GRR: Mid-American Conference
As March is around the corner there’s the little matter of figuring out who will be in the Men’s DIAA playoffs.
The DIAA championship is starting to garner some interest around the nation, and programs realize this is a good post-season for smaller DI programs, clubs, and up-and-coming quasi-varsity teams.
It’s all finalized in the Mid-American Conference as the playoff matchup are set.
In the North, Bowling Green hammered Ball State 74-7 to finish 3-1; the Falcons already had secured 2nd in the North behind Western Michigan, so that doesn’t change. Central Michigan doubled up Kent State to finished 2-2.
Well, the University of Cincinnati finally won one, and they won big.
After losing two games by razor-thin margins and another slightly less close one to Dayton, the Bearcats exploded to beat #35 Miami of Ohio.
It’s a wild shakeup in the Mid-American Conference as once more we see several close games, and one or two upsets.
It was almost an upset in the one non-standings game, as Miami out of the South edged Ball State out of the North 28-27. It was the second-straight nailbiter for Miami, but again a game that doesn’t count in the standings.
As is the trend these days, Kent State returns to the pitch this fall to an altered landscape. The two-time reigning Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion has seen its league whittle down to four teams, a drop that has cost the conference its automatic berth to DI national playoffs. But the Ohio team is taking the changes in stride.