MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

The 2012 MAC Tournament Championship Game will tip off tonight at 8 pm featuring a rematch of the 2010 MAC Championship as the #1 Akron Zips face the #3 Ohio Bobcats. Both teams completed a 3-0 sweep of the semifinal opponents with Akron topping Kent State and Ohio knocking off Buffalo to earn the Saturday night, ESPN2 televised contest. Akron enters as the #1 seed at 22-10, 13-3 MAC and RPI #52 while Ohio, the #3 seed in the Tournament is 26-7, 11-5 MAC, RPI #60. The winner will earn a berth in the 2012 NCAA Tournament with Joe Lunardi projecting yesterday the MAC Champion as a #14 seed facing #3 Michigan and playing in Columbus, Ohio. VanDelay Sports will be Tweeting live court side from the MAC Tournament. Visit us online and check out the MAC Tournament scores on VanDelaySports.com and follow us on Twitter @VanDelaySports.

Ohio is your winner in a thriller 64-63 and heads to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. DJ Cooper (Ohio) gets the MAC Tournament MVP award with Nick Kellogg (Ohio), Alex Abreu (Akron), Justin Greene (Kent State) and Mitchell Watt (Buffalo) joining him on the All-MAC Tournament team.

VanDelay Sports is a MAC sports fan site covering MAC football & basketball online at VanDelaySports.com since 2000. A member of the MAC News Media Association, fans can follow on Twitter @VanDelaySports.

The 2011 MAC East Division Champions are the Ohio Bobcats. Ohio, winners of the MAC East for the 3rd time in 6 years, defeated Bowling Green tonight on the leg of kicker Matt Weller’s 5 field goals including the game winner with 2 seconds to go. Ohio, who trailed much of the second half, trailed 28-19 early in the 4th quarter but was able to score the final 10 points of the game to win the MAC East with a week to go in the regular season. Ohio (8-3, 5-2 MAC) hosts rival Miami (4-7, 3-4 MAC) on Tuesday, November 22nd on ESPN2 to close the regular season. The Bobcats own wins over both Temple and Kent State, the lone two teams with 3 losses remaining in the MAC East.

Ohio’s opponent in the MAC Football Championship Game is still to be determined, but the Northern Illinois Huskies (8-3, 6-1 MAC) control their own destiny needing only a home win over Eastern Michigan (6-4, 4-2 MAC) on Friday, November 25th on ESPNU to advance to the title game or a loss by Toledo in one of their final two games. NIU seeks their 3rd appearance in the MAC Championship in 7 years having lost in 2005 to Akron and last season to Miami.The MAC Championship Game will take place at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan on Friday, December 2nd at 7 pm ET.

Both Ohio and the winner of the MAC West will receive bowl game bids per the MAC’s bowl tie-ins with Ohio currently looking at the GoDaddy.com Bowl per the latest bowl game predictions. The other MAC teams that made the bowl projections include Toledo and Northern Illinois while Temple, Western Michigan and Ball State are all bowl eligible. In addition, Eastern Michigan and Kent State both can become bowl eligible with EMU needing a single win and Kent State in need of two wins in their final two games to finish 6-6.

Another week of mid-week games on the ESPN family of networks has passed and offense is the keyword again this week. A week after NIU defeated Toledo 63-60, the Tuesday night match-up of Western Michigan @ Toledo did not disappoint as it exceeded the extreme numbers of the week prior. Toledo ended up on the winning side this time as they won 66-63 scoring more points than any MAC football game in conference history. The same night Northern Illinois had no trouble on the road defeating Bowling Green 45-14 before Wednesday night’s “defensive battle” featured a Temple win over Miami 24-21. Finally, Thursday night’s ESPNU game featured East Division leading Ohio @ Central Michigan and while the Chippewas tried to keep it close, the Bobcats scored a 43-28 win.

While two games remain to be played on Saturday with Buffalo @ Eastern Michigan and Kent State @ Akron, the teams fighting for a spot in the MAC Football Championship Game have already played. In the West Division, NIU’s win keeps them in control of their own destiny as they will take the MAC West if they win out. Toledo remains tied at 5-1 in MAC play with Ball State 4-2. Meanwhile, in the East Division, the Ohio Bobcats are now 4-2 in the MAC leading 4-3 Temple by a half game as well as 3-3 Miami. Like NIU, if Ohio can win out they will also be playing for the MAC title in Detroit.

After a 4-1 start, the Ohio Bobcats looked like the team to beat in the MAC East this season. But consecutive losses at Buffalo and at home to Ball State on Homecoming gave the Bobcats two MAC losses and if not for a little luck with Temple, Miami, Bowling Green and the rest of the East struggling, Ohio would have found themselves in real trouble.

Heading into tonight’s game against Temple on ESPN, the Bobcats sat at 5-3, 2-2 MAC and tied in the loss column with fellow favorite Temple as well as Miami. But with their 35-31 win in prime time which eventually led SportsCenter, the Ohio Bobcats now control their own destiny in the MAC East with the road to the MAC Football Championship Game clear in front of Ohio. If the Bobcats can win on the road @ Central Michigan and @ Bowling Green, the November 22 game with the Miami RedHawks could be the deciding factor in the MAC East race and who goes to the MAC Championship Game in Detroit.

The Northern Illinois Huskies have been here before. In their last MAC Championship Game appearance, NIU faced Akron and blew a late lead as the Akron Zips came away MAC Champions in 2005. But for the past four year NIU has been rebuilding and Central Michigan was the dominant team in the MAC West winning 3 of the past 4 MAC title games.

For the 2010 Marathon MAC Championship Game the NIU Huskies will once again be the favorites as they face the surprising MAC East Champs, the Miami RedHawks. NIU enters the game #24 in the AP at 10-2 after receiving 130 votes in this week’s poll. Miami, while they went 7-1 in the MAC, advanced to the MAC Championship after the Ohio Bobcats laid an egg on the road @ Kent State to send the rival RedHawks to the MAC title game instead. The Huskies seem headed to the Little Caesar’s Bowl in Detroit per the latest bowl projections while Miami could be headed to the GoDaddy.com Bowl or the Humanitarian Bowl.

The 2010 Marathon MAC Championship Game will be held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan on Friday night December 3rd at 7 pm on ESPN2.

After consecutive games where the offense looked like a 3-6 team rather than a 6-3 team’s offense, the Ohio Bobcats started strong Tuesday night @ Buffalo. The Bulls, a team that looks a lot like the 2008 Bobcats, were able to hold Ohio close and tie the game in the 4th quarter at 24-24, but a late FG and defensive INT sealed the road win for the Bobcats.

The win means Ohio is now 5-1 in MAC play, just 1/2 game behind East Division leader Temple (5-0).  The win also mean the Bobcats are very likely to be heading to a bowl game this postseason; their 2nd bowl appearance in 4 years after a 34-year drought that dated back to 1968. The loss for Buffalo guarantees that UB will not be playing a postseason game this season.

The Bobcats have a home game against Northern Illinois a week from Saturday followed by a home game against Temple to close the season on Black Friday. If they win out they head to the MAC Championship, however a loss to NIU means Ohio will need Temple to slip up as well before the two meet. Either way, Ohio controls their own destiny, something any team would ask for this time of year.

The current MAC bowl picture looks great for CMU, Temple and Ohio with Northern Illinois needing another win to better-position themselves. Bowling Green’s schedule may line up perfectly and Kent State controls their own destiny while WMU and Toledo need minor miracles to play in bowl games in 2009-2010. Akron, Buffalo, Miami, Ball State and EMU are all eliminated from bowl eligibility this season.

MAC football continues this week with Toledo @ Central Michigan on Wednesday night, Bowling Green @ Miami and Ball State @ Northern Illinois on Thursday night, Temple @ Akron on Friday night and WMU @ EMU on Saturday.

The University at Buffalo has won the MAC Football Championship, the first Championship of any kind for the school as they knocked off the previously-unbeaten and #12 Ball State Cardinals tonight 42-24 on ESPN2. Turner Gill was “speechless” in the postgame interview as he has put the Bulls on the college football map in just 3 years after taking over a team that had one win before he came to Buffalo. While the win will likley not impact Buffalo’s bowl game as the Bulls appear headed to the International Bowl in Toronto, but the Championship and 8th win of the 2008 season are well worth it to Buffalo.

With the loss, Ball State falls to 12-1 and will certainly be removed from any and all BCS consideration, despite having little chance anyway. Ball State will likely fall from the Top 20 and should play in either the Motor City Bowl or the GMAC Bowl after shunning Boise State & the Humanitarian Bowl earlier this week.

Fans can find a selection of Buffalo Bulls hats & merchandise online through the Team Shop at VanDelay Sports.

Dan LeFevour is a beast. The CMU QB had 2 rushing TDs today as Central Michigan defeated Miami 35-10 in the MAC Championship Game. With 185 yards passing and 170 rushing, LeFevour accounted for over 350 yards and 3 TD on the day. The win means that CMU (8-5) will likely receive a bid to play in the Motor City Bowl and Miami (6-7) will likely not receive a bowl bid. Expect to see CMU in the Motor City Bowl, Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl and Ball State in the International Bowl when the invites are announced later today and this coming week.

The Central Michigan Chippewas appear to be on their way to winning their second consecutive MAC Championship Game as CMU, led by the legs of Dan LeFevour and Ontario Sneed, now lead Miami 21-3. CMU got a rushing TD from Sneed to cap a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly 5 minutes off the clock.

Keep checking the VanDelay Sports blog for more game updates throughout the Marathon MAC Championship Game.

Find CMU clothing & merchandise online available through VanDelay Sports.

Miami kicker Nathan Parseghian, last week’s MAC Special Teams Player of the Week, missed a 33-yard FG after a nice drive by the RedHawk offense as Central Michigan’s defense holds Miami again and continues to lead 14-3 with under 3 minutes remaining in the 3rd Quarter.

Keep checking the VanDelay Sports blog for more game updates throughout the Marathon MAC Championship Game.