2014 #MACtion vs. Loser Conferences

[MDZip]

My wife made a good point about this game last week. In her office, the do a "suicide poll". Not sure what you guys call it, but you can only pick a team to win once in a year so you have to be certain they are going to win when you pick them. She took Arkansas and had some really good reasoning. It got me thinking about our upcoming game against Pitt.

Her point was (and she graduated from two different MAC schools, Miami and UofA) that she noticed that MAC schools tend to upset BCS level schools early in the OOC schedule but not late in the OOC schedule. She felt certain NIU couldn't go to Arkansas and win. It got me thinking...Why? I think if a MAC school is going to win one of these games, they have to do it early because of the following:

1. The difference in talent. Better talent develops in a season faster than lesser talent. The more games played, the more they have developed.

2. Depth. Better and deeper talent becomes overwhelming for the MAC schools after a couple of injuries.

3. Practice. These early season games allow the BCS teams to practice their offenses and defenses more so they are more prepared.

4. Integrating new players. It is a huge advantage to play new starters at home than on the road where they are less comfortable. As they get more practice, they are even more comfortable playing at home.

We are coming up on the fifth week of the college football season. This amount of time has given Pitt a lot of time to develop their talent, prepare their depth, practice plays and integrate new players. A school that size should do it faster than we do. Heck, we already have some injuries to key players. I thought we could win the Pitt game going into the season if a few things went our way. I don't feel like that now.

Sound reasoning but still hope Mrs. GP1 didn't go with Pitt this week. :-)