Tough week one for MAC

Northern Illinois won't be the only Mid-American Conference team hoping to pull off an upset against a team from an automatic-qualifying BCS conference during the first week of the NCAA college footbseason.

Miami (Ohio) has the toughest matchup as they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to take on 2009 BCS champion Florida, ranked No. 4 in the AP Top-25 poll. The game, which will be televised on ESPN at Saturday at 11 a.m., will have increased national attention as John Brantley takes over for Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, a Denver Broncos first-round pick, as the Gators quarterback.

"Florida has an extremely explosive offense," RedHawks coach Mike Haywood said during the Mid-American Conference teleconference on Monday. "Florida is a team with tremendous speed, so we have to make sure we slow this game down."

Haywood, who said he's been to Gainesville four times, said his team has practiced with silent cadences and simulated crowd noise to prepare for Saturday's game.

"The Swamp is a loud place to play," Haywood said. "We talked to our guys about going and embracing the atmosphere."

Western Michigan won't travel as far this week but also has a tough opener at in-state, Big Ten rival Michigan State. Broncos coach Bill Cubit said he's used to preparing his team for challenging openers with recent week-one games against Indiana, Nebraska and Indiana.

With school record-breaker Tim Hiller graduated, Alex Carder takes over at quarterback for the Broncos.

"We have a tough challenge ahead," Cubit said. "It's kind of what we do at Western."

Toledo also plays a premier conference foe this week but has the luxury of having Arizona come to their home turf. Friday's game also will be televised on ESPN.

"It's a great opportunity for us," Toledo coach Tim Beckman said.

"We can play with these people. It's more about what we do and how we take care of ourselves than what they do."

This week's MAC schedule:

THURSDAY

Southeast Missouri State at Ball State, 6 p.m.

Rhode Island at Buffalo, 6 p.m

Murray State at Kent State, 6 p.m.

Hampton at Central Michigan, 6 p.m.

Northern Illinois at Iowa State, 7 p.m. (FOX Sportsnet)

FRIDAY

Villanova at Temple, 4 p.m. (ESPN3.com)

Arizona at Toledo, 7 p..m. (ESPN)