MAC Conference 2024 Predictions - Teams to Look Out For

what about my [Music] love let's get into it man K go ahead give us your uh your outlook man we're not there yet hold up oh whoa whoa all right now you're good here we go okay sweet oh okay there all right yeah so I got Miami Ohio taken uh another trip to the conference Championship for the second year in a row after winning it this past year against Toledo um but different winner this year and Northern Illinois so I know Toledo might be one of the popular picks to make it back uh going 11 and three but they lose a lot of a lot of starters I think they'll still be a solid team I think they'll still be one of the top four teams in this conference um to go along with uh with Ohio I think they're going to be another good team at this conference but it's going to be Miami and Northern Illinois who are going to make it who are going to make it here um The Mack is in a little bit of a weird spot in in terms of where the conference is at because next year they're going to be adding UMass as a permanent member um after seeing them for a little bit just as a football member only next year they're going to be implemented as a as an all sport member of the conference so that's going to be a big change right now the Mac is split into pods and instead of having divisions right it's now going to be the two best teams with the best conference records which is pretty standard in college football at this point so yeah no conferences but looking at Northern Illinois and Miami um I'll start with Miami here they were they are going to be a really really underrated team this this next year right so they return multiple I think yeah two 100 tack players on their defense including linebacker Matt salope who is again under the radar guy but he might be one of the best returning linebackers in the entire country so watch out for him he's gonna be a force on defense once again I mean he's not going anywhere the problem is they don't return as many starters so they're not as experienced the offensive line is taking a hit and they're they're not returning key players at key positions right I would love to rank them higher but you're losing out on Rashad Amos who is your top running back and you're not replacing him with any studs even relative to the talent level in the Mac so they're gonna approach the season with a running back by committee approach but I I just don't feel as good about them um going into the season now granted they will be tested and we could learn a lot about them because they have their first three games of the Season Northwestern Cincinnati Notre Dame we can learn a lot about this team now granted again none of those games will count for you know if they make it to their conference Championship Game obviously but we'll learn a lot about this Miami team because if they could get a win you know Cincinnati would be nice but beating an underrated Northwestern team and at least keeping it somewhat competitive with Notre Dame would send a massive statement to the rest of the Mac going into conference play so oh 100% I think that they could easily be the winner here but I have NIU as my champion of the Mac this year after a season where you know they they were only seven and six this past year so to to have them going from seven and six to not only playing in the conference Championship game but having him like win the whole thing is a might seem like a little bit of a jump but they have 30 seniors on this team including 16 returning starters they are not only experienced but they are very very deep I mean they're returning their they leading Rush their top three leading rushers and they lose out a quarterback but this is an offense that relies on rushing ability of a quarterback and they they return enough starters in other positions where I don't see um having a new quarterback in the starting lineup as a as a problem they're going to be a really solid team and I think it's that experience that's going to really propel them to potentially like a one- hit wonder type of season they may d drop off next year um especially since they weren't great this past year but that experience I think is really going to carry them especially because they do have high expectations already heading into this season yeah man not too bad the NIU one makes makes a lot of sense I I think you're going to see a lot of familiarity in this list but me and KH definitely switched it up on you guys so not spoiler alert but I I had to know I had to know your reasoning Hayden cuz all y'all kind of play it seems like y'all kind of played it safe but but I'll go ahead I'll go ahead and get get over to mine I got Toledo as my runner up and my winner as Ohio look I went back and forth with like the Ohio I like the pi there were I was that I love it there's a it was tough this was tough for me well the yeah I mean it might have been tough but I had to really dig into the the schedule thing is what scared me the most for Miami to be honest they got three games that are just Killers for them at the beginning of the Season Northwestern then they have the early bio week then they got to play Cincinnati then they got to play Notre Dame then they got to play Toledo then they got to play Ohio before their next their next uh their next bye then and then they also have NIU and Bowling Green at the end of the season schedu it's tough Bret gal Brett Gabbert's injury scares me but if if y'all know anything about what I've been saying about my boy Gage larvan that was there last year man Gage larvadain was literally my favorite receiver in college last year outside of the notable ones and because he was so damn good he was going to go play for South Carolina in the SEC you ain't making that type of jump if you weren't that guy to be honest man he's a small guy 5910 yeah uh his stats last year for those that didn't know um 273 against UMass last year in three touchdowns I played against him in fantasy that week they when he played when he played Miami eight receptions 80 yards so I mean he can go and play against the best defenses as well um going from a group of five school and playing a a power five school like that is is absolutely outrageous who's putting 80 on him like that but one thing I do like about Ohio and y'all know how I am about quarterbacks I may be a little biased but I don't know if you guys saw the the bowl game win that they had last year now I'm talking about Ohio at this point Parker navario came in transfer from UCF and absolutely went crazy and then won the game right there I think that he may outside of Brett Gabbert he may be the best returning player in the mac and one of the best transfers last year for for a team um now Runner as far as Toledo I love Jason Campbell and what he's been doing uh with with Toledo you know he he's got Tucker gleon out there as well um I I I just think that the pieces that they lost is what's going to knock them down a little bit and and the only other reason that I'm picking them is that they have another favorable schedule as well you know from top to bottom it's not too bad and and what they're going to have to do this year so you know when I'm looking at their schedule as well they're playing Duane UMass Mississippi State and Western Kentucky are probably the two the two best teams that they're probably going to play this year and then the rest of it is we just got to get through Miami we got to get through NIU and Bowling Green but all of those are in the middle of the season and they finish out playing Ohio and then akan um if Toledo is as good as what they what they say they are they can they can literally walk out of here with one loss maybe two Western Kentucky and Mississippi I'll give them two I would say that they let's say they make it out of Western Kentucky they're probably going to lose to Ohio so then they're going into the ma Championship playing against Ohio and in another rematch and then losing to me so that's kind of how I see this whole thing panning out favorable uh bye-week schedule four games by five games by three games towards the end of the season it's a great perfect it's it's great yeah I I mean I I like that for toled but you know outside of that man you know another reason why I have Ohio winning Ohio let the mac and theuse points allow uh per game last season teams only had 4.8 yards per snap um against them which was you know the best in mac and they got a couple returning starters that were part of that defense as well so I think their defense is going to be good I think them having you know who I think Parker Naro might be the best quarterback that comes out of there but you know dcoin Finn not being for Toledo is is a huge blow I mean and Penny Boon losing him to UCF too yeah and and now they're at bigger and better programs now for a good reason so you know it is what it is that's that's who my winner and runner up is is Hayden playing he he playing a safe card here I I I according to you yes but for me it was tough I would say it was between few teams besides these Su Ohio and IU I actually liked a little bit um of course what's oh why am I blinking on it hold but there was a few anyways I'm not going to just keep going but for me I went with Toledo and Miami Ohio the their offense ranked 39th overall in total offense and 67th in ping and 15th in the rushing and a lot of their offense is returning besides dquan Fin and that is huge especially for a quarterback taking a new start for this program as well having a lot of familiarity there is going to help it as well with the play calling you you're going to be able to trust these guys who are returning and all and then of course my my runner up I got my Miami Ohio there are two starting tackles from last year and will jotos and Reed Hol is returning as well as the list of names that this man's got to pronounce it kills him every single year and also Brett Gabbert is returning as well and linebacker like KH mentioned and Max C salopek yes salope is returning who is the best linebacker in Mac and that's going to be huge for their defense boering that up as well so and somebody else too with Miami of Ohio the way they faced adversity last year too speaks volume as well it shows that no matter what happens they are going to be ready with the next man up to me that's what that spoke as well and now that they're going to be coming back healthy at the quarterback position it's going to also help as well and it's going to help that running back by committee having your two tackles out there who's going to help in the the Run game and then also two in the pass game so I got Miami up as a runner up yeah I I I think these uh these two teams you're going to see this pretty often let's get over to uh Sora has the same thing Toledo and Miami being in the final two again the majority picks I think me and collegians went against the grand I just think there's you know we just think there's a little bit more Firepower to get these guys over the edge um from our side and then Don switched up he has Miami of Ohio winning and Toledo being the runner up okay so we got a switch there but when it came down to the ECG pole ECG came down to Toledo being the winner and Miami being a runner up so at the end of the day majority wins and I don't like it but it is what it is take it to the bank uh all right so that's that's for your ma conference man a lot I think the Mac is going to have a very very very awesome um year this year I think the matchups early are going to be either in a lot of teams favor or it's going to be for a lot of teams demise on on how they're going to come out and perform after that because a lot of these guys are playing really good teams so yeah you look at some of these names they there's Ohio State Ruckers South Carolina pit Tennessee Penn State Notre Dame Northwestern Miami A&M Penn State again like Notre damean so many of these these Mac teams have are are playing some of the best or biggest teams in the country right which you know chances are they're going to lose right that's generally just what happens they get the paycheck to go out there and get their butts kicked but they have a chance each and every single week that they play those games to go out there and make a statement to keep it close to outright win so they a lot they have they have opportunities like opportunities go lore at the beginning of their schedules we'll see if they end up doing anything with it it would be really cool and I hope that I hope that one of these teams does beat one of those power fives yeah that that would be cool man it would be cool [Music]