THIS WEEK IN THE MAC
Thursday, September 1st
St. Francis (Pa.) at Akron, 6 pm ET (ESPN3)
Central Michigan at No. 12 Oklahoma State, 7 pm ET (FS1)
Ball State at Tennessee, 7 pm ET (SEC Network)
Long Island at Toledo, 7 pm ET (ESPN3)
Eastern Illinois at Northern Illinois, 8 pm ET/7pm CT (ESPN+)
Friday, September 2nd
Western Michigan at No. 15 Michigan State, 7 pm ET (ESPN)
Eastern Kentucky at Eastern Michigan, 7 pm ET (ESPN3)
Saturday, September 3rd
Buffalo at Maryland, Noon ET (Big Ten Network)
Bowling Green at UCLA, 2:30 pm ET (PAC-12 Network)
Florida Atlantic at Ohio, 6 pm ET (ESPN+)
Miami at No. 20 Kentucky, 7 pm ET (ESPN+)
Kent State at Washington, 10:30 pm ET (FS1)
2 MINUTE DRILL
• NIU and Miami were each selected to win their respective divisions in the 2022 MAC Football Preseason Media Poll. The poll was announced at the league’s annual MAC Football Kickoff at House of Blues in Cleveland and was determined by a 24-member MAC media panel. NIU was also selected to win the 2022 MAC Football Championship Game.
• The MAC has secured a three-year contract extension to host the MAC Football Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit through the 2024 football season. The MAC has a long association with Detroit and Ford Field as the MAC has held its MAC Football Championship Game as a neutral site championship event at Ford Field since 2004. The MAC is the only non-autonomous FBS conference to sustain a championship
game at a neutral site.
• This year’s MAC Football Championship will be played on Saturday, Dec. 3 at Noon ET on ESPN. This will mark the 20th MAC Football Championship Game hosted at Ford Field, and the 27th overall in the history of the Conference.
• The MAC is coming off a season where a Conference-record eight programs accepted bowl invitations. The eight bowl invitations tops the Conference mark of seven set in 2012 and 2015. The MAC picked up three wins in those games as Western Michigan topped Nevada (52-24) in the Quick Lane Bowl, Miami defeated North Texas (27-14) in the Frisco Football Classic and Central Michigan was victorius vs. Washington State (24-21) in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The Chippewas win was the first in Conference history over a Pac-12 institution.
