MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

The Mid-American Conference’s two most trusted and respected media/fan sites, VanDelay Sports and MAC Report Online, have both released their 2008 MAC football preview. VanDelay Sports, truly a fan site aimed at providing fans with enjoyable MAC football coverage including the weekly Nick’s MAC football picks during each MAC football season, released their 2008 MAC pigskin  preview earlier this week. Meanwhile, the respected media site MAC Report Online has released their 2008 MAC football preview which also has “in-depth analysis and previews of all thirteen MAC squads with information developed through extensive interviews with each of the thirteen MAC head coaches, inside the position battles on each team and current, updated information.” The MAC Report Online preview is available for jus $4.95 in digital, downloadable format.

MAC sports fans can find both of these previews by clicking the links above as well as a nice selection of MAC clothing & merchandise online.

With both the Lindy’s and Athlon Sports 2008 college football preview magazines now on newstands, we can now reveal how both publications see the MAC playing out in 2008.

Athlon Sports, the publication I tend to prefer from year to year, is the preview we will begin with. In their rankings of all 11 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences for 2008 they have selected the MAC #9, leaving the WAC and the Sun Belt below. Yes, the same WAC that produced back-to-back BCS bowl teams in Hawaii and Boise State. They also rank CMU’s Butch Jones as the 10th best new coach for the 2007 season.

Here is the Athlon Sports expected finish or prediction for the MAC in 2008. Please note the number in paranthesis is the team’s national rank per Athlon.

MAC West Prediction 2008
1. Central Michigan (62)
2. Ball State (75)
3. Western Michigan (82)
4. Northern Illinois (97)
5. Toledo (103)
6. Eastern Michigan (112)

MAC East Prediction 2008
1. Miami (88)
2. Bowling Green (89)
3. Buffalo (92)
4. Kent State (94)
5. Temple (101)
6. Ohio (110)
7. Akron (113)

Sure, it’s only June, but with summer here and spring football all complete, the 2008 college football season is just around the corner. It’s time to start thinking about MAC football for the 2008 season and College Sports Fans has sent us a link to their 2008 college football preview which features all 13 MAC football schools.

The Central Michigan Chippewas will look for their 3rd straight MAC Championship and we can see what the experts think of the Chippewas in the 2008 CMU football preview. The Miami RedHawks faced CMU in the 2008 MAC Championship Game but ended their season 6-7 and did not go bowling. The 2008 Miami RedHawks football preview takes a look at Shane Montgomery’s RedHawks in 2008. Bowling Green and Ball State both represented the MAC in 2007-2008 bowl games, but both were blown out in embarassing fashion. The 2008 Bowling Green football preview looks at the Falcons in ‘08 while the Ball State football preview for 2008 reviews the Cardinals and star QB Nate Davis.

There are plenty of other storylines which will be interesting to follow in the MAC in 2008 including the expected continued improvement of Temple and Buffalo, the difficult early-season schedule for Frank Solich’s Ohio Bobcats, Toledo’s efforts to regain the MAC dominance and more. Check out the 2008 MAC football previews below for more if you are interested.

• Akron Zips 2008 football preview
• Ball State 2008 football preview
• Bowling Green 2008 football preview
• UB Bulls 2008 football preview
• Central Michigan 2008 football preview
• Eastern Michigan 2008 football preview
• Kent State 2008 football preview
• Miami RedHawks 2008 football preview
• Northern Illinois 2008 football preview
• Ohio Bobcats 2008 football preview
• Temple 2008 football preview
• Toledo 2008 football preview
• Western Michigan 2008 football preview