What will become of MAC Football?

For those of you who don't know, I'm a big fan of Non-BCS schools seeing as I almost went to Western Michigan...I spent a lot of time there visiting my cousin and feel in love with MAC sports. But MAC football in general has a big problem. The West Division is by far the superior division in everything they do. And there is the problem, there has become such a disparity in the levels of the programs that its hard to even say the MAC West is even in the some atmosphere as the MAC East.

Here is the even larger problem, with the MAC East sinking while the MAC West is rising...what will become to the MAC? One of the biggest problems with the MAC is the attendance rule. In order to maintain FBS status a team has to draw at least 15,000 people on average over the course of a 5 year period. Unfortunately the MAC hardly floats above that 15,000 level, but the worst is the MAC East. Here is the attendance averages from last year for all the MAC schools:

119. Eastern Michigan - 6,810 (MAC West...also dead last) 2-8 Overall
117. Kent State - 8,999 (MAC East) 2-7 Overall
116. Akron - 15,978 (MAC East) 5-4 Overall
115. Ball State - 13,085 (MAC West) 9-0 Overall (beat Indiana)
113. Buffalo - 13,568 (MAC East) 5-4 Overall
108. Bowling Green - 16,080 (MAC East) 5-5 Overall
107. Miami (OH) - 16,186 (MAC East) 2-7 Overall
103. Northern Illinois - 17,864 (MAC West) 5-4 Overall
100. Central Michigan - 18,771 (MAC West) 7-2 Overall (beat Indiana)
99. Ohio - 16,500 (MAC East) 2-8 Overall
91. Western Michigan - 19,494 (MAC West) 8-2 Overall (beat Illinois)
89. Toledo - 18,668 (MAC West) 2-7 Overall (beat Michigan)
81. Temple - 28,859 (MAC East) 3-6 Overall

The rankings are based on total attendance through the year, so I'm not going to change it but you get the gist...

Temple is the obvious exception, they used to play in the Big East and play in a HUGE stadium so even drawing 28,000 some they only fill 40% of their stadium...and Ball State is drawing HUGE numbers this year because they are undefeated, Central will get a huge boost from hosting the Central/Western game which was the largest crowd ever at Kelly-Shorts Stadium and Western has drawn nearly 2,000 more fans this year than last year.

So what you may say right? Well I could easily see the MAC West breaking away from the MAC East in terms of competition and creating another league while allowing the MAC East to slip into the Football Subdivision and taking Eastern Michigan with it. Seriously folks it could happen and sooner than later. With the rise of the Non-BCS schools (Utah, BYU, TCU, Boise State, Ball State) we could see two new conferences rise up to BCS level. But thats for another blog post (look for it tomorrow!)...so if all that is the case, what becomes of the MAC you say?

Well after the East falls away it would be an awfully small Conference but I would expect the MAC to send invites out to Army and Navy to join the leauge. Navy has been traditionally strong, and Army has seen a recent semi-resurgence. On top of that, Western Kentucky has moved up to FBS with the intention of joining the MAC. The league would initally have 9 teams which might not be bad for a Conference that usually beats themselves up and ruins their BCS chances.

Could this happen? Its really possible. There have been lots of rumbling about Western running of to join the Big East as they have had a strong program recently, Temple has joined the MAC recently, but if their program improves they will most likely rejoin the Big East. They want to leave for one reason, the MAC East is dragging them down...so simply solution, cut what is holding you back.

Tomorrow keep your eyes open for my post about new possible BCS conferences that could form out of the current Non-BCS conferences. It should be an intriguing one, sorry if this post kinda rambled a bit, but thats what I do...ramble.

One thing I will do is leave a video that has something to do with what I just rambled about for your enjoying pleasure. Today are highlights from the Western Michigan vs Central Michigan game in Kalamazoo in 2005.