When a torrent of lawsuits forced the NCAA to just say bleep it and turn college football into a big auction house — with players now aimlessly transferring to the highest bidder — that was supposed to be it for the little old Mid-American Conference.
The Toledo Rockets were to become the Mud Hens, the Buffalo Bulls the Bisons, and so on, the MAC turning into a minor-league pipeline for the bigger schools with deeper pockets.
Calling hours were scheduled for a Tuesday night in November. Refreshments would not be provided.
Well …
A funny thing happened on the way to the funeral.
It appears someone forgot to tell the MAC.
Turns out, reports it was trading its Jolly Roger flag — the one league schools raise after beating a Power Four school — for a white one were not true.
A year after Toledo made a little national noise — vaulting into the polls with 11 straight wins and rolling out a first-round NFL draft pick — the MAC cranked up the volume some more Saturday.
It might not have been the most momentous day in the MAC’s 78 years.
The benchmark: Sept. 20, 2003, when Marshall beat No. 6 Kansas State, Toledo defended the Glass Bowl with a field-storming win over Larry Fitzgerald and No. 9 Pittsburgh, and Northern Illinois won at No. 21 Alabama.
Good luck topping that.
But here was time bit of history just the same, with Northern Illinois rallying for not just the upset of the season — a 16-14 win at fifth-ranked Notre Dame — but the MAC’s first-ever victory against an AP top-five opponent.
How about that?
Bowling Green warmed up our imaginations in its spirited effort at No. 8 Penn State, with its short-handed offense wiping the field with the hosts on the way to a 24-20 halftime lead — the Nittany Lions didn’t allow more than 24 points in a game last year — before the Falcons finally met resistance in a 34-27 loss.
Then Northern Illinois let them run wild.
Handed a $1.4 million check to roll over, the four-touchdown-underdog Huskies missed the turn to the slaughterhouse and somehow ended up at Notre Dame Stadium instead.
And what happened next was no fluke. Northern Illinois controlled the lines of scrimmage and, in turn, the game — the visitor outgained the Irish 388-286 — setting the stage for Kanon Woodill’s game-winning 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left.
Remarkable.
Now, if you’ll permit an aside, I have a couple questions.
One, how the heck is Notre Dame (No. 18) ranked seven spots ahead of undefeated Northern Illinois (25) in the latest AP poll? Do the results mean nothing? (I had the Huskies 19th, the Irish 24th.)
Second, can Toledo join the fun Saturday in Starkville, Miss? I think so, and not just because the Rockets have the talent to beat a Mississippi State team picked to finish 15th in the 16-team SEC. The Bulldogs might also be a little out of sorts after a late-night loss at Arizona State and not landing back in Mississippi until after 6 a.m. Sunday.
But we digress.
Give it up for Northern Illinois and the MAC.
It’s no secret the league had fallen behind in college football’s arms race, even among the Group of Five leagues, and that was before the NIL and free agency era came along to make life even harder. A telling stat: Since 2012, the MAC is 22-48 in bowl games, mostly against fellow mid-major opponents.
But, changing times or not, the MAC still has a hell of a lot of good players, coaches, and pride, and Saturday was a good reminder.
“We're a strong conference top to bottom,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said Saturday. “There’s great parity in this league. I’ve said it for a long time, it’s a regionally recruited league where we know a lot about each other and the players. There’s competition throughout and, obviously, these teams look for that [national] stage. Those were great opportunities for [Northern Illinois and BG] … and that’s a good statement for our league.”
A statement that the MAC isn’t going anywhere just yet.
Most Popular
Comments / 0