The Eastern Michigan Eagles and Toledo Rockets meet Saturday in week 9 MAC college football action from Rynearson Stadium. Toledo is fresh off a matchup versus Buffalo. In that one, the Rockets lost by a touchdown. As for Eastern Michigan, they took on Ball State in their last game. The Eagles managed a four-point win there. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Toledo won their first two games over LIU and UMass this year, but then fell to Ohio State and San Diego State in the next pair. Toledo would then hit a win streak, taking out Central Michigan, Northern Illinois and Kent State.
Matched up against Buffalo, the Rockets were up 27-10 going into the final quarter. Toledo gave up 24 unanswered points from there in a rough 34-27 defeat. QB DeQuan Finn managed 240 yards with a TD and four picks. Jacquez Stuart rushed 14 times for 107 yards.
Over on the Eastern Michigan side, they went 2-2 over their first four games this year with victories versus Eastern Kentucky and Arizona State alongside losses to Louisiana and Buffalo. After wins versus UMass and Western Michigan the Eagles fell to Northern Illinois in game seven.
In the Ball State game, the Eagles were down 16-10 going into the final quarter. Eastern Michigan rallied from there for a 20-16 comeback victory. QB Austin Smith finished with 197 yards and also led the rush with 19 carries for 52 yards and a score.
PICK: I might take a stab on Eastern Michigan. The Eagles posted a nice comeback victory over Ball State in their last outing, bagging 358 total yards, 25 first downs and a 37:09 time of possession along the way. Eastern Michigan does have some things to clean up however, namely the 11 penalties.
As for the Rockets, they imploded down the stretch in their loss to Buffalo. Toledo finished with a whopping six turnovers (four picks) and went just 6-of-18 on third-down tries. I like the Rockets to bounce back and play better but I’m leaning toward EMU on the cover.