How did EMU’s 2011 opponents do in week 6?

EMU’s opponents went 8-4 this week. There was one matchup of future foes, as Northern Illinois defeated Kent State, and of course, EMU lost at Toledo.

Team	W	L	Total %	Conf	W	L	Conf %	Last	Next
Howard	3	3	50%	MEAC	2	2	50%	Won 29-28 at Florida A&M	Vs Georgetown
Alabama State	5	1	83%	SWAC	5	0	100%	Won 43-29 at Texas Southern	Vs Prairie View A&M
Michigan	6	0	100%	Big Ten	2	0	100%	Won 42-24 at Northwestern	At Michigan State
Penn State	5	1	83%	Big Ten	2	0	100%	Won 13-3 vs Iowa	Vs Purdue
Akron	1	5	17%	MAC	0	2	0%	Lost 27-17 vs Florida International	Bye (vs Ohio)
Toledo	3	3	50%	MAC	2	0	100%	Won 54-16 vs EMU	At Bowling Green
Central Michigan	2	4	33%	MAC	1	1	0%	Lost 38-24 at North Carolina State	Vs EMU
Western Michigan	4	2	67%	MAC	2	0	100%	Won 45-21 vs Bowling Green	At Northern Illinois
Ball State	3	3	50%	MAC	1	1	50%	Lost 42-0 vs Temple	At Ohio
Buffalo	2	4	33%	MAC	1	1	50%	Won 38-37 vs Ohio	At Temple
Kent State	1	5	17%	MAC	0	2	0%	Lost 40-10 at Northern Illinois	Vs Miami
Northern Illinois	3	3	50%	MAC	1	1	50%	Won 40-10 vs Kent State	Vs Western Michigan
Total	38	34	53%		19	10	66%
Past	23	13	64%		13	4	76%
Upcoming	15	21	42%		6	6	50%

Howard did their part to improve EMU’s schedule strength, winning another Division I game. The Bison still don’t rate as a good FCS team, but they’re definitely less terrible than everyone though.

Alabama State continues to dominate the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They’ve won their five SWAC games — all they’ve played other than EMU — by an average score of 33 to 18. The Hornets have a 1 1/2 game lead in the East Division, and a one game lead overall. In their next two games they’ll host West Division leader Prairie View A&M and then one of the teams tied for second in the East, Alabama A&M. Those two games have the potential to largely settle the SWAC race.

In their first game outside Ann Arbor, which many thought could be a trap, Michigan had no trouble winning at Northwestern, and advanced in the rankings to #11 in the AP poll and #10 in USA Today. (Maize N Brew: To Die and Live With Denard; MGoBlog: Déjà Vu, Then Something Different)

Penn State finally managed to find a way to beat Iowa, and snuck into the USA Today ranking at #25. (Black Shoe Diaries: It Gets Better)

Akron continues to struggle. Fortunately, they are guaranteed not to lose this week, since they have a bye before facing Ohio.

Speaking of which, last week I questioned whether the Solich collapse started early this year, and I think we got the answer Saturday: yes, it has. How else to explain the loss by the team that some people thought could go undefeated at Buffalo? (Bull Run: Buffalo Offense Explodes Against the Bobcats)

EMU lost at Toledo, of course. Based on the current Sagarin rankings, Toledo has a shot to run the table in the MAC, with home field advantage likely to give them just enough to edge out Western Michigan. Next week the Rockets travel to Bowling Green in the officially-renamed-for-Columbus-Day “Battle of I-75”, formerly the Peace Pipe. The Peace Pipe was a 63-year-old tradition, and there are at least five other FBS programs on I-75, several of which play each other regularly (Cincinnati, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and South Florida), but never mind all that.

Western Michigan solidified themselves as the team to beat in the MAC West Division with a surprisingly easy win over Bowling Green. (Falcon Blog: Oh, the humanity!) In other East-West action, Temple recovered from being smacked around by Toledo to do the same to Ball State (Over The Pylon: Temple 42 Ball State 0) and Northern Illinois may have found their defense…or maybe they were just playing Kent State. (Red And Black Attack: What does it all mean?)