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Topic: MAC Media day

Topic: MAC Media day

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Victory
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Member Since: 3/10/2012
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MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 10:06:27 AM

The preseason poll is out already.

MAC East Division (First Place Votes)
1. Ohio – 63 points (9)
2. Miami – 52 points (2)
3. Buffalo – 51 points (1)
4. Bowling Green – 35 points
5. Akron – 26 points
6. Kent State – 19 points

MAC West Division (First Place Votes)
1. Toledo – 66 points (11)
2. Eastern Michigan – 55 points (1)
3. Northern Illinois – 38 points
4. Central Michigan – 37 points
5. Ball State – 27 points
6. Western Michigan – 23 points

MAC Champion: Toledo (7), Ohio (4), Buffalo (1)

The divisions look almost exactly like I would have expected right down to the points. Ohio got four total votes to win the MAC which is pretty good.

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2023/7/20/mac-announces-2023...

Victory
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Member Since: 3/10/2012
Post Count: 2,198

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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 11:27:51 AM

FYI, Media day is watchable on ESPN+ with Michael Reghi and Ryan Cavanagh. I'm off today and watching.

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/89ba5b2f-2fb7-4c16...

It also audio streams on Ohio radio, Varsity Network, and Stretch Internet.

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2023/7/19/football-ohio-radi...

https://thevarsitynetwork.com/feed/source/oas-1965?audioP...

https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ohio /

Last Edited: 7/20/2023 1:32:02 PM by Victory

M.D.W.S.T
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 12:05:27 PM

I'm gonna need one of those black polos Kurtis and Bryce are wearing.

Last Edited: 7/20/2023 1:30:09 PM by M.D.W.S.T

Victory
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 1:31:47 PM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

I'm gonna need one of those black polos Kurtis and Bryce are wearing.

Coach Albin wearing a suit and tie and with full stubble is hardly recognizable. He said Rourke was ahead of schedule. I didn't hear much more than that. Houston, and not Kurtis Rourke himself was interviewed by Reghi on the ESPN+ stream. Unfortunately, I haven't heard much more on Rourke and that may be by the University's design. I was actually a little surprised Rourke was an attendee since the program seems to be limiting information on his injury progression.

Last Edited: 7/20/2023 1:35:14 PM by Victory

M.D.W.S.T
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 1:50:16 PM

Victory wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

I'm gonna need one of those black polos Kurtis and Bryce are wearing.

Theres video of him doing the stanky leg at Nathan's wedding, I think the secret is out lol

Victory
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 4:55:18 PM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Victory wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

I'm gonna need one of those black polos Kurtis and Bryce are wearing.

Theres video of him doing the stanky leg at Nathan's wedding, I think the secret is out lol

There is a difference between being mobile and not in pain and being able to survive a hit. If you listened to Russ on Marty's show he said that Week 0 is corresponding almost exactly when the doctors are saying that they expect to be able to clear him to play. Russ said that Rourke will be ready to play most of this year but if he plays vs. SDSU is still up in the air. I think that's the best answer the we have gotten yet. Russ isn't a doctor or even coach Albin but he probably is well informed about anything that he is willing to say. Playing in Week 0 is almost always a good thing. Week 0 will have decent exposure with less games that week and unlike most MAC teams we will get a full bye week. There is a downside to it this year. It is possible that it might mean the difference between Kurtis playing every game or not.

Russ said that he interviewed Tim Albin today. It was probably on the Ohio Radio stream while I listened to the ESPN stream. Hopefully, it will show up on the Ohio Football twitter or something like that soon.

Last Edited: 7/20/2023 4:58:19 PM by Victory

Pataskala
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 6:34:47 PM

Channel 4 in Columbus had a short piece on MAC media day during the 6:00 news. Mentioned that Kurtis is the top QB in the MAC and that Ohio is picked to repeat as division champs. Also a short interview with Kurtis where he discussed his injury from last season. It'll probably be on again at 11 and Jarod said they'd have more during their expanded sport show at 7:40 Saturday night.

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

Victory
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/20/2023 7:01:54 PM

Victory wrote:

Russ said that he interviewed Tim Albin today. It was probably on the Ohio Radio stream while I listened to the ESPN stream. Hopefully, it will show up on the Ohio Football twitter or something like that soon.

It is archived on stretch internet. I think the first 11 minutes or so of what is archived is dead air.

The most Albin and Rourke said about the knee is that it is "on pace" or "on track" or something like that.

Last Edited: 7/20/2023 7:26:53 PM by Victory

M.D.W.S.T
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/21/2023 9:13:25 AM

Victory wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Victory wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

I'm gonna need one of those black polos Kurtis and Bryce are wearing.

Theres video of him doing the stanky leg at Nathan's wedding, I think the secret is out lol

There is a difference between being mobile and not in pain and being able to survive a hit.

I'm not Kurtis or an orthopedic surgeon, but if I was him I wouldn't play until Iowa State, maybe LIU. I'm not testing my knee out 2,000 miles from home on unfamiliar turf.

Theres a lot to play for, and even more pressure on him - but I'd rather start off clunky with CJ, than Kurtis go a few weeks too early.

Last Edited: 7/21/2023 9:48:24 AM by M.D.W.S.T

Victory
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/21/2023 11:35:48 AM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Theres a lot to play for, and even more pressure on him - but I'd rather start off clunky with CJ, than Kurtis go a few weeks too early.

Yeah, the main thing a loss at SDSU would cost us is a chance at a better bowl opponent and, obviously, a loss ends any outside chance at the NY6 spot. Russ said in both his interview of Albin and his interview by Marty something like, "Every team enters a new year with questions but this is one of those years with more answers than questions." But even with that I think that hoping to run the table and catching the right breaks to get that spot is still quite steep odds. It hardly would enter my calculus. If I'm Jason Candle and I won the MAC last year, have nearly my whole team back, and don't have a QB the was rehabilitating all offseason it would be in the back of my thoughts. But, if I'm Albin and there are a few more questions, I'm thinking about winning the East as the primary goal this year and then obviously trying to win the MACC and whatever bowl you draw.

It got me thinking as to where are questions are and where we are most sure that we already have answers. My list of the best answers:

1. Wide Receivers - This is a pretty big group as usually 3 are on the field so it is a good spot to have confidence. We have Sam Wiglusz, Jacoby Jones, Miles Cross, Ty Walton, Keegan Wilburn... plus a pretty good transfer (Hilton) and recruit (Hendricks). This was the best group in the MAC last year and the only major loss was Bostic. Drummond played a little last year and I thought I saw him in the portal and then not. He doesn't seem to be on Ohio's or anyone else's roster. I wonder if he has just quit football for personal reasons. Anyway, I haven't done the research to say where we rank with the entire G5 but I suspect nearly all G5 teams would like to be Ohio with respect to this corps.

2. Linebacker - I don't know that we have the expected or established depth 3 deep here like we do at WR here but with respect to the guys who will be in the rotation we are rock solid. In a 4-2-5 there are only 2 on the field the vast majority of plays, as I'm including Nickel with the safeties here, and those guys are Keye Thompson and Bryce Houston. Enough said. Albin said he'd take his starters over anyone in the country. I'm sure that's hyperbole but it says a lot. What keeps this from being #1 is Kelly and Blauser transferred hoping to start somewhere else

3. Quarterback - We know Kurtis Rourke is one of the highest rated QB's in the G5, and that CJ Harris proved he could play. Parker Navarro was the number 2 QB last season before his injury and surprisingly neither he nor Harris transferred. Rourke's rehabilitation keeps this from arguably being #1 or #2.

4. Running back - We have a Freshman All-American returning (Bangura) and a former starter coming off of injury (Allison) and some younger guys that got experience last year due to a mass amount of early season injuries (McCormick) plus one of the highest ranked recruits in this years class is Rocky Hunt.

5. Offensive line - This is the biggest group as 5 of the 11 guys on the field on offense are being grouped together. I'm to lazy and/or ill informed to rate tackles, guards, and centers separately. This was one of the better lines in the MAC in 2022. We have four starters back. We lost potential depth in the portal but I don't know that it was any more than what would be considered normal turnover in this day and age. We need to find a guard and some depth and, like most positions, hope for good health.

6. Tight End - Should this be a little higher? What do you think? We have most of our production back from last year but they were overshadowed by a good receiver corps and the guys returning probably would have ranked lower last year in the MAC with respect to some other position groups. Only one TE is on the field most plays. The way I have broken this out this is one of the least important groups. At any rate, if Rourke is himself and we stay mostly heathy this offense is fantastic on paper by typical MAC standards.

7. Cornerback - Ohio has it's best corner in Cox back plus most of its primary backups from last season. I think there is a drop-off in confidence here with respect to the 6 groups above but below it comes where the "questions" start. Corner kind of stands out as the lone position where I don't feel great about as an obvious strength it but have confidence that it will be fine.

8-12. Safety, Defensive End, Defensive Tackle, Kicker, Punter - We do have Rodney Mathews back at DT and I think that's more than we have back at these other positions. But Kai Caeser was one the the best players on last years team and a team leader. Ohio has never been a big JUCO team but we seem to be getting more in the Ablin/portal era than under Solich and I has expecting some JUCO DT's that didn't happen. Players that could have started left in the portal. I think there are real depth questions at DT. Most of the production at the other positions from last year here is gone. Vakos was a freshman All-American at kicker last year but transferred. Vandenberg is not on the roster or anyone's as far as I know. Maybe another guy who quit football. He probably could have at least been the kickoff specialist again. We had one of the very worst punting units in the FBS last year. I didn't have great confidence in any of these. I'd like to know how you guys would rank them.

On a positive note again we can probably form arguably the best group of return men in the MAC out of Wiglusz, Wilburn, Jones and Cox. We had no issues that I recall long snapping last year and Hollowey is returning too.

Last Edited: 7/21/2023 12:01:42 PM by Victory

Pataskala
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/21/2023 1:10:47 PM

One thing about the Media Day poll is that lately it hasn't been right about Ohio. Of the previous six (not counting the covid year of 2020), Ohio was picked to win the division three times (2017, 2018 and 2019) and finished second all three seasons. In the two season that Ohio won the division, we were picked to finish 2nd (2016) and 4th (last season). Maybe we would be better off being picked lower.

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

OhioCatFan
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/21/2023 3:31:52 PM

Pataskala wrote:

I've also noticed that trend, not only for OHIO but for other schools as well. Those polls are notoriously inaccurate.

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Pataskala
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RE: MAC Media day

Posted: 7/21/2023 4:03:57 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

Pataskala wrote:

I've also noticed that trend, not only for OHIO but for other schools as well. Those polls are notoriously inaccurate.

They get the West right more often than the East. They picked Kent two years ago but that was the first right pick in the East since 2015. They did get WMU in 2016, Toledo in 2017, and NIU in 2018. There's a fair amount of parity within the MAC's divisions, so if one or two key players on a team go down it opens the door for just about everyone else. NIU was supposed to win the west last year but Lombardi was injured early in the season and it wrecked their whole year.

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

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