2024 MAC Football Power Rankings: Week 8

You’ll never believe this: the #1 team in the MAC has changed again.

Welcome to the ninth edition of our blog’s Power Rankings!

The top spot in our rankings haws been a curse more than a blessing this season, but this time around, we feel pretty confident a team might be able to stay there assuming they take care of business. Tiers are starting to solidify as well, with teams starting to settle in to their spots on the table.

Let’s get right into the new and (hopefully) improved rankings!

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13. Kent State Golden Flashes (LW: 13)

• High vote: 12 (once)
• Low vote: 13 (five)
• Average vote: 12.83

Kent State couldn’t get it done in a rivalry game against Bowling Green, and are officially the first team eliminated from postseason contention. Their ignoble losing streak has now extended to 16 games, nearly double of the next highest team. At this point, they’re playing for pride.

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12. UMass Minutemen (LW: 10, down 2)

• High vote: 11 (once)
• Low vote: 13 (once)
• Average vote: 12

UMass sat for a BYE week after an expected loss to Missouri. Their next game will be against FCS Wagner, so there won’t be a lot to learn after this week.

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11. Akron Zips (LW: t-10, down 1)

• High vote: 10 (four)
• Low vote: 12 (once)
• Average vote: 10.57

Akron also sat last week, and look to keep their very slim postseason hopes alive with a game this week against Eastern Michigan.

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10. Ball State Cardinals (LW: t-10)

• Unanimous #10

Ball State, to the shock of everyone, held their own against Vanderbilt on the road for four quarters before giving way to the inevitable talent gap. Typically, we’re not one for moral victories, but this feels like the kind of result where you can build and iterate on it for the future. This week’s game will be very important in that sense.

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9. Central Michigan Chippewas (LW: 8, down 1)

• High vote: 8 (twice)
• Low vote: 9 (four)
• Average vote: 8.66

CMU continues to be one of the strangest cases in the MAC, having a fourth-straight game come down to the final possession. Unfortunately, they lost for the second game in a row, this time after giving up a three-score lead with under 12 minutes remaining. They were the dominant team over most of the contest, but now sit at 3-4 and are staring down the barrel of a third-straight losing season if they lose to Miami this week.

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8. Ohio Bobcats (LW: 3, down 5)

• High vote: 7 (four)
• Low vote: 9 (once)
• Average vote: 7.5

Ohio’s precipitous drop does feel a bit unfair, but it’s more about who jumped and feel than anything Ohio in particular did. (Though their performance against Miami in the Battle of the Bricks certainly doesn’t help.) Every team is bound to have a stinker in conference; sadly for Ohio, it happened this week.

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7. Eastern Michigan Eagles (LW: 9, up 2)

• High vote: 6 (three)
• Low vote: 8 (twice)
• Average vote: 6.83

EMU had to rally to pick up the win over CMU last week in epic fashion, having to climb out of a three-score deficit to secure their fifth win of the season. The Eagles looked lifeless over much of the contest, giving up nine tackles-for-loss and five sacks, so that’s why they still languish here despite being 5-2 through eight weeks.

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6. Bowling Green Falcons (LW: 7, up 1)

• High vote: 5 (twice)
• Low vote: 9 (once)
• Average vote: 6.28

BGSU took care of business against rival Kent State, eliminating them from bowl season and picking up a crucial league win to keep them afloat for a potential MAC title run if a few results go their way. It was a fairly efficient game, limiting the Flashes to just six points and Connor Bazelak putting together one of his better performances of the year.

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5. Northern Illinois Huskies (LW: 2, down 3)

• High vote: 2 (once)
• Low vote: 5 (twice)
• Average vote: 4

NIU is at a bit of a crossroads. They’ve clearly hit a wall on the offensive side of the ball due to a combination of injuries and playcalling, and it has affected their ability to close out games they have an opportunity to dominate. It all culminated in a bleak performance against Toledo in a low-scoring loss. The defense is no joke though, and should help buoy the team while they figure it out.

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4. Miami RedHawks (LW: 6, up 2)

• High vote: 1 (once)
• Low vote: 6 (twice)
• Average vote: 3.,66

Miami is starting to look like their old selves again after going through a supremely tough out-of-conference slate. The return of Brett Gabbert at quarterback has especially re-ignited the team, as it allows the RedHawks to be balanced and less predictable on that side of the ball, while the defense has found a new level in conference play, with five INTs over the last three games. A win vs. CMU would cement their legitimacy in the title race.

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3. Buffalo Bulls (LW: 1, down 3)

• High vote: 2 (once)
• Low vote: 5 (once)
• Average vote: 3

Buffalo falls from the top spot to #3 after suffering their first major loss of the league season. Last week’s battle of the undefeateds resulted in the Western Michigan Broncos puling away at the end with a wild 48-41 victory. The encouraging thing in the loss for Buffalo was finding an offensive attack after struggling for several weeks in that department. It was their first 40+ point game since 2022, with CJ Ogbonna shattering personal bests with nearly 400 yards passing on the evening.

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2. Toledo Rockets (LW: 2)

• High vote: 2 (three)
• Low vote: 4 (twice)
• Average vote: 2.83

Toledo took away a key win over NIU on a day which was not their best on record, and you need some of those if you want to be a serious contender. They claimed the win despite Tucker Gleason being out with injury as well, a confirmation they can survive and advance even when they aren’t as healthy as they’d like. This is arguably the most talented all-around team in the MAC still, so they’ll have chances to win going forward.

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1. Western Michigan Broncos (LW: 7, up 6)

• High vote: 1 (five)
• Low vote: 5 (once)
• Average vote: 1.66

Like when we crowned Buffalo last week, being undefeated in-league allows you to sit atop the rankings.

One voter very clearly is still skeptical about WMU’s performance in conference play— with their biggest in-league win being 10 points over Akron in a bizarre contest— but the vast majority of voters choose to respect WMU holding control on their own destiny for the moment. The Broncos play Kent State next week, and that could be dangerous considering how explosive that offense can be— even if they’re 0-7. WMU is also well-positioned for a future run, avoiding Toledo this season, and hosting NIU two weeks from now.

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For transparency, here is our anonymous chart for this week. Did we get it right? Did we miss the mark? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments section!