And the MAC lost two Saturday. Akron won one in week one in OT and NIU squeaked one out against EIU. It’s not been pretty.
Both BG and Buffalo were about touchdown favorites. So there FCS opponents were probably good ones. But as pointed out by others that is still not good. We cant have as many losses to FCS as we have wins. It was a brutal weekend for the league
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Interesting treatise on MAC prospects by Chris Vaninni in his current G5 Mailbag:
Hi Chris, congrats, you’ve been named commissioner of the MAC. They tell you they’re tired of being behind the other G5 conferences. They don’t need to be No. 1, but considered one of the two best with the occasional team making the NY6 bid or Playoff bid in 12-team play. All moves are on the table besides ending the MACtion November weekday games (although you are allowed to sell it to another company). What steps do you take to improve the image of the MAC and make your team better! — Jordan W.
I must start by acknowledging there are inherent disadvantages in the MAC. Its programs are among the least funded, and that area of the country is going through some population decline, affecting the amount of talent in places like Ohio. It doesn’t have the same kind of money as the American or the Mountain West and is in a tough spot because of that. That plays a role because many coaches would rather be a Power 5 coordinator than take a pay cut to be a MAC head coach or in another G5 league.
But there are several things I would do to help the image. First: Don’t play rivalry games on weekdays. Matchups like Toledo-Bowling Green and Central Michigan-Western Michigan need to be on weekends. Those are schools’ best opportunities for good crowds at home, and considering how few home Saturday games MAC teams get nowadays, you have to maximize those. The Sun Belt created a lot of excitement by leaning into regional games and rivalries. The MAC already has that, but there are so few opportunities to celebrate it because of how the league schedules.
Second, cut down on the paycheck games at national powers. Kent State played Washington, Oklahoma and Georgia this season in exchange for $5.2 million. That’s important money for MAC athletic departments that are also subsidized by student fees. But there are just so many of them in this league. The AAC tries to avoid them. The Mountain West is able to get home games with Pac-12 schools due to geography. The Sun Belt has also collectively cut back on them. The MAC has zero teams with a winning record right now. The conference quickly rushes toward the basement of the G5 when it begins seasons like that, and then many fans ignore it until the weekday MACtion games pop up on TV. Both division leaders right now are 1-3 overall. It’s a really bad look. The 2016 WMU team that reached the Cotton Bowl played Northwestern, Illinois, NC Central and Georgia Southern in nonconference play. That’s much more manageable.
As for those weekday games, I know you said I can’t end them, but I would cut down on them. They used to be on ESPN and ESPN2. Now they’re often relegated to ESPNU, CBS Sports Network or ESPN+ online. At that point, you’re not getting anything out of it, not even the supposed exposure. At least try to get a situation in which the weekday games are on major channels most people get. That also goes back to my point about the weekends. College sports are about a unique connection with fans, and when you only have three or four chances to tailgate on a Saturday before a home game, it limits that connection. The weekday games just don’t do that, because they’re not supposed to.
The reality in this conference is that almost everyone is equal in money, infrastructure, talent and coaching. The result is the majority of the league finishing somewhere between 5-7 and 7-5. It desperately needs some teams to break out with 10-win seasons. Seasons like Ben Roethlisberger’s Miami (Ohio) team, the NIU Orange Bowl team and the WMU Cotton Bowl team changed the image of the league. The schools that should be the best in the MAC (Toledo, NIU) need to play like it consistently. Ultimately, a conference is defined nationally by its best teams. In the MAC, it’s hard to figure out who that is.
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Agree on most all fronts! Having major MAC rivalries like CMU-WMU or BG-UT game on a chilly November Tuesday or Wednesday night is indeed a travesty.
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Do you think that the B1G withdrawing all games on ESPN will result in more MAC games being scheduled on the primary ESPN channels–ESPN/ESPN2? May be a great opportunity for the conference.
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That’s been one of my key arguments for years - Ohio vs Miami on the second Saturday of October every year…Full stadiums with both bands in Athens and Oxford…
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Yet no mention of the podium.
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dude…this is the hardest i’ve laughed in a year!
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I have one job to do and I did my job!
Jive, let’s talk year end bonus next week, mkay?
Ps, still not as funny as The Reeces Pieces Cup but like an unclaimed lotto ticket, eventually someone will take ownership of it. HawkTalk Nation: who invented The Reeces Pieces Cup. Please reveal yourself.
YanksAlex! I owe you a debt of gratitude as the Reece’s Pieces Cup has brought my friends and I endless joy. Every so often, someone sends the image back with just one word attached: Elliot!
Current SP+ rankings:
71 Toledo
99 CMU
101 NIU
102 Miami
107 Kent St
110 Ball St
111 EMU
112 WMU
118 Buffalo
120 Bowling Green
121 Ohio
127 Akron
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Dismal
MAC records at mid-season: it’s possible we won’t have six eligible bowl teams. With six games played we have 3 teams with 4 losses and 3 teams with 5 losses. 4 teams, including Miami, have 3 losses. Not much room for error the rest of the way to reach 6 wins.
The Athletic’s 131 Poll is out and our win over Kent has finally catapulted us into the top half of the MAC!
MAC
Toledo 79 (22 of 62 in G5 - Excluding Big 12 transitions)
Buffalo 94
Eastern 95
Ball State 102
Miami 104
Kent State 106
Bowling Green 107
Ohio 108
Western 114
Central 116
Northern 119
Akron 127
According to this poll, we ought to be favored in 5 of our last 6 games - and we have Ball State at home. Our mission: Just keep winning!
Last year Ball State was coming in as MAC Champs and were going to roll again-they did not. This year NIU was coming in as MAC Champs and were going to roll again this year, so far they have not. Yes the MAC may be one of the lower conferences but it seems as if of late there is “parity”, no team seems to dominate the MAC two years in a row as of late.
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Interesting…This made me curious as to where each team stands categorically. Here is each team’s ranking of 131 FBS teams.
| Total O | Total D | |
|---|---|---|
| Nat’l Rank | Nat’l Rank | |
| Akron | 102 | 127 |
| Ball State | 63 | 103 |
| Bowling Green | 107 | 128 |
| Buffalo | 80 | 98 |
| Central Mich | 69 | 73 |
| Eastern Mich | 81 | 83 |
| Kent State | 43 | 112 |
| Miami | 116 | 46 |
| Northern Ill | 71 | 105 |
| Ohio | 36 | 131 |
| Toledo | 78 | 48 |
| Western Mich | 120 | 74 |
Hey there…take a look at this!!! Western actually has an offense worse than ours!
Pretty bad when are almost worst O in the MAC…well at least our D is very good!
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Also, it should stay the best the rest of the season as I believe we have already played the 5 best teams on our schedule. Note also that Ohio has the worst defense in the nation and BG and Akron are close, so those games should give our offensive stats a boost.
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