The Central Michigan Chippewas and Ohio Bobcats will compete against each other in the first postseason football game for both schools when they face off in the 2006 Marathon Mid-American Conference Championship Game at 7:30 p.m. (EST) on Thursday (Nov 30) in a game that can be seen on ESPN.
Both teams are making their first MAC Championship Game appearance and seeking their first Division I-A postseason win. Both are also having their most successful seasons since their last MAC titles. The Chippewas’ eight wins this season are the most since the 1994 championship team finished the regular season 9-2, while Ohio’s nine wins are the most since the 1968 championship team posted a 10-0 regular season record.
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CMU leads the all-time series, 18-4-2, but Ohio has won two of the past three meetings. The Chippewas claimed a 37-10 win at home in 2005, the largest margin of victory under head coach Brian Kelly. CMU was 13-0-1 against the Bobcats from 1981-94, but Ohio claimed the next two meetings in 2000 and 2001.
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Both CMU (West Division) and Ohio (East Division) claimed their first division titles since the MAC instituted its East-West format in 1997. The Chippewas clinched their spot in the title game with a 31-7 win over Western Michigan on Nov. 10, while Ohio secured its bid with a 17-7 win over Akron on Nov. 16.
CMU Redshirt freshmen Dan LeFevour and Bryan Anderson have developed into the most prolific freshman quarterback-receiver tandem in Division I-A. LeFevour is averaging 212.9 yards passing per game, while Anderson is averaging 62.2 receiving yards per game. Anderson is on pace for one of the most prolific receiving seasons in CMU history. At his current average of 62.2 ypg, he is on pace to finish the bowl game with 870 receiving yards, sixth-most in CMU history and the most for a Chippewa freshman since O’Neal collected a MAC freshman record 1,085 yards in 1999.
The Ohio defense is ranked among the MAC leaders in most statistical categories and are the MAC’s stingiest scoring defense. Even with an extra game this season, the Bobcats defense has allowed fewer points, fewer rushing yards, fewer passing yards and fewer total yards than it did last season. Senior linebacker Tyler Russ is the team's top tackler with 82 stops. Senior linebacker Matt Muncy has 78 tackles, including 14.5 for loss. The Bobcat cornerback tandem of senior T.J Wright and sophomore Mark Parson rank first and second, respectively, in the MAC, and fifth and seventh in the nation, with 1.58 and 1.42 passes defended per game.
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CMU was installed a -3 ½ point favorite ATS with a total of 44 ½. The betting trend seems to be following the Chippewas with 74% of the betting public money going that way. The OVER 44 ½ is popular with 85% of the betting public.
