CMU-Temple: NCAA 09's Prediction

(NOTE: I apologize for the lack of updates- apparently, an update I wrote on Tuesday didn't post when it should have, so nobody saw it until today (Friday). It's up now if you want to read it, and again, pitch in with your opinions if you wish. I greatly appreciate it!)

This is one of those weeks in which I don't trust the score that NCAA Football 09 gives me. If any of you have played it, you might know that Temple is pretty awful on the game. Fellow football writer Justin Berndt and I talked somewhat about Temple's defense and how it's going to pose a bigger challenge than either Ohio or Buffalo did.

Further complicating the matter are a couple of injuries on the offensive line front. It's looking like center Colin Miller is out for a little bit with a knee injury and left guard Jeff Maddux is out because of illness. Joe McMahon, CMU's starter at right guard, will move to center, Kyle Curtis will fill in for Maddux and Allen Ollenburger, who was backing up McMahon at right guard, will take that spot Saturday. With Temple's defensive line as good as it is, it's going to get even more difficult to contain it with a loss of depth up front.

(Good news is, Bryan Anderson looks ready to go for Saturday. I'll keep you guys updated on all that before the game Saturday, though.)

But, the problem with NCAA 09 is, it's not updated to how the team actually looks during the season and it doesn't take any injuries into account. It's pretty much based on last season's projections and nothing else. Therefore, CMU pretty much trounced them in this week's pixellated matchup:

CENTRAL MICHIGAN 45, TEMPLE 13

The game did suffer its first loss last week when it picked Buffalo to win by a close margin. The game is 3-1 (didn't pick the first game) and I'm 5-0 at this point. Both of us picked CMU, so if history suggests anything, this bodes well.

Another thing the game didn't take into account, although it probably didn't need to, is that it's CMU's Homecoming. That should bring in more than 20,000 people to Kelly/Shorts, an excellent crowd for a home Mid-American Conference game.

Be sure to keep updated tomorrow for pre-game, halftime, and post-game coverage of CMU-Temple at 4 p.m.!