By Woodrow Carroll
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) was the first conference among the 10 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) conferences to postpone football prior to this season because of COVID-19. The MAC will be the last to get back into the fray.
Unless things change dramatically, it will be a bare-bones football schedule for the 12 MAC schools. The MAC intends to get back into action with a six-game, conference-only, schedule.
Long known as a midweek league, “MACtion” intends to get under way Wednesday Nov. 4 with all 12 teams taking the field. The first three weeks of play will be midweek game and the final three games will be played Saturdays. If all goes well, a championship game will be at Ford Field in Detroit Friday, Dec. 18.
The MAC has two six-team divisions. The first week will feature crossover games between East Division and West Division teams. In the case of Northern Illinois University, the MAC West Huskies will be host to Buffalo from the MAC East. After that opener, the games will be strictly against division teams. Any team that wins its final five games will be playing for the MAC championship regardless of the outcome of the opening game.
Prior to the MAC schedule’s release last week, common thought was that Bowling Green and Toledo would play in the opening crossover game.
In spite being only 25 miles apart, Bowling Green (East) and Toledo (West) ended up in different divisions to provide numerical balance. Although playing in different divisions, the two northern Ohio schools are guaranteed a game against each other every year. Northern Illinois has played a rotating mix of teams of East Division sides.
Akron and Kent State, two MAC East teams, are only a dozen miles apart. Both in the same division, they automatically lock horns every year.
Bowling Green and Toledo have a genuine rivalry! Since first playing in 1919, the two schools each is 40-40-4 in their 84 games.
Given the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, it will be interesting to see if Northern Illinois football can get back on track. What will be on track given the truncated schedule?
Under first-year head coach Thomas Hammock, the Huskies finished with a 5-7 record and out of a bowl game last season, a major letdown for the defending MAC champions.
Losses last season to Utah, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt, were not entirely unexpected. What proved most painful were home losses to division rivals Ball State and Eastern Michigan, two teams Northern Illinois has dominated often. A victory over either team would have given Northern Illinois bowl-eligibility.
Since 2010, Northern Illinois has a 95-51 record, the best overall record of any MAC team. Bowl games and appearances in the MAC championship game were possible most seasons.
Northern Illinois opened the Hammock Era August 31 last season with a 24-10 victory over Illinois State, an FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) team which intends to play in the Spring 2021 assuming social conditions improve. Northern Illinois lost seven of its final 11 games.
• Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24, the Big Ten Conference teams will kick off conference-only play, each team with six games against division schools and two against teams from the other division. Illinois will play at Wisconsin Friday, Oct. 23. The following week, Purdue will be at Illinois. Northwestern will play host to Maryland Saturday, Oct. 24 and go Iowa the following week.