Hustle Belt: for Mid-American Conference fans

Happy Friday folks! We’ve made it through another week, and we’re excited to help you ring in another weekend. Another week down, another week closer to football!

Despite football season being right around the corner, the boys open up the show this week with some huge news out of the basketball world. Emoni Bates, the former number three overall recruit in the class of 2022, announced his commitment to Eastern Michigan on Wednesday. Bates spent his freshman season at Memphis, and averaged 9.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for the Tigers. It was an up and down season, both for Bates and for the Tigers squad in general. Bates missed significant time due to injury and only played 18 games over the course of the season. A native of Ypsilanti, Bates ultimately chose EMU over blue blood programs such as Louisville and Illinois. Without a doubt, this is a huge signing for Stan Heath as he enters his second year as head coach in Ypsilanti. With Noah Farrakhan and most other contributors returning from last year, the Eagles will be in great position to compete at the top of the conference next year.

Elsewhere in hoops, the MAC celebrated an NBA draft selection for the second straight year. This year, it was courtesy of Toledo product Ryan Rollins, who was drafted by Golden State with the 44th overall pick. It seems to be a great landing spot for Rollins, as Golden State is coming off of their fourth NBA title in seven years. Also in the NBA, for Bowling Green Falcon Daeqwon Plowden signed a Summer League contract with New Orleans and will look to earn a roster spot in the Las Vegas Summer League next month.

To close out the show this week, it’s a bittersweet send off for Zach. Zach has been around since the beginning of the podcast two years ago, and is sad to be stepping away. You’re all in great hands though, as Steve will be back next week to help kick off our pre-season football coverage. Steve and Vannzee will have all of the coverage you need come football season. There’s a lot of exciting stuff to look forward to.

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks. Have a great weekend and a great week ahead, and we’ll talk to you again next Friday!

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Howdy folks! We hope you’ve all had a good week to this point. We have officially reached the dog days of summer, where baseball has wrapped up and football is still about two months away. But that’s ok - we’ve got plenty to talk about to get you through!

Zack and Zach open up the show this week by discussing former Toledo forward Ryan Rollins and his prospects in tonight’s NBA Draft. Rollins, who was MAC Freshman of the Year in 2020 and first team All-MAC last year, is widely considered to be a second round pick. Despite concerns about his defense and outside shooting ability, many NBA teams remain intrigued by his athleticism and potential.

Next up, the boys discuss the recently released MAC championship odds for the upcoming football season. According to the bookmakers, Toledo is the pre-season favorite (tell us if you’ve heard that before) with Kent State, NIU, Miami, and Central Michigan right behind them. The odds certainly reflect the parity of the conference, where a new team seems to sneak into the title conversation every year.

To close out the show this week, the boys are joined by Christian Booher. Christian is the Sports Editor at CM Life, the Central Michigan student newspaper. Christian stopped by to talk Chippewas football and give his thoughts on the upcoming season. CMU returns a ton of talent, but also have to replace key contributors such as Kalil Pimpleton, Luke Goedeke, and Bernhard Raimann. In year four under Jim McElwain, the Chips seem to be positioned to compete for a conference title.

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks. Stay cool out there, have a great week ahead, and we’ll see you back here next Friday!

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Happy Friday folks! We’ve made it through another week, and we hope you’ve been keeping cool and hydrated as summer has descended upon us. It’s a big week for the show this week, as this is episode 100. On a typical week, we try to have a structure to the show, but given the occasion this week, we wanted to keep it a bit looser.

The boys spend the bulk of the time this week reflecting on 100 episodes and reading some Twitter responses from the fans. First up, we asked you all to tell us your favorite memories as a fan of your MAC school or of the conference in general. We got some GREAT responses - from last second touchdowns, to improbable upsets, to field storming occasions, there were some great answers.

We close out the show this week by taking a look at a more specific topic: questions and concerns heading into football season. While there were no coaching changes in the MAC this off-season, there was plenty of roster movement via the transfer portal. Which schools will benefit from that? Will the MAC pick up a Power 5 upset this year? Who will emerge from the loaded MAC West? These are questions we’re all contemplating as the season approaches, and the boys give their thoughts on each topic.

We say this every week, but we want to place some extra emphasis this time around: we can’t thank you all enough for stopping by and lending us your ears. Not just this week, but every week. It’s been a great journey to get to 100 episodes, and we’re excited to continue to build this. We couldn’t do it without all of you! We hope you all have a great weekend and a great week ahead, and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

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Happy Friday folks, we’ve missed you! We’re excited to be back after a week off, and there’s a lot to catch up on in the MAC universe!

To lead off the show this week, the boys discuss RB Kobe Lewis’ decision to transfer from Central Michigan. Lewis missed last season after sustaining a knee injury in camp, but rushed for 1,074 yards and 12 TD’s in 2019. The Chippewas still have Lew Nichols and will be just fine at running back, but Nichols and Lewis together could have formed quite the backfield duo next season. Regardless, best of luck to Kobe at his next stop!

Next up, Zach and Zack look back at the baseball postseason. Central Michigan beat Ball State on back to back days to capture the MAC title and earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Assigned to the Gainesville regional, CMU knocked off Liberty in 12 innings on Saturday before ultimately seeing their season come to an end on Sunday afternoon against Florida. The Chippewas gave the Gators all they could handle. battling back from a 5-0 deficit before falling to the hosts 6-5.

To close out the show, the boys look back at the responses to a few Twitter questions from the past two weeks. First up, the fans give their opinions on the football season win totals that were released this past week by DraftKings. There was some great debate about which teams were being overestimated and underestimated heading into the year. Next up, the boys debate the best and worst uniforms and color schemes in the MAC. Who has the best color scheme in the conference, in your opinion?

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks. Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

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Happy Friday folks! It’s been another long week, but we’re happy to be here to help you ring in the weekend.

To open up the show this week, the boys take a look back at the NCAA softball postseason. As you’ll recall from last week, Miami won the MAC this year and earned the conferences automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Assigned to the Blacksburg regional, the RedHawks lost their opening game to Kentucky before taking down St. Francis (PA) in game two. Facing the host Virginia Tech in game three, the RedHawks raced out to a 4-1 lead before the Hokies stormed back to win 5-4. Despite not advancing, it was a great season for Miami, who reached the 40 win plateau.

Elsewhere in softball, Bowling Green traveled out west to Colorado to take part in the National Invitation Softball Championship. The Falcons went 2-2 in the tournament, defeating Stephen F. Austin and George Washington and losing to Virginia and Kansas. Similar to Miami, the Falcons have a lot to be proud of despite not collecting any post season hardware. With a number of key contributors returning next year, Bowling Green’s future looks bright.

In football news, Vannzee laments the loss of a three star QB recruit for Eastern Michigan, and the boys discuss the transfer of WR Jalen McGaughey from Ball State to Central Michigan. As if you weren’t already excited enough for football season, the MAC released kickoff times and broadcast partners for the first few weeks of the season. The conference has a number of notable national television performances, including Central Michigan traveling to Oklahoma State (remember what happened the last time these two met?) and Toledo traveling to Ohio State. There’s a lot to look forward to on the gridiron this fall!

To close out the show, the boys discuss the ongoing MAC baseball tournament. The weather has played a factor, with the Ball State/Ohio game being postponed multiple times due to rain. Regardless, the first round of the tournament proved to be quite eventful, with both contests ending in walk off fashion. In the second round, Ball State will face Central Michigan with a trip to the title game on the line, and Toledo will face Ohio in an elimination game.

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks. Don’t forget to subscribe to the pod on your favorite platform! We appreciate all of you, and hope you all have a great weekend and a great week ahead. See you next week!

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Happy Friday folks! We hope you’ve had a good week to this point, and as always we thank you for joining us. We have a variety of things to cover this week, and we think there’s a little something for everybody!

To open up this week’s show, the boys take a look back at last weekend’s MAC softball tournament. Bowling Green, Central Michigan, and Ohio performed admirably, but this was ultimately Miami’s championship to win. The RedHawks survived a scare in the semi-finals, knocking off Central Michigan 2-1 with an eighth inning walk off, and used that momentum to blow past Bowling Green 11-0 in the title game. The Chippewas will now represent the MAC in the NCAA Tournament, where they’ve been installed as the three seed in the Blacksburg region. CMU will open up the tournament against Kentucky on Friday afternoon.

Speaking of Central Michigan, the Chippewas women’s lacrosse team made their first NCAA Tournament appearance this past Friday after winning their first MAC championship. CMU faced perennial power Northwestern, and the Wildcats proved to be too much for the Chippewas in their 22-7 victory. Regardless of the early exit, this is clearly a program on a positive trajectory, and Sarah Tisdale has done a great job in her seven seasons at the helm of the program.

Switching to hoops, Zack and Zach discuss the rising NBA Draft stock of Ryan Rollins. The Toledo product declared for the draft back in March, and since his declaration has seen his stock rise rather quickly. Some mock drafts now have him as a late first round selection, and he has the chance to be the first MAC player selected in the first round since CMU’s Chris Kaman in 2003.

To close out the show, the boys take a look at this weekend’s baseball slate. This is the last week of the regular season, and there is still a lot to be determined. Central Michigan currently holds a half game lead on first place over Ball State. If you recall, the regular season champion hosts the conference tournament, so this is a big deal. Central Michigan hosts Toledo this weekend, and Ball State travels to Miami, and both teams will have home field advantage on the mind. The other intrigue surrounds the three and four seeds, as there are still three teams that have a chance to qualify for the conference tournament. As of now, Toledo and Ohio sit in third and fourth, respectively. Miami sits in fifth, and can move into fourth with a good performance against Ball State this weekend.

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks! Please don’t forget to like and subscribe to the pod on your favorite podcast platform so you don’t miss any content. Have a great weekend and a great week ahead, and we’ll talk to you again this week!

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Welcome back to another episode of the Bandwagon folks! As always, we’re thankful for the support and are glad you stopped by.

The boys open up the show this week with a number of news stories from around the conference, leading off with the athletic re-brand at Akron. The Zips announced a new athletic identity on Monday, replacing their eight current logos with a stylized “A.” The reaction from the fan base has been mixed, as these things tend to be. We saw it last year with the Western Michigan re-brand, and the Zips fan base seems to be similarly split. Zack and Zach give their thoughts on the new identity.

Next up, the boys discuss the recent and sudden passing of Eastern Michigan assistant football coach Freed Reed. Reed had been in Ypsilanti for the last seven seasons and most recently served as the defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach. Coach Reed spent 25 years coaching college football and clearly made an impact at every stop he made. A veteran of the MAC, Reed also had stints on the coaching staff at Ohio and Buffalo in addition to his time in Ypsilanti. Our thoughts are with his family and the entire EMU football program.

A great story from the conference this past week is the Central Michigan women’s lacrosse team, who in just their seventh season of competition won the MAC and qualified for their first NCAA tournament. Their reward? The Chippewas will face perennial power Northwestern, who has won seven national titles since 2005. CMU will travel to Evanston for a 5:00 pm start on Friday.

The main event of the weekend in the MAC is the softball tournament, which is being held for the first time since 2019. Miami is clearly the favorite here, having won the MAC going away with a 24-5 record in the conference. They will be the top seed and host for the conference tournament, and will host fourth seeded Bowling Green in one of the semifinals on Thursday. While Miami has the best offense in the MAC, the Falcons have strong armed Payton Gottshall on the mound, who leads the MAC in ERA, opponent batting average, wins and strikeouts. In the other semifinal, Ohio will take on Central Michigan. The Bobcats took two of three from the Chippewas in their only series this season.

To close out the show, the boys recap the week that was in MAC baseball. Ball State maintained their slim lead on first place, taking three of four games from Kent State over the weekend. Central Michigan kept pace, taking three of four themselves from Western Michigan. Qualification for the MAC tournament is still up for grabs - Ohio and Toledo currently sit in third and fourth place, but there is a group of four other teams still in contention. Ohio especially has a big series this weekend, traveling to Muncie to take on first place Ball State.

Thanks again for stopping by this week folks. Have a great weekend and a great week ahead, and we’ll see you back here next week!

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Happy Friday folks! We’re glad you made it through another week. and we’re excited to help you ring in the weekend.

To open up the show this week, Zach and Zack briefly discuss some transfer portal news in football and basketball. On the hardwood, second year Eastern Michigan coach Stan Heath landed two commitments, with Duquense transfer Tyson Acuff and Georgetown transfer Jalin Billingsley both announcing they would continue their careers in Ypsilanti. Acuff is a Detroit native, and Billingsley a former three star recruit. These additions give the Eagles immediate depth, and both could certainly develop into very good MAC players. Elsewhere in hoops, Emoni Bates, a Ypsilanti native and the top rated recruit in the class of 2022, announced his intention to transfer from Memphis. Eastern Michigan is listed as one of his six target schools, and it would be a huge windfall for the conference if Bates ended up selecting his hometown school. This is certainly a story we’ll be monitoring.

In football news, Toledo WR Matt Landers announced he would enter his name in the portal and seek a new home. Landers spent only one season with the Rockets, transferring to Toledo from Georgia after the 2020 season. Though Landers had a slow start to the year and only had 20 catches on the season, he did catch five touchdowns and boasted an absurd 25.7 yards per catch average.

In MAC baseball, all eyes were on Muncie this weekend, as first place Central Michigan traveled to second place Ball State. The Chippewas entered the series with a 17 game win streak and a 21-1 record in the MAC, but the Cardinals proved to be the better team. Led by Amir Wright and a strong pitching staff, Rich Maloney’s squad swept all four games of the series, moving into first place and giving them a 1.5 game advantage over CMU in the standings. The regular season champion gets to host the conference tournament, so this was a huge victory for the Cardinals. With three weeks left in the regular season, these two teams will be neck in neck for the regular season title.

To close out the show, James stops by to break down last weekends’ NFL Draft. The MAC had six players selected, the most since 2017, and we discuss each player and their landing spot. James shares why he thinks Skyy Moore can have an immediate impact in Kansas City, and why former CMU offensive lineman Luke Goedeke and Bernhard Raimann can both compete for starting positions. There is a solid crop of undrafted free agents from the conference as well, with high profile names like Kaleb Eleby, Kalil Pimpleton, and Dustin Crum all earning rookie contracts. The boys discuss which of the undrafted prospects have the best chance to earn a roster spot.

Thanks as always for stopping by this week folks. As we say every week, don’t forget to subscribe to the pod on your favorite podcast platform to ensure that you don’t miss anything! We hope you all have a great week ahead, and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

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Happy Friday folks! We’ve made it through another week, and we’re happy to help be here to help bring in the weekend.

To open this week’s show, the boys look back at the last few weeks in MAC baseball. Central Michigan is currently on an absurd 17 game win streak, and currently sits atop the conference with a 21-1 record in the MAC. Just behind them is Ball State, fresh off of a sweep of Northern Illinois. During the weekend sweep, Cardinals head coach Rich Maloney earned his 900th career win, no small feat at all. His Ball State squad has a huge opportunity ahead this weekend, as conference leading CMU visits Muncie for a weekend series. A couple of victories will establish the Cardinals as a legitimate contender for the Chippewas at the top of the conference.

Moving into spring football talk, Zack gives a recap of the Eastern Michigan spring game. The conditions were not great, unfortunately, but Vannzee still saw a lot that he liked from the quarterbacks and the defense. Despite a number of players entering the portal, Zack feels optimistic about this EMU squad and thinks that a bowl game is a reasonable expectation.

To close out the show, Zach is joined by Collin Murphy, the Sports Editor for the Western Herald. Collin stopped by to discuss how the Broncos will replace Kaleb Eleby and Skyy Moore, the state of the WMU defense, and the overall feeling of the Western fan base as the Broncos enter year six of the Tim Lester era.

As always, thanks for stopping by this week folks. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform! Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you all back here next week.

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Welcome back inside the Bandwagon, folks!

This week, former Ball State kicker Ian McGarvey stops by to chat with the boys. McGarvey was the Cardinals kicker from 2007-2010 and is the all time leading scorer in program history. On this week’s pod, he stops by to discuss the Cardinals undefeated 2008 season with the boys.

There’s a lot we cover here, and anybody who followed the MAC at the time will remember a lot of what Ian discusses. From the Indiana game, which gave the Cardinals their signature victory but also saw them lose all-MAC performer Dante Love to a scary injury, to facing a Central Michigan squad led by Dan LeFevour and Antonio Brown, Ian covers all of the ups and downs of the season (including Brady Hoke departing for San Diego State afterwards).

This interview was so great that we decided to make it it’s own episode. Next week, we’ll be back to more of our regular programming, and will get you all caught up on MAC baseball and spring football.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to the pod on your favorite podcast platform - we don’t want you to miss anything! Have a great week folks, and we’ll see you back here next week!

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