Predicting the 2017 MAC Football Season

Justin Coffin
Jul 24, 2017 · 4 min read

Welcome to July. Members of the media and fans alike dare to believe they know to some degree of certainty how the college football season might play out. This is dumb. This is meaningless. But it’s fun, and that’s a good enough reason to do anything. I’m offering up my thoughts on the upcoming MAC football season and just how it will play out, and I welcome you to fight me on Twitter about it.

Last season was fun, but it lacked the same sort of unpredictability the MAC feeds on. Throughout Northern Illinois’ six year run at the top of the MAC West, there was plenty of doubt most years whether or not they could keep the streak alive. Hell, in 2015 they gift wrapped the division — and likely the conference — to Toledo, and the Rockets, per usual, were like “nah, we can wait another year.” There was always Bowling Green, of course, thrown in the mix to disrupt what could have been an even more legendary run for the Huskies. 2016 had P.J. Fleck’s Western Michigan recruiting behemoth, and no matter how badly a lot of folks wanted them to lose, they just didn’t. And it wasn’t particularly close most of the time.

This season no such team exists, unless Toledo feels like finally doing something this year, and for the first time there’s a great deal of uncertainty about who the eventual MAC champion will be. This is a very good thing. I can’t say for sure whether or not the product on the field will improve, but I do feel the MAC West is improved at the bottom and worse at the top, which should provide some competitive games. The MAC East is top heavy, but with two teams this time, meaning it won’t have to rely on a formerly 0–6 team to make things interesting. The MAC has removed some of the fun from the rivalry games by playing them all in the middle of the week, which is a shame because one particular rivalry game (which we’ll get to later) could likely determine a division champion.

All in all, this is shaping up to be a fun season, with at least four or five programs and fan bases that can reasonably expect to compete for a MAC title, which is when the conference is at its very best.

2017 MAC Football Predicted Standings That Can’t Possibly Be Wrong

West Division

  1. Toledo
  2. Northern Illinois
  3. Western Michigan
  4. Eastern Michigan
  5. Central Michigan
  6. Ball State

East Division

  1. Ohio
  2. Miami
  3. Bowling Green
  4. Akron
  5. Kent State
  6. Buffalo

Champion: Toledo

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Logan Woodside, Toledo

Defensive Player of the Year: LB Ulysees Gilbert III, Akron

Special Teams Player of the Year: P Joseph Davidson, Bowling Green

Most Improved Team: Bowling Green

Breakout player: QB Tyree Jackson, Buffalo

Coach of the year: Chuck Martin, Miami

Five obvious predictions for 2017:

  1. Toledo loses a game in the second half of the season it shouldn’t
    Toledo had the division — and probably the conference title — gift wrapped to them by NIU in 2015, only to somehow lose to a Western Michigan team a year away from truly being great. Last year the Ohio loss had no bearing on the division outcome, but was still odd. This season the Rockets will take the division via their aerial attack and strong defense, but don’t be shocked if they lose to Ball State by 10 on the road.
  2. Eastern Michigan will be the team everyone beats but says is tough to beat
    And they won’t be lying. Eastern may well be the best five-win team in the conference when the dust settles. They have a strong offensive line with Shaq Vann back from injury in the backfield to go along with one of the conference’s best quarterbacks in Brogan Roback. The defense will struggle with Pat O’Connor lost to graduation and prevent them from going bowling again. But damn will they make life difficult for some contenders.
  3. Miami will start slow (again) and finish strong (again)
    The RedHawks should be lauded for their turnaround in the middle of last season, but let’s not forget this is still a team that once started 0–6. Of course, Gus Ragland will be around for the entire season, but a contender shouldn’t be one QB injury away from being the worst team in the conference. Miami opens at Marshall and has games against Cincinnati and Notre Dame in their first five, and could very well drop all of them. But the schedule gets easier from there because MAC East.
  4. James Gilbert will lead the MAC in rushing
    This is not a bold prediction in that Gilbert will come from nowhere. He won’t. He rushed for 1332 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. But it’s bold considering the top two backs in Kalamazoo could both rush for 1000 yards or more. Gilbert is incredibly dynamic, and is on a team that will lean on him to find success. Look for a big year from the junior.
  5. “Battle of the Bricks” will determine the MAC East champion
    This is what you want out of a rivalry game. It feels like forever since we’ve had a MAC East division where the two teams at the top are legitimately pretty good teams, and we should cherish it all season long. Ohio has schedule that provides the opportunity for them to be 8–0 going into the Miami game on Halloween, and if that’s the case, expect there to be a lot of hype for a rivalry that’s been pretty one sided over the last decade.

Built in Excuses for why I’m wrong: “Injuries,” “refs,” “weeknight games” and “Player X just didn’t live up to their potential and should transfer forever (unrestricted, of course).”

Justin Coffin

Written by

Supply chain manager by day, MAC football blogger by (Tuesday) night.

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