Welcome Back to the West, Falcons....

It is a shoe that has been waiting to drop for sometime, and I don't think there was much doubt about what it would be.

UMass is entering the MAC for football.  They are far and away the easternmost team in the MAC and therefore, really need to be in the East division, which would put 8 teams in the East and 6 in the West.  Soooo, somebody had to move, and BG, which was in the West during 2002 and 3, will be moving back again.

You could have taken Miami, I guess, but there was never much doubt it was going to be BG.  You also could have ditched the idea that geography means anything (Big East, anyone?) or gone North and South or all Leaders and Legends, but the MAC decided to follow their normal trend.

They did think about it....Commissioner Steinbrecher...

“We considered a number of different paradigms and ultimately we focused on the core principles of geography, travel and rivalries. We now have a true rotational cycle for football and a scheduling model that will extend for future years.”

I mean, they examined different paradigms?   Really?  Paradigms?  It was just 14 football teams, right?

But, its OK.  They focused on the core principles so NOTHING could go wrong.

Actually, I mock the bogus self-importance of the statement, and not the decision itself.  In most ways, it will be better.  BG was in the 7 team division before and therefore did not play one team in its division each year, which turned out to be Akron, which was to BG's detriment.

There will still be 8 conference games...six in division and 2 crossover games.  Now that BG and UT are in the same division, there are no more "protected" or annual cross-over games, creating a "true rotational cycle."  (Its OK, keep one foot on the floor).

On the upsides, division strength is cyclical and we should be able to compete regardless of which division we are in.  This makes more sense for the league, and it eliminates what was a ridiculous situation.  (Until someone else leaves and we may be moving back to the East again, such as if Temple were to accept a potential C-USA/MWC invite.).  We will not have to regularly face the Human Hurricane, Terry Bowden.

The biggest downside is that BG has a natural rivalry with some of the older MAC teams (Miami, Kent and OU) that will now turn into rotations.  I think that we have slightly less long-term interest in the teams in the West than we do with the teams in the East.  When BG moved to the East, we were told that it was actually better for us because of those long-term connections so that must still be true.  On the other hand, it wasn't like we were selling out in the East.

Finally, BG will be in different divisions for football and basketball, which seems odd.

Falcon Fodder in The Blade has this about next year's schedule.

Bowling Green will play host to Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Buffalo (cross-over game). Road MAC games will include trips to Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Ohio (cross-over game).

Anyway, the shoe has dropped, that's the way its going to be.  Welcome back to the West, Falcons.  We get to hang on to that trip to Athens one more year.....