Week 9 picks, preview: 2 teams in action Saturday as MACtion begins

Week 9 has arrived, and only two teams from Michigan are in action on Saturday, Michigan and Western Michigan. 

Michigan State is idle this week, and Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan are prepping for their shift to MACtion, facing each other next Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Ford Field in the evening. 

But before that, Michigan travels east to face Rutgers in something of a must-win for the Wolverines’ embattled Year 1 coaching staff and Western Michigan plays host to Bowling Green at Waldo Stadium. 

Dig in to all those matchups below. 

Western Michigan vs. Bowling Green, noon, Waldo Stadium, CBSSN

As noted earlier this week, Bowling Green has an atrocious rush defense, giving up more than 200 yards per game. Western Michigan doesn’t need any extra invite to let a big, mean offensive line get to work run blocking for running backs Jalen Buckley and Ofa ‘Lolo’ Mataele, and even Broc Lowry. And the Broncos have flashed an expanded and improved passing game that might show up against the Falcons, too. But this one may just come down to letting the boring thing that’s working — running the hell out of the football — be boring and work. And if the Falcons do come out with some sort of sell-out-at-all-costs-to-stop-the-run game plan, the Broncos probably will just let Lowry start going to work from the pocket. It’s a nice place to be. 

Where things get a bit more interesting is Western Michigan’s defense making sure BGSU QB Jay Kastantin doesn’t burn them. He’ll turn it over a fair bit, with six interceptions on the year, but he’s fourth in the MAC with 1418 passing yards and his 10 touchdowns through the air are tied with Lowry for third in the league this year. Winn Sharp is the top producing receiver for BGSU, but most of the passing attack has been a spread-it-around proposition. The Falcons have some juice on offense that the Broncos will want to make irrelevant — and WMU does have the defensive horses to do that, pass rushing successfully and producing a turnover or two. This should be a relatively straightforward win, a rarity in the MAC in many cases. 

Western Michigan 34, Bowling Green 14

Michigan at Rutgers, 12:30 p.m., SHI Stadium, BTN

A stoppable force (Michigan’s offense) meets a movable object (Rutgers’ defense) in Piscataway on Saturday. Tommy Carr will again start for a Michigan offense that is, as noted Thursday, putting the Wolverines into a Brian Ferentz-Iowa realm. You never want to be there. But Michigan might finally be able to run the ball with some consistency against a conference opponent for a full game, as Rutgers ranks No. 129 nationally in rushing defense, giving up just under 200 yards a game. Michigan’s offensive line has been unremarkable and underwhelmed in times, but the talent, even banged up, should be winning out vs. this Rutgers defense in the run game. And that, ideally, should make life somewhat simple for Carr. He unsurprisingly got made to look like a freshman at times against a good Indiana defense. 

The other question is does Rutgers have a shot to do anything against Michigan’s defense? The Wolverines have one of the best defenses in the country and Rutgers QB Dylan Lonergan is out for Saturday. Wideout KJ Duff also appears to be banged up and may or may not play. That would leave tailback Antwan Raymond, who is good, but not enough to overcome this Michigan defense. The Wolverines might not pitch quite the same near-shutout they did vs. the Hoosiers, but defense travels and Rutgers is going to struggle to cobble together offense with its current health outlook. Michigan just needs to play its usual smothering defense, keep things on the rails and boringly successful in small bites on offense and it should get a badly needed conference win. 

Michigan 17, Rutgers 3

*Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4., Ford Field, ESPN2

MACtion of the Motor City variety is here! Central Michigan faces Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Ford Field in the second leg of the Michigan MAC trophy games (EMU at Western Michigan completes the triangle on Nov. 17). Both teams are coming in with notable injuries at quarterback, as the Chippewas are starting Jadyn Glasser in lieu of injured Angel Flores, who is out for the season. EMU may have to again start Brogan McCaughey as Noah Kim is still on the mend from his undisclosed injury. EMU has also dealt with a rash of injuries otherwise, though both teams are getting a chance to heal up with no game to play during Week 9. 

This one might come to EMU’s ability to defend the run and cause havoc on the passing game that CMU will turn to more with Glasser in at quarterback. The junior QB does have running ability, but is far more of a scrambler than someone who will be getting ample designed runs called for him. And Glasser has a bit of a better arm and passing upside than Flores. CMU’s defense has also caused plenty of havoc this year, largely via turnovers, and could nab an interception or two off McCaughey (or Kim). It seems this one might come down to whichever offense can string together a few scoring drives absent the havoc the other defense is so keen to cause. This one feels like it comes right down to the wire, with EMU pulling it out of the fire. 

(*Remember, this is mid-week MACtion.)

Eastern Michigan 27, Central Michigan 24