Watching the MAC East tiebreaker

More good news for CMU fans today: Temple beat Eastern Michigan 55-52, and Ohio currently is beating Akron 28-21 in the first half.

As a reminder, should Ball State, Western Michigan and Central Michigan ALL finish at 7-1 - which is what would happen is WMU beat BSU and CMU won on Friday - the tiebreaker would come down to the combined conference record of each team's MAC East opponents.

Here's how the tiebreaker scenario is playing out, with MAC records:

CMU/WMU: Buffalo (5-2), Temple (3-4), Ohio (1-5) = 9-11

BSU: Akron (3-3), Kent State (2-5), Miami (1-6) = 6-14

Not including the finish of today's Akron-Ohio game, here's the rest of the games to watch, all on Friday, Nov. 28:

Ohio at Miami
Akron at Temple
Kent State at Buffalo

That's three games to watch, the margin at which CMU holds the tiebreaker over Ball State. An Ohio win today would make it four and therefore make the tiebreaker unreachable for the Cardinals.

So here's the scoop: If Ohio beats Akron today, it is clear - A WMU win over Ball State and a CMU win Friday sends the Chippewas to the MAC Title.

If Ohio beats Akron, BSU officially wins the MAC West with a win Tuesday, AND officially is eliminated with a loss... and Western's chances then would rest on CMU's result at Eastern. A loss to the Eagles would send the Broncos to the MAC Title.

I hope that makes things a little more clear... if Ohio loses to Akron, then next Friday's MAC East games still are worth watching.

Stay tuned.