The MAC says Goodbye to Divisions, Hello to Pods

    Okay, I am coming around to the pod formatting. My first thought was hey, this is super dumb. Why are we changing the format that between 2015-2021 never had a single team win the MAC Championship twice? The unmatched parity is the best thing about the MAC. Let's take a look at the pros and cons.

Pros:

1. The MAC Championship is elevated. I am hoping this does not come at the cost of the beloved parity in the league, but the Championship game will be better. There have been years, most recently in 2022 where even though Toledo won, they were the 4th best team overall in the standings behind Ohio, Buffalo, and BGSU. So in theory if there is a year where instead of a 10-2 and 7-5 team facing off, there could be the 10-2 team and a 9-3 team who's only MAC lost was to the 10 win team in their division. 

2. Teams will play more often. The current structure has seen BG play a team like Ball State or Eastern Michigan just twice in a decade. If you are someone who wants to see every team play everyone, especially because our conference is still regional, then you are in luck. Every team will play every other team in the league once at home and once on the road within a 4 year period at the least. I do enjoy that element of the pods. 

Cons: 

1. BG has a harder schedule. This is selfish, but the reality is that BG's schedule will be slightly harder. I think which division has been better has fluctuated throughout the MAC's current structure of the last 20 years. With that said, a relative constant in the last few decades is BG beating Kent State and Akron most years. In spite of a BG's downfall then rebuild, The Falcons are still 13-5 against Akron and 13-9 against Kent since 2001. I am going to miss playing them every year vs NIU who has had the best run in this league since 2010. 

2. The Anniversary Award. Our rivalry against Kent State will suffer as we will now play them 2 of every 3 years versus every year. May not be a huge con to some but any time a long and tradition filled matchup such as BG-Kent which has almost 100 games played is a bad thing to me. 

3. Parity. Only time will tell, but the MAC needs to protect our parity at all cost. It is the coolest and best thing about our league. Does Indiana think they will ever win the Big10? What about Vandy in the SEC? In the MAC, every one has a chance. Again, through 2015-2021 we did not have a single team win 2 championships. 

Verdict?

    I am a fan of the change because the Championship game will see the two best teams play and schools will no longer go 8 years without playing another school in the MAC. As long as the parity continues, I think this can be a positive change. Tweet at me your thoughts, I really want to know what yall think about this massive change!