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Early Wednesday evening, the Mid-American Conference unveiled its entire 2018 football schedule, confirming its national TV schedule, as well as conference matchups.
There are plenty of changes to this year’s calendar, with a clear emphasis on Saturday games in conference play. Last season, the MAC played its late October-early November games entirely on weekdays, save for a Saturday game between Buffalo and Akron.
This will surely be a boon for fans, as two of the conference’s biggest rivalries, The Battle of I-75 between Toledo and Bowling Green, and the Battle for the Victory Cannon between Central and Western Michigan, were played on weeknights in 2017 and have been moved to Oct. 6 and Oct. 20, respectively, in 2018.
The schedule will feature at least one Saturday game a week from Oct. 25 onward, culminating in four Black Friday games at the end of the season.
The MAC will feature 16 nationally-televised games in October and November, as per recent tradition. Those games will be featured on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2 , ESPN3, ESPNU or ESPN News) and the CBS Sports Network.
Other nationally-televised games, especially in the non-conference slate, will be annonuced closer to the season’s official kickoff. As part of ESPN’s megacontract with the conference, it’s likely that most, if not all, of the conference games will air on ESPN3. An updated schedule will be released in June or July to confirm TV times, dates and channels for gams involving MAC programs.
If a game does not have such information even after the update, it is safe to assume information will be updated no later than 12 days before kickoff.
Ball State, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami, NIU, Ohio, Toledo and WMU seem to have picked up the majority of the heavy lifting for the weeknight #MACtion slate, while teams like CMU and EMU will only have to endure one weeknight game in-conference.
There’s several interesting observations to make, especially about the non-conference season, but that’s for another article here on Hustle Belt.
Without further ado, here’s the schedule for all 12 MAC programs, listed here in alphabetical order:
Akron Zips
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Sep.
1 at Nebraska
8 Morgan State
15 at Northwestern
22 at Iowa State
Oct.
6 Miami
13 at Buffalo
20 at Kent State
27 Central Michigan
Nov.
1 NIU, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network)
10 at Eastern Michigan
17 Bowling Green
23 at Ohio, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Ball State Cardinals
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Aug.
30 Central Connecticut State
Sep.
8 at Notre Dame
15 at Indiana
22 Western Kentucky
29 Kent State
Oct.
6 NIU
13 at Central Michigan
20 Eastern Michigan
25 at Ohio, time TBA (ESPN2/CBS Sports Network)
31 at Toledo, time TBA (ESPN2)
Nov.
13 Western Michigan, time TBA (ESPN2)
20 at Miami, time TBA (ESPN2 or ESPNU/ESPN3
Bowling Green Falcons
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Sep.
1 at Oregon
8 Maryland
15 Eastern Kentucky
22 Miami
29 at Georgia Tech
Oct.
6 at Toledo
13 Western Michigan
20 at Ohio
30 Kent State, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Nov.
10 at Central Michigan
17 at Akron
23 Buffalo, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Buffalo Bulls
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Sep.
1 Delaware State
8 at Temple
15 Eastern Michigan
22 at Rutgers
29 Army
Oct.
6 at Central Michigan
13 Akron
20 at Toledo
30 Miami, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Nov.
6 Kent State, time TBA (ESPNU)
14 at Ohio, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
23 at Bowling Green, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Central Michigan Chippewas
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Sept.
1 at Kentucky
8 Kansas
15 at NIU
22 Maine
29 at Michigan State
Oct.
6 Buffalo
13 Ball State
20 Western Michigan
27 at Akron
Nov.
3 at Eastern Michigan
10 Bowling Green
23 at Toledo, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Eastern Michigan Eagles
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Aug.
31 Monmouth
Sep.
8 at Purdue
15 at Buffalo
22 at San Diego State
29 NIU
Oct.
6 at Western Michigan
13 Toledo
20 at Ball State
27 Army
Nov.
3 Central Michigan
10 Akron
23 at Kent State, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Kent State Golden Flashes
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Sep.
1 at Illinois
8 Howard
15 at Penn State
22 at Ole Miss
29 at Ball State
Oct.
6 Ohio
13 at Miami
20 Akron
30 at Bowling Green, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Nov.
6 at Buffalo, time TBA (ESPNU)
15 Toledo, time TBA (CBS Sports Network)
23 Eastern Michigan, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Miami RedHawks
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Sep.
1 Marshall
8 Cincinnati (neutral site game at Paul Brown Stadium)
15 at Minnesota
22 at Bowling Green
29 Western Michigan
Oct.
6 at Akron
13 Kent State
20 at Army
30 at Buffalo, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Nov.
7 Ohio, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
14 at NIU, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
20 Ball State, time TBA (ESPN2 or ESPNU/ESPN3)
Northern Illinois Huskies
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Sep.
1 at Iowa
8 Utah
15 Central Michigan
22 at Florida State
29 at Eastern Michigan
Oct.
6 at Ball State
13 Ohio
27 at BYU
Nov.
1 at Akron, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network)
7 Toledo, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
14 Miami, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
20 at Western Michigan, time TBA (ESPN2 or ESPNU/ESPN3)
Ohio Bobcats
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Sep.
1 Howard
15 at Virginia
22 at Cincinnati
29 UMass
Oct.
6 at Kent State
13 at NIU
20 Bowling Green
25 Ball State, time TBA (ESPN2/CBS Sports Network)
Nov.
1 at Western Michigan, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network)
7 at Miami, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
14 Buffalo, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
23 Akron, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Toledo Rockets
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Sep.
1 VMI
15 Miami (FL)
22 Nevada
29 at Fresno State
Oct.
6 Bowling Green
13 at Eastern Michigan
20 Buffalo
25 at Western Michigan, time TBA (ESPN2/CBS Sports Network)
31 Ball State, time TBA (ESPN2)
Nov.
7 at NIU, time TBA (ESPN2/ESPNU)
15 at Kent State, time TBA (CBS Sports Network)
23 Central Michigan, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network/ESPN3)
Western Michigan Broncos
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Aug.
31 Syracuse, Time TBA (CBS Sports Network)
Sep.
8 at Michigan
15 Delaware State
22 at Georgia State
29 at Miami
Oct.
6 Eastern Michigan
13 at Bowling Green
20 at Central Michigan
25 Toledo, time TBA (ESPN2/CBS Sports Network)
Nov.
1 Ohio, time TBA (ESPNU/CBS Sports Network)
13 at Ball State, time TBA (ESPN2)
20 NIU, time TBA (ESPN2 or ESPNU/ESPN3)