The History of the MAC: College Sports' Underdog
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
- The Mid-American Conference has widely been considered to be the NCAA's most stable conference following recent realignment moves. But it hasn't always been made up of the same schools it is now. There once was a time where some really interesting colleges called the MAC home, even as early as its inception following the end of World War Two. Nowadays, it's built up of twelve colleges: Northern Illinois, Ball State, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Miami of Ohio, Bowling Green, Ohio, Kent State, Akron, and Buffalo, but at some points it was also the home of Marshall, UMass, Cincinnati, and even UCF.
Join me as I take a quick look into the MAC's past as an NCAA Group of 5 Conference.
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MAC has always had a soft spot in my heart, nothing's better than watching a dark snowy night game between NIU and Western Michigan.
Facts.
On a tuesday
The lack of change, the weeknight games, the grit attitude of all of these programs. The MAC is the greatest conference in college football and nobody can change my mind.
It’s MACTION TIME BABY!!
Get ready for some MACTION!
The MAC also gave us the “Boom goes the dynamite” guy from Ball State. Absolute legend.
With all the BS going on in the college world, I am slowly beginning to admire the MAC and their relative unchanging nature. It feels like a conference that is, by and large, for the students. Sure the weekday games are not the most ideal, but considering most teams are near each other, they can get away with it without conflicting with academics too much. I wish we had more conferences like the MAC. Regional conferences that are more focused on maintaining the rivalries and traditions that they currently have.
Exactly, geography should still hold some value. The MAC may not be a conference that has anyone ranked consistently but when they do, they tend to have pretty good ranked teams. Western Michigan in 2016 definitely helped the conference out and pretty much every year they win against a Big Ten team or are at least competitive with them
@@lakerskid2013niu in the early 2000’s was borderline a powerhouse tbh
@@Danfrombackhomeback when Marshall and UCF were members
@@lakerskid2013Ohio University has been carrying its weight and then some the last decade and a half. We’ve had the occasional down year in that time span.. but we’ve also had some damn good years and we’ve toppled some big P5 teams over the years and played many B1G/SEC teams close on the road. We had some really good baseball and basketball teams in the 60’s and 70’s too including some runs to the college World Series and have Mike Schmidt as an alumni. Basketball team has toppled several traditional power house teams and in recent years too like North Carolina twice and Georgetown to name a couple. But back to football.. Ohio can get to the MAC Championship game on a regular basis but we just can’t win the damn thing lol.. we would’ve last year if our starting quarterback hadn’t gone down.
@@Danfrombackhomeshout out Garrett Wolfe! 💯 bro was a baller in college haha
I've always loved the MAC. Schools from the same region as the Big 10 but more student oriented. The MAC is what college sports were supposed to be about.
I wouldn’t go that far. Lol Its a double edge sword when it comes to having games during the week day. It was so frustrating because people still evening exams, labs, and other mandatory academic responsibilities on home game nights. It’s hard to tailgate all day and have a good time when you have class all day and next morning. From a students logistical perspective it kind of sucks actually lol
@@MajorFuzzelzit’s quite simple as someone who attends western michigan, however, there’s no classes on game days lol
12 years old just got back from christmas tree shopping and watching undeafeated northern illinois vs bowling green in the MAC championship is such a core memory for me
Sounds like an Ohio kid through and through 😂
I have always loved watching MAC FB on weekdays, they are always entertaining and that’s what it’s about. I give credit to the MAC for hanging tough through the changing tides in conferences.
A number of my relatives went to BGSU and I still have family who live there. I'll always have a soft spot for BGSU and the MAC. Love me some MACtion!
This is the quickest I’ve clicked play, like, and commented in a while! I absolutely love this series you’re doing
Shout out to Dri Archer for giving Kent State their only ever double digit win season in 2012
I went to Kent State during his years and got to meet him. too. Nice guy and was a beast on the field.
One of the best aspects of MAC football is travel. With 6 programs in Ohio and 3 in Michigan, road trips are easy. Students can follow their team easily, with a road trip, tailgating, and a football game all on a Saturday, and get Sunday to catch up on homework and get back to classes on Monday.
Theres nothing better than turning on espn on a cold Thursday night to find the random Toledo vs Northern Illinois game playing. The vibes are immaculate.
Bo Shembechler was also a Miami (OH) head coach for a time. As an University of Akron alumni I really appreciate this video as I have a good amount of love for this conference.
One addition/subtraction you missed was that Missouri joined the MAC for wrestling in 2013, dominated in a way that made everyone realize that it was horrible for the conference, and then left in 2022. MAC wrestling has also recently added a bunch of other schools including Cleveland State.
The local high school here in Athens (Ohio University) is kinda the same.. (The Plains (Athens High School)), used to be in the SEOAL.. which is the “big school conference” for SE Ohio until about the same time (early 2010’s).. but they absolutely sucked in that conference for most sports and so they joined the TVC.. SE Ohio’s version of the MAC for high school.. full of mid to small ball schools that usually have 100 kids or less per graduating class.. compared to Athens High School that has.. considerably larger classes (same high school Joe Burrow came from actually).. and ever since they joined the TVC around 10 years ago.. they’ve absolutely owned every sport in the conference and it’s the lamest shit ever. I knew this is what was gonna happen but it’s unlikely that Athens will ever be kicked out because of the money they make the conference.
Frank Solich never getting his MAC title is a tragedy. Ohio Bobcats football is truly cursed.
Excellent video about the MAC! You know, what I like about the MAC is that it really is an underdog conference, but it’s also like the Little Engine That Could. Always reliable and capable of hanging with the Big Boys. More importantly, the MAC has, by and large, done a great job of staying true to their Middle America roots. And a lot of sports legends, particularly in football, have made their mark in the MAC. Great history.
I love this series. Thank you for making it
Maction is one of my favorite parts of college football every year, the mac not being a big time conference for me is what makes it more fun to watch year after year
Great stuff man. Would love to see a video about any of the HBCU conferences or the Big Sky conference.
Can't wait to see some MAC conference realignment now that this video is done. You know it's going to happen
NO PLEASE
I joke, but WKU and MTSU would have been great fits for the MAC, and I kinda want to see them there eventually. The CUSA is a big break for the 4 new teams, but it's held together by boogers and string.
@@lukeontheplains As an MTSU alum I wouldn't mind the MAC
NDSU and SDSU anyone?
TBH it’s kind of a surprise that Youngstown State hasn’t moved to the MAC yet since they have an old rivalry with Kent State. Not like the Penguins will win anymore FCS titles anytime soon.
Illinois State and Southern Illinois would be good fits. So would UW-Milwaukee if it could be convinced to add a football team.
Growing up around the MAC schools it brings me joy knowing that other people can watch and appreciate their sports. These schools all know each other very well and actually have good rivalries. I live in between Toledo and BGSU and every year the battle of I-75 is must watch for everyone (go Falcons).
Growing up in Ohio I did not respect MAC much as a kid. I didn’t understand how to appreciation the conference or the opportunities it brought. MAC was a great stepping stone. But this is also why people think Ohio is the cradle of football. So many great players, coaches and sports legends roots start in Ohio and the MAC. From an academic standpoint, Ohio Universitie and Bowling Green were sabotaged by the Ohio State University and through laws regulating graduate level education (PhDs). To this day no school was ever able to catch up to Ohio State with money/funding and sports. Cincy is finally breaking this barrier. Ohio should have never been a one university football state.
To this day, BGSU Hockey homes games is awesome. Packed stadium every night (students and community fans). You’ll even find more people at hockey games than football.
Honestly MAC football teams are underrated because a lot NFL players come from there. Like James Harrison, Jack Lambert, Mack from Buffalo who played for raiders, Crosby who plays for raiders came from Eastern Michigan, and many many many more.
I’m not a Steelers fan, but Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown were also MAC products!
Big Ben came from Miami and lead them to a 13-0 year and nearly a top 10 ranking his senior year.
And Mike Schmidt came from Ohio in baseball.
Julian Edelman was a quarterback for Kent State
Josh Cribbs was also a QB at Kent state.
It still boggles my mind that Toledo had that win streak back in the late 60s and early 70s. And even tho I’m a UT fan, I always hope for the MAC to do good.
It’ll be interesting to see if the MAC has any luck at all with the 12 team format or if that 5th and 6th spot will just be a consistent contest between the MWC and AAC champs. Then again I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC gets its way and eliminates or reduces the number of auto-bids. I’d hate that; instead of giving more conferences a chance just to get one more 10-2, 9-3 big 10 or SEC team in. I really hope they stick with 6 auto-bids
I really don't think the current model is sustainable. They'll 100% change the verbiage in the playoff ruling to make every slot an at-large, and just fill it with 5 SEC / 5 B1G teams and 2 from the ACC and Big 12 and call it a day. The sad thing is, the average college football fan WANTS that; they WANT to see 11-1 Ohio State vs 9-3 Ole Miss in the first round instead of 11-1 Texas Tech or 12-0 Boise State. The MAC might be ahead of the curve here because they hardly ever produce an undefeated team. They're like the cockroaches in the apocalypse; things might continue this direction and blow everything up or they might not, but the MAC will still be playing the same way they are now regardless
the mac might have the occasional year where they send someone. like when northern illinois was a BCS buster
@@lukeontheplains I can see slight changes to the format, such as going to a 5+7 model. I believe if the CFP Committee tries to pull that garbage where it's just B1G and SEC and nobody else can go, there should be an uproar and an antitrust lawsuit on the horizon. Most fans across the country won't put up with the 12-team B1G/SEC Invitational long-term. The outgoing 4-team CFP has been obnoxious as it is with just B1G and SEC. How do we know what the average college football fan wants? The CFP Committee clearly don't ask the fans before they perform all their corporate nonsense.
Anyway, about the MAC; this conference will be just fine. The MAC will survive conference realignment. Main reasons for this are 1) The B1G doesn't view the MAC as a threat. The MAC are in B1G territory, but clearly there are differences in how the 2 conferences are run. No one is confusing the Ohio Bobcats with the Ohio State Buckeyes, for example. 2) There are no real desirable conference expansion targets in MAC schools. The only MAC school you can somewhat make a case for would be Northern Illinois, but even then Northwestern would give that a hard "no" if the B1G was ever interested.
Very interesting video. It’s nice to see a conference know and accept what they are, build their brand on that, and have some consistency while being able to avoid the ridiculousness that has become conference realignment…
MAC Conference was my favorite to play in during the superstar modes in the NCAA games
god, i LOVE THESE VIDEOS
please keep it up
DUDE RIGHT! This is professional level like legit really fucking good content.
Thanks for making this…as a Ball State grad it was really interesting to see the full history of the conference
As an Akron alum, I love this video……Go Zips!
Back when I played EA NCAA, I always played as a MAC team, usually Ohio.
Loving the conference series. Hope we get more conference story like you did with The Boarder conference
Youngstown State, Dayton, Indiana State, and Butler would make great additions to the MAC.
First video I’ve seen of yours and I was impressed. About to binge through the rest of your videos now, cheers
Love that you keep making these conference history videos. They extremely informative and fun. Funny you did the Mac as it feels like this is the one conference that won’t really ever change. Maybe Youngstown st and eastern Illinois take the fcs jump to fbs. Or you mentioned western Kentucky being very unhappy so with Marshall rejoins the mac for them to have a partner
I agree the mac is great , my brother played at ball state and watching skky Moore was so fun , along with guys like Danny Pinter , kalil pippelton , Jared Patterson , Justin hall , Corey Davis and more .
these vids are so good. thanks for making the vids.
Another fantastic conference, MACtion, history video! Can't wait for the Sun Belt conference video.
Keep up the good work! Love finding these in my inbox!
Good vid.
MACtion is always fun, and in the dumbest timeline with constant conference flux it’s nice to have the MAC stand fairly steady.
Appreciate you talking about the MAC conference.
Dude I was bored and looking for something to watch football related on UA-cam and found this gem! This was outstanding and a nice watch while relaxing on the couch. I’m not from the land of the MAC but growing up i have distinct memories of watching Dan LeFevour 😂
Love this series! Would love to see an episode on the A-10 at some point!
Man you keep on outdoing yourself with these videos! I rarely comment but I'd like to thank you for the consistenly good content!
Born and raised in Central Ohio and know countless people who attended and played sports at a MAC school, make no mistake Ohio is proud of it's MACtion !
Central Michigan alum. We gave the world Eric Fisher and Dan Majerle. Plus we became the only MAC school to date to win the Sun Bowl a couple years ago. Fire Up Chips!
My high school quarterback Dan LeFevour played there. Great guy and one of the most underrated college football players ever!
@@RobJaskula forgot about LeFevour. He was criminally underrated. Should’ve been at least in the Heisman running.
And can't forget Antonio Brown!
This was a beautiful video. Great work.
Thank you for making this, the MAC is so much fun to watch on the weekdays and the rivalries are also really fun. I’m from Toledo and go to UToledo and will always be about that MACtion. GO ROCKETS AND FUCK BG
The Mac is dear to my heart being from Detroit I go to the conference game every year have been doing it since I was 5 growing up playing football we dreamed of just being able to commit to a Mac school and that was good enough for us
Awesome video really cool series man
Beautiful work man
I love these sm
Genuinely blew my mind with the Ball State tidbit
This gave me a newfound appreciation for the MAC. It would be cool if NDSU and SDSU joined but I don’t see them making the jump to FBS
Fun fact about Eastern Michigan XC/Track: They were one of the first programs in the country to recruit internationally!
Always here for some MACtion
These videos are awesome
I’d still love to see them add UMass and UConn as football only schools in 2024. With Don Brown and Jim Mora there, they could bring something a little more to the table.
This was really good!!!
As an avid college football fan who always loved the Mac.esp when they play on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
Would love to see a vid on Conference USA next. That conference has been so fluid
We need the Big Ten soon and the ACC as well
Never knew Cincy was a founding member. Shocked even more to learn UCF started their ascent in the MAC. I used to really enjoy those October Maction shootouts on Thursdays.
MAC should have absolutely taken WKU and Middle Tennessee. Just something to galvanize the conference and give it a jolt. Maybe they'd take someone in the FCS wanting to move up, like Northern Iowa or Missouri State.
I think I found my new favorite college football UA-cam essay channel
subbing at under 2k before this channel explodes
You should consider looking into the renaissance conference of the Missouri Valley. Great Video
MACtion is fire late in the year. It was either last year or the year before that awesome snow game between Western Michigan and somebody i can't remember. I just remember the game being cold and entertaining AF. Love that shit personally 💯👈
I am a big10 fan, with that said I have mad respect for the Mac conference, especially Toledo
Toledo (class of '03). As mentioned I kinda enjoy the fact that the league is the same now as it was when I was an undergrad at UT. The schools in the conference really do have a lot in common athletically and academically.
Would love to see Findlay in the MAC or one of the other div II schools move up.
That would be great to see Findlay in the Mac
any plans on cusa vid? been loving this conference history series
Fantastic video yet again! Curious if you have the Atlantic 10 in your radar.
I love these videos
Great video! We love the MAC ATTACK!
MACtion is FANtastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love watching mac games. Fun to bet on too
Great history video! Go NIU!
Id love to see a conference USA video tbh since my fav team was in it forever n dominated pretty much. Southern Miss.
I love college football. Thanks to the MAC in November, football (college and pros) is literally on every single day. Team MAC conference.
I think a better way to describe the MAC is that it's current members share a very robust sense of vision for what they want the conference to be.
The MAC is, almost by definition, the second tier set of sports schools for the Big10 / Midwest area. Most of its members clearly WANT to be in that type of conference. There is no desire by the Central Michigan's of the world to try to be the next Ohio State.
Plus, the conference knows this and owns it as part of how they run.
MACtion is a stroke of marketing genius...because not only is it advertising that you can watch football on odd nights...
...the football you watch isn't teams seriously driving for national championships and playoffs spots, with conservative styles...but teams which feature innovative coaching styles, flamboyant players, and weaknesses which can be exploited...meaning the games are flashy and exciting. The meme for MACtion includes the idea that that Tuesday night game will feature some absurd and exciting action.
I have a bit of a soft spot for the MAC, having grown up less than an hour away from Central Michigan. It's a wonderful conference. Long may it remain stable.
Go Zips! God I love the MAC.
As an aside, UMass didn’t get kicked out per se - they were offered the ability to stay but only as a full member.
The opted out, I assume so they could hold tight with their A-10 basketball affiliation.
Keep doing these
Proud MAC Alumnus from Central Michigan. Our best sport I believe is wrestling. Was really nice having Brian Kelly and Dan Lafevour on the football field for a bit.
The mac is honstly fun in the video game career mode stuff.
Man, i hope that game comes out next year
Uh oh, here comes UMass
As a BGSU student, I love my MACtion!
Can you do an video of the SWAC conference?
I believe Youngstown State has applied to join the MAC on several occasions.
I thought YSU had a pretty good chance back when Tressell was their coach. They would have been a good fit. I'm not sure why that never worked out.
Graduated from bowling green. There’s nothing like a mid week kent st bowling green matchup. Not the best football but it feels like true college football especially today
"Love the amazing content, I hope you do the BIG 10 next"!
Born and Raised on the southside of Chicago the MAC is my 2nd Favorite conference behind of course the Big10
I love my Toledo Rockets !!! 🤠 🏈
I’m a CMU grad and mac sports will always hold a special place. They just have a feeling jo other conference has. It feels old school and familiar. I’ll always root for MAC schools. Except western
Who else is excited for some maction this year
You should do a Mountain States Conference video!
OU OH YEAH
I LOVE MY CONFERENCE
Ball State also gave us David Letterman
“THE BALL STATE FIGHTING FOOTBALL CARDINALS FIGHTING PREGAME KICKOFF SHOW is brought to you by…small birds!”
You mentioned BGSU winning the National Championship in hockey, though hockey is not a MAC sponsored sport, therefore BGSU and Miami play in the CCHA and NCHC respectively, and continue to compete with the top programs nationally. As a Miami alum, hockey was often the highest attended sport. On the subject of "MACTION" Tuesday night games, I have fond memories of one of those Tuesday games in Oxford where only EIGHT Miami students showed up.