CMU-Buffalo: Burning Questions

1. Could the bye week have come at a better time?
Probably not. It's apparent that CMU is fighting injuries right now, the most glaring area being the wide receiver position. Not having junior Bryan Anderson for the game hurt the Chippewas passing attack big time on Saturday(152 passing yards) and later, junior Jean Pitts was banged up. Even senior running back Ontario Sneed played a little injured Saturday, with a bruise in his left quad. But as good as senior Joe Bockheim and sophomore Antonio Brown are, Anderson is the deep man and plays his part in keeping defenses off balance by making them watch the long ball. Junior quarterback Dan LeFevour was very efficient against Buffalo - 21-for-26 - but his longest pass was 16 yards. That said it all, to me.

2. What do you make of the defense the last two games?
I mentioned after the 32-25 loss to Purdue that the defense was the best I saw it in the year-and-a-half I've covered the team thus far. It wasn't much different against Buffalo, especially in the first half when CMU's offense couldn't get going. To hold Buffalo to an opening field goal was critical in keeping the team in the game, something the defense wasn't especially known for doing last year. One trend that's getting worrisome, though: The defense has given up four fourth-quarter touchdowns of 40 yards or longer in the last three games. The latest was tailback James Starks on Saturday, when he took a screen 65 yards for the score within the final two minutes. As good as it's playing, the defense needs to clamp down in those late-game situations if it wants to win some of those critical MAC West games coming up.

3. Who was Saturday's unsung heroes?
The legs of the team - kicker Andrew Aguila and punter Brett Hartmann. As much as he's criticized for his inconsistency, Aguila made two critical field-goal kicks against Buffalo - one in the second quarter to put CMU's first points on the board and another in the fourth quarter to give the team a 20-18 lead. It took both of those kicks to give the Chippewas the edge in this game. As for Hartmann, even when his punt was blocked in the second quarter, he ran after the ball and swiped it out of the end zone for the safety, keeping the Bulls from recovering the ball for a touchdown. That's a heads-up play we were used to seeing out of veteran punter Tony Mikulec the previous few seasons.

4. What do you make of the weekend's MAC results?
While CMU is still the team to beat in terms of it being the two-time defending champions, Ball State is the class of the conference right now. The Cardinals have scorched every team they've played, including Kent State 41-20 on Saturday, and are probably a couple wins away from cracking the Top 25. I would say that they have a test coming up at Toledo, but the Rockets are coming off a bad game, losing to a mediocre FIU team at home 35-16, so they're largely unproven, too. Western Michigan's defense was in top form at Temple, holding the Owls to a field goal, but couldn't get its offense going (7). Bowling Green is back on track after a 45-16 win at Wyoming. Akron's looking like a dark horse candidate after nearly beating Cincinnati on Saturday, but coming up short 17-15.