49. The Holy Grail of MAC Football.

Okay so being the Holy Grail of MAC football is kind of like being the Holy Grail of, well.... MAC basketball, or winning the spelling bee at the Special Olympics. It's not much, but it's all MAC teams can hope for in a given season. In a league that can be incredibly volatile, with teams like Buffalo and Ball State going from champions to last in their divisions in successive seasons last year, being competative two years in a row is about all a team can hope for. Which brings me to our number 49 team, the second place finishers in last years race, finishing a Central Michigan team that wil certainly be a shadow of i's former self this year.



Rivals says Tennessee



I say...

49. Temple Owls

Last year the Owls won nine games, including games out of conference, a huge accomplishment for any MAC team. The Owls are not a team to be feared and out of conference games against UConn and Penn. State should be easy wins for the big schools, but sometimes being the biggest fish in a small pond can be a good thing. In Temple's case it is, because it gives them a legitimate shot at ten wins, and ten wins gets a top 50 spot regardless of who they come against. The Owls return a strong line line and running offense which Rivals tells me was among the best in the conference last year. The even better news is that the starting QB for the nations 111th ranking passing offense is gone, no he didn't graduate, he moved to play tight end and long snapper. When your QB is better served hiking the ball than throwing it, how much worse can it get? Besides the MAC is not a throwing league and they don't need to improve much to win.

Temple won't scare anybody, should win the MAC, and will be the only MAC you'll see on my list (more teams than you'll se from the Sun Belt). Wins are wins, and matter if yuou get enough of them. The schedule? I didn't look at the conference schedule because it doesn't really matter which games are at home or on the road if only like 5000 people show up. Two rows of people surrounding the field do not a home field advantage make.

Contratulations Temple on being the only MAC worth mentioning.