MACtion Action… Futures and Season Preview

This is an article written by Rusty

What a beautiful time of year. The weather is perfect, vacations a plenty, and we are only a handful of weeks away from the return of the most dominant conference in college football.

SEC? Big 10? Big 12?

NOPE!

The MAC!

There’s absolutely nothing better than watching CMU vs Bowling Green on a chilly November Wednesday evening. Dropped punts, pick sixes, self-inflicted safeties, all the best stuff that makes MACtion so fun to watch.

If you haven’t read my work yet my name is Rusty. Check out my intro article here.

TL;DR – I’m the average fan who just likes to bet on sports without caring much about advanced sabermetrics.

Follow my Twitter (@rustyHHsports)

Enter obligatory warning here: *This is not real betting advice. Don’t take anything I say seriously. Yes I will be taking these picks but if you want smart picks check out the other guys. This is all satirical and to add a bit of entertainment to the Happy Hour Team, please don’t listen to me. There’s a good reason I’ve had to reset my action network picks every few months.*

Some of my favorite facts to note about the MAC is every team has made the championship game since 2015 except EMU. Also since 2015 we have not had a repeat champion. Which means this conference is wide open. It’s not boring like the SEC, Big 10 or ACC where it’s the same 1-2 teams every year. Yawn. Give me the chaos.

I’m going to go through and break down each team in the least scientific way possible. At the end, I’ll share my favorite future bets for this conference.

Toledo

Starting off we have the returning champs Toledo. They won a barn burner 17-7 to win the title.

Mascot: Rocky the Rocket. Pretty cool idea. Great costume. Score: 6/10

Jerseys: Eh. Kinda boring. Nothing too exciting. Score: 4/10

Other relevant information: Returning QB, third easiest schedule nationally, and according my Twitter research it seems they have nice athletic facilities.

Win total: 8.5
Championship odds: +170

Ohio

Next up we have the loser of the MAC championship, Ohio.

Mascot: Rufus the bobcat. Real dumbass name. Kinda weird looking costume. Score: 3/10

Jerseys: Kinda cool. The black and green does look cool under those November MACtion lights. Score: 6/10

Other relevant information: Electric dominant offense. Including legendary OL Parker Titsworth. Tough out of conference schedule (SDSU, FAU, Iowa state). Also it’s apparently a sweet drinkin town.

Win total: 7.5
Championship odds: +270

Buffalo

Next we head up north to snowy University at Buffalo. The home of NFL future HOFer Khalil Mack.

Mascot: Victor E Bull. Hilarious name. Intimidating yet friendly appearance for the costume. Score: 8/10

Jerseys: I think they’re sweet. Score: 7/10.

Other relevant information: Rock solid (as am I) defense, cold weather football team, experienced defensive players.

Win total: 6.5
Championship odds: +900

Miami OH

Heading to Oxford, Ohio we have THE Miami of Ohio.

Mascot: Swoop the Red Hawk. Newer mascot as of 1998 due to pressure from the Miami tribe to change. Kinda funny looking costume. He’s got like eye liner or something that just ruins the look. Score: 3/10

Jerseys: The alternate grays look great but the standard jersey is Meh. 4/10

Other relevant information: Lots of injury issues last year. Head coach is soft as fuck and rarely goes for it on fourth down. Lame. He’s boring.

Win total: 6.5
Championship odds: +850

Eastern Michigan

Heading to the first of many Michigan MAC schools we have EMU.

Mascot: Swoop. Reminds me of the Philadelphia eagles. Score: 0/10

Jerseys: I really like these. The green and gray are sharp. Score 7/10

Other relevant information: HC has turned the program around since 2014. Great season last year (9-4). Stud RB. Second easiest schedule in the MAC. Don’t underestimate these guys.

Win total: 7
Championship odds: +850

Northern Illinois

Over in Dekalb Illinois we have Northern Illinois University.

Mascot: Victor E Huskie. They also have a live mascot, Mission 3, who is the cutest damn puppy I’ve ever seen. The actual costume is eh. Ok. Score: 8/10 – mostly due to the puppy

Jerseys: Kinda cool. Nothing great. Score: 5/10

Other relevant information: QBs name is Rocky Lombardi. Hell yeah. Injury riddled team. Allegedly a great offensive line and returning all 5 starters there.

Win total: 6.5
Championship odds: +1400

Central Michigan

The 2nd of 3 Michigan teams we have Central Michigan University.

Mascot: no mascot. Although they are the Chippewas which is a sick name they have no mascot. Lame. Score: 0/10

Jerseys: disgusting. Score: 1/10

Other relevant information: toughest schedule in the MAC. Overall grossness

Win total: 5.5
Championship odds: +1800

Bowling Green

Next up in Ohio we have Bowling Green.

Mascot: Freddie and Frieda Falcon. BGSU is fighting gender stereotypes one mascot at a time. I think it’s cool they have two mascots together. Costumes are sweet too. Score: 7.5/10

Jerseys: These are so ugly they’re awesome. Big fan. I need to buy one. 8/10.

Other relevant information: lost a lot of talent. Interesting stat here, since 2019 they have more wins as double digit underdogs then they do as favorites. Total chaos.

Win total: 5
Championship odds: +2500

Ball State

Ball state. Lol. Ball.

Mascot: Charlie Cardinal. Unique name combined with a terrifying costume scores very well here. Score: 8/10

Jerseys: Middle of the pack. I’ve seen better. I’ve seen worse. Score: 5/10

Other relevant information: Texas state transfer at QB (stud) , opens at Kentucky and Georgia, otherwise a very winnable schedule. May surprise some folks this year. Currently projected to have 9 one score games according to Vegas. Lucky bounces could determine their season #BallDontLie

Win total: 4.5
Championship odds: +3000

Akron

Back in the nasty state of Ohio we have Akron.

Mascot: Zippy. This is the best mascot in the whole conference. It’s a goddamn kangaroo. This thing is goofy as hell. Also a fantastic name. Score: 10/10

Jerseys: Kinda close to Notre Dame. Score: 5/10

Other relevant information: 2-10 last year including 1 win as a double digit underdog. And if memory serves me right they were spread covering machines. Another total chaos team.

Win total: 4
Championship odds: +3500

Western Michigan

Back to Michigan we go with Western Michigan University.

Mascot: Buster Bronco. Awesome name. The dude looks zooted out of his mind. Seemingly spends every pregame with snoop dogg. Score: 8/10

Jerseys: Ugly. It looks like literal poop. Score: 2/10

Other relevant information: rebuilding year. Lost tons of guys to transfers. Nasty. Avoid like the plague.

Win total: 3.5
Championship odds: +5000

Kent State

And in the bottom ranks of the MAC we have Kent State from the bottom ranked state of Ohio.

Mascot: Flash. I like the name, the costume is underwhelming. Score: 3/10

Jerseys: sexy ass jerseys when they wear the powder blue. Best in the conference. I’d say top 5 in college football. The normal jerseys are ok. Score: 7/10

Other relevant information: zero returning starters on offense, not a single game projected to be the favorite.

Win total: 2.5
Championship odds: +15000

THE PICKS

Alrighty well if you’ve made it this far, god bless you reading through all that crap. If you scrolled down to the bottom to just see the picks, welcome 🙂 glad to have you here.

Favorite win totals

Toledo o8.5
Buffalo o6.5
Miami OH u6.5
EMU o7 (2u)
Ball State o4.5 (2u)

Favorite Championship Bets

Buffalo +650 (0.5u)
EMU +850 (1u)
Ball state +3000 (jusssssttt a sprinkle)

We have to once again consider the chaos that is the MAC. Toledo is the most likely to win in a repeat and that’s understandable. But don’t downplay how wild this conference gets. It never makes any sense tbh. I really like EMU this year and at +850 that is great odds.

Happy almost MACtion time everyone!!!