2023 College Football Predictions: MAC

Photo by Jeff Lange from USA Today

MACTION!

I feel like I say this every single year, but if you have nothing to watch on a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the fall, I can’t recommend the MAC enough.

Plus, it’s the only conference left in the country that actually cares about geography!

(I know the ACC is geographically correct but they just tried to get Cal and Stanford to join and even though it looks like that’s not going to happen, the fact that they tried shows they don’t care either).

Here is how the most fun conference in college football will go.

East

1. Ohio Bobcats

Ohio was my favorite to win the East, but I was worried about the ACL recovery for quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

But apparently, everything is right on schedule with his recovery.

All I needed to hear.

2. Miami Redhawks

First things first, week 1 of the season has Miami playing Miami and that’s very fun.

It’s happened 3 times before, but it doesn’t change that it’s fun.

Secondly, the Redhawks are an extremely good squad, but unfortunately have a very tricky crossover game against the best team in the conference. We’ll get to them later.

Bad schedule luck, especially since they play Ohio in Athens, Ohio as well.

3. Buffalo Bulls

Buffalo is going to take a step back, mainly due to a lack of returning starters.

The benefit for Buffalo, however, is that the remaining 3 teams have bigger issues to face.

4. Bowling Green Falcons

One of which is Bowling Green, who has a good team that could compete for 3rd with Buffalo.

But I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again.

One score games are the most likely thing to bounce the opposite way the next year.

Bowling Green won 6 games last year, and 5 of them were by one score.

That luck ain’t gonna fly this year.

5. Akron Zips

Year 2 of Joe Moorhead is going to be better than 2-10, as I do think he is a good coach, but it’s still not going to be very good.

Remember, baby steps. This is a tough rebuild job.

6. Kent State Golden Flashes

New coach. New quarterback. Lost the most explosive player in G5 Dante Cephas to Penn State.

It’s going to be a rough first year for Kenni Burns.

West

1. Toledo Rockets

The defense is excellent, quarterback Dequan Finn and his weapons at receiver are returning and they are very well coached under Jason Candle.

There’s no way around it.

If Toledo doesn’t win the MAC this season, it’ll be considered a failure.

2. Eastern Michigan Eagles

But Eastern Michigan is sure going to make things difficult for the Rockets.

Steven Godfrey, host of the Split Zone Duo podcast, does a podcast each year that talks about what people around the world of college football say about certain coaches and teams.

What he’s heard about EMU’s coach Chris Creighton is that Eastern Michigan does not have good talent, and never does, but is always, always a hard team that you never want to play.

That’s a huge compliment, and shows how well EMU can play.

So are they as good as Toledo? No.

But, even though I’m picking Toledo to win the West, that might not matter…

3. Central Michigan Chippewas

Central Michigan underperformed last season, but Jim McElwain’s track record at CMU lets me give him some leeway for one bad season.

I expect a big turnaround for the Chips.

4. Ball State Cardinals

Another team who had a rough 2022 was Ball State, but before then went to back to back bowl games.

They’ll flirt with bowl eligibility once again this year.

5. Western Michigan Broncos

WMU has a solid defense and some solid offensive pieces, but a first time head coach in Lance Taylor.

Maybe Taylor is excellent and the Broncos hit the ground running, but I’m going to heed expectations a bit until we see what we get.

6. Northern Illinois Huskies

Northern Illinois went 3-9 last year and had one of the worst defenses in the conference.

And they LOST some of the better players on that defense.

Not going to be their year.

MAC Championship Game: Ohio vs Toledo

Toledo is the best team in the conference. Anything other than a title would be a failure.

But Ohio has the best quarterback in the conference, and in a one off game at Ford Field, that’s going to be the difference.

Ohio wins the MAC Championship