I love Eastern Michigan in this spot, they are one of the most improved MAC teams and have proven that they can score against pretty much anyone at this point so Iâm not too worried that they face Akron one of the better defenses in the MAC, because after all this is a MAC West team vs. a MAC East, and I am very confident that Eastern Michigan may even pull this upset here at home. Akron won 31-6 at home last year in this meeting, but even Terry Bowden admitted that the improvement from Eastern Michigan is pretty drastic and Eastern Michigan turned the ball over 4 times in that match up.
Both teams want to run the ball first and Eastern Michigan can do it better while Akron can stop it it better, but Akron has only faced 1 team in the top 50 in rushing offense and gave up 41 points while Eastern Michigan is 24th in yards per carry behind Darius Jackson who even scored a TD against LSU on the road last week. I mentioned Eastern Michgian has been able to move the ball on all of their opponents and rank 31st in yards per play compared with Akronâs offense that ranks 119th. You may think Akron will be able to run the ball and control the clock, but 7.5 points is still too many given the fact that Eastern Mich is at least good in one department on defense and thatâs pass defense where they have been excellent. Their run defense looks worse than it is having faced 4 teams in the top 51 in yards per carry. Akron not very good at running the ball ranking 105th with 3.4 yards per carry.
Special teams plays a critical game in what should be a low scoring game, vegas has this at 53. Eastern Michigan has a major advantage here. Their place kicker is 3-4 beyond 40 yards including a 52 yard make, and their punter Austin Barnes is among the best in the country ranking 22nd in yardage and has 18 punts inside the 20 yard line. Akronâs kicker is 6-9 and has missed a field goal from 20-29, 30-39, and 40-49. As you guessed Eastern Michiganâs offense also has the advantage on third downs (they were 45% at LSU), red zone offense 76% TD% (3-3 at LSU), compared with Akronâs 40.9%. Akron is probably looking ahead to their game with Bowling Green the next week which is critical to their success in the Mac East so I wouldnât be shocked to see them lose this game.
