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I know it's a very long post, but bear with me....I'm doing this to sort things out in my head more than anything! As we all know, with Marshall and UCF leaving the MAC, someone from the west will have to switch divisions. Consensus pick is us, based on the history of being in the east, but rumor has it Ball State may be switching over. If BGSU stays in the west, I will assume based on prior seasons and recent east crossover opponents that our crossover opponents for 05 will include home against Akron, and @ Buffalo (YAY!). If we move to the east though, one crossover will certainly be Toledo, as when we used to be in the east we still played UT every year. Perhaps NIU would be the second, because it would be an attractive TV matchup for ESPN, and it's a fledgling rivalry. Since there will still be 8 conference games, but just 6 in each division opposed to 7, rather than 6 divisional games and 2 outside the division, it will go to 5&3. Under this, if we are in the west next year, we need one additional East team to play in addition to Akron and Buffalo. Don't count on Ohio, as we just played them this past season, so it would be either BSU, MU or Kent. MU would be the most attractive for TV, but Kent is more of a rivarlry IMO, although the recent success of both BGSU and UM makes that arguable. Don't look for Ball State to be a crossover in this situation, as we have just played them 3 years in a row, while we have missed Kent and MU on the schedule in past years. What's tricky is, if we play Kent it will be on the road, as they played here in '03 if we play Miami, it will be at the Doyt. Although Miami played at the Doyt in the 03 MACC....the last scheduled meeting with BG was at UM, as we all remember.

It's both of these teams (NIU and UT) turn to play at BG, The other crossover would be at either WMU, EMU, or BSU (assuming we do play NIU), as they are the only remaining west division teams that we are due to play on the road next that haven't been accounted for. With 3 cross-division games, teams will play 2 of them at home every other year, with 1 at home and 2 on the road the years between. The years you play 3 divisional games at home, you play one cross-divisional game at home, the years you play 2 divisional games at home, you play 2 cross-divisional games at home. It rotates like this so it adds up to 4 at home and 4 on the road every year. To have to play NIU and UT while other east teams get much easier crossover schedules may not be easiest for BG's win-loss, but if it means exposure and a chance to strengthen the schedule to be next year's version of Utah, who are we to argue right? (WOW Miami in there too....that's a tough sched with Boise and UW!....no one could accuse us of playing a soft sched then!)

Personally, I would rather watch BG play in the east and keep the games against the Ohio teams intact every year rather than the Michigan teams. (I think the anniversary award with KSU needs to stay intact.) At the same time though, they will keep the Toledo game intact forever no matter the divisions, and with an extra cross-divisional game with the conference going from 14-12, we'll be able to play current west teams alot more than we are playing current east teams right now. This will help us stay closer with regional rivals in Michigan better than we have stayed close to teams like OU, MU, and KSU since we moved to the west. Conversly, if we remain in the west, we'll be able to play the Ohio teams more often anyway under this new 12 scenario. We will also get to play Buffalo every year, which is just a personal thing for me....and who doesn't want to see UT play BG in the MAC Championship?????

So, here is, VERY ROUGHLY, what our schedule may look like next year. Including the non-conference opponents, there is a west version, and as east version.

Note: If BG is in the east, the game against UT will likely move to the middle portion of the schedule instead of the end....to protect UT playing BG in the MACC after playing just a week earlier.


IF BG PLAYS in the EAST (Based on past schedules)

Home Games
Temple
Akron
Northern Illinois
Miami
Toledo
Road Games
Wisconsin
Boise State
Buffalo
Kent State
Ohio
Ball State or Eastern Michigan or Western Michigan

If BG plays in the WEST (Based on past schedules)

Home Games
Temple
Akron
Central Michigan
Toledo
Northern Illinois
Road Games
Wisconsin
Boise State
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Western Michigan
Up in the air
@ Kent State or home vs. Miami

play the flashes every year
if we're in the east, we should be playing kent state and miami every year, in addition to a crossover with ut.
btw, would you, or most any of us, even know that the annivesary exists if not for ea sports? doubtful. that being said, kent and bg, if you talk to "old timers" is a solid football rivalry with lots of history. along with miami, bg and ksu are arguable two of the most successful teams in mac history, save for the last several years, with lots of history and tradition in both programs.

Maybe I mis read the last post.

I thought it implied Kent State was once a good football program.

Kent State has been in the MAC more than 50 years. They have one conference title to show for it.

Kent State is home to one of the MAC's best athletic departments. The school is a basketball powerhouse and they do well in many nonrevenue sports.

But football is bad. Really bad. I don't think any program in Division I-A has a lower winning percentage over the life of the program.

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/mi ... ng_pct.php

You would be correct...

Bottom 5 teams all time..

Indiana .428
Northwestern .424
UTEP .405
Wake Forest .402
Kent State .392

I'm not sure how scheduling will shake out, but I would guess we may be the team that gets moved to the East Division just for some balance. Otherwise, we're looking at Miami going to the MAC Title Game nearly every year (who in the current East Division is going to challenge them consistently?), whereas there are three programs in the current West Division who slug it out for the division title (BG, NIU, UT). It really doesn't matter to me, we're still going to have to learn how to beat decent teams on the road, but if we don't move over, the Redhawks get a cakewalk to the MAC Title Game almost every year. I don't see them being challenged by the current East Division lineup (Akron, Buffalo, Kent, Ohio). Akron had a decent season, but we'll see if they can sustain that type of play, not to mention they were handed their win against Marshall. The logical move would be to put us back in the East Division. It might be better for us, too. Of course, we would still have to figure out how to beat Miami, who we have recently been unable to beat at all (home or away). At least we have been able to defeat NIU and UT at home.

wow thats alotta jive there