The Ypsilanti Eleven's Completely Correct Picks for the 2026 MAC Football Season

MAC Media Day will be here in a few days, which is when we’ll see which team(s) coaches most expect to see win the league this season. But why wait for their opinions to be published Wednesday when you could have mine right now?

Here are my season picks for the final 2026 MAC football season’s standings (aka news you could use):

Chuck Martin’s been able to get his team to Detroit for the last three years in a row now, it’s hard to see this team falling off the tracks when it has such a favorable start to its MAC schedule (vs. Bowling Green, at UMass, vs. Akron; avoids Toledo).

Lance Taylor was able to get an entire class of transfers to play great defense, led by the league’s top player Nadame Tucker (Houston), so he’s going to have to do that again. The offensive weapons should be strong enough for WMU to have a big winning streak this year.

Toledo’s head coach and roster changes could end up being for the best, but it might not mean Toledo finds its way back to Detroit just yet. Mike Jacobs will probably do just fine and I’m sure the highlight FCS-to-FBS talents he got in the transfer portal will do just fine in his first season. But WMU and Ohio are going to be big games, and those programs might be ahead of where Toledo’s at right now.

EMU hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2022, and anything less than a bowl appearance this year would be a big disappointment. As much as I’d like to entertain the thought of EMU breaking through and making a top-two finish in the league standings, I just don’t know if EMU’s got what it takes to beat either Ohio or WMU on the road this year, let alone Toledo at home.

A placement this high means that I’m looking at two things to happen for Akron this season. One, Reese Poffenbarger plays really well and lifts Akron’s offense to a level of play it hasn’t had in a while. If the Zips offense is playing well, then why not think it could steal a game from Miami or Ohio? I don’t think Akron’s going to win eight games this year, but Joe Moorhead’s been steadily moving this team in the right direction since he got there.

No team in the MAC has won more games since 2021 than Ohio (40). That doesn’t mean it’s not capable of regrettably losing some games this year that it probably shouldn’t (vs. CMU, at Akron).

If CMU’s offense gets more big plays out of its running back room this year, and it stays in the positive on the turnover-takeaway margins (+5 last year), then I think I have a chance to be dead wrong on where the Chippewas end up this season. I like CMU’s style of play under Matt Drinkall, but the team had average results for this first year. If the improvements are good enough, then I don’t see why CMU can’t get hot and instead make a more impressive run to Detroit than any other team listed above.

Buffalo’s new quarterback Elijah Holmes (D2, Wingate) did not make many mistakes at his last school, and this team is going to be desperate for his efficiency to translate into MACtion. Buffalo, to me, just doesn’t have the talent and depth to match teams at the top of this conference.

We’ve reached the point in my list where I’d start to be surprised if a team won six games and made it to a bowl game. Ball State’s another one of those seemingly-impossible MAC jobs that Mike Uremovich signed up for. A tough team last year, but the Ball State coaching job never gets easier.

Kent State was a win away from six wins last year. But, like I said for Ball State, Mark Carney’s job at Kent State will never get easier. I’m not rooting for it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s group wins less than it did a year ago.

Sacramento State’s football program wasn’t expecting to make the FCS-to-FBS jump so soon, but it’s here now. The Hornets are certainly living in exciting times, but, on paper, there’s very little reason to believe in this team just yet.

I’m hopeful UMass can turn in a much more exciting season than its 0-12 showing last year.

I could be very, very wrong on BG’s ability, but I just don’t know how much optimism I can give a team that has big question marks at quarterback and offensive line. It’s not like Eddie George had an exhaustive, winning track record as a head coach before he took this job.