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Toledo's loss was Ohio's gain in more ways than one.
The Rockets fell from three to five in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 after Saturday's overtime loss, while Ohio moved up from fourteen to ten. The Bobcats gained more than 140 points because of the win and jumped a few teams considered favorites to win their respective conferences. Toledo won't have much to sweat this week with games against Bowling Green and at Ball State, but the Bobcats will have their hands full Wednesday against Western Michigan.
This poll gives credence to how competitive this league is in the collective national conscience. The MAC has three teams in the poll, tied only by the West Coast Conference. The Missouri Valley, at one time thought of as the best mid-major conference in the country, only has two, but would have three if Creighton still counted. The Horizon League is always a good comparison for the MAC, and they have just one representative.
Along those lines, the Bobcats are among the leaders of the other mid-major conferences in terms of this poll and other rankings. Although many may not have heard of the schools around Ohio in the rankings, teams like North Dakota State, Mercer, Manhattan and Georgia State are all capable of picking up wins in the NCAA Tournament and have beaten some good high-major schools already.
Record | Points | Previous | Conference | ||
1 | Wichita State (31) | 23-0 | 775 | 1 | Missouri Valley |
2 | Gonzaga | 20-3 | 740 | 2 | West Coast |
3 | Stephen F. Austin | 20-2 | 689 | 7 | Southland |
4 | Harvard | 17-3 | 648 | 5 | Ivy League |
5 | Toledo | 18-3 | 638 | 3 | Mid-American |
6 | Green Bay | 18-4 | 634 | 4 | Horizon |
7 | Indiana State | 17-5 | 573 | 7 | Missouri Valley |
8 | New Mexico State | 17-7 | 517 | 15 | WAC |
9 | North Dakota State | 16-6 | 501 | 8 | Summit |
10 | Ohio | 16-5 | 487 | 14 | Mid-American |
11 | UC Santa Barbara | 14-6 | 459 | 19 | Big West |
12 | Georgia State | 15-6 | 421 | 20 | Sun Belt |
13 | Mercer | 18-6 | 366 | 12 | Atlantic Sun |
14 | Canisius | 16-7 | 331 | 22 | Metro Atlantic |
15 | Manhattan | 14-6 | 298 | 10 | Metro Atlantic |
16 | Delaware | 16-7 | 292 | 23 | Colonial |
17 | Akron | 14-7 | 245 | 16 | Mid-American |
18 | Northern Colorado | 13-6 | 222 | 13 | Big Sky |
19 | IPFW | 18-6 | 159 | 21 | Summit |
20 | Saint Mary's | 16-7 | 140 | 11 | West Coast |
21 | Belmont | 17-8 | 121 | 17 | Ohio Valley |
22 | UC Irvine | 14-9 | 96 | 18 | Big West |
23 | North Carolina Central | 15-5 | 79 | 24 | MEAC |
24 | Princeton | 12-5 | 75 | 9 | Ivy League |
25 | BYU | 15-9 | 73 | NR | West Coast |
Other MAC teams receiving votes in the poll include Kent State (26), Buffalo (7), and Western Michigan (6).
Also, our friends at Mid-Major Madness put together their Power 15, which had Toledo at nine and Ohio at thirteen. Go check them out!