The Mid-American Conference fell out of the wider public view in the last week as their last remaining unbeaten team, Toledo, fell to Northern Illinois on a Tuesday night. The Toledo Rockets had beaten Iowa State and Arkansas out of conference which meant they were ranked 24th in the first College Football Playoff Rankings. But with their unbeaten run coming to an end it meant the MAC was left with no ranked team and seemed to leave the race for the Group of Five Bowl bid in the hands of the AAC. So lets look at how the MAC division races are shaping up with two games to go:
East Division
This division has been controlled by Bowling Green all year so far. They are currently 6-0 with the division title wrapped up with two games to spare. They face I-75 rival Toledo at home next week in what should be a fascinating game before finishing with Ball State on the road before the title game. The Falcons could make a push to finish the season ranked if they can win the MAC as they have beaten both Purdue and Maryland while only losing to Tennessee and Memphis so far.
Elsewhere the division is quite close with the battle for second place likely between Ohio, Buffalo and Akron. The Ohio Bobcats have endured a disappointing campaign recently after a promising start that saw them beat Marshall and come to close to upsetting Minnesota on the road. They were blown out in three straight games against Western Michigan, Buffalo and Bowling Green before they beat Kent State this week.
West Division
It’s in the West that the conference is building to a fantastic climax. Toledo, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan are all tied at 5-1 after the games last night with Central Michigan looking unlikely to win the division at 4-2 having lost to both Toledo and Western Michigan. The excitement continues because WMU faces Northern Illinois next week and then Toledo to finish the season, both on the road. Next week Toledo have to face the East champions Bowling Green so both teams have a tough finish to the season if they want to finally get back into the MAC championship game.
The favorites at this stage are the NIU Huskies who won the conference last year. They hold the tiebreaker over Toledo with their win and also face Ohio to close the regular season at home. They arguably have the best chance of winning their two remaining games to take the division at 7-1. Beneath them it’s been a tough year in the basement for Eastern Michigan who won just one conference game last year and don’t look like winning any this year.
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