College Football Predictions: MAC

As we move up the ladder of the Football Bowl Subdivision, the next conference to be explored is the Mid-American Conference. These schools play pretty good football in spite of flying under the radar of the Big Ten.

This conference currently has 13 football playing members. Not every team will play every other team in its division, so all conference games will count in the standings this year. The conference succumbed to the temptation of the Philadelphia market and added Temple last year for football only.

The class of the conference resides in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where the Chippewas of Central Michigan return star QB Dan LeFevour as they attempt to defend their conference championship of a year ago. I don’t see any team in this conference as able to touch them this year. The West division has three teams (Ball State, Western Michigan, and Toledo) that will compete for second place. Northern Illinois will continue to rebuild, and Eastern Michigan will bring up the rear.

In the East, the Falcons of Bowling Green look to dominate the rest of their Ohio brethren along with the interlopers from Buffalo and Temple. The rest of this division will be pretty bunched up, with Miami getting a slight nod over the rest of the division for second place. Akron and Kent State will be competitive. Buffalo and Temple will continue to improve. Ohio is dangerous, but faces three road games in their non-conference schedule, at Wyoming, Ohio State, and Northwestern. The Bobcats will bounce back to an extent in the conference, but their conference schedule works against them, as well. It’s not always how good you are, but who you play, where you play them, and when you play them.

Projected Finish:

East
Bowling Green 8-4, 7-1
Miami, Ohio 7-5, 5-3
Buffalo 6-6, 4-4
Kent State 6-6, 4-4
Akron 5-7, 4-4
Temple 5-7, 4-4
Ohio 4-8, 3-5
West
Central Michigan 10-2, 8-0
Ball State 6-6, 4-4
Western Michigan 6-6, 4-4
Toledo 5-7, 4-4
Northern Illinois 2-10, 1-7
Eastern Michigan 1-11, 0-8

Next: WAC