Northern Illinois, Temple expect to rule in football: MAC Insider

It's clear that Mid-American Conference teams without established quarterbacks could struggle this season.

DETROIT — The Temple Owls are expected to continue their rise as a football power in the Mid-American Conference this season. On Friday at the league's Media Day at Ford Field, they were announced as the overwhelming choice to win the MAC's East Division and the league championship game.

In the media poll, Temple received 17 of 20 votes. Ohio University picked up the other three and landed second.

The Owls, 9-4 in a breakout 2009 season, return 16 starters. They went 7-1 in the MAC and earned a bid to the EagleBank Bowl, where they lost to UCLA, 30-21. The key returner is sophomore tailback Bernard Pierce, who rushed for 1,361 yards and 16 touchdowns.

In the MAC West, Northern Illinois is the favorite after picking up 15 first-place votes.

Don't trust 'em: The MAC remains a quarterback league. A handful of teams that some fans expect to be good -- Toledo and Buffalo in particular -- were picked low by the media, with the glaring common denominator of having unproven quarterbacks.

Meanwhile, teams with proven quarterbacks but other major question marks -- Kent State and Central Michigan in particular -- were picked much higher by the media.

"I see that," Ohio coach Frank Solich said. "You know, that position is so critical to having a chance to be what you want to be, versus just being OK or not OK. It's a year where I don't know if there is a lot of true winning experience at quarterback around the league, guys who are really established as quarterbacks, as much as guys who we are still going to find out about."

Sophomore quarterbacks at Akron, Miami and Kent State, for example, all played extensively as freshmen, but none is a proven winner. Solich returns senior Boo Jackson as his starting quarterback after he missed last season with an injury.

"Obviously, how they go will have a big impact on how our seasons go," Solich said.

Open season: First-year Akron coach Rob Ianello said he expects a heated competition for the starting QB job between sophomore incumbent Patrick Nicely and the player he replaced because of injury, Matt Rodgers. The junior missed the second half of last season and much of the spring because of knee injuries.

"He [Rodgers] feels very comfortable," Ianello said. "No limitations. He's ready to go."

One player who will not be in the QB mix is freshman recruit Zach D'Orazio out of Cuyahoga Heights High School. "He will not enroll until January," Ianello said.

TV time I: The MAC announced a new agreement with SportsTime Ohio. The three-year deal calls for an expanded number of televised conference football games, men's and women's basketball games including both conference basketball tournaments, and programming in the sports of volleyball, baseball and softball.

In the first year of the agreement, the MAC will have a minimum of three football games and 33 basketball games, which will represent a 60 percent increase in the number of basketball games televised from the previous year.

MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the hope is to have a "stand-alone" day for one featured MAC basketball game, possibly on Sunday, built into the STO package.

TV time II: For the fourth consecutive season, ESPN and the MAC announced a six-week regionally syndicated football package that will air in 24 markets, including Cleveland.

Ohio will be featured Oct. 2 at Eastern Michigan, and Miami will be featured Oct. 16 at Central Michigan.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253