Fixin’ College Football: Shuffling the Conferences (8/11)

MAC
Established 1946 (Added Temple for football in 2007)
13 Teams
6 States
Longest Distance Between Schools: 719 Miles (Northern Illinois and Temple)

East
Akron
Bowling Green
Buffalo
Kent State
Miami (OH)
Ohio
Temple

West
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Northern Illinois
Toledo
Western Michigan

The MAC has emerged as a solid non-BCS conference with the quick improvements of Ball State, Buffalo, and Western Michigan and the continued solid play of Central Michigan. Last year, Ball State helped stir excitement within the conference by starting the year 12-0, though it ended up losing both the MAC Championship Game and GMAC Bowl. There are no elite teams in the MAC, but there are no really putrid teams either. The MAC is the most geographically centralized conference in the country, having 9 of its 12 teams in Michigan and Ohio. Though the rivalries are not what they could be considering the proximity of the schools (and are often overshadowed by the great rivalries of the Big Ten), the fans travel well to away games and do show passion for their schools. The conference is always competitive and its championship game is usually exciting (since its inception in 1997, 7 of the 12 games have been decided by a single score).

The main issue with the MAC is the uneven number of teams in the East and West divisions. Having 7 teams in the East complicates scheduling and gives teams in the East a disadvantage by making them compete against an extra school for the top-spot in the division. The only change necessary for the MAC is to even out the two divisions by nixing one team. Getting rid of Temple is the obvious answer since it is the farthest school geographically, only has affiliate membership status (meaning it only competes in football), and is the most recent addition to the conference, joining two years ago. Temple could depart from the MAC without any tears shed and rejoin the Big East, where it held membership from 1991-2004. -J.S.

Solution: Dismiss Temple to have 6 teams in both divisions