CANTON — The Mid-American Conference’s decision to eliminate the East and West Divisions for the upcoming season has brought about differing views amongst the league’s coaches.
But if there is one thing they agree on, it’s that it will be an interesting transition.
For the first time since the inaugural MAC title game in 1997, the top two teams based on conference regular season winning percentage will compete in the league championship. Coaches also seemed to be in favor of the pod system that was created based on geographic location and rivalries.
“Now that we’re actually doing it, I’m for it, to be honest with you,” 11th-year Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton said during Friday’s MAC media day at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. “I love the pod concept, the fact that we get to play Central [Michigan] and Western [Michigan] every year is a big deal. The Michigan MAC is an important rivalry and trophy in our state.
“But I like the fact that we’re going to take the two best teams to go to the championship. It’s hard to argue against that.”
The MAC’s choice to get rid of divisions and go with a new scheduling format, which was announced in late November, continued a trend in college football. The Sun Belt Conference will be the only FBS league that will continue using divisions this year.
The MAC’s new model will also allow for each team to face all 11 conference opponents home and away at least once during a three-year cycle. The three teams in each of the four pods — Toledo, Bowling Green, and Northern Illinois are in one of them — will play each other every season, as well.
For the 2024 campaign, however, a couple of scheduling changes stood out to coaches.
For the first time since joining the MAC 50 years ago, Ball State won’t play Toledo. Mike Neu, a former league MVP quarterback in the early 1990s for the Cardinals who has coached at his alma mater since 2016, said it will be weird not squaring off against the Rockets.
“I played at Ball State back in the day, and there wasn’t an East and a West, so just the top team outright that finished the year won the championship. So that part of it will be unique, but no matter what, this [league] is so competitive from top to bottom,” Neu said. “Every game’s a dogfight, but it’ll certainly be unique to not have Toledo on the schedule, to not have Eastern Michigan on the schedule. We played those teams every year.”
For ninth-year Toledo coach Jason Candle, getting the opportunity to face MAC foes the Rockets usually wouldn’t face will be exciting. Miami and Toledo, which were picked to finish first and second, respectively, in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll, will play each other for the second straight regular season after not having faced each other since 2011.
“I think, ironically, we’re in a place where over a 10-year period, 11-year period, we had played Ohio State more than we had played Miami of Ohio up until last year. So some of those really good inter-conference games you missed when you had the divisions for whatever reason, I think there’s a lot of positives and some of that excitement is back and you get to play some of those teams that you maybe didn’t quite always see,” Candle said. “And I think to go to where you want to and be the last team standing at the end of the year, you’ve got to beat everybody anyway.”
Meanwhile, some coaches questioned whether the top best teams would make the MAC championship, especially if more than two squads finish in a tie for first. The Mountain West Conference, which eliminated divisions prior to the 2023 campaign, had three teams finish atop the regular season standings at 6-2.
“Last year with the Mountain West, the tiebreaker situation, you have a bunch of good teams in this league and everybody’s not playing each opponent. So when there’s a tiebreaker, the two best teams may not get in the championship game depending on where you’re at,” sixth-year Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock said. “I think some teams play well early and then peak late, so I’m going to be very curious with a very competitive league, the tiebreaker because we all play each other.
“... At some point, it’s going to become subjective. If a team finishes 8-0 and one team finishes 7-1, then it’s easy, right? What if you have four teams finish 6-2? So in theory, we can say they got the two best teams, but the two best teams became a tiebreaker, and the tiebreaker may favor one and not the other. So I think what they were trying to do makes sense, but I was a big proponent of East/West. It was clear.”
Miami coach Chuck Martin, who along with Creighton are the longest-tenured MAC coaches at their current school, would rather have seen the league stick with divisions.
“On our half [in the East], if you won the five on your half, you were going [to the title game], even if you had tougher crossovers,” Martin said. “Last year, we had Toledo. [Ohio] didn’t have Toledo, it seemed unfair. But we beat OU, so it didn’t matter.
“It was just more clarity for me that this is your side, you win the games on your side, you’re going to get to play in the MAC championship where now, I’d hate to think there’s a three-team, four-team [tie]. So I’m not for it.”
In the 27 MAC title games that pitted the East and West winners, the West had a 14-13 record, including 6-2 in the last eight.
For the coaches, the big picture will be focused on how their teams perform on a weekly basis, no matter who they face.
“It’s going to be interesting,” sixth-year Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said. “At the end of the day, it’s great. I think it’s good for the conference. But we need to worry about what we do day in and day out and take one game at a time.”
Added Neu: “It’s so competitive and it’s been proven year after year that the team that’s predicted to finish at the top doesn’t always win it, and that’s a credit to the balance that our conference has that anybody can win it on any given year. I think it’s just one of those that we still have some of our rivalry games. We still play Miami, we still play Northern [Illinois]. We’re in a pod with Ohio, so it’ll be a little bit unique that way, but we embrace that. We’ll accept whatever changes, if that’s what’s in the best interest of the conference.”
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