MAC Football Pod

EPISODE 37 Alex & Kaleb task each other to say whether each others' 10 MACtion statements for each other are either true or false. Such as: JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW SOCIAL PLUGS: alexonmaction@gmail.com@ARAlvarado13@Kaleb_M_Carter@macfootballblog LISTEN TO MAC FOOTBALL POD...

EPISODE 36 Now that we're two weeks through the season, we've seen enough football to start learning some things about these squads. While we don't have the time to go over all 12 MAC schools, there are some "what's next?" questions that are probably worth spreading around. Toledo lost another game where it might've scored too quickly, and cost the team at Notre Dame. What's this to say about Jason Candle's coaching future? Ohio's offense looked bad, and it's time to give this group a...

EPISODE 35 Week 1 overreactions? Never us. Week 1 learning experiences? Also never us. The games & storylines Alex & Kaleb hit on: JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE MAC FOOTBALL PODCAST! SOCIAL PLUGS: alexonmaction@gmail.com@ARAlvarado13@Kaleb_M_Carter@macfootballblog LISTEN TO MAC FOOTBALL POD...

EPISODE 34 Way to go Huskies! NIU pulled off a Power 5 upset over Georgia Tech which was sealed by a gutsy 2-point conversion in the final seconds of regulation to avoid overtime. It's the first big win of Thomas Hammock's career, and gives his many, many freshmen a memory that they'll always be able to look back on. No other MAC team pulled off a P5 upset in Week 1, and nobody had the embarrassing loss to a visiting FCS team. But Ball State almost became that embarrassed team against...

EPISODE 33 Week 1! It's actually here! Going in reverse order from how I ranked these MAC teams in my most recent power rankings, we'll go down the list and gently talk about the 12 season-openers to keep an eye on over the weekend. Week 1 games: JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE MAC FOOTBALL PODCAST! SUPPORT THE SHOW FOR JUST $3/MONTH: My Patreon is essentially an extension of my...

EPISODE 32 It's that time of year again. With the upcoming football season right around the corner, it's time for us to do the draft for our MAC fantasy football league with our group of close friends. Alex's team, in order of draft pick: QB Carter Bradley, WR Yo'Heinz Tyler, WR Isaiah Winstead, RB Darius Boone, Miami D/ST (keeper), TE Bryson Cannon, WR Bryce Nunnelly, K Marshall Meeder, RB Clint Ratkovich, WR Devin Maddox, WR Khamron Laborn, TE Tommy Guajardo, QB Ben Bryant, WR Latrell...

EPISODE 31 In our final MAC Previews episode of the offseason, we finish with three teams that have varying degrees of experience in the MAC Championship game: Northern Illinois, Buffalo, and Western Michigan. NIU (1:52) has 88 freshmen on its football roster right now. Yes, 88. Sure there are a good number of third-year, redshirt-freshmen lumped in there, but they’re going to be going up against sixth-year seniors and fifth-year juniors. Can we expect things to materialize into...

EPISODE 30 Another Mid-American Conference team previews episode! Here, Alex and Kaleb talk about the two most recent MAC champions, and one team that had to replace its historic, long-long-time tenured head coach in Frank Solich not too long ago. Ohio (6:10) has been a steady program in the Frank Solich era. But now Solich has retired from coaching the game, and long-time offensive coordinator Tim Albin is now in charge of things. We doubt things will change too drastically, for better or...

EPISODE 29 Alex and Kaleb continue with Part 2 of 4 of the MAC Team Preview series with a distinct MAC East rivalry, and a MAC West team that may or may not spoil some championship dreams if all goes right. Akron (5:03) fans might not want to hear this: the back half of the schedule is a b s o l u t e l y b r u t a l and there’s just no chance things will look pretty for your team. I’m really, really rooting for QB Kato Nelson because he didn’t simply transfer out when things were starting...

EPISODE 28 It’s time for MACtion team previews! To start things off, we’ve got the Battle of I-75 on the brain with Bowling Green and Toledo. Eastern Michigan might have its limits, but that’s a team that’s fun to think big for. BGSU (4:17) just absolutely needs to provide something on the field to give us a reason to want to watch this team. It simply has not played well since last decade’s MAC East title stretch. Where’s the positivity of this group going to come from? EMU (19:17) has...

EPISODE 27 While neither Texas nor Oklahoma classify as either small schools or located in the midwest, the recent drama (which is a shitstorm, to be clear) with Oklahoma and Texas burning their bridges with the Big XII to join the Southeastern Conference. The MAC isn’t a neighbor of either of those leagues, but I’d be lying if I said that wouldn’t have an impact on the MAC. JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR...

EPISODE 26 MAC Media Day happened on Tuesday, so I called Kaleb to talk about the event. It was just MAC Media Day, so it wasn’t all that great. We parse out the preseason poll (Kent State, Ball State favorites to go to Detroit) and I ask him the same three questions I asked everybody that I was able to get to at the media circus. JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE MAC FOOTBALL...

EPISODE 25 Frank Solich has officially retired as Ohio’s head coach on Wednesday after 16 and a half years in Athens. He’ll still be around the program, but his tenure-long offensive coordinator Tim Albin will step up to be the new head coach. After reflecting on his career, Alex and Kaleb Carter make our divisional picks. Alex’s picks: Toledo vs. Kent State makes a lot of sense for 2021’s MAC Championship matchup. JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! -->...

EPISODE 24 New name, same game. Changed the name of the podcast because, in short, it felt right and I wanted to. So much to catch up on since there hasn't been a new episode here in a couple of weeks (sorry about that, just got busy). Let's have a relaxed, enjoyable refresher on some of the news around college football in the last couple of weeks. Normally this is the time to just relax and not read a lot about college football-sided news, but 2021 was never going to be a normal...

EPISODE 23 Another interview to focus on a Power 5 program that may or may not be on upset alert for this MAC contest. This time, we’ve got Daniel Gallen (PennLive.com / @danieljtgallen on Twitter) to talk about what to expect from the Penn State Nittany Lions. Under more normal circumstances, Penn State vs. Ball State might sound like a regularly-scheduled blowout, but the Nittany Lions are going to have to prove that they’re better than the 4-5 team record it had last year (started 0-5,...

EPISODE 22 More non-conference team look-ats with 4 Things focused on the Minnesota Gophers and Army Black Knights. Both of these squads will have two MAC teams to take on this season: Minnesota faces both Miami and Bowling Green while Army, which returns head coach Jeff Monken, will play Miami and Ball State. JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE MAC FOOTBALL PODCAST! SUPPORT THE SHOW FOR...

EPISODE 21 The non-conference team previews continue with notes on both Iowa (vs. Kent State, Week 3) and Northwestern (vs. Ohio, Week 4). But first, the 12-team playoff model is made public and an instant reaction is only appropriate. It’s an initial nice back-door entry point for Group of 5 teams to make the playoff, and it still has a lot of area to improve. But we’ll take it I guess? JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! -->...

EPISODE 20 Today I’ve got a special guest for you. Alan Blondin from The Sun News in Myrtle Beach joins the show to talk about the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, and give an early preview for this season’s non-league game at Buffalo. One of the few good things from the 2020 season, on an entertainment level, was the excellent season that the Chants had. With so many returners back, this is a team that shouldn’t be overlooked, and is home to one of the most unique-looking offenses in the...

EPISODE 19 Today I’ve got a special guest for you. Mike Wilson from SB Nation’s Cardiac Hill joins the program to talk about his Pitt Panthers, and give an early preview for this season’s non-league game against Western Michigan. Can the Broncos’ high-flying offense keep Pitt’s defensive secondary scrambling for answers? Or will QB Kenny Pickett lead his offense to a strong enough charge on the day? JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! -->...

EPISODE 18 As previously blogged on macfootballblog.com, I ranked teams in the MAC based on *my* confidence in each of them going up against their respective non-conference schedules in 2021. Here, I’ll talk about the thought processes behind my list a little bit more in-depth. JOIN MY MACTION-SIDED DISCORD! Link to invite, join and say hi! --> https://discord.gg/GCK3TM2FZW THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE MAC FOOTBALL PODCAST! SUPPORT THE SHOW FOR JUST $3/MONTH: Consider...