Ohio has never won the MAC championship game, but the league’s media thinks this is the year the Frank Solich‘s crew breaks that drought.
The Bobcats went 9-4 (5-3 MAC) with a 41-6 win over UAB in the Bahamas Bowl. Ohio has won five MAC championships in its history, but none since 1968. Ohio loses six members of its front seven but returns quarterback Nathan Rourke, running back A.J. Ouellette, two receivers and four offensive linemen.
The league released its 2018 media poll on Tuesday, and Ohio enters 2018 as a solid favorite to win the league crown. Ohio is the runaway favorite to take the East Division for the second time in three years, and Northern Illinois is a solid favorite to win its record eighth West Division crown.
EAST
1. Ohio (21 first-place votes)
2. Buffalo (1)
3. Miami (2)
4. Akron
5. Bowling Green
6. Kent State
WEST
1. Northern Illinois (15)
2. Toledo (7)
3. Western Michigan (1)
4. Eastern Michigan
5. Central Michigan (1)
6. Ball State
Ohio received 13 votes to win the MAC Championship and Toledo, chosen second in the West, is also the second favorite to win the overall conference title with five votes. Northern Illinois earned four votes, and Miami and Central Michigan each garnered one apiece.
The 22nd MAC Championship will be played Friday, Nov. 30 at Detroit’s Ford Field (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2).