One of the biggest winners in college football this Black Friday didn’t even have to step foot on the field to become one.
At a cold and rainy Glass Bowl Friday afternoon, Western Michigan took the lead in the middle of the second quarter and never trailed again, dropping host Toledo by the score of 35-30. The loss drops the 24th-ranked Rockets to 9-2 overall and 6-2 in Mid-American Conference play.
With the loss, UT and Northern Illinois, which lost to Ohio Tuesday night, are now tied atop the MAC West. However, because of the Rockets’ 34-27 home loss to the Huskies Nov. 3, it’ll be NIU facing Bowling Green in the conference championship game next weekend.
This is the seventh consecutive season NIU has either won outright or shared the West division title. This will also be NIU’s sixth straight appearance in the league title game, with the Huskies winning in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Even more to the point, it will be an NIU-BGSU MAC championship game each of the past three seasons.
One final note: not that there was much doubt before, but the Group of Five’s New Year’s Six bowl bid will almost certainly go to the AAC. The winner of that conference will be determined next week in Houston, with UH hosting either Temple (if it beats UConn) or USF (if Temple loses).