Bowling Green State University Athletics
MAC Bowl Invitations to Follow Championship Game
November 28, 2007 | Football
Nov. 28, 2007
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Mid-American Conference announced Tuesday afternoon that official bowl invitations to MAC institutions will occur this weekend, coming after the completion of the Marathon MAC Football Championship game and, potentially, the final release of the BCS standings on Sunday, December 2.
MAC Office Release in PDF Format
The 11th annual championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. ET between West Division and defending MAC champion Central Michigan and East Division champion Miami University. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise the game with Pam Ward handling play-by-play duties, former MAC Vern Smith Award winner Ray Bentley as analyst, and Rob Simmelkjaer providing sideline reports.
Central Michigan enters the game with a 7-5 overall record and a 4-1 West Division record. The Chippewas, guaranteed one of the MAC's three bowl invitations, shared the West Division title with Ball State but won the tiebreaker via their 58-38 victory over the Cardinals on Oct. 13 in Muncie.
The Miami RedHawks are in the championship game for the third time in school history (2003 and 2004) with an overall record of 6-6. The RedHawks advanced to the title game with a 4-2 East Division record, winning the tiebreaker via head-to-head wins over Bowling Green and Buffalo, each of whom also finished 4-2 in the East. To be guaranteed one of the three MAC bowl berths, Miami would need a victory in Saturday's championship game to finish 7-6.
The NCAA ruled this week it would allow a bowl invitation to be extended to a 6-7 championship game runner-up provided there were no other seven-win MAC teams available. A total of three MAC teams are in the seven-win bowl pool - CMU at 7-5, Bowling Green at 8-4 and Ball State at 7-5.
