In all seriousness, there are things to be gleaned from these early season matchups when looking both at specific teams and conferences.

Each week throughout the season, I’ll use this stock watch column to highlight the risers and fallers in the college hoops world.  I’ll also be participating in Daily Joust’s weekly fantasy college basketball game and publishing weekly power ratings starting in December, but I think it’s a bit premature to start in on that now.

Stock Up

ACC

Through Wednesday’s games, the 26-0 ACC is the only league without a blemish on its record this year, so I want to give credit where credit is due.

However, outside of Duke’s wins over Belmont and Michigan State and UNC’s Carrier Classic victory, there aren’t any marquee wins on the conference resume. In fact, they are currently the third-ranked league from a Pomeroy perspective behind the Big Ten and Big East.

California

While a couple of the Pac-12 contenders are off to slow starts, that has not been the case for the Bears.  They have won each of their three games by at least 17 points, and many of them weren’t as “close” as the final score would indicate.

Super soph Allen Crabbe is off to a hot start with 16.7 points per game, but perhaps the most important thing for Cal is that players not named Crabbe, Jorge Gutierrez, and Harper Kamp are stepping up.

Minnesota transfer Justin Cobbs is contributing 9.0 points and 4.3 assists, and fellow guard Brandon Smith is chipping in 7.0 points and 3.3 assists of his own.  Throw in the frontcourt contributions of Richard Solomon (6.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and David Kravish (6.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg), and the Bears are looking a bit deeper than expected so far.

Outside of mid-December games against Weber State and UNLV, the schedule is manageable, so look for Cal to start climbing the rankings.

Cleveland State

It would be easy to write the Vikings off after losing star guard Norris Cole, but the team still believes they are the favorites in the Horizon League based on the other talent they have returning.  Their performance on the road at Vanderbilt certainly backed up those claims, as they jumped on the Commodores early and never really let them back in the game.

D’Aundray Brown has come back with a vengeance after a medical redshirt last season with 42 points, 17 rebounds, and 14 steals in two games.  CSU has plenty of depth, and they have really embraced Gary Waters’ coaching style, as evidenced by their toughness on the defensive end.  Their non-conference schedule is also workable, although an upcoming road trip to Kent State will be a challenge.

Indiana

You can call me a homer on this one, but the Hoosiers haven’t won three straight games by over 20 points since December of 2007.  Cody Zeller has been a huge factor with 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game while hitting over 80 – yes, 80 – percent from the field.

Zeller gives IU a different look on offense, but it’s important to note how impressive the defense has been as well. They have been getting tons of deflections, and Victor Oladipo has asserted himself as a lockdown defender as well as a consistent and aggressive contributor on offense.

Image credit: Darron Cummings / AP via Times Union

With the Big Ten jumbled in the middle, the opportunity is there for the Hoosiers. Their toughest non-conference stretch starts later this month when they face Butler, NC State, Kentucky, and Notre Dame over a five-game span (with Stetson mixed in).

Long Beach State

I mentioned in my profile of the 49ers the murderer’s row that is their non-conference schedule.  They passed their first test with flying colors by winning at Pittsburgh and breaking the Panthers’ lengthy non-conference home winning streak.  The Beach took the lead for good with about five minutes left in the first half, led by star guard Casper Ware who finished with 28 points and six assists.

Coach Dan Monson boasts one of the most experienced teams in the nation, and while it’s awfully early to start contemplating LBSU’s at-large chances, this win will certainly hold weight with the committee.  The 49ers can’t afford to savor it for too long though with road trips looming to Louisville, Kansas, and North Carolina as well as a home date with Xavier.

Memphis

After picking Memphis to lose to Belmont, I have to give props to the Tigers for their 16-point win.

Three players had over 20 points in the win, led by Will Barton with 23 and Wesley Witherspoon with 22 points including a perfect 8-of-8 from the field.  Throw in 20 points and seven assists from soph Joe Jackson and a terrific 20:9 assist-to-turnover ratio, and you have a pretty impressive performance from the young Tigers.

The only red flag was the fact that they were outrebounded, but part of that had to do with Tarik Black getting into foul trouble.  Still, it displays just how talented this team can be if they can maintain this level of play.  Memphis will certainly have a chance to prove that in Maui next week.

MAC

It seems like Akron and Kent State are always battling things out in the MAC Finals come March, but they seem to be working hard to one-up each other already this season. Akron pulled off a big road win against Mississippi State during the season’s first week, and Kent State knocked off West Virginia in Morgantown as part of the Tipoff Marathon.

Through two games, the Zips have four players averaging at least 11 points and eight guys scoring at least five per contest.  They have non-conference games remaining at home against Detroit and VCU and on the road versus West Virginia, Cleveland State, and Marshall.

The Flashes were led by Carlton Guyton with 17 points in there opener to go with 12 points and eight boards from reigning MAC Player of the Year Justin Greene.  Their toughest non-conference games remaining are home dates with Cleveland State and UAB before a December road trip to the Spectrum to face Utah State.

MVC

The Missouri Valley is always one of the nation’s top mid-major conferences, and they got off to a relatively impressive start once again.

Despite just four points from star Kyle Weems, Missouri State won by 23 at Nevada.  Evansville beat Butler in OT, and Northern Iowa won by double-digits at Old Dominion.  Since then Evansville got dismantled by IU, and UNI played poorly against Saint Mary’s.  However, conference favorite Creighton picked up a nice road win at UAB, and Drake beat Iowa State.

In the end, Creighton and Wichita State are still the teams to beat, but the early season success of the MVC as a whole will pay dividends down the road come Selection Sunday.  All indications are that the MVC will once again be one of the top couple leagues outside of the six major conferences.

Stock Down

Belmont

Before anyone accuses me of being a fair weather fan, hear me out.

The Bruins played really well at Duke and had chances to win down the stretch before eventually losing by one. In their second game, they were overwhelmed by Memphis’ length and athleticism and lost by double digits.  So do I still think they are one of the Top 30 teams in the country?  Absolutely.

The issue, as Ken Pomeroy pointed out on Twitter, is that Belmont has precious few opportunities to pick up resume-building wins from here on out.  They do have a home-and-home series against Marshall, but keep in mind this team won 30 games last season and still finished just outside of the RPI Top 50.  The Atlantic Sun competition will not help that this season, so they are putting themselves in a position where they may have to win the A-Sun Tournament to get into the Big Dance.

Detroit

On this week’s Bottoms Line podcast, I compared Detroit to Vanderbilt in the sense that they have this core group of guys who has been together for a while, but they continue to underachieve in big games.

The Titans had a golden opportunity to pick up an impressive early season win against a Notre Dame team playing without Tim Abromaitis.  Detroit got off to a decent start and led by eight with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game before losing by six.

I realize the Titans were playing without Eli Holman, but their shot selection was abysmal at times.  Instead of jacking up off-balance jumpers, they would have been better served to feed LaMarcus Lowe inside.  Add to that the impressive early performance from Cleveland State, and Detroit’s dreams of winning the Horizon League are starting to look shaky.

Mississippi State

It’s business as usual in Starkville.  Renardo Sidney remains an enigma after playing sparingly in key stretches of MSU’s early games and then attributing some of his struggles to a groin injury, which did cause him to miss the game against South Alabama.

The bright spot has been Arnett Moultrie, who is coming off of a career game that saw him go for 28 points and 13 boards.  Through three games, Dee Bost has more turnovers than assists, and the team is shooting under 30 percent from long range.

The Bulldogs have the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic over the next couple days, so it will be interesting to see how they respond against major conference foes.

Nevada

In what was expected to be somewhat of a down year for Utah State, Nevada seemed like the favorite to win the WAC.  So much for that theory. They were blown out at home by a Missouri State team picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the MVC, then fell behind by as many as 18 against UNLV before a late rally fell short.

It’s an understatement to say that the team has really struggled with their shooting. Dario Hunt averaged 12.4 points last season but is just 2-of-16 from the field so far. Guard Malik Story was expected to lead the team in scoring, but he is now 8-of-28 from the field following his 6-of-20 debacle against UNLV.  Shot selection is certainly a factor there, and there seemed to be no recognition that fellow guard Deonte Burton was the only one in any kind of offensive rhythm against the Rebels.

Some of these issues will get better, but Hawaii, New Mexico State, and even Utah State will be right in the mix with Nevada atop to the WAC.

Pittsburgh

Long Beach State deserves a ton of credit for how well they played against Pitt, but don’t forget that the Panthers also struggled with Rider for a while in their second contest. Defensively, Pitt allowed 1.32 points per possession against LBSU, which was the worst ever under Jamie Dixon (h/t @RunTheFloor).  That’s pretty alarming for a team known for their defense and toughness, as is the fact that the 49ers outrebounded them.

The other red flag is the complete lack of bench production, as evidenced by just two bench points against Long Beach State.  Part of this can be attributed to a youthful team, and ultimately I think Dixon will get things turned around.

UCLA

I don’t recall the last time I saw a team implode so quickly, and the Bruins have quickly ascended to the top of the dumpster fire spectrum.

First, the Bruins were upset by Loyola Marymount in their opener last week, and they promptly got dumptrucked by 20 against Middle Tennessee State.  The guard play has been incredibly poor, with their main backcourt players combining to go 18-of-63 (28.6%).  As a team, UCLA is shooting 17.1 percent from deep.

Meanwhile, Josh Smith, or West Coast Renardo as I have taken to calling him, is still woefully out of shape, but he still found time to tweet about the “bums” he lost to.  Reeves Nelson was also suspended for a game for his attitude but has already been reinstated as the team heads to Maui. Given the field as well as the way they are playing, the opener against Chaminade might be the only game they win there.

Ultimately this team lacks a leader who can help pull them out of this, and based on what I have seen so far, I don’t see one emerging either.

**********

Follow me on Twitter (@andybottoms) for more thoughts on college hoops, and check out the latest edition of the Bottoms Line podcast.

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For those of you have always wished that you could parlay your college basketball passion and knowledge into fantasy glory, now you can. Daily Joust has weekly fantasy college basketball games, including periodic freeroll tournaments. Jerod and I will be participating, and we invite you to as well. (Click here)

This week, they touch on several important items from the season’s first week, including the many upcoming early season tournaments. Among the teams and conferences discussed: Vandy, Michigan State, the MAC, MVC, and WAC, as well as Duke and UCLA to name a few.

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Over the last few years I have grown quite fond of you. I, being a BSU alumni, appreciate all you have done for our program and will never forget this last season. So thank you for your time here and thanks for giving us our first positive national exposure (Letterman not withstanding).

After all you have done for us (The alumni and student body of BSU) I think it is only fair that I shoot straight with you. It’s time for you to move on. People like BSU President Jo Ann M. Gora and A.D. Tom Collins are probably telling you otherwise. Coach Parrish may even be in your ear asking for another season, but let’s face it: that is not in your best interest.

With 20 seniors leaving after this year there is little to no chance next season is going to go as well as this one went. Brady Hoke is gone, there isn’t another Dante Love on his way into the program, and the football schedule isn’t going to improve. You get better by playing better opponents, and there are no better opponents coming up at BSU. All of those things point to one logical conclusion. In order for you to get better and move on to the next level, you need to go ahead and enter the NFL draft.

Yes, it is true your last two BSU games have cost you millions of potential dollars, but there are still millions to be made. Also, what does living in Muncie do for you? With people like the Muncie Stars’ Greg Fallon waiting to call you things like “immature and unintelligent” the only thing sticking around could do is continue to bring you down.

Fallon starts his piece by saying, “Forget what the NFL advisory committee says, what ESPN’s Todd McShay or Mel Kiper Jr. says.” Ok, fine don’t listen to them. How about you listen to a real sports writer, a national writer; how about one who happens to be a BSU alumni… say Jason Whitlock. Earlier in the season he said you were the most pro-ready QB in Indiana and a top NCAA QB. You have a NFL future and you should jump on it now.

One last thing Nate. What has BSU done for you? Over the years the administration has made it pretty clear they don’t care about athletics. Everything from the previously shady basketball program to the early 2000′s longest losing streak in the nation points to a lack of caring. Those two things are just circumstantial though; the real damning evidence is the pushing out of Brady Hoke and the unceremonious way they handled it. Why would you risk injury and millions to play for a school which is uncommitted to you?

Nate, I wish you luck and hope you make the right decision. I am sure you will.

Plough

The Sporting News, citing the San Diego Union-Tribune website, is reporting that Brady Hoke will be named the new head coach at San Diego State later this week. San Diego State will most likely buy out the last year of Hoke’s Ball State contract for $240,000 and then will likely triple that salary as part of Hoke’s new contract.

I haven’t seen anything yet that discusses whether or not Brady Hoke will coach Ball State in their bowl game, but I’ll keep checking.

I did read an interesting opinion piece of this move, written by Cory McCartney at SI.com. McCartney is surprised, as many others may be as well, that Brady Hoke is making the jump all the way across the country to San Diego. Not only does he leave the recruiting base he has developed at Ball State, but he takes over a team that has been awful for the past few years. According to McCartney, the San Diego State Aztecs ranked 91st or lower in 13 major national statistical categories this season — which no doubt led to the firing of former head coach Chuck Long.

McCartney does go on to explain that Hoke has San Diego State ties because his brother was once an assistant there, and that Brady Hoke recruited California when he was an assistant coach at Michigan. Add up the fact that San Diego State has better facilities, a better tradition, better weather, and that SDSU will pay him more money, and the move really is not all that surprising. Hoke’s name was mentioned in connection with the Auburn job as well (he interviewed), but he wisely struck while the iron is hot and parlayed his Ball State success into a bigger payday and a higher profile job.

The best point made by McCartney is that while the move may seem curious because of San Diego State’s dubious recent performance, it is not all that dissimilar from a move made by another coach who is pretty high up on the totem pole now: Urban Meyer. Meyer jumped from the MAC (Bowling Green) to Mountain West Conference (Utah) and then parlayed success there into his current gig at Florida.

Can Brady Hoke experience the same type of meteoric rise to the top of the coaching ranks in college football? That remains to be seen, but I think it is pretty hard to argue with this move from Hoke’s perspective.

Typically, when coaches make moves like this before a bowl game, they move onto their new team quickly. With so many administrative and recruiting tasks to get ironed out, including selecting a coaching staff, schools usually want their new coach on the job immediately. I will be interested to see how Brady Hoke and Ball State handle this.

The Cardinals play Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl on January 6, 2009. That is a long time from now, and will be a long time for San Diego State to wait for their new coach to be working on the Aztecs and not the Cardinals. Plus, from a Ball State perspective, you are preparing to close out the greatest season in the history of your school and you don’t want to end it with two straight losses. Wouldn’t you want a coach who will be 100% focused on Ball State and on beating Tulsa, not on getting things organized for his new job?

My prediction is that Brady Hoke will take off immediately to his reclamation work at San Diego State, and the Ball State Cardinals will move forward with an assistant coach taking over the reins. Nate Davis and the boys deserve to be coached in their bowl game by someone who is 100% committed to Ball State. This is not a knock on Brady Hoke — I’m sure he’d love to coach them in the GMAC bowl and finish what he started. But college football and coaching is business, and you cannot begrudge Brady Hoke for taking a job that will pay him three times what he is making and advance his career. That’s just the nature of the beast, and it is the situation that mid-level programs like Ball State face when they find a really good coach.

Congratulations to Brady Hoke, who deserves to take the next step in his career. And good luck to the Ball State Cardinals. You may not have your head coach for the GMAC Bowl, but you certainly will have the support of football fans everywhere in the state of Indiana, who don’t have much else other than Notre Dame-Hawaii to keep us interested this bowl season.

Entering Friday night’s MAC Championship game against Buffalo, Ball State had won every game it had played this season — including two over Big Ten opponents — and came in at 12-0. Led by QB Nate Davis and RB MiQuale Lewis, the Cardinals were an offensive juggernaut that many people were clamoring to see in the BCS.

I did not watch the game, but I just glanced at the box score, and it was clear to see that the Cardinals continued their dominant ways on Friday night. Nate Davis was 31-48 for 351 yards and a touchdown. MiQuale Lewis ran the ball 30 times for 131 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Just look at the team statistics and you will see how much Ball State dominated an overmatched Buffalo team that few people game much of a chance to win the game:

First Downs: Ball State – 30 | Buffalo – 18

Total Yards: Ball State – 503 | Buffalo – 301

Passing Yards: Ball State – 351 | Buffalo – 206

Rushing Yards: Ball State – 152 | Buffalo – 95

Time of Posession: Ball State – 34:18 | Buffalo 25:42

Final Score: Ball State – 24 | Buffalo – 42

Wait — what? Ball State lost? Say it ‘aint so!

Oh…it be so, sadly for fans of the Cardinals, for David Letterman, and for fans of football in the state of Indiana in general.

The most important stat of the Ball State-Buffalo game was the one that often determines the outcome of football games: turnovers. Ball State turned the ball over five times, while Buffalo only turned it over twice. Compounding the problem was that Buffalo scored off of all five Ball State turnovers.

According to the ESPN recap, Buffalo returned fumbles 92 and 74 yards on consecutive drives in the third quarter. Ouch. And superstar Nate Davis was involved in all four fumbles. The other turnover was a Davis interception.

After the MAC Championship debacle was over for Ball State, Nate Davis said that is coming back to school for his senior season. That is probably a good move. A putrid game like that on a big stage, when you are already fighting an uphill battle by not coming from one of the “big schools”, cannot be good for the draft stock.

On the bright side, only 12,871 fans were in attendance at Ford Field in Detroit to watch the game. My conjecture would be that this total exceeds the cumulative total of fans who have watched all Lions home games this year, but I have not been able to confirm that.

With the victory and MAC Championship, Buffalo and new head coach Turner Gill will be playing in the International Bowl, located in Toronto. Coincidentally, the Buffalo Bills are playing the Miami Dolphins in a “home” game in Toronto this weekend. And soon, if you are mailing letters to friends who live in Buffalo, you will just be able to address them to Toronto.

Ball State may end up back near the 8 Mile if they end up in the Motor City Bowl, which is played in Detroit. If the Motor City Bowl does not work out, they could always go on David Letterman and participate in his skit where people drop things off the roof and watch them splatter.

If they do, they might want to grab a watermelon and write “OUR UNDEFEATED SEASON” in big letters on it. Then they can drop that and watch it splatter all over the place…just like their chances for an undefeated season splattered tonight.

I am not sure why, but I have ended each of the last four paragraphs with really lame one liners. I think it is because I am tired, and aggitated, and can no longer write the post I had been planning about Ball State ducking a potential matchup of the under-appreciated unbeatens against Boise State.

I guess it’s a moot point now. But I was looking forward to saying that Ball State should change its name to “Tate University” — because they had no balls.

Now, of course, that joke just seems lame and sophomoric. So let’s just say that Ball State should change its name to “Drop the Ball State University”, because that is definitely what they did tonight; and it’s not a ball joke.

Who thinks ball jokes are funny anyway?

Damn you Ball State. I’m a Browns fan, a Tennessee Volunteers fan, and an Indiana grad. Combined, I’m not sure those three teams would have enough wins to be bowl eligible. I was clinging to Ball State and hopping on the bandwagon in hopes that they could give me something to cheer for. If you are a MAC team and you aren’t shooting for an undefeated season, you’re just another team with a good record that played a poor schedule.

And I’m just a tired, lonely blogger writing about MAC football and ball jokes on a Friday night.

It’s time for bed. Both for me, and for all the talk of Ball State in the BCS.

Ball State is a college waiting for it’s chance to become a big time sports program. While that sounds like most colleges, Ball State is actually on the verge of making it happen.

With the Cards sitting at 15 in both the AP and BCS polls, they are starting to catch a few peoples’ eyes. While I was in Texas watching BSU’s victory over Central Michigan in a bar I had people keep coming up to me and asking who Ball State was, where they were, and why no one had heard about them earlier. I answered by saying it was in Indiana, that it was the state’s number one party school (you know I am right), and that they actually had heard about its football program years ago.

Back in 2000 David Letterman started campaigning to have the stadium named after him, and covering the school’s longest active losing streak in NCAA Division 1. The next question was usually “How are you so good now?” and my answer was along the lines of “We sent our coach (Bill Lynch) to I.U. and found the most NFL-ready QB in college football”. Since the people were watching the game with me, they couldn’t argue that Nate Davis could be the best QB in the NCAA not named Tebow.

Ball State is currently riding a wave, or gaining a bandwagon. It seems late in the season (only 2 games left, the 25th against Western Michigan then the M.A.C. Championship) but many are just starting to realize how special this team is. They lost their top WR (Dante Love) to a terrible spinal injury that has ended his career early in the season and yet Nate Davis is still seemingly able to throw a TD on any given play. Their starting running back, MiQuale Lews, is listed at 5-6 and 186 lbs, but I’ve stood next to him and I’d be surprised if he was 175 lbs and 5-4. To make matters worse, they’re in Muncie Indiana, the same Muncie which played host to the defunct reality series “Armed and Famous”.

This team had only a few supporters going into this season (Jason Whitlock, a fellow Ball State University alumni, did predict an undefested season, so I can’t say no supporters). I don’t think many of the school’s students knew how to get to the stadium from the tailgate lot, and they have been nationally known as losers, yet they keep winning.

This team is giving all of us BSU alumnis something we can point to (other then Letterman) and say “Hey that’s us!”. Most importently of all, they are giving Ball State University the national recognition it deserves. I’m not going to make any predictions, I saw what happened to the Patriots after Simmons did that, but I will say that there is no school more deserving of a winner then Ball State.

With their 31-16 victory over Miami (Ohio) last night on ESPN, the Ball State Cardinals moved to 10-0 on the season with a huge showdown looming next week against Central Michigan.

(Editor’s note: To see a hilarious Top 10 Reasons Why Ball State Should be in the BCS, head over to The World of Isaac.  Funny stuff.  Any post that includes a pic of Ron Jeremy and the “Boom Goes the Dynamite” video is worth reading.)

As usual, the key for Ball State was quarterback Nate Davis. No, not that Nate Davis, this one:

This guy is really, really good and is not getting nearly enough attention around the country for his weekly exploits. For the season, Nate Davis has thrown 20 TD passes against 6 INTs and has a passer rating of 168.00. He has also run for 3 TDs and has only been sacked 8 times. I’m not to here to say that Nate Davis is anywhere near the level of Michael Crabtree, Colt McCoy, Graham Harrell, Tim Tebow, or even Mullet All-Star Albert Jergens; but Nate Davis is certainly having a season worthy of some national attention.

Ball State is also getting outstanding play from MiQuale Lewis, who has rushed for nearly 1,300 yards through ten games and has scored 17 TDs. It is hard to find a 1-2 offensive combination anywhere else in the country that has been as profilic as Davis-Lewis have been this season.

Currently, the Cardinals sit at #14 in the AP Poll and #16 in the Coaches Poll. They are #14 in the latest BCS Standings, behind two-loss heroes Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma State, and Missouri. Who knows what would happen if Ball State ended up playing against one of the big boys in a BCS game — but I’d definitely like to see it happen. The Cardinals were able to go on the road and win in the Big Ten earlier this year, beating Indiana 42-20. I realize it’s just Indiana, but it’s still a 22-point win on the road in the Big Ten. Nothing to sneeze at. (Never mind, it was Indiana, what am I saying?)

Next week, Ball State takes on Central Michigan in what has to be one of the 5-10 biggest games in the history of the MAC. Central Michigan also has a Big Ten road victory this season, taking out Indiana in Bloomington as well a few weeks ago. The Chippewas almost took down Purdue earlier in the season too. Led by quarterback Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan is currently undefeated in the MAC at 5-0 and 7-2 overall. They play 5-4 Northern Illinois tonight, and if the Chippewas can take care of business it will set up next week’s matchup for all the marbles in the MAC West, as both Central Michigan and Ball State will enter the game 6-0. That game will be played at Central Michigan.

As a fan of Midwest sports, I will be rooting for Ball State. I would love to see the Cardinals crack the BCS and get a shot to take down a major program. I remember how exciting the Boise State-Oklahoma game was a few years ago and Ball State has the kind of dynamic offensive talent that could make things difficult on a major program.

One thing is for sure: Ball State has an outstanding quarterback in Nate Davis to go along with a solid ground game. The Cardinals haven’t gotten too much national attention, but if they can beat Central Michigan next week and take care of business the rest of the way, America will have no choice but to pay attention to the team from Muncie, Indiana. And finally, people will something to say about Ball State other than the fact that it is David Letterman’s alma mater. (And that they have hats that say “Ball U” on them. I’ve considered becoming a fan for that reason alone.)

Congrats on a great season so far Ball State — now finish the job, and give Midwest sports fans like me who root for crappy teams (Indiana, Tennessee) someone to root for come January.

[tags]college football, ball state, central michigan, Mid-American Conference[/tags]