As the weather cools down in the Midwest, the Mid-American Conference's football divisional races are definitely heating up.
Thanks to Bowling Green's 45-14 loss to Western Michigan - in which the Falcons also lost quarterback Omar Jacobs - four teams are within one game of the Falcons for the MAC East lead.
Coach Gregg Brandon talked about his team's situation in Monday's conference call.
Our backs are to the wall
Brandon said. The bright thing is that we're still in first place in the East and we can still control our destiny.
A Falcons' loss to Akron and an Ohio win at Buffalo will create a four-team tie atop the East Division between Bowling Green, Akron, Ohio, and Miami.
Akron coach J.D. Brookhart is trying not to let his team get caught up in the situation, especially after last week's 20-0 loss to Army.
With the way we're playing right now we haven't even talked about that Brookhart said about the possibility of his team gaining a share of the top spot in the division. To look at the pie in the sky like that would be the wrong approach
and in no way will we do that.
Meanwhile, the top of the West Division might hold three teams if Central Michigan knocks off Toledo and Northern Illinois beats Ball State.
We haven't been in this position in quite some time
Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly said. Can (the Chippewas) handle the bright lights of the moment mentally? I think that's where Toledo has a great advantage; they've been there before.
The Central Michigan/Toledo game is the MAC Game of the Week at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
No. 1 Akron men's soccer team wins MAC
The Akron Zips men's soccer team and coach Ken Lolla have been here many times before, but this year's version may be the most dangerous of them all.
With a 2-0 win over Western Michigan, the nationally top-ranked Zips (14-0-1, 5-0-0 MAC) clinched their eighth regular-season conference title, which is far and away the most of any MAC team since the conference began men's soccer play in 1993. It is also the first outright title for the team since 1999.
Akron outscored their five MAC opponents 17-1 throughout conference play, with the only opposing goal coming on a penalty kick.
The Zips have three non-conference matches before MAC tournament play begins, as they will seek to defend their championship. As the top seed, they will host the semifinal matches on Nov. 11 and the conference championship on Nov. 13.
Other sports winding down conference races Friday marks the last day of regular-season action for MAC women's soccer teams. Bowling Green can clinch the conference title with a win at Toledo. If the Falcons lose, Ball State and Western Michigan will have their shots of at least a share of the title.
The Kent State field hockey team can win the MAC with wins over Ball State and Central Michigan in the season's final weekend.
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Jason Fazzone
