The 2016 MAC Championship Game was an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

conference championship game for 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 ...

(MAC). It was the 20th MAC Football Championship Game and was played 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 ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

on Friday, December 2, 2016, televised on ESPN2. The game featured the East Division co-champion

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

against the outright West Division champion

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's baseball, basketball ...

Teams

The

clinched their spot in the 2016 MAC Championship Game by beating Akron 9–3 in their final regular season game. They tied with divisional rival

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 ...

for the East title, but advanced to the MAC title game by virtue of their 17–7 win at Miami on October 1. Under 12th year head coach

Frank Solich Frank Thomas Solich (born September 8, 1944) is a former American football coach and former player. He is the former head coach at Ohio University, a position he held from 2005 until 2021. From 1998 to 2003, Solich served as the head coach at th ...

, the Bobcats finished the regular season with an 8–4 record, with key wins coming against

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

and

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

. Ohio finished 1–1 against Power 5 teams; they lost to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

(from the SEC) and beat

(from the Big 12). The

earned a spot in the 2016 MAC Championship Game after winning the MAC West outright by defeating

55–35 in their final home game. Under fourth year head coach

P. J. Fleck Philip John Fleck Jr. (born November 29, 1980) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He has served as the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team since 2017. Born in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Fleck played colle ...

, the Broncos finished the regular season with a perfect record, defeating both

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

teams they faced ( Northwestern and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

). The Broncos also defeated archrival Central Michigan for the third straight year by a score of 49–10.

Game summary

The Broncos opened the game with two first-quarter field goals, and the first quarter ended 6–0 in favor of the undefeated Broncos. Western Michigan had outscored opponents 135–59 in the first quarter during the season. They started the second quarter with their third field goal of the game, and extended their lead to nine. Ohio got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with an eight-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Greg Windham to Jordan Reid and cut the Broncos' lead to three, the closest the game had been since WMU's first field goal. The Broncos responded with two passing touchdowns and led at the half, 23–7. The Bobcats opened the third quarter with a touchdown inside the first two minutes to bring Ohio within 10 points as the extra point was no good. Broncos' kicker Butch Hampton responded with just under 3:30 left in the quarter with his fourth field goal of the game. The Bobcats cut the lead to six points with just over a minute left in the third quarter as Windham connected with Papi White for a 31-yard touchdown pass and the third quarter ended with Western Michigan leading 26–20. Ohio cut the Broncos' lead to three with 7:14 left in the final quarter after Louie Zervos kicked his first field goal of the game, from 37 yards. WMU kicker Butch Hampton improved to five-for-five on field goals on the game with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter to extend Western Michigan's lead to six. Ohio's would-be game-winning drive was abruptly cut short when Windham's pass was intercepted over the middle by

Robert Spillane Robert Spillane (born December 14, 1995) is an American football linebacker for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Western Michigan. Early years Spillane was born and grew up in Oak Park, ...

with 0:51 left in the game. Western Michigan took over and ran out the clock to with the MAC Championship.

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Mid-American Football Championship Game

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

MAC Championship Game Ohio Bobcats football games Western Michigan Broncos football games American football in Detroit Sports competitions in Detroit December 2016 sports events in the United States MAC Championship MAC Championship