Week 13 MACtion Power Rankings
The final MAC power rankings list of the season.
PUBLISHING NOTE: I am traveling out of state for Thanksgiving Week (writing this from North Carolina as we speak). I’ll still be able to do some posts this week, but my flight back home interferes with my ability to watch Eastern Michigan’s game against Western Michigan on Saturday. My game recap on Saturday will be delayed to either late Saturday or early Sunday.
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One more power rankings list to make before the season wraps up this week. Let’s just dive right in:
MAC Football Power Rankings through Week 13
Miami OH (7-4, 6-1 MAC | Last week’s ranking: 1) — Not a cruising victory for Miami over Northern Illinois (2 of 10 on third downs), but these RedHawks are now winners of six in a row, and will have about as big as a regular season finale as the league could’ve hoped for. Miami will go to Bowling Green for a Black Friday nooner. The winner clinches a MAC championship berth. The loser will probably go home — depends on how Buffalo and Ohio do in their games.
Ohio (8-3, 6-1 MAC | LW: 4) — A 24-7 win over Toledo will move the needle for me, and Ohio now owns the MAC’s best overall record even without a stellar passing game that this league has been trying to convince you exists each and every week during the midweeks. No, Ohio’s starting quarterback has more interceptions (9) than touchdowns thrown (7), but is the team’s leading rushing scorer (11).
Bowling Green (7-4, 6-1 MAC | LW: 2) — Win, and the Falcons are in Detroit for the first time since 2015. Feels like just yesterday it was Dino Babers leading the way with Sean Lewis as his righthand man, and Matt Johnson was the QB to break Ben Roethlisberger’s single-season passing record.
Buffalo (7-4, 5-2 MAC | LW: 6) — Beat EMU 37-20 last week, but didn’t beat EMU as much as EMU beat itself. Buffalo’s had a tipsy-turvy year, but they figured out to get to a 4-game winning streak, and Pete Lembo is having a vintage Pete Lembo season. This is the best season Buffalo’s had under a first-year coach for the program.
Toledo (7-4, 4-3 MAC | LW: 5) — Toledo’s been pretty disappointing this MAC season, even if it’s come away with some ugly wins. NIU was an ugly win (13-6). EMU was an ugly win (29-28). The CMu win wasn’t as much of a blowout as it could’ve been (37-10). Ohio neutralized Toledo and the Rockets weren’t able to make plays when it needed to. (Does anybody realize that Toledo’s leading rusher hasn’t even hit 400 yards on the year?)
Western Michigan (5-6, 4-3 MAC | LW: 3) — What an annoying season it must be for the WMU fanbase. Won four in a row in MAC play, then lost three. The Central Michigan loss is regrettable, I don’t know how else to categorize it.
Ball State (3-8, 2-5 MAC | LW: 8) — Tough times for Ball State. Coach got fired, now you just have to finish out a season that has no bowl game after. If Ball State has any life left, they still have chance to play spoiler for Ohio’s MAC championship dreams.
Northern Illinois (6-5, 3-4 MAC | LW: 7) — Yup, I’ve got a bowl-eligible team on this list ranked below a 3-win team. Doesn’t help that NIU did lose to Ball State earlier in the year, and the Western Michigan win isn’t as good-looking after Central Michigan beat them. With NIU’s recent 20-9 loss to Miami, it’s the second time NIU was held to single-digits on the scoreboard, and sixth time the team scored fewer than 21 points in a game.
Eastern Michigan (5-6, 2-5 MAC | LW: 9) — Absolutely brutal 5-game stretch EMU’s gone through. Came back from 18 points down to beat CMU, lose the next two games by 5 total points, then lose the next two by 42.
Central Michigan (4-7, 2-5 MAC | LW: 11) — Ugly win, but beating Western is obviously good for rivalry purposes, but it also snapped a 5-game losing streak that the Chippewas were riding.
Akron (3-8, 2-5 MAC | LW: 10) — Beat Kent State in the Wagon Wheel rivalry game, which isn’t too surprising. Since I’m looking at the schedule right now, I’m pretty intrigued by its upcoming game against Toledo.
Kent State (0-11, 0-7 MAC | LW: 12) — The toughest team in the country to come up with anything unique to say about them on a week-to-week basis. I’m just going to be selfishly happy for anybody that finds a reason to show up and not quit this week after last week’s rivalry loss.
