Great Article About The MAC!

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...fs-cmu-mac




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I guess three straight undefeated seasons didn't make the cut...
Good stuff though ...

I can't really argue with these, but I think UB's MAC Championship win in 2008 and going to a Bowl Game for the first time 50 years to the date that their only other bowl appearance which was taken away due to racial injustice is pretty big.

Yeah, I'd put UT's 35 game win streak in there as well, and instead of just saying Miami's '73 team may have been one of the MAC's best I would've lumped it together with Miami's 32-1-1 record and 3 straight bowl wins over SEC (FLA and Georgia) and So Carolina while finishing in the top 20 all three years during '73-'75.

^^

As some of the other MAC fans have said, there are other Top 10 performances that are probably worthy, but remember this is a non-MAC writer who compiled this list for the MAC and it still is pretty cool. Go MAC, we still appreciate all, just saying why not promote the conference with this as a start. I'm equally as impressed that Ball State just beat their in-state Big Ten rival Indiana with THREE STRAIGHT victories despite Indiana having at least 5x the funding.

Think of all the great coaches every year the Big Ten takes from us, funding is the only thing setting us back. What if Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, Gary Pinkel, Brady Hoke, and others had stayed in the MAC?

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Not to mention Nick Saban or Don James. If you count good MAC coaches who didn't pan out at their next job (Haywood, Gil, Beckman so far), that number bumps a bunch.

(04-26-2013 07:12 PM)BullBoy Wrote:  I can't really argue with these, but I think UB's MAC Championship win in 2008 and going to a Bowl Game for the first time 50 years to the date that their only other bowl appearance which was taken away due to racial injustice is pretty big.

You think a 12-0 MAC team ranked #12 in the country getting blown out by an unranked 7-5 MAC team in the MACC is one of our conference's 10 greatest achievements?

From a selfish perspective, punking Michigan State (2009), and Iowa (last year) in the final seconds were two of my favorites (particularly MSU - it was one of the best college games I've ever witnessed). Other MAC schools have accomplished similar results, which is really our essence --- giant killers that survive year-in and year-out! Who doesn't love an underdog?! The first B1G chosen this year was a Badger (never heard of him!). He was "selected" second to last in the first round. Fisher, was a "THIRD"-team All-American? You can guess who designated him with that classification.

(04-27-2013 10:56 AM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(04-26-2013 07:12 PM)BullBoy Wrote:  I can't really argue with these, but I think UB's MAC Championship win in 2008 and going to a Bowl Game for the first time 50 years to the date that their only other bowl appearance which was taken away due to racial injustice is pretty big.

You think a 12-0 MAC team ranked #12 in the country getting blown out by an unranked 7-5 MAC team in the MACC is one of our conference's 10 greatest achievements?

What it did was bring a lot of national attention. That title game was the most watched ever. And the 50 year bowl-in-waiting story blew up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXuX1GsQ-ZQ

(04-26-2013 05:13 PM)FMRocket Wrote:  I guess three straight undefeated seasons didn't make the cut...
Good stuff though ...

It certainly should have made it over BG loss to Florida. So leading a team in the second quarter is considered a great moment now?

Edit: Actually they weren't even leading. That TD tied the score.

What does it say about Michigan that Toledo's win in The Big Hole didn't make the list?

(05-01-2013 06:39 AM)OUVan Wrote:  

(04-26-2013 05:13 PM)FMRocket Wrote:  I guess three straight undefeated seasons didn't make the cut...
Good stuff though ...

It certainly should have made it over BG loss to Florida. So leading a team in the second quarter is considered a great moment now?

Edit: Actually they weren't even leading. That TD tied the score.

BG led in the 1st and that score tied it in the 3rd. I'm pretty sure that was a tongue in cheek moment, BG doing the Gator chomp and shooshing the crowd in the Swamp.

If you watch the ref in the GIF you can see him pointing at Samuel. He got flagged for 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty for doing the throat slash.

Remember, if you look at the title of that article, it was titled "10 Great" moments of the MAC, not "THE 10 GreatEST" moments. I'm sure we can all agree there have been some other greater MAC accomplishments by MAC schools if it had been the 10 GreatEST list. I think this was just a non-MAC writer from SB Nation that was trying to give the MAC some props.

Dave Wottle winning Olympic gold ...still one of my favorite moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k

Not Football but in 1964 (I think) NCAA tournament Ohio U. beat Louisville and Kentucky back-to-back!

1964-65 WMU Cross Country teams were NCAA champions.

(05-01-2013 09:12 PM)Siborg Wrote:  Dave Wottle winning Olympic gold ...still one of my favorite moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k

Hasley Crawford winning the gold at the Olympics. It was a pretty good MAC Olympics.

Ben Curtis winning the British Open (The Open, for you purists).

Of course, this, like a lot of these items mentioned are not MAC moments per se, but accomplishments post-MAC which is a different thing, really. Probably should consider "moments" that occurred while the athletes were in school.

(05-02-2013 12:01 PM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Not Football but in 1964 (I think) NCAA tournament Ohio U. beat Louisville and Kentucky back-to-back!

1964-65 WMU Cross Country teams were NCAA champions.

Yeah, they did so well that the school dropped the sport a decade later.

Best Individual Seasons Of All Time: MAC (Click link to see all FBS teams by Conference)

Akron: Dwight Smith, CB, 2000
10 interceptions, two returned for TDs; 58 tackles

Smith led the country in interceptions, INT return yards and defensive TDs. He was Akron's first FBS All-American and the MAC Defensive Player of the Year. The Zips had consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 14 years.

Honorable mention: Charlie Frye 2003

Ball State: Brad Maynard, P, 1996
Averaged 45.8 yards per punt

Maynard made history in 1996 when he became the first punter in the history of college football to be named player of the year in an NCAA Division I conference after earning MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Honorable mention: Nate Davis 2007

Bowling Green: Freddie Barnes, WR, 2009
155 catches for 1,770 yards and 19 TDs

Barnes averaged 11.9 receptions and 136.2 yards per game, and his 22-catch, 278-yard performance against Kent State helped him become a Biletnikoff finalist. His 155 receptions was, and still is, an FBS record.

Honorable mention: Omar Jacobs 2004

Buffalo: Naaman Roosevelt, WR, 2008
104 catches for 1,402 yards and 13 TDs

Buffalo had essentially never seen anything like Roosevelt's school records at wide receiver. The Bulls had only one other 1,000-yard receiver in school history before Roosevelt's explosive campaign.

Honorable mention: Khalil Mack 2013

Central Michigan: Brian Pruitt, RB, 1994
1,890 yards rushing; 22 total TDs

Pruitt did it all in 1994. He led the Chippewas to a conference title, earned first-team AP All-American honors and set a single-season school rushing record. He's one of the most decorated players in school history.

Honorable mention: Dan Lefevour 2007

Eastern Michigan: Charlie Batch, QB, 1997
3,280 yards passing; accounted for 24 TDs

Batch's name is still listed 115 times in the official Eastern Michigan media guide after he rewrote the program's records. He finished his final season seventh nationally in completions and eighth in passing yards.

Honorable mention: Anthony Sherrell 2003

Kent State: Jack Lambert, LB, 1972
223 tackles; Tangerine Bowl MVP

Lambert solidified Kent State's first MAC championship in 1972 with a school-record 29 tackles against Toledo, sending the Golden Flashes to the Tangerine Bowl. Lambert was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Honorable mention: Dri Archer 2012

Massachusetts: Marcel Shipp, RB, 1998
2,542 yards; 18 touchdowns

Aside from Shipp's video game-esque numbers, he also came up huge in clutch situations. He rushed at least 36 times in UMass' last three playoff games and led the Minutemen to a Division I-AA national championship.

Honorable mention: Liam Coen 2006

Miami: Ben Roethlisberger, QB, 2003
4,486 yards; 37 TDs passing; three rushing TDs

After leading the league in virtually every passing category, Roethlisberger was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year. He also led the RedHawks to 13 wins, including the MAC championship game and the GMAC Bowl.

Honorable mention: Marc Smith 1970

NIU: George Bork, QB, 1963
3,077 yards; 32 TD

Bork helped spark aerial attacks in the sport by setting 16 national passing records. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound senior led NIU to an undefeated season and was the first player in college history to throw for 3,000 yards.

Honorable mention: Jordan Lynch 2013

Ohio: Dick Grecni, C, 1960
AP Little All-America first team

An All-American in 1960, Grecni starred both ways for a team that outscored opponents 269-34 and posted five shutouts. The Bobcats went undefeated and won the MAC and the national Small College Championship.

Honorable mention: Tyler Tettleton 2011

Toledo: Wasean Tait, RB, 1995
2,090 yards; 24 touchdowns

Dubbed "Little Barry" for his Sanders-esque moves, Tait had the most prolific season for a MAC running back at the time. He sparked Toledo's undefeated season and scored the deciding touchdown in a Las Vegas Bowl win.

Honorable mention: Dan Williams 1992

Western Michigan: Jason Babin, DE, 2003
115 tackles, 15 sacks, 33 tackles for loss

Babin registered 100 tackles and won the conference defensive player of the year award a second time. No other WMU player sniffs his record 33 tackles for loss in 2003. Babin owns the No. 2 spot on that list too.

Honorable mention: Greg Jennings 2005

Enjoyed the list, but Honorable mention for Miami: Marc Smith?? No, RB Rob Carpenter, or RB Ara Parseghian, or RB John Pont, or QB Sherman Smith, or MLB and All American Bob Babich, or QB Ernie Kellerman (converted to DB in NFL).