold, especially when the play ends up with points. You’re going to want to root for that during these games. Parlay both overs. You can also lay some wood on Toledo -26 if you’re feeling frisky.