
The Mid-American Conference has captured the hearts of the college football Twitterati over the last few years with their willingness to play, seemingly, on any day of the week that ends in the letter “Y.”
For those who cannot get enough college football, a Tuesday night game between Toledo and Northern Illinois in November is like manna from heaven. It’s been a smart move for the conference, elevating the MAC’s visibility during the end of the season.
Having some wild shootouts on the field during those spotlight games hasn’t hurt either.
With the recent decision by the Big Ten to stop scheduling FCS schools, the MAC is viewed as one of the likely beneficiaries of that change in philosophy. This means that the MAC will probably play more games against the Big Ten schools, although they do play their fair share against their “big brothers” already.
But those FCS teams will still need opponents and paydays. The MAC is ready to fill that gap as well. This year, 12 of the 13 MAC schools have an FCS opponent on their schedule. Expect that trend to continue.
The MAC plays an unbalanced schedule. Every team plays eight games, but because the divisions are uneven, the games don’t line up exactly for divisional crossover. It’s a complex schedule, but essentially divisional games mean more, especially in the East Division, which has the extra team.
So, from toughest to easiest schedule, let’s meet the MAC: