Mid-American Conference

Conference Logo

The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Bowl Subdivision football conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members located in Illinois, Indiana and New York.

The MAC is headquartered in the Public Square district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The MAC has been referred to as the Conference of Quarterbacks because of the accomplishments of numerous former players in the National Football League. The MAC ranks highest among all eleven NCAA Division I FBS conferences for graduation rates.

Teams

Team	Location	Stadium
Akron Zips	Akron, Ohio	InfoCision Stadium
Ball State Cardinals	Muncie, Indiana	Scheumann Stadium
Bowling Green Falcons	Bowling Green, Ohio	Doyt Perry Stadium
Buffalo Bulls	Amherst, New York	UB Stadium
Central Michigan Chippewas	Mount Pleasant, Michigan	Kelly-Shorts Stadium
Eastern Michigan Eagles	Ypsilanti, Michigan	Rynearson Stadium
Kent State Golden Flashes	Kent, Ohio	Dix Stadium
Massachusetts Minutemen	Amherst, Massachusetts	Gillette Stadium (in Foxborough, Massachusetts)
Miami (OH) Redhawks	Oxford, Ohio	Yager Stadium
Northern Illinois Huskies	DeKalb, Illinois	Huskie Sadium
Ohio Bobcats	Athens, Ohio	Peden Stadium
Toledo Rockets	Toledo, Ohio	Glass Bowl
Western Michigan Broncos	Kalamazoo, Michigan	Waldo Stadium

Former Teams

• Marshall Thundering Herd - moved to Conference USA in 2004.
• Temple Owls - moved to the Big East Conference in 2012.

Seasons

• 2011 season

History

File:MidAmericanConference 100.png

Former conference logo

The Mid-American Conference charter members were Ohio University, Butler University, the University of Cincinnati, Wayne State University and Western Reserve University, one of the predecessors to today's Case Western Reserve University. Wayne State never participated and quickly bowed out. Butler left after the first year. Miami University and Western Michigan University took the place of those charter members for the 1948 season. By the time the University of Cincinnati left after the 1952–1953 season, the MAC had already added University of Toledo (1950), Kent State University (1951) and Bowling Green State University (1952).

The membership stayed steady for the next two decades except for the addition of Marshall University in 1954 and the departure of Western Reserve, which chose to de-emphasize intercollegiate athletics. Marshall was kicked out of the conference in 1969. The first major expansion since the 1950s took place in the mid-1970s with the addition of Central Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University in 1972 and Ball State University and Northern Illinois University in 1973. Northern Illinois left after the 1986 season. The University of Akron joined the conference in 1992. The conference became the largest in Division I-A with the re-admittance of Marshall and Northern Illinois and addition of the University at Buffalo in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The University of Central Florida joined for football only in 2001, becoming the first football-only member in conference history. Marshall (a second time) and Central Florida would leave after the 2004–2005 academic year, both joining Conference USA in all sports.

In May 2005, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania signed a six year contract with the MAC as a football-only school and began play in the East Division in 2007.

Former members

• Butler Bulldogs
• Cincinnati Bearcats
• Marshall Thundering Herd
• UCF Knights
• Wayne State Tartars
• Western Reserve Red Cats

Commissioners

• Dave Reese, 1946–1964
• Bob James, 1964–1971
• Fred Jacoby, 1971–1982
• Jim Lessig, 1982–1990
• Karl Benson, 1990–1994
• Jerry Ippoliti, 1994–1999
• Rick Chryst, 1999–present

MAC Championship Game

• Main article: MAC Championship Game

Rivalries

School	School	First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	Series
Akron	Kent State	1946	Battle for the Wagon Wheel	Blue and Gold Wagon Wheel	Akron (2008)	Kent State (19-18)
Bowling Green	Toledo	1946	Battle of I-75	Peace Pipe	Bowling Green (2008)	Toledo (15-14)
Bowling Green	Kent State	1985	Battle for the Anniversary Award	Anniversary Award	Bowling Green (2008)	Bowling Green (19-4)
C. Michigan	W. Michigan	1907		CMU-WMU Rivalry Trophy	Central Michigan (2008)	Western Michigan (43-34)
Miami	Cincinnati	1888		Victory Bell	Cincinnati (2008)	Miami (59-48-7)
Miami	Ohio		Battle of the Bricks		Ohio (2008)	Miami (51-32-2)
Ohio	Marshall	1905	Battle for the Bell	The Bell	Marshall (2004)

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity
Akron	InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field	27,000
Ball State	Scheumann Stadium	25,400
Bowling Green	Doyt Perry Stadium	23,724
Buffalo	University at Buffalo Stadium	31,000
Central Michigan	Kelly/Shorts Stadium	30,255
Eastern Michigan	Rynearson Stadium	30,200
Kent State	Dix Stadium	20,500
Massachusetts*	Gillette Stadium	68,756
Miami	Yager Stadium	24,286
Northern Illinois	Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium	30,076
Ohio	Peden Stadium	24,000
Toledo	Glass Bowl	26,248
Western Michigan	Waldo Stadium	30,200

*Football-only member

External links

• Official Athletic Site of the Mid-American Conference
• MAC fan blog