The Northern Illinois Huskies had no problem compiling the best record in the Mid-American Conference West division and then proved their dominance again with a lopsided 51-17 win over the Bowling Green Falcons in the conference championship game.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before but it looks like all signs are pointing to Northern Illinois repeating in the MAC as the favorite to win the conference this season with Bowling Green once again expected to challenge for the conference crown.
The only difference could be if Toledo gets into the mix as they’re expected to be improved. Here is a look at what to expect in the MAC for the 2015 college football season.
Best Coach In MAC: Rod Carey, Northern Illinois
Any time a coach takes over a program and posts a 15-1 record in conference play over the course of his first two seasons, that should be enough to lock them in as the best coach in their conference. That’s why it’s no surprise that Carey earns top honors.
Carey has done an excellent job picking up from where Dave Doeren left off when he decided to leave for North Carolina State. Some say that there’s a bit of a system in place at NIU as Jerry Kill was successful and then Doeren took over and the team didn’t miss a beat, and now Carey heads the show and it’s still the same. Even so, the coach deserves credit for keeping the success intact and even taking this team to a slightly higher level.
While P.J. Fleck deserves a ton of credit for what he has done at Western Michigan and Matt Campbell put together an impressive season at Toledo last year, Carey is clearly the man in the MAC after winning a conference championship last season.
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Team That Will Win MAC: Northern Illinois
The Huskies left nothing to chance in last year’s MAC championship game with an absolute dismantling of Bowling Green. While it won’t be easy with Toledo looking to upend them in their own division, they definitely have the talent to get back to the top –including 14 returning starters from last year’s team. Northern Illinois has had one of the best offenses in the MAC for several seasons and is expected to put up big numbers again this year.
Meanwhile, a defense that struggled at times last season will be better with eight returning starters. The Huskies have won six straight division titles and four MAC championships over the last five years. Western Michigan and Toledo could be strong enough that NIU won’t be able to sleepwalk through those games, but at least the Western Michigan game is at home. For the most part, it’s a favorable soft conference schedule this year, so that’s why they are once again the obvious favorite.
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Sleeper Pick To Win MAC: Akron
After posting 5-7 records in each of the last two seasons, improvement will be expected in Bowden’s fourth year as the head coach at Akron. There is reason to believe the Zips could be a sleeper pick to win the MAC.
Senior quarterback Kyle Pohl is a two-year starter with some considerable talent around him while the defense returns six starters from a unit that ranked second in the MAC in yards allowed per game and first in points allowed per game last season.
Last season was a major disappointment for Bowden at Akron but with a high level of returning talent and a schedule that – at least on paper –appears to be easier than last season, the Zips definitely have the potential to be a sleeper contender for a MAC championship. What they’ll have to do is find a way to split their September schedule.
At Oklahoma and home to Pittsburgh are probably losses, but if they can take care of business against Savannah State (a formality) at home and find a way to win at Louisiana-Lafayette, they could be in good shape. If things break right, they could win six of its final eight games and climb to the top.
