MAC Championship, All-MAC team, and a weekend full of basketball

The MAC Championship game is tonight as Central Michigan takes on Ohio. CMU is a 13.5 point favorite with an o/u of 52.5. This game is just for bragging rights because both teams will definitely go to bowl games along with MAC cohorts Temple, Bowling Green, and Northern Illinois. Tonight's game starts at 8pm and is on one of the ESPN channels.

The 2009 All-MAC football team was announced yesterday. Three Ball State players were named to the second team. Running back MiQuale Lewis is a return member to the team although he was on the first team last year. OLB Robert Eddins makes his first appearance on the All-MAC team. Defensive End Brandon Crawford made his third straight showing on the team after being honored as a second team member last year and a third team member two years ago. CMUs Dan Lefevour was named player of the year. Temple had a trifecta of honorees as coach Al Golden received the coach of the year honor, running back Bernard Pierce was named freshman of the year, and DE Adrian Robinson was named defensive player of the year. CMU won the rest of the individual awards as Lefevour was named offensive player of the year (obviously) and kick returner Antonio Brown was named special teams player of the year.

Brownsburg's basketball teams both play tonight as the boys host Fishers and the girls travel to Danville. The girls game should be a blowout as the Dogs already defeated Danville 49-22 a few weeks ago. The boys game should be pretty good. BBurg has been defeated by a good Carmel team and has beaten a bad Decatur Central team. Fishers beat a decent HSE team and blew out Manual. Brownsburg is 2-1 against Fishers in the short time that Fishers has been a school.

Brownsburg comes back from 11 down to beat HSE

The Brownsburg girls basketball team found themselves behind by 11 points with 4 minutes left in the game, but used a full-court press to cause some turnovers and got some help from Hamilton Southeastern's lack of free throw shooting to take the game to overtime. In the overtime, the Dogs took a quick 4-point lead but could not hold it. HSE scored with 8 seconds left to take a 52-50 lead. Ryne Carr hit a three-pointer as time expired to give Brownsburg a 53-52 victory. Carr led the Dogs with 13 points. Leah Freestone scored 12 and Stephanie Mavunga scored 11 points with 8 rebounds. HSE was 7 for 17 at the line, including missing 6 in a row in the 4th quarter. BBurg goes to Danville on Friday night. They have already beaten Danville once this season by a score of 49-22. I wouldn't think that Friday's game would be any different.

A little bit of everything

The Brownsburg girls basketball team hosts Hamilton Southeastern tonight. The Dogs have only beaten HSE once in the last decade and that was in 2000-01 when Brownsburg was 21-4. They have been playing well and had 10 days without a game to rest up and heal. The Sagarin ratings predict that HSE will win by 3 points, so it should be a pretty good game. HSE would like a game in the 40s where BBurg would like to see it in the 50s or 60s.

The Atlanta Braves have reportedly signed Billy Wagner to a one-year contract for $7 million. Wagner is a type-A free agent, so we will have to give up a first round pick. However, since the Braves have offered arbitration to their type-A free agents Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano this could balance out the loss of the pick for signing Wagner. In fact, if both Gonzalez and Soriano leave we would be net positive on the first round picks. Since Chipper Jones is the only returning starter over 30, these draft picks could help build a strong team in a few years.

The MAC football championship game is on Friday night. Central Michigan and Ohio play at Ford Field. CMU is a 13 point favorite and having seen both teams play at Ball State, I think that is a fair line. CMU is the best team in the conference, although that doesn't necessarily mean that they win the conference championship game (see: BSU 2008 season).

Maybe it's time to get rid of Jason Campbell

The Redskins should have beaten the Eagles on Sunday, however they lost 27-24. QB Jason Campbell threw two interceptions just before the end of the first half that took a 14-10 Redskins lead and turned it into at 16-14 Eagles lead at the half. Those two interceptions turned the entire game around. The Skins were moving the ball and scoring, while keeping the Eagles offense in check with the exception of a blown coverage by Fred Smoot (again!!!). However, the Skins did fight back to take a 24-16 lead in the 4th quarter. But a touchdown and a 2-point conversion tied the game, followed by a 4-play Redskins drive and a punt, led to the Eagles kicking a field goal to win the game. It doesn't get any easier as the Skins play the Saints next week.

Bulldogs beat a weak Decatur squad

The Brownsburg boys basketball team ran out to a 13-3 lead early and never faced a single-digit deficit again, running away from Decatur Central 62-46. Jacob Eldridge led the Dogs with 18 points, 8 assists, and 4 three-pointers. Kurtis Runyon had another solid game with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Torrey Nibbs and Jordan Reagan chipped in with 7 points each. Nibbs was in foul trouble the entire game and did not get much playing time. The Dogs host Fishers next Friday night for their HCC opener.

It looks like the MAC will get 5 teams into bowl games this year. Central Michigan and Ohio will play in the MAC championship game on Friday. Temple, Bowling Green, and Northern Illinois are all bowl-eligible and should get a spot somewhere. There may be one bowl where two MAC teams will have to play each other, but we will see how that plays out next weekend when the bowl lineup is announced.