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MAC Meeting News

MAC football does really seem to be on the move. Its amazing how far the league has come, from being a welfare case with the Motor City Bowl to where we are today. Yes, part of it is Marshall, and part is Big Ben, but part of it is Urban and Omar, too.

Here are some on the ground reports from the meetings. First, MAC Report Online has an excellent report. Bolding emphasis is mine.

Television Exposure

Dan Shoemaker, of ESPN Regional Television, confirmed that the MAC is slated for 34 appearances on the various ESPN Networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN Regional) this upcoming season. But the most intriguing information unveiled by Shoemaker was that ESPN’s internet broadband network, ESPN360, would expand to include live college football.

ESPN360 will be offered on a rollout basis, depending upon reaching agreements with various high-speed internet providers, and will provide live webcasts of games that are not otherwise slated for broadcast. The service will be delivered to the desktop or laptop of high-speed internet subscribers. The first planned webcast will be of the Central Michigan vs. Penn State contest and plans are being made as well to add the Akron vs. Purdue game.

Shoemaker also stated that he is already aware of the growing frustration being expressed by college football fans about the availability of ESPN’s latest network, ESPNU, which is dedicated to coverage of collegiate athletics and has numerous college football broadcasts scheduled for this upcoming season. Shoemaker stated that there are now essentially five large cable providers nationwide and deals have to be reached with each of these providers, which is at times a slow, cumbersome process.

Bowl Games

The MAC will continue this season with two guaranteed bowl tie-ins. Both the Motor City Bowl and the GMAC Bowl had representatives at the Football Summit and outlined future plans.

The GMAC Bowl will be increasing promotional exposure by dedicating one week of on-campus promotions at each MAC school. This will involve student-based competitions. The GMAC Bowl continued to express satisfaction with its MAC tie-in.

Ken Hoffman, Executive Director of the Motor City Bowl, also provided details as regards to continued tie-ins with the MAC and the Big Ten. Hoffman acknowledged that there were some jitters recently when the Big Ten announced six bowl tie-ins without mentioning the Motor City Bowl which has had an agreement to take the #7 Big Ten team to face a MAC representative. Hoffman states that a new deal will be finalized with the Big Ten to continue this relationship and expects an announcement to be made to that effect within the next few weeks.

Hoffman and Chryst both indicated that there are several future scheduling arrangements in the works between the MAC and the Big Ten and following completion of these arrangements, the Motor City Bowl will announce its deal with the MAC and the Big Ten. Hoffman also tells MAC Report Online that the Big East will continue to serve as a backup contingency for the Motor City Bowl if the Big Ten is not able to furnish a bowl-eligible squad.

Chryst also indicated that securing a third bowl for the MAC remains a top issue for the conference and in that regard, stated that a bowl game in Toronto will likely be secured and announced by April 2006. The bowl would involve a match up between the MAC and the Big East. Hoffman, and the Motor City Bowl, are a driving force behind securing this bowl game for the MAC. The bowl was not approved this past season as the NCAA had indicated a desire to keep the number of bowls to 28 for this season. The only new bowl game that was certified for this season was the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego and this was only made possible by the decertification of the Silicon Valley Football Classic.

Instant Replay

The MAC will have instant replay available for all conference contests this season. Chryst announced that 36 of the scheduled 48 conference games are slated for commercial broadcast and those games will use the video replays available through the broadcast providers. For the games that are not broadcast, the league has contracted with ESPN to provide replay services.

The replay system in use by the MAC will be identical to that used last season by the Big Ten. There will be no on-field coaches challenges. All replay reviews will be triggered by an official in the press box who will then signal the on-field referee that a play is being reviewed. The review will then take place in the booth and this official, the Technical Advisor, will have sole authority to change a call. Instant replay will be limited to non-judgment calls. Bob Gennarelli, the MAC’s Associate Commissioner for External Affairs indicated that the conference does not expect to see any kind of significant delays of game play with the introduction of instant replay reviews. He cited the fact that in the Big Ten’s inaugural season of using instant replay reviews, only 43 plays over a total of 57 games were reviewed and of those only 21 plays were overturned. The average length of the delay, according to Gennarelli, was a little over two and a half minutes.

All 28 bowl games will use instant reply reviews this season as well.

Other News

**Despite a fairly tepid response from the assembled gathering, Chryst continued to trumpet the arrival of Temple as an associate member of the MAC for football only this season and as “full” member for football only starting in 2007. Part of this arrangement, according to Chryst, is an agreement with Temple’s men’s and women’s basketball program to play a home and home series with each MAC school

**Bubba Cunningham, Ball State’s Athletic Director, assumed the chairmanship of the MAC’s athletic directors group. Cunningham succeeds Ohio’s former AD, Thomas Boeh, who accepted the AD’s position at Fresno State.

Day 2 Observations

The second day of the session was set aside for interviews with coaches and select players from around the league. MAC Report Online interviewed several players and we will be publishing these interviews over the next couple of weeks. We also secured an interview with Motor City Bowl Executive Director Ken Hoffman which will also be published in the near future.

Here are, however, some observations from Day 2:

In Demand: Bowling Green quarterback Omar Jacobs was by far the most popular interview subject amongst the players in the room as he had a line of folks waiting to talk to him throughout the session.

Holding Court: Central Michigan head football coach Brian Kelly clearly enjoys talking up his program and continues to be one of the more effusive coaches in the league, bantering easily with the assembled media.

Gaudy Display: Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was not shy about reminding everybody just what team was the defending MAC champions as was evidenced by proudly wearing his MAC Championship ring. I have never seen a Super Bowl ring, but this thing was one impressive piece of jewelry.

Loneliest Guys In The Room: You had to almost feel sorry for the contingent from Temple University during their turn with the print media. Coach Bobby Wallace and quarterback Mike McGann often sat alone at their table as very few media members sought them out for any interviews or information. Maybe in the future, Temple Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw will consider returning some telephone calls and at least offering a “no comment” when he is contacted by MAC media. From what I was able to pick up, Bradshaw did not exactly endear himself or the Temple program to the media by stonewalling inquiries that were being made during the MAC’s courtship of Temple.

National Perspective: Steve Richardson, president of the Football Writers Association of America, attended this year’s MAC Media Days. Richardson, from Dallas, stated that he was quite impressed overall with the MAC’s positive interaction with the media and their understanding of the importance of developing a solid relationship with the press.

Mlive also had a good article on the evolution of the league, and how it could evolve into an actual appearence in a major bowl, something that was unthinkable one or two seasons ago.

"You will see some changes for the major bowl games," Chryst said. "I believe you will see any Top 12 team get in a BCS bowl, plus any Top 16 team that is ranked ahead of an automatic qualifier. In that system, we would have had two teams in the last six years going to a major bowl."

Read these articles for yourself in their entirety. The landscape is really changing for our league. I would love to see our fans catch on.