Jan 22, 2020  Nobody owns an offseason like Texas, and December set the stage for a glorious 2020 for the Longhorns - at least until games start getting played again. Mac Jones had Alabama's offense. The UMass Minutemen joined the MAC as a football-only member in July 2012; the university announced that the team would leave the MAC at the end of the 2015 season due to contractual issues. Meanwhile, Temple ended its affiliation with the MAC in football and joined the Big East for football in July 2012.

Marathon MAC Football Championship Game
Conference Football Championship
Sport	College football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Current stadium	Ford Field
Current location	Detroit, Michigan
Played	1997–present
Last contest	2019
Current champion	Miami RedHawks
Most championships	Marshall Thundering Herd (5)
TV partner(s)	ESPN2
Official website	MAC-Sports.com football
Sponsors
Marathon Petroleum (2003–present)
Host stadiums
Marshall University Stadium (1997–2000, 2002) Glass Bowl (2001) Doyt Perry Stadium (2003) Ford Field (2004–present)
Host locations
Huntington, West Virginia (1997–2000, 2002) Toledo, Ohio (2001) Bowling Green, Ohio (2003) Detroit, Michigan (2004–present)

The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into divisions and since 2003 has been sponsored by Marathon Petroleum (officially known as the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game). The winner of the game is guaranteed a berth in a bowl game which the MAC has contractual obligations to field a team. Unlike the MAC's Group of Five contemporaries, which hold their respective championship games on campus sites, the MAC Championship Game is held at a neutral site, Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan since 2004.

In 2000, 2001, and 2007, due to an unbalanced conference schedule, the team with best division record within each division was awarded that division's championship game berth. In other years, the teams with the best overall conference records received a berth.

The game is held on the first Saturday in December, on the same weekend that other NCAA Division I FBS conferences hold their championship games.

Results by year[edit]

Below are the results from all MAC Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.

From 1997 through 2003, the championship game was played at campus sites. Since 2004, the game has been played at Ford Field in Detroit.

Year	East		West		Site	Attendance
1997	Marshall Thundering Herd	34	Toledo Rockets	14	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV	28,021
1998	Marshall Thundering Herd	23	Toledo Rockets	17		28,085
1999	11Marshall Thundering Herd	34	Western Michigan Broncos	30		28,069
2000	Marshall Thundering Herd	19	Western Michigan Broncos	14		24,816
2001	20Marshall Thundering Herd	36	Toledo Rockets	41	Glass Bowl • Toledo, OH	20,025
2002	24Marshall Thundering Herd	49	Toledo Rockets	45	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV	24,582
2003	13Miami RedHawks	49	20Bowling Green Falcons	27	Doyt Perry Stadium • Bowling Green, OH	24,813
2004	Miami RedHawks	27	Toledo Rockets	35	Ford Field • Detroit, MI	22,138
2005	Akron Zips	31	Northern Illinois Huskies	30		12,051
2006	Ohio Bobcats	10	Central Michigan Chippewas	31		25,483
2007	Miami RedHawks	10	Central Michigan Chippewas	35		25,013
2008	Buffalo Bulls	42	12Ball State Cardinals	24		12,871
2009	Ohio Bobcats	10	Central Michigan Chippewas	20		23,714
2010	Miami RedHawks	26	24Northern Illinois Huskies	21		12,031
2011	Ohio Bobcats	20	Northern Illinois Huskies	23		13,052
2012	18Kent State Golden Flashes	37	19Northern Illinois Huskies	442OT		18,132
2013	Bowling Green Falcons	47	16Northern Illinois Huskies	27		21,106
2014	Bowling Green Falcons	17	Northern Illinois Huskies	51		15,110
2015	Bowling Green Falcons	34	Northern Illinois Huskies	14		16,425
2016	Ohio Bobcats	23	13Western Michigan Broncos	29		45,615
2017	Akron Zips	28	Toledo Rockets	45		16,225
2018	Buffalo Bulls	29	Northern Illinois Huskies	30		10,255
2019	Miami RedHawks	26	Central Michigan Chippewas	21		22,427

Results by team[edit]

Appearances	School	Wins	Losses	Win %	Year(s) Won	Year(s) Lost
8	Northern Illinois	4	4	.500	2011, 2012, 2014, 2018	2005, 2010, 2013, 2015
6	Marshall	5	1	.833	1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002	2001
6	Toledo	3	3	.500	2001, 2004, 2017	1997, 1998, 2002
5	Miami	3	2	.600	2003, 2010, 2019	2004, 2007
4	Central Michigan	3	1	.750	2006, 2007, 2009	2019
4	Bowling Green	2	2	.500	2013, 2015	2003, 2014
4	Ohio	0	4	.000	2006, 2009, 2011, 2016
3	Western Michigan	1	2	.333	2016	1999, 2000
2	Akron	1	1	.500	2005	2017
2	Buffalo	1	1	.500	2008	2018
1	Kent State	0	1	.000	2012
1	Ball State	0	1	.000	2008

Eastern Michigan is the only team currently in the conference to have not attended a Championship Game. Marshall is the only Championship Game Winner to not be a current member of the MAC.

MVPs[edit]

Year	MVP(s)	Team	Position
1997	Randy Moss	Marshall	WR
1998	Chad Pennington	Marshall	QB
1999	Chad Pennington	Marshall	QB
2000	Byron Leftwich	Marshall	QB
2001	Chester Taylor	Toledo	RB
2002	Byron Leftwich	Marshall	QB
2003	Ben Roethlisberger	Miami	QB
2004	Bruce Gradkowski	Toledo	QB
2005	Luke Getsy	Akron	QB
2006	Damien Linson	Central Michigan	WR
2007	Dan LeFevour	Central Michigan	QB
2008	Mike Newton	Buffalo	DB
2009	Dan LeFevour	Central Michigan	QB
2010	Thomas Merriweather	Miami	RB
2011	Nathan Palmer	Northern Illinois	WR
2012	Jordan Lynch	Northern Illinois	QB
2013	Matt Johnson	Bowling Green	QB
2014	Drew Hare	Northern Illinois	QB
2015	Travis Greene	Bowling Green	RB
2016	Corey Davis	Western Michigan	WR

Photo gallery[edit]

• Before 2006 MAC Championship Game

• 2006 MAC Championship: Central Michigan vs. Ohio

See also[edit]

References[edit]

The Top Ten Strongest College Football Conferences

1SEC (Southeastern Conference)

Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Arkansas, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Missouri. All these programs are dominant. The only bad team in this conference is Kentucky and even they hang in games with good teams. The SEC is by far the best right now. 7 National titles in a row! BOOM! Roll Tide roll!

2015 is the first year that I can remember an SEC team not making it to the championship game. I am from Arkansas, and nothing personal, but I was born and raised to hate Crimson Tide, but I was rooting for them to beat the Buckeyes. It's just tradition for an SEC team to go all the way.

I'm waiting for the statisticians to tally up the percentages of a 50 year time frame. Post a chart of the numbers of who does what over that time period. I guess the facts might be valid, then. The SEC is the dominate group every year to beat. No hyperbole, here.

All the kings of college football reside in this conference. The recruiting, competition, and atmosphere are all the very best here. I think the Big 12 should be number 2 because they also have some big power houses. I think Oregon is sort of overrated.

2Big Ten

OSU.. MICH...PENN...MSU... those four team can beat go head to head with any #1 team in any conference besides SEC.

Hasn't been very good this year, but it's better football to watch then the joke that is the big 12 with their basketball scores for football games. If your looking for a defensive struggle, the big 10 is the way to go. Also big 10 basketball is very underrated, lots of good teams this year - klavon20

The Big 10 has had three or more teams inside the top ten for virtually the entire season to say that any other conference is harder to play in is just untrue

Generally throughout history the big ten has been the toughest. True. Just not the most recent history. Especially Michigan. Nobody is a more winningnes team than them as far as total wins and percentage. I mean, them and notre dame fight for percentage but their no conference having asses have used that to line up some powderpuff a in their schedules. It works to their advantage.

3Big 12

Big 12 is extremely underrated, but I think this is mostly do to being under advertised and reported. They are sweeping the bowl scene right now, save west virginia's slip up. The Big 12 always has top tier qb's and record setting offenses. The Defensive stats are skewed because of this. When high powered offenses hit, the defensive numbers get squished in turn. It isn't because of poor D, just really active and explosive offenses that keep you guessing. You blink and you could lose, no matter the score. Games really need to be watched to fully appreciate what the conference is doing on both sides, it is very different from what some of the stat lines show. My opinion, Sec - due to Alabama's recent dominance, then a close second big 12 followed by Big 10

This Should be ranked number 2. There's multiple power houses in this conference. Even on its lowest day, Texas is still a very good team. I give them three years till they are back at national championship status. As for the other teams in this conference, watch out. They're on fire right now. PAC 10 is overrated. All the teams are sort of just mediocre.

The top 3 in the big 12 can go head to head with any team in the nation with Baylor, TCU and the Oklahoma Sooners leading the way. Missouri and Texas A&M were mediocre programs in the Big 12 but when those teams moved to the SEC they were magically SEC powerhouses in their first year.

K-State, Oklahoma, Baylor, and Texas. Definitely the second hardest Conference.

4Pac 12 (Pacific-12 Conference)

SEC blows they play only 8 conference games a year unlike other conferences. So while UCLA is grinding it out against Oregon, LSU is playing Florida Atlantic in week 10

I think the top 3 in the big10 is stronger than the PAC12 but top to bottom the PAC12 might be just as good as the SEC. 10 bowl eligible teams last year in a 12 team conference is amazing

More of a balance conference. USC, Oregon, stanford, and Washington are the dominant and ucla, California, Utah, and Oregon state are honorable mentions too

Pac-8 then Pac-10 now the Pac-12 just keeps getting better.. The new format this year of playoffs should shed more light on all conferences

5ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference)

The ACC has a long history of national championships and Every year there seems to be at least 2-3 ACC teams in the top 10. The ACC does not have the biggest list of flashy teams, but the ACC can beat any conference on any day.

ACC has always dominated the conferences second at times to only SEC. The Big10 is considered one of the weaker conferences with its football. Far from 3rd place and even Ohio State though dominating the Big10 some years struggles and loses to the ACC and SEC in bowl games having won only against Miami in 2004.

ACC is number 2 ranked in NCAA conferences given there. More difficult season lineups against better teams than Big10/Pac12

Half of this conference is good and half of it isn't. the southern part is good with Florida st, miami, Georgia tech, clemson, and Virginia tech ( not really southern but the style fans are like southern schools)

6Mountain West

Should replace the ACC in the power 5

Boise st and tcu make this conference period

Bosie sate pac 12

7Big East

They're dead now

Big East is AAC now

Uconn West Virginia Syracuse USF Cincinnati Pitt and Rutgers are good teams in the conference - nolananderson

West Virginia is the only consistant school here. USF, pitsburgh, cincinnati, and syracuse have occasional good seasons

8WAC (Western Athletic Conference)

This doesn't exist anymore

Hawii, fresno st, Nevada, and New Mexico st are decent schools

9MAC (Mid-American Conference)

The MAC is so much better than the C-USA because they have nobody and the MAC has the awesome NIU HUSKIES plus the WAC only has a few good teams otherwise their conference SUCKS!

10C-USA (Conference USA)

I love marshall

Every team in this comference is balanced. it's a mini version of the SEC consisting smaller schools instead

The Contenders

12Ivy League

Ivy League should just stick to school

The Mac Had A Football Game And Nobody Showed Up Meme

14AAC (American Athletic Conference)

They're full of themselves if they think they'll be able to compete with the SEC and Big 10. #Americanwillneverbepower6

Temple, Houston, Navy, Memphis, and USF are all great football teams and were all in the top 25 at some point

6th best conference rn. Temple, Memphis, Houston and Navy are at least top 35.

Number 6

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