The article discusses the resilience and competitiveness of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in college football amidst ongoing discussions of a potential "super league" that threatens to limit opportunities for smaller programs. Notably, Northern Illinois (NIU) achieved a surprising upset against powerhouse Notre Dame in 2024, highlighting the potential for MAC teams to make an impact. Despite historical success, the MAC faces challenges from player transfers and coaching attrition, particularly evident in a tough 2024 season marked by high levels of instability within the conference's ranks.
"There's a lot of people talking about Group of 5, Power 4, the money and the resources and NIL. It's about the players and it's about lining up and banging heads and [may] the best man win." -- Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier, after the Huskies' 2024 upset of Notre Dame.
The MAC is proof that a big tent can produce occasionally incredible things. As college football keeps trending toward closing up shop and distributing more money to fewer schools, and as the idea of a so-called "super league" -- one that would either limit or completely eliminate opportunities for MAC-level schools -- continues to waft around, this league and its teams keep trying to find ways to make noise.
In the past 25 seasons, MAC teams have scored 78 wins over power-conference teams, and while nearly half of those have come from NIU (14), Bowling Green (12) and Toledo (11), 14 current and former MAC programs have posted at least one.
Current circumstances are making things awfully difficult, though. The bottom half of the MAC has always been pretty shaky, and 2024 was no exception: MAC teams occupied four of the bottom 15 slots in the year-end SP+ rankings, which also ranked 0-12 Kent State as the worst FBS team in four years.
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