This is a goose egg

And it represents the number of bowl games the MAC won this year. And last year.

And this year, it isn't as if we were facing really tough competition. Only one of those losses was to a BCS team---and that was to a Connecticut team that was only average in a marginal BCS conference.

Yes, I know Tulsa is a pretty good team with 11 wins, but Ball State had won 12 and had been undefeated most of the season, and you'd just have to figure that on a neutral field Ball State wouldn't get smoked like they did last night. Ball State was the proof that MAC football was back...not so much. (And, yes, Ball State fans, you did improve on Bowling Green's margin against Tulsa. Woot!)

And, Rice had double digit wins, but they shouldn't be able to walk all over Western.

Finally, though, the biggest shame of all is CMU losing to a 6-6 team from the Sun Belt conference (Florida Atlantic) and doing so near home on a field they are used to playing on. That just should never happen.

So, to review, we were faced with 4 non-BCS bowl opponents and one marginal BCS opponent, and, well, we lost every game. Two of them were totally wipe outs. I don't know what to say except this: take a look at the MAC's new home....



The MAC often talks about how we are improving our football through our television exposure and that this whole thing where we only play on weekdays in November is really helping us to build the conference. I have often disagreed with this notion. If it is true, there should be some evidence, and the evidence is that since we took that approach, MAC football has gotten worse.

Now, we revisit the story. Not to put too fine a point on it, but....


If we were doing so much for our football programs, we would have at least beaten someone the last two years in a bowl game, especially with generally favorable assignments. Meanwhile, we make it increasingly difficult for our fan base (the only people on the earth who actually care about MAC football and are likely to care about MAC football in 10 years) to be involved in the games. To most of the country, we will always sit at the kid's table.

Further, it seems as if more and more of the games are now on ESPNU, which has limited circulation.

I understand that sacrifices have to be made to move ahead. Those sacrifices are being made, and we aren't moving ahead.

We should either change gears, try to build our programs by re-connecting with Saturday football and our own fans, or ask serious questions about why the conference's leadership has failed to convert our "exposure" into a better product on the field. Right now it is the worst of both worlds.