The MAC does not have a football team in the chase for the BCS Title game.  Nor does it have a past champion and I am willing to bet that they never will taste national title game happiness.  And so MAC football teams play for love of game, pride and the conference championship with some secondary bowl spots mixed in.  And they do all of that very well.
Once again the MAC is providing very entertaining football for those lucky enough to tune every in midweek--and I do thank ESPN for that--as six squads, three in each division have at least 7 wins on the season and four in conference.  The league is so stout that Ohio, who opened the season 7-0 including a win at Penn State, now sits at 8-2, 4-2 after last night's loss to red hot Bowling Green.  They were eliminated from the MAC championship race just a few weeks after being ranked.  The Falcons, who are 7-3, 5-1 and one spot ahead of Ohio in the East race have control of their own destiny as they host first place Kent State this Saturday at noon.  If the Falcons win then they just have to beat Buffalo in the final game to wrap up the division.  If the Golden Flashes (8-1, 5-0) win, and they have won seven straight themselves including handing Rutgers their first loss of the season, then the East is theirs.  This game is a match-up of Bowling Green's great defense, ninth in the nation in points allowed at 15.1, versus a rush offense featuring two stud RBs on pace for 1,000y seasons in fleet junior back Dri Archer (97/892y, 10 TDs) and power back Trayvion Durham (190/897y, 11 TDs).  At 260, the soph Durham weighs about 100 lbs more than teammate Archer and they make a great big/little combo for Kent State.
The MAC West Division also has a showdown coming, next Wednesday the 14th, as second place Toledo travels to first place Northern Illinois.  The Huskies are 9-1, 6-0 and have won every game since an opening 18-17 loss to Iowa.  The defending Mid-American champs have scored at least 30 pts in every game since that loss behind dual-threat QB Jordan Lynch, who has thrown for 2,175y and 19 TDs and rushed for 1,342y and 16 more TDs.  Toledo, who has beaten Cincinnati and lost to Arizona in OT, will pose a big threat.  Their offense features RB David Fluellen, the nation's leader in rushing yardage at 1,381y.  Second place?  Lynch.  Toledo will be looking to avenge the 63-60 loss to Northern that cost them the West title last year.  It should be compelling TV once again this year.