Even the best sports experts can get it wrong sometimes

Nate Ravitz of ESPN picked the New York Mets to be the World Series champions. In fact, he only chose three of the eight divisions correctly. Mike Greenberg of "œMike & Mike in the Morning" predicted that the Cincinnati Bengals would only go 5-11 this season.

Britton Dove of The Athens NEWS said that the Ohio University Bobcats would not win the Mid-American Conference this year.

What the H-E double hockey sticks were we thinking?

I shook my head so much during the Bobcats' Sept. 5 loss to Connecticut I needed two aspirin and a nap after the final whistle blew. After punt, punt, fumble, punt, turnover on downs, punt, touchdown, punt, punt, safety, punt, touchdown, field goal, I was sick to my stomach.

How could a team with so much athleticism and talent on paper look so bad on the field? That question baffled me, and I vented through the best outlet I have, a weekly column in the Athens NEWS.

I compared the team to a Mr. Magoo movie. I placed blame on everyone but Matt Schulte (the punter) and I flat out said, "The Bobcats football team will NOT win the MAC this fall," in the Sept. 7 issue of this newspaper.

Standing at 7-3 (5-1 MAC East) the Bobcats are two big wins away from proving me wrong with an Eastern MAC championship. The 'Cats take on Northern Illinois 7-3 (5-1 MAC West) at home this Saturday at 2 p.m. and then host Temple 8-2 (6-0 MAC East) for a winner-take-all battle Friday, Nov. 27 on the Peden Stadium gridiron. (The Temple game will have an unusual 11 a.m. starting time to accommodate its broadcast on ESPNU.)

Northern Illinois has outscored its opponents by an average of 13.6 points per game. They rush for an average of 5.1 yards per carry, and they already have 24 rushing touchdowns. They convert 75 percent of their fourth-down conversions and score 95 percent of the time in the Red Zone.

Temple's statistics don't really shock and awe the way one might think. They are relatively under the radar when it comes to big plays, big yards and big points, but they make sure they get the big wins, and that's all that matters when you're chasing a MAC title.

I'm not here to fill sand in the hole I already dug myself into, nor am I writing an apology for comparing the Bobcats to a nearly blind old man. I am purely cautioning those fans who think these next two games are easier then a game of checkers at a preschool.

The Buckeyes' loss to USC, the Bengals fluke beating from the Broncos, and the Bobcats' embarrassing defeat to the Huskies initially had me standing with my face in my hands praying that football just be over. But now I have been rejuvenated by my teams' wins at Illinois and Wisconsin, triumphs over the Steelers and Ravens, and victories over Akron, Miami and Buffalo.

My sole piece of advice to the Bobcats in September was to simply "execute better than the Grim Reaper if we want to win the MAC this season," and execute they did.

Forget about the interceptions, the fumbles, the dropped passes, the deep plays allowed on defense, the botched kicks and the missed field goals. When I say, "execute," I mean win. Win any way possible and that's what they have done.

John Kruk from Baseball Tonight picked the Cleveland Indians to go to the World Series the last two years. Prognosticators have picked the Cavaliers to win the NBA finals ever since LeBron James held up his jersey on draft day. I merely claimed the Bobcats wouldn't win the MAC, but I'm not about to cave just yet. Nobody likes a jinx!