2010 MAC Preview

> Check out the entire 2010 College Football Preview

2009 was a great year for the MAC as four teams made bowl games. The postseason highlight came as conference champion Central Michigan defeated Sun Belt Champion Troy in a barnburner to give the league its first bowl victory since 2006.

But this fall will be significantly different in the Mid-American Conference. Gone are the offensive studs that powered CMU to three of the last four conference championships, opening the league up to virtually everybody this fall.

In the West, there are a lot of teams due for bounce back campaigns. Ball State’s young team should feature a ton of sophomores that were thrown to the fire last year and that should pay off quickly in Muncie. Meanwhile, Toledo’s disappointing defense held them back in 2009 but I think that their powerful offense looks ripe to have the type of season that can overcome an average defense. On top of that, both Central Michigan and Northern Illinois remain contenders. When the dust settles, I’m picking Toledo and their offensive arsenal to emerge as division champions after beating out NIU.

The East is much more clear cut, as Temple and Ohio are the heavy co-favorites after tying for the division last year with 7-1 conference records. Both teams draw their strength from very good defense but Temple’s dominating running game looks ready to be a real difference in this race. One wild card to watch is Kent State, who looks to have a very good defense of their own, but I think that the Owls won’t let any tiebreakers snatch the division title from their grasp this season and Temple is my pick to emerge as the East Champions.

That leaves Temple to host Toledo in the MAC Championship Game, an affair that will turn out to be a classic battle of offense versus defense. As these two teams don’t face off in the regular season, this should turn out to be an intriguing showdown. I think that Temple’s veteran running game will keep the potent Rocket offense on the sidelines and the stout Owl defense will give Toledo fits on the field, though the potential for the big play is always there in the Rocket passing game. In the end, I’m picking the Temple Owls to defeat the Toledo Rockets and claim the 2010 MAC Championship.

Read each school’s in-depth preview by clicking below!

MAC West Division

• Toledo (6-2)
• Northern Illinois (6-2)
• Ball State (5-3)
• Central Michigan (4-4)
• Western Michigan (3-5)
• Eastern Michigan (1-7)

MAC East Division

• Temple (7-1)
• Ohio (6-2)
• Kent State (5-3)
• Buffalo (4-4)
• Akron (2-6)
• Miami of Ohio (2-6)
• Bowling Green (1-7)

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s college football guru. He has an opinion on every team, even lowly Western Kentucky, so feel free to email him at matt.baxendell@gmail.com if you want to talk football, comment on an article, get added to his mailing list or just feel like telling him how foolish he for thinking that WKU is in for another terrible season.