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	Capacity
Akron Zips	Akron, OH	InfoCision Stadium - Summa Field	27,000
Ball State Cardinals	Muncie, IN	Scheumann Stadium	25,400
Bowling Green Falcons	Bowling Green, OH	Doyt Perry Stadium	23,724
Buffalo Bulls	Amherst, NY	UB Stadium	31,000
Central Michigan Chippewas	Mount Pleasant, MI	Kelly-Shorts Stadium	30,255
Eastern Michigan Eagles	Ypsilanti, MI	Rynearson Stadium	30,200
Kent State Golden Flashes	Kent, OH	Dix Stadium	20,500
Miami (OH) Redhawks	Oxford, OH	Yager Stadium	24,286
Northern Illinois Huskies	DeKalb, IL	Huskie Stadium	30,076
Ohio Bobcats	Athens, OH	Peden Stadium	24,000
Toledo Rockets	Toledo, OH	Glass Bowl	26,248
Western Michigan Broncos	Kalamazoo, MI	Waldo Stadium	30,200

Former Teams

• Marshall - moved to Conference USA in 2004.
• Temple - moved to the Big East Conference in 2012.
• Massachusetts - became an independent school in 2016.

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
• Case Western Reserve
• Cincinnati
• Marshall
• Massachusetts
• Central Florida
• Wayne State

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

From 1997 to 2003, the Mid-American Conference championship game was played at campus sites (home team in bold). From 2004 to the present, the game is played at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.

Year	Winner	Loser	Score
1997	Marshall	Toledo	34-14
1998	Marshall	Toledo	23-17
1999	Marshall	Western Michigan	34-30
2000	Marshall	Western Michigan	19-14
2001	Toledo	Marshall	41-36
2002	Marshall	Toledo	49-45
2003	Miami (OH)	Bowling Green	49-27
2004	Toledo	Miami (OH)	35-27
2005	Akron	Northern Illinois	31-30
2006	Central Michigan	Ohio	31-10
2007	Central Michigan	Miami (OH)	35-10
2008	Buffalo	Ball State	42-24
2009	Central Michigan	Ohio	20-10
2010	Miami (OH)	Northern Illinois	26-21
2011	Northern Illinois	Ohio	23-20
2012	Northern Illinois	Kent State	44-37 (2OT)
2013	Bowling Green	Northern Illinois	47-27
2014	Northern Illinois	Bowling Green	51-17
2015	Bowling Green	Northern Illinois	34-14

Conference Rivalries

School	School	First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	Series
Akron	Kent State	1946		Wagon Wheel	Kent State (2012)	Kent State (22-19-1)
Bowling Green	Toledo	1946	Battle of I-75	Peace Pipe	Toledo (2012)	Toledo (18-15)
Bowling Green	Kent State	1985	Battle for the Anniversary Award		Kent State (2012)	Bowling Green (20-7)
C. Michigan	W. Michigan	1907		CMU-WMU Rivalry Trophy	Central Michigan (2008)	Western Michigan (45-36-2)
Miami (OH)	Cincinnati	1888		Victory Bell	Cincinnati (2012)	Miami (59-51-7)
Ball State	NIU	2008		Bronze Stalk Trophy	NIU (2012)	NIU (4-1)

External links

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