Opponents Finalized For MAC Football Bowl Games

Opponents Finalized For MAC Football Bowl Games

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The opponents for the four bowl bound Mid-American Conference were finalized today. Those MAC teams are – Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl, Ohio in the GMAC Bowl, Western Michigan in the International Bowl, and Northern Illinois in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

The MAC, whose 10-5 bowl record since 1999 is the winningest (.667) of all D-IA conferences, has sent nine different teams to bowl games in the last three years. The four bowl appearances rank as the second most in conference history behind the five teams that went bowling in 2004. That year saw the MAC place five teams in the post-season – Toledo vs. Connecticut in the Motor City Bowl, Bowling Green vs. Memphis in the GMAC Bowl, Northern Illinois vs. Troy in the Silicon Valley Football Classic, Miami vs. Iowa State in the Independence Bowl and Marshall vs. Cincinnati in the Plains Capital Fort Worth Bowl.

Central Michigan (9-4, 7-1 MAC), the MAC’s 2006 Champion via its 31-10 win over Ohio last week, will play in the Motor City Bowl on Tuesday, December 26 against Middle Tennessee State (7-5, 6-1 Sun Belt). The 10th annual game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Detroit’s Ford Field and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. The Chippewas will be making their third bowl appearance in school history and will play in the postseason for the first time since the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl. It will also mark the first time in the 10-year history of the Motor City Bowl a school from the state of Michigan will play in the game. MTSU was co-champion of the Sun Blet, tied with Troy.

Ohio (9-4, 7-1), the MAC’s East Division Champion, will head to Mobile, Ala., to play in the GMAC Bowl on Sunday, January 7 against Southern Mississippi (8-5, 6-2) from Conference USA. Both teams droped their respective league championship games. Ohio 31-10 to Central Michigan and USM 34-20 to Houston. The game will take place at Ladd-Peebles Stadium at 8 p.m. on ESPN and will mark the Bobcats’ first bowl appearance since the 1968 Tangerine Bowl. This will be the sixth time a MAC team has played in the GMAC Bowl and the Bobcats will look to improve on the league’s perfect 5-0 record in Mobile.

Western Michigan (8-4, 6-2) will face Cincinnati (7-5, 4-3 Big East) in the inaugural International Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 6 at 12 Noon. The game, broadcast in the United States on ESPN2 and in Canada on The Sports Network (TSN), will be held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre (formerly the Sky Dome). It will mark the first time a bowl game has been played outside of U.S. since the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba. WMU will be making its first appearance in a bowl game since the 1988 California Bowl. Cincinnati suffered four of its losses to teams that were ranked No. 11 or better and defeated No. 7 Rutgers 30-11 Nov. 18.

Northern Illinois (7-5, 5-3) has accepted a bid to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and will face off against TCU (9-2, 6-2) of the Mountain West Conference. The Huskies, which feature the nation’s leading rusher in senior running back Garrett Wolfe, were an at-large selection into the game. The game will be played on Tuesday, December 19 at 8 p.m. on ESPN2 at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. TCU has won its last seven games.