The 2023 Mid-American Conference football season is the 78th season 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), as part of the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season is the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. Non-conference play began with one game on August 26. Conference play began on September 23 and concluded with 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 ...

on Saturday, December 2 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 ...

. Miami won the East division with a 7-1 conference record with their only loss coming against Toledo.

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 ...

won the West with a perfect conference record. Their quarterback

Dequan Finn Dequan Finn (born April 21, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Baylor Bears. He previously played for the Toledo Rockets. High school career Finn attended Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, Michigan. As a senior, Finn t ...

won Player of the Year and coach

Jason Candle Jason Tyler Candle (born November 12, 1979) is an American football coach who is currently the head football coach at the University of Toledo. He had been an assistant at Toledo since 2009, and at Mount Union before that. Candle played wide re ...

won coach of the year. On October 21, during the regular season game between the division winners, Miami quarterback

Brett Gabbert Brett Gabbert is an American football quarterback for the Miami RedHawks. Early life and high school Gabbert attended Christian Brothers College where he led them to the 2018 MSHSAA Class 6 state championship. Gabbert would decide to commit t ...

suffered a season ending leg injury. In spite of that, Miami won their first MAC Championship since 2019 with a 23–14 upset victory 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 ...

Previous season

During the 2022 conference season,

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 ...

won the East Division with a record of 7–1 and

won the West Division with a 5–3 conference record. In the 2022 MAC Championship Game, Toledo defeated Ohio by a final score of 17–7. The MAC finished with a 4–2 bowl record which was good enough to win the

Bowl Challenge Cup The Bowl Challenge Cup is a competition among NCAA college football conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly called Division I-A, based on win–loss records in the bowl games that take place annually during December and January. The ...

Preseason

The MAC Football Kickoff will be held on July 20, 2023 at Fox Theatre in

from 9:00 am EDT to 1:30 pm EDT. Each team will have their head coach and a student athlete from both the offense and the defense to speak to the media. *Akron – Head Coach

Joe Moorhead Joe Moorhead (born November 2, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University of Akron. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon from 2020 to 2021, and the head coach at ...

, Daniel George, R-Sr., WR, KJ Martin, R-So., DB *Ball State – Head Coach

Mike Neu Michael David Neu (born December 29, 1970) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head football coach of the Ball State Cardinals. He played college football at Ball State for Paul Schudel from 1990 to 1993 and ...

, Brady Hunt, R-So., TE, Clayton Coll, Sr., LB *Bowling Green – Head Coach

Scot Loeffler Scot Loeffler (born November 1, 1974) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Bowling Green State University. He formerly served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College. He was ...

, Darren Anders, Sr., ILB, Odieu Hiliare, Sr., WR *Buffalo – Head Coach

Maurice Linguist Maurice Linguist (born April 1, 1984) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University at Buffalo, a position he had held since 2021. Playing career A native of Mesquite, Texas, Linguist played at Mesquite High Scho ...

, Marcus Fuqua, 5th-Yr., S, Cole Snyder, 5th-Yr., QB *Central Michigan – Head Coach

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, ...

, Deiyantei Powell Woods, Sr., OL, Trey Jones, Jr., DB *Eastern Michigan – Head Coach

Chris Creighton Christopher William Creighton (born February 7, 1969) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Eastern Michigan University, a position he has held since the 2014 season. Creighton has served as the head ...

, Samson Evans, Grad., RB, Chase Kline, Senior, LB *Kent State – Head Coach

Kenni Burns Kenni Burns (born November 24, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach for the Kent State Golden Flashes football team and the former running backs coach and assistant head coach for Minnesota Golden ...

, CJ West, Sr., DL, Khalib Johns, Gr., LB *Miami – Head Coach Chuck Martin,

, R-Jr., QB, Matthew Salopek, R-Jr., LB *Northern Illinois – Head Coach

Thomas Hammock Thomas Hammock (born July 7, 1981) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Northern Illinois University (NIU), a position he has held since January 2019. Prior to being named the head coach of his alma mater, he served as ...

, Nolan Potter, R-Sr., OL, James Ester, Sr., DT *Ohio – Head Coach

Tim Albin Tim Albin (born September 13, 1965) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Ohio University. He served as the head football coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State from 1997 through 1999. In 1999, he led t ...

Kurtis Rourke Kurtis Rourke (born October 25, 2000) is a Canadian American football quarterback who will play for the Indiana Hoosiers. He previously played for the Ohio Bobcats football team. College career Ohio Rourke was the starting quarterback for the Oh ...

, R-Sr., QB, Bryce Houston, Grad., LB *Toledo – Head Coach

, Quinyon Mitchell, Jr., CB,

, Jr., QB *Western Michigan – Head Coach Lance Taylor, Jacob Gideon, Jr., OL, Marshawn Kneeland, R-Jr., DL

Preseason polls

Coaches Poll

On July 20 the MAC announced the preseason coaches poll. Defending MAC champion Toledo was named the preseason favorite to win the conference while Ohio was picked to win the Eastern Division.

Individual Award Preseason Watchlists

Coaches

Coaching changes

The MAC enters the 2023 season with two new head football coaches: *

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 ...

fired Tim Lester on November 28, 2022, after his team finished the 2022 season with a 5–7. On December 7, 2022 Lance Taylor, who was the offensive coordinator for

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, was introduced as the new head coach. * On December 4, 2022 Sean Lewis stepped down as

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 ...

head coach to become the offensive coordinator at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

under new head coach

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons ...

. On December 13, 2022, Kent State hired former

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

associate head coach

as their new head coach.

Head coaching records

Source -

Rankings

Source: AP - Coaches - CFP -

Schedule

All times Eastern time.

Week 0

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

MAC Conference Championship Game

Postseason

Bowl Games

MAC records vs. other conferences

2023–2024 records against non-conference foes: Regular season Postseason

Mid-American vs Power 5 matchups

This is a list of games the MAC has scheduled versus

power conference The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA D ...

teams (

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

Big Ten 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 ...

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Mid-American vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include MAC teams competing against teams from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

Mid-American vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include MAC teams competing against

FBS Independents National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to sc ...

, which includes

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, or

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

Mid-American vs. FCS matchups

The following games include MAC teams competing against FCS schools.

Head to head matchups

Updated through end of regular season

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

East Division

West Division

MAC Individual Awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Mid-American Conference football coaches at the end of the season.

All-Conference Teams

The following players were listed as part of the All-Conference teams.

National Awards

Lou Groza Award The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the top college football placekicker in the United States by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award is named after former Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns player Lou Groza. It has be ...

Graham Nicholson Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan G ...

, Miami

All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of

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

football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points.

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

References

{{2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox 2023 Mid-American Conference football season