MAC announces schedule pairings for 2013

[BGSU33]

Per a UMass article I came across: The official schedule doesn't come out until February, but the Mid-American Conference has already determined the pairings for the 2013 football season, and shared them with The Republican on Friday.

Below were a few I tracked down on other sites. I couldn't find BG's but you know we'll have Toledo as a crossover. And how does Ohio pull EMU and CMU from the West??? They just played EMU this year too. OU has still never not faced all the MAC East team like others have (like BG and Temple not playing then BG and Akron a few years ago, and many other MAC East teams too). It makes me really wonder how and who puts these schedules together. Anyway, it sounds like schools have the pairings, just not the schedules. Hope we find out soon.

UMass:
Home - Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Akron, Miami
Away - Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio

Ohio:
Home - Kent St., Miami, UMass and CMU
Away - BG, Akron, Buffalo and EMU

Buffalo:
Home - BG, Ohio, UMass, EMU
Away - KSU, Miami, WMU, Toledo

[BGSU33]

Another schedule note, it looks like we will be opening the season on a Thursday again this year such as we have a couple times over the last few years. In fact, it looks like the next two years we will be doing this again.

[Falcon137]

Another schedule note, it looks like we will be opening the season on a Thursday again this year such as we have a couple times over the last few years. In fact, it looks like the next two years we will be doing this again.

That's because of Labor Day weekend.

How the hell does Ohio get the schedule they do? When is the last time they had to play NIU or Toledo?

[jpfalcon09]

I would imagine BG will be playing either NIU or Ball State next season just looking at previous schedules. Been awhile since BG has played either school.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

I would imagine BG will be playing either NIU or Ball State next season just looking at previous schedules. Been awhile since BG has played either school.

We played NIU last season

I could see Ball State as we've only played them twice since 2005, both times on the road

[Redwingtom]

Another schedule note, it looks like we will be opening the season on a Thursday again this year such as we have a couple times over the last few years. In fact, it looks like the next two years we will be doing this again.

That's because of Labor Day weekend.

How the hell does Ohio get the schedule they do? When is the last time they had to play NIU or Toledo?

OU played NIU in 2011 and 2009.

The played Toledo in 2010.

They also played MAC Champ CMU in 2009.

[It's the Journey...]

Let's just play our schedule next season and go 12-0. I don't care who it is or where it is, especially if we have no control over the league schedule.

[Dimes]

I just can't wait to beat ANOTHER big 10 school next year! Road trip to IU is going to be a blast!

[BGSU33]

I would imagine BG will be playing either NIU or Ball State next season just looking at previous schedules. Been awhile since BG has played either school.

We played NIU last season

I could see Ball State as we've only played them twice since 2005, both times on the road

With us hosting Toledo this year, our other MAC West game will be on the road. But as we've had happen in past years, we still run the risk of not playing all the MAC East teams such as what happened with BG vs both Temple and Akron in recent years and we could end up facing two MAC East schools. Although this has seemed to have come in consecutive years of matchups, so we might dodge it this year. But this is exactly where Ohio's scheduling jumps out at me. Ever since the MAC East started playing unbalanced schedules (some teams will face all of the East teams, others will not), every school EXCEPT Ohio has had this happen. BG has had it happen four times. Miami, Kent State, Akron, Buffalo and even Temple had it happen in multiple years. How has Ohio not once??? It gives them control of how they do against the East because they face every East school each and ever year, while year after year others do not. I do not understand why some schools like BG have had this happen four times (twice with Temple and Akron) and OU has not once???

[BGSU33]

How the hell does Ohio get the schedule they do? When is the last time they had to play NIU or Toledo?

Below is a post that was made over on Ohio's message board. Keep in mind, two of the CMU games and the one NIU game were in the MACC and not the regular season too:

Number of times we (OU) have played each West team from 07-13 -

4- EMU
3- CMU, Ball State
2- Toledo
1- NIU, WMU

That's lame, is that our people lobbying the MAC to give us cupcakes or is that the MAC keeping the big dogs away from each other as much as possible?

[musicman2343]

How the hell does Ohio get the schedule they do? When is the last time they had to play NIU or Toledo?

Below is a post that was made over on Ohio's message board. Keep in mind, two of the CMU games and the one NIU game were in the MACC and not the regular season too:

Number of times we (OU) have played each West team from 07-13 -

4- EMU
3- CMU, Ball State
2- Toledo
1- NIU, WMU

That's lame, is that our people lobbying the MAC to give us cupcakes or is that the MAC keeping the big dogs away from each other as much as possible?

That is ridiculous. Enough said.

[BGSU33]

Anyone heard what our pairings are yet? The article I read stated the MAC released them to the schools several weeks ago, but only a few have announced them.

[Falconfreak90]

Let's just play our schedule next season and go 12-0. I don't care who it is or where it is, especially if we have no control over the league schedule.

Bingo....

[BGSU33]

One thing is for sure, we need to start beating Toledo if we want to win a MAC Championship. With having lost 12 of the last 18 to UT including three in a row, and this game being moved up in the schedule, we can't afford to continue to lose to UT because a second MAC loss all but eliminates us from the MAC race in most years. Keep on mind, we're the only East school with a tie-in with a West school (and UT has traditionally been one of the better West schools) and every MAC East school (but newcomer UMass) has now advanced to Ford Field except for BG. We might enjoy playing the Rockets, but this tie-in has certainly hurt BG way more in the standings than it has helped us. It's not like the tie-in is EMU.

[bgsufalcon24]

I would say that the Toledo game is one of the less important games on the schedule simply because they are in the opposite division. It is true what 33 says, a loss to UT means that we're basically one strike and out against the other East teams. However, I would argue that we were one strike and out anyway. Consider this. The UT loss looked to be pretty big this year when it happened. However, we all knew that the season would come down to how we did against Ohio and Kent State, and that if we won those two games, we would go to Detroit. That ended up being true. Even if we would've beaten Toledo the loss to Kent would have kept us out of the title game.

I guess the point is that a loss to Toledo doesn't necessarily keep you out of the MAC Championship Game. A loss to one of the East's top teams probably does. Our loss to Ohio in 2009, losing to Miami in 2007, and losing to Kent this year, had any one of those games been reversed, we would've ended up in Detroit that year. (You could add 2008 Buffalo or 2005 Akron to that list, but those were weird years in which the winner of the East Division had 3 losses and we could've won other games to finish in first place, which isn't a luxury you get every year)