The 2021 MAC Championship Game was a

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 ...

game played on December 4, 2021, 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, Michigan 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 ...

. It was the 25th edition of the

MAC Football 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 ...

and determined the champion of 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) for the 2021 season. The game began at 12:00 p.m. EST and aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. The game featured the

Northern Illinois Huskies The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The athleti ...

, the Western Division champions, and the

Kent State Golden Flashes The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level with football competing in ...

, the Eastern Division champions. Sponsored by mortgage lending company

Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage, LLC (formerly known as Quicken Loans LLC) is a mortgage loan provider. It is headquartered in the One Campus Martius building in the financial district of Downtown Detroit, Michigan. In January 2018, the company became the larg ...

through their Rocket Mortgage brand, the game was officially known as the Rocket Mortgage MAC Championship Game.

Teams

The 2021 MAC Championship Game will feature the

, champions of the East Division, and the

, champions of the West Division. This will be the teams' 30th all-time meeting; Northern Illinois enters the game leading the series 21–8. The teams first met in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, and have been

opponents since

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. The teams last met earlier in the season, with Kent State defeating Northern Illinois 52–47, to break a ten-game losing streak to the Huskies; prior to 2021, the teams last faced off in 2017, with Northern Illinois winning, 24–3.

Kent State

Kent State clinched a spot in the championship game following their win over Miami (OH). It marked their first Eastern Division title since

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

; Kent State is looking for their first MAC title since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois clinched a berth in the championship game following their win over Buffalo.

Game summary

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 MAC Championship Game

Championship 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 Northern Illinois Huskies football games Kent State Golden Flashes football games American football competitions in Detroit MAC Championship MAC Championship MAC Championship