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The Mid-American Conference announced its 2020 football season on Wednesday afternoon, unveiling their conference matchups via press release.
The 2020-21 academic year will mark the 75th anniversary of the Mid-American Conference.
In their release, the conference hyped up “Saturdays in October,” using the middle two weekends as an unofficial “rivalry week,” with five of the conference’s marquee trophy games on the line. Akron/Kent State will kick off the promotion on Oct. 10, with the other four rivalries (including NIU/Ball State, Miami/Ohio, Toledo/BGSU and CMU/WMU) all kicking off at Oct. 17.
The conference will also have teams hosting neutral-site games for the first time since 2016 as part of the 2020 football calendar. Central Michigan and Western Michigan will play for the Victory Cannon at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 17 as part of the “Saturdays in October” series, while NIU is set to play host to BYU at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeport, Illinois in a rekindling of the “Chi-Town Huskie Showdown” on Oct. 24.
The conference also announced every game will be streamed or televised once again for the upcoming season, and will announce dates, times and networks in “May or early June” for non-weeknight #MACtion games.
Speaking of weeknight MAC games, 14 of 17 games scheduled for November will be on a weeknight, with the remaining three games on Saturdays. Akron and Bowling Green will play in all three of the Saturday games (once playing each other), while EMU and WMU will also get at least one game on a weekend in November.
The 24th annual MAC Championship Game will take place at Ford Field on either Fri., Dec. 4 or Sat., Dec. 5, with a kickoff time to be announced later. This will be the 17th MACCG to be played at Ford Field.
We’ve collected every schedule and placed it on one table for you to browse below:
2020 Initial MAC Football Schedules
| Week (Saturday Date) | Akron | Ball State | Bowling Green | Buffalo | Central Michigan | Eastern Michigan | Kent State | Miami (OH) | Northern Illinois | Ohio | Toledo | Western Michigan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week (Saturday Date) | Akron | Ball State | Bowling Green | Buffalo | Central Michigan | Eastern Michigan | Kent State | Miami (OH) | Northern Illinois | Ohio | Toledo | Western Michigan |
| 1 (September 5) | Youngstown State (FCS) | Maine (Thurs.) | @ Ohio State | @ Kansas State | San Jose State | @ Kentucky | @ Penn State | @ Pitt | Rhode Island (FCS) | NC Central (FCS) | @ Tulsa | Colgate (FCS) (Fri.) |
| 2 (September 12) | @ New Mexico State | @ Michigan | Robert Morris (FCS) | St. Francis (FCS) | @ Nebraska | Coastal Carolina | Kennesaw State (FCS) | UAPB (FCS) | @ Maryland | @ Boston College | San Diego State | @ Cincinnati (Fri.) |
| 3 (September 19) | @ Clemson | @ Indiana | @ Illinois | @ Ohio State | @ Northwestern | Northern Illinois | @ Kentucky | Cincinnati | @ Eastern Michigan | Marshall | @ Michigan State | @ Notre Dame |
| 4 (September 26) | Miami (OH) | Wyoming | Buffalo | @ Bowling Green | Bryant (FCS) | @ Missouri | @ Alabama | @ Akron | @ Iowa | @ Texas State | CCSU (FCS) | Syracuse |
| 5 (October 3) | @ Buffalo | Western Michigan | Liberty | Akron | @ Eastern Michigan | Central Michigan | @ Northern Illinois | Army | Kent State | @ Toledo | Ohio | @ Ball State |
| 6 (October 10) | @ Kent State | @ Buffalo | Miami (OH) | Ball State | @ Northern Illinois | @ Ohio | Akron | @ Bowling Green | Central Michigan | Eastern Michigan | @ Western Michigan | Toledo |
| 7 (October 17) | UMass | Northern Illinois | @ Toledo | Kent State | Western Michigan (in Detroit) | @ Army | @ Buffalo | Ohio | @ Ball State | @ Miami (OH) | Bowling Green | Central Michigan (in Detroit) |
| 8 (October 24) | @ Ball State | Akron | @ Ohio | Army | Miami | Toledo | Western Michigan | @ Central Michigan | BYU (in Bridgeport) | Bowling Green | @ Eastern Michigan | @ Kent State |
| 9 (October 31) | Toledo | @ Miami (OH) | BYE | BYE | BYE | @ Western Michigan | BYE | Ball State | BYE | BYE | @ Akron | Eastern Michigan |
| 10 (November 7) | BYE | BYE | Kent State (Thurs.) | @ Northern Illinois (Wed.) | Ohio (Wed.) | BYE | @ Bowling Green (Thurs.) | BYE | Buffalo (Wed.) | @ Central Michigan (Thurs.) | BYE | BYE |
| 11 (November 14) | Bowling Green | Eastern Michigan (Tues.) | @ Akron | Miami (Tues.) | @ Toledo (Wed.) | @ Ball State (Tues.) | Ohio (Tues.) | @ Buffalo (Tues.) | @ Western Michigan (Tues.) | @ Kent State (Wed.) | Central Michigan (Wed.) | Northern Illinois (Tues.) |
| 12 (November 21) | Western Michigan | @ Central Michigan (Wed.) | @ Eastern Michigan | at Ohio (Wed.) | Ball State (Wed.) | Bowling Green | @ Miami (Tues.) | Kent State (Tues.) | Toledo (Tues.) | Buffalo (Wed.) | @ Northern Illinois (Tues.) | @ Akron |
| 13 (November 28) | @ Ohio (Friday) | @ Toledo (Fri.) | Northern Illinois (Fri.) | at Western Michigan (Fri.) | @ Kent State (Tues.) | @ Miami (Fri.) | @ Central Michigan (Tues.) | Eastern Michigan (Fri.) | @ Bowling Green (Fri.) | Akron (Fri.) | Ball State (Tues.) | Buffalo (Fri.) |