Hustle Belt, for Mid-American Conference fans

MAC play begins tomorrow, so this is as good a time as any to rank 'em. Thanks to Brown And Gold, Ben Miraski and Bull Run's Tim Riordan for pitching in on this edition.

Northern Illinois and Toledo remain unbeaten conference play, perfectly setting up their ESPN2 game next Tuesday night. On the other side, Ball State and Akron are the two worst teams and they conveniently play each other as well.

The MAC power struggle is as follows: Northern Illinois, five solid teams, and everybody else. And odds are, if you're a non-fictional bird, you're probably struggling a lot.

Northern Illinois's win over Temple has to put them at No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference, followed closely by the Owls. Beyond that ... well, pick your team without a winning record.

With Temple's thrilling 42-35 win at Army, they're back in the No. 1 slot of the Mid-American Conference power rankings. Meanwhile, Ball State climbs out of the sewer with their unlikely win at Central Michigan.

The down week for the Mid-American Conference really makes it hard to assign "powers" to most of these teams. But that's half the fun.