MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

The MAC opens the bowl season with the Ohio Bobcats vs. the Marshall Thundering Herd on December 26th in a match-up of former MAC rivals. Ohio returns to Detroit, the site of their loss to CMU in the MAC Championship, for the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl, formerly the Motor City Bowl. Interestingly enough, the two will begin a 6-game series next season as the 9-4 Bobcats will look for the program’s first ever bowl victory. Temple will face UCLA on December 29th in what should be a very entertaining game in the Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington DC.  The Bowling Green Falcons will battle surprising Idaho on December 29th in Idaho’s backyard at the Humanitarian Bowl.  Northern Illinois will face a very tough South Florida team on January 2nd.  The conference finishes its bowl schedule with their best team as Central Michigan will battle Troy on January 6th at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.

Central Michigan defeated a game Ohio Bobcat squad 20-10.  The Chippewas were led by superstar QB Dan LeFevour who threw for 255 yards with two scores in the victory.  Central Michigan will play Troy on January 6th at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, while the Bobcats will face Marshall in Detroit at the Little Caesar’s Bowl. For the entire bowl schedule to see where all 5 MAC teams in bowl games are playing look to Football-Bowl.com

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.

With mid-week games the norm the remainder of the year, we take a quick look at the bowl picture for MAC teams in 2009. 2008 saw the MAC send a record-tying 5 teams to bowl games, only to see all 5 teams lose. Thanks to the bowl tie-ins and mediocrity across the college football world, even a 6-6 Northern Illinois went bowling a season ago.

In 2009, four MAC teams have been eliminated from the bowl conversation. A 6-6 record is needed to be considered, and with just three guaranteed bowl berths, MAC teams need teams like Louisville, Purdue, Illinois and Washington to lose again to better the chances of sending more than three teams to bowl games. Now that we have 34 bowl games each year, a 7-5 record will almost assure a team of a bowl game, but we have learned in the MAC that if a team is going to get screwed that team will likely come from the Mid-American Conference.

At 7-2, Central Michigan and Temple look to be in very good shape for bowl berths. Given both team’s schedules, 8-9 wins is likely and CMU could very well go 10-2 and head to another bowl game in Detroit, this time in the newly-named Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl. 6-3 Ohio and Northern Illinois face off later this month and both have hopes for not only postseason play but also division titles. 5-5 Kent State has a tough road ahead and their loss to Akron hurts their chances greatly, while at 4-5 Bowling Green has a schedule that could line up a 3-0 end of the season.

Prediction: Four or five MAC teams will make bowl games in 2009 including Western Division Champion Central Michigan and Eastern Division Champion Temple. Ohio, NIU and Bowling Green all end 7-5 as the bowls have to decide between MAC teams with similar resumes.

The prognosticators didn’t give the Ball State Cardinals a chance, and the Cardinals defense did nothing to disprove them. In the second annual International Bowl which pits a MAC team vs. a Big East opponent, the MAC has fallen to 0-2 as Ball State’s defense could not stop Ray Rice and Rutgers today. Rutgers 52-30 win was led by Ray Rice’s 280 rushing yards and Mike Teel’s 303 passing yards.

Fans can find Ball State apparel & merchandise online at MAC fan site VanDelay Sports.

As expected, 3 MAC football teams have accepted bowl bids at the conclusion of the MAC Football Championship today. MAC Champion Central Michigan (8-5) will be headed to the Motor City Bowl on December 26th against a likely Big Ten opponent, Ball State (7-5) will face Rutgers (7-5) in the International Bowl on January 6th and Bowling Green (8-4) will face Tulsa (9-4) also on January 6th.