10 of 12 ESPN experts pick Zips

Football

Phil Steele has company. Those are words I wish I never typed.

The (insert degrading hyperbole here) who picked Kent State to win the MAC now has some justification as ESPN analyst Bill Curry selected the Golden Flashes to win the MAC East.

The good news is, 10 of the 12 analysts picked Akron to win the East. Only one, Jim Donnan, predicted a repeat MAC Championship. Everyone else says its a breeze through the conference for Garrett Wolfe and the Northern Illinois Huskies.

• Who's under center? The Plain Dealer's Elton Alexander brought up a shocking fact: Only four MAC teams have named their starting quarterback for the season opener. Western Michigan has Ryan Cubit. Northern Illinois has Phil Horvath. Miami announced Tuesday that Mike Kokal will start. And of course, Akron has Luke Getsy.


• I, for one, am thankful the Zips aren't in Toledo's position. Just a week from the opener, Clint Cochran and Brandon Summers are dueling for the starting QB job.


• McMillon dashes for 35: Alexander also reports that second-string running back Bryant McMillon had a 35-yard touchdown run in a recent scrimmage. Other backs also show promise with Andre Walker gaining the most yards in the scrimmage but Phillip Morris being pretty fast.


• Why the 3-3 stack? The ABJ's David Lee Morgan explains why coach J.D. Brookhart employs a 3-3-5 formation on defense. First, it's hard to recruit solid defensive linemen at a mid-major school. Second, it confuses quarterbacks.

Miscellaneous

Sorry to Ed and Vincent. Below is an image of the cover. And I'll give you a different version of this PDF. Download B1_8_28_06_bucht.pdf

I will make up for my mistake by letting you in on a secret. Buchtelite.com should be updated with all the first issue's content by the end of the day.