The 2009 Mid-American Conference football season is an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

football season that was played from September 3, 2009, to January 7, 2010. The

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

consists of twelve full-time members, with

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

holding an affiliate membership for football.

Previous season

Ball State entered the 2008 MAC Championship Game undefeated and as the champion of the West Division. This was also their first ever appearance in the game. Ranked #12 in the country, they faced East Division champion Buffalo in the annual contest held at

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...

. That was Buffalo's first appearance as well. The Bulls upset Ball State and took the MAC Championship, giving Ball State their first loss of the season. After the championship game ended, four MAC football head coaches either resigned or were fired from their teams. This began with Ball State's coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

, who resigned to pursue a head coaching job at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. He was replaced by Stan Parrish for the 2009 season. Parrish was promoted internally after serving as Ball State's assistant football coach for four seasons. The only other head coaching change in the West Division was in

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

where

Jeff Genyk Jeff Genyk ( ; born August 22, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He most recently served as the special teams coordinator for Northwestern. Genyk served as the head football coach at Eastern Michigan University from 2004 to 2 ...

, head coach for the past five years, was fired after a combined 15–42 record. He was replaced by

Ron English Ron English (born June 6, 1959) is an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery, street art, and advertising. Career English has produced images on the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. He coined the term POPa ...

, who served as an assistant coach at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

for five years as well as the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

during the 2008 season. In the East Division, two schools also saw head coaching changes.

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

's head coach Shane Montgomery resigned after a 2–10 record in the 2008 season. His best season at Miami was in 2005 when he led the team to a 7–4 overall record and a tie for the MAC East title. However, in that season

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

won the tiebreaker to play in the

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...

against West champion

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

. Montgomery was replaced by Mike Haywood who served four years as

Notre Dame University The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campus ...

's offensive coordinator. At

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, six-year head coach

Gregg Brandon Gregg Brandon (born February 29, 1956) is a former American football coach and player. He was most recently the head football coach at the Colorado School of Mines, a position he had held from 2015 until his retirement after the 2021 season. Pri ...

was fired. However, Brandon did find another job in college football when he was named the new

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

offensive coordinator. He was replaced at Bowling Green by

Dave Clawson David Paul Clawson (born August 16, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the head football coach at Wake Forest University, where he was named the 2021 ACC Coach of the Year. Clawson previously served a ...

, who was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

Preseason

Preseason poll

The 2009 MAC Preseason Poll was announced at the Football Media Preview in Detroit on July 31. In the East Division, Buffalo was selected to repeat as divisional champions, and Central Michigan selected to top the West. Also, Central Michigan received 18 votes to win the MAC Championship Game.

West Division

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan cor ...

– 154 points #

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan, Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region a ...

– 126 points #

– 103 points # Toledo – 71 points # Ball State – 58 points #

– 34 points

East Division

# Buffalo – 155 points #

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

– 144 points #

– 128 points #

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

– 116 points #

– 101 points #

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

– 51 points #

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

– 33 points

MAC Championship

# Central Michigan – 18 votes # Western Michigan – 4 votes # Buffalo – 2 votes # Temple – 2 votes

Award watch lists

Regular season

Week one

Opening weekend for the Mid-American Conference consisted of six home games and six away games. Also, Miami faced Kentucky in a battle contested at

Paul Brown Stadium Paycor Stadium, previously known as Paul Brown Stadium, is an outdoor football stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the home venue of the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League and opened on August 19, 2000. Originally named after the B ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Bowling Green, Kent State, and Buffalo were the only teams to win the opening weekend. Buffalo was also the only team to win an away game as their season opener.

Previous season

Preseason

Preseason poll

West Division

East Division

MAC Championship

Award watch lists

Regular season

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Week five

Week six

Week seven

Week eight

Week nine

Week ten

Homecoming games

Players of the Week

East Division

West Division

Bowl games

References