It’s officially July, which means it’s the final month of the college football offseason. But the sport’s main topic of discussion isn’t the 2022 schedule quite yet. Unexpected realignment news regarding the Big Ten’s addition of USC and UCLA in 2024 is sending shockwaves across the college football universe.
However, that’s still two years away and there is football to be played in less than two months. When the season commences, the MAC typically spends the first four weeks engaged in non-conference clashes. But not all non-conference schedules are created equal. So let’s apply expectations to each MAC program when it comes to those early-season 4-game slates:
2021 non-conference results
- 0-4: Ohio
- 1-3: Akron, Kent State, Miami (OH)
- 2-2: Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo
- 3-1: Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan
- 4-0: N/A
Nobody was perfect in 2021, but Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan were closest — although both programs suffered lopsided losses in Big Ten country to Wisconsin and Michigan, respectively.