The MAC Championship Game, first played in 1997, has never had the same match-up three years in a row. I don’t have a copy of the Gray’s Sports Almanac to say whether or not the coaches in the MAC are right or wrong, but the coaches are calling for a third straight meeting between Bowling Green and Northern Illinois in the MAC championship game to buck that trend this fall. Both Bowling Green and Northern Illinois have been named the preseason favorites in the MAC coaches preseason poll.
Bowling Green received all but two first-place votes form MAC coaches to win the MAC East for a third straight season. Only one team has managed to win three straight East crowns, and that was Marshall with six straight form 1997 through 2003. UMass, heading toward football independence in 2016, picked up the remaining two first-place votes in the division.
Northern Illinois scored seven first-place votes in the West to stay just ahead of Toledo (five first-place votes) and Western Michigan (1 first-place vote). Also this morning, Toledo suspended running back Kareem Hunt and projected starting defensive end Allen Covington for the first two games of the season.
#UMass picked up a pair of first-place votes from the MAC coaches in the MAC preseason coaches poll. pic.twitter.com/vE5C09nI8Y
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) August 31, 2015
