Midseason madness in ESC Overwatch Week 5 Preview

Week five kicks off with not one but two rounds of Esports Collegiate Conference (ESC) Overwatch 2 regular season. Tuesday, February 20 will bring round one of the two-round week. Round two will kickoff on Thursday, February 22. The end of week five marks the midseason for the conference as things continue to heat up.

Three undefeated teams still remain in the conference after week four's games. However, two undefeated teams face off in week five. In this article preview, we will take a look back at week four's action and a sneak peek of week five's larger slate of storylines.

Ball State was able to take down Akron and spoil their undefeated season during week four. As more sweeps happened across the conference, a close match between Western Michigan and Northern Illinois went in favor of the Huskies. Only three undefeated streaks remain as we head into week five of the season.

Only three undefeated teams remain heading into week fives double header week. Two of those streaks face off against one another in the first round of week five on Tuesday. A couple Michigan rivalries across both days of week five action. A team looking for their first ESC Overwatch in program history. Akron looking for a bounce back on the official ESC broadcast.

These are all storylines heading into week five (Feb. 20 and 22) of the Esports Collegiate Conference. Continue reading to find out more in depth news about these week four ESC storylines.

The ESC broadcast continues this week with the Northern Kentucky University facing off against the the University of Akron on the official ESC Twitch account. For the games that will not be on the broadcast, check out the individual streams from each school's broadcast channels linked below their previewed match.

Akron returns onto broadcast in week five after a tough loss to Ball State in week four. During week three, the Zips showcased their skills on the official broadcast with a map five win over Buffalo. They return to the broadcast with hopes of a bounce back performance after the week four loss to Ball State.

The Zips Overwatch team looks to the success of other games in their program and wants to replicate it on broadcast this week. With both Akron's Rocket League and Call of Duty teams making major strides in the collegiate space this past week. The Rocket League team became the first collegiate rocket league team to make an RLCS event while their Call of Duty team took gold and won the CXP Open tournament.

Northern Kentucky is looking for their first win of the season and what better place to do it but on the official broadcast! After a tough (1-11) season last year, the expectations have been pretty low for this squad. However, this can play straight to their advantage and surprise many teams down the road. Akron cannot overlook the Norse as they sail into action this week.

Another Undefeated versus Undefeated. Two undefeated (4-0) rosters meet in the first round of week five matchups. Ohio and Ball State look to continue their winning streaks and have ownership to the head to head tiebreaker.

Ball State and Ohio both come in with similar rosters from last season. Seniority will shine in this matchup between these two undefeated rosters. Last season Ball State took the win against Ohio in sweeping 3-0 fashion. Will history repeat itself in this week five round one matchup?

Who will continue their undefeated streak in this week five thriller?

The Toledo Rockets (0-4) return this week defeated and looking for their first ESC Overwatch win in program history. Last year the Rockets went (0-12) and were not able to pick up any map wins. So far this season, Toledo has still not been able to take a map off any ESC team. This week may be their last week for redemption and to try and remain in playoff contention.

Starting (0-4) is not ideal but if they are able to break their losing curse and string together some wins Toledo can sneak their way into a Top 8 finish before playoffs. Northern Illinois (2-2) have other plans as they do not look to hand Toledo any kind of favor.

Northern Illinois is coming off a map five thriller against Western Michigan last week and look to stay in the middle of the pack after week five's action. Currently tied sixth in the standings, two wins for Northern Illinois this week has the potential to put them in the top five teams.

A Michigan rivalry takes place on Thursday, February 22nd. Western Michigan (1-3) and Eastern Michigan (1-3) aim high in the second round of ESC week five.

For Eastern Michigan this will be their second opponent from Michigan that they face off against in week five with Central Michigan being their round one opponent. Wins over both their interstate rivals would be huge for their spot in the standings but also for the ego.

Western Michigan has been the only team to take a map off of undefeated Ball State so far this season. However their record shows to only be (1-3). The team should be able to pull it around after some very close losses to Northern Illinois and Ohio in the past two weeks.

Bowling Green has managed to start of the season (2-2) with wins over Northern Kentucky and Buffalo. The Falcons only need two more wins to tie the amount they had last year at four. With wins against Central Michigan and Western Michigan in week five Bowling Green could manage to pull it off and maintain their place in the top six teams in the conference.

Central Michigan (1-3) has started off rocky so far this year against some of the best teams in the ESC. A true test against Bowling Green may hint at where the Chippewas ceiling for the season is at. After going (3-9) last season, Central Michigan has already shown they have the chance to do better heading into this week five double header.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more ESC esports news and updates.

*Match times are subject to change.