Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics
As MAC Media Day begins at Ford Field in Detroit — the location of the league’s conference championship games since 2004 — the head coaches’ picks for who they think should win the league title this year have been announced.
Western Michigan and Miami OH, the two teams who fought for the MAC title last year (WMU victory), are both picked to repeat as the league’s favorites. They were the only two schools in the league to receive first-place votes from their peers — WMU with nine, Miami with four.
Eastern Michigan, which finished last year with a 4-8 record, was tabbed as the league’s preseason 7th-place finisher with 76 total points.
2026 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll
Western Michigan (9 first-place votes) – 138 points
Miami (4) – 134 points
Toledo – 115 points
Ohio – 107 points
Central Michigan – 101 points
Buffalo – 81 points
Eastern Michigan – 76 points
Kent State – 64 points
Bowling Green – 59 points
Akron – 52 points
Ball State – 34 points
Sacramento State – 28 points
Massachusetts – 25 points
MAC Title Game Champion: Western Michigan – 9; Miami – 4
Compared to my season picks, the MAC’s coaches and I have the same top-3 teams (I have Miami over WMU), and we share Ohio as a fourth-place team, though I have Ohio finishing in a 4-way tie with EMU and Akron (Coaches: 10th). CMU’s fifth on the coaches’ poll, but I have CMU 7th (though, as I noted, I could definitely CMU being a real dark horse contender). Maybe the biggest disagreement my picks take with the coaches’ poll is Bowling Green. Coaches voted BG to finish 9th, while I have the group as the MAC’s bottom-place finisher.
