2025 Hustle Belt MAC Football Power Rankings: Week 2

The MAC as a whole was pretty down in the second week of action, muddying the table considerably.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

Week 2 has come and gone, and it… really did not go to plan.

Several teams suffered humiliating losses we’ll get into in a moment; on the whole, the MAC went 3-10 in games this week— with the top three teams in our rankings taking all of them.

It’s still early, so there’s plenty of time to make a run, but it sure does feel like the wheat is starting to separate from the chafe already.

Without further

ado: the rankings!

13. UMass Minutemen (Last week: 12, down 1)

High vote: 12 (twice)
Low vote: 13 (three)
Average vote: 12.6

Saturday was a nightmare for the Minutemen from start to finish.

The game, initially scheduled for 3:30 Eastern time, was delayed nearly two hours due to severe weather. Then, UMass lost their starting QB, another starting receiver and two starting defensive backs during the game. That’s before we even get to the fact UMass gave away a three-score lead to lose 27-26 to an FCS team which finished 2-10 last year.

Between this performance and their destruction at the hands of Temple, hard questions must be asked about the direction of the program. It is not good for either the university or the conference over the long-term for the Minutemen to be so poor on the gridiron.

12. Akron Zips (LW: 10, down 2)

High vote: 10 (twice)
Low vote: 13 (twice)
Average vote: 11.4

The Akron Zips are still looking for points on the scoreboard, much less positive things to point towards in what has so far been a hellacious season— even by Akron football standards.

The Zips have given up 78 points and scored zero; in fact, the Zips have actually given up more points on offense than they’ve scored through two games— which feels impossible, but is true. This week was an expected loss to the Cornhuskers, but the nature of the loss was alarming, giving up 66 points on defense and allowing over 700 yards while mustering merely 175 yards in reply. If they can’t pick up a win against a downtrodden UAB squad, it might be awhile before the Zips are in position for a victory.

11. Eastern Michigan Eagles (LW: 9, down 2)

High vote: 9 (once)
Low vote: 12 (twice)
Average vote: 11

EMU’s clunker against Long Island University might go down as the worst loss of the Chris Creighton era, which is saying a lot considering how bad the team was when he first inherited the program. It wasn’t even a contest. LIU, coached by former EMU head man Ron Cooper, smothered the Eagles in every capacity— so much so, it might be safe to start doubting if EMU can be a competitive unit this season. The Eagles are a club which has lived by the margins under Creighton, looking for the small advantages here and there to eke out wins out of rosters which might not have the amount of on-roster talent others in the conference have. This offseason saw a lot of departures, and the talent exodus might be too much to overcome this time.

10. Ball State Cardinals (LW: 11, up 1)

High vote: 9 (once)
Low vote: 11 (twice)
Average vote: 10.2

Ball State jumps up in the rankings despite suffering a 39-point loss to Auburn. The rise can be attributed to other teams struggling early in the season, but a closer look at the box score indicates BSU might have what it takes to be a tricky match-up in conference play. The offense is currently still a work-in-progress, with several redzone opportunities against both Purdue and Auburn squandered, but the defense balled out against the Tigers, picking up five sacks, eight tackles-for-loss and five fumbles. That shows there’s potential for this team once they get more games under their belt.

9. Kent State Golden Flashes (LW: 13, up 4)

High vote: 9 (three)
Low vote: 12 (once)
Average vote: 9.8

For the first time since Sept. 22, 2023, the Kent State Golden Flashes are ranked in the single-digits!

That is a legitimate improvement for KSU, which as we might have stated a lot over the years, has looked dead in the water since the departure of Sean Lewis to Colorado. They had to swallow an expected loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock, but crucially, scored 14 points in the second half. (And no, before you ask, I don’t mean crucial for gamblers— though that was at stake with a 48.5 spread.) The Flashes posting 14 points against a ranked squad— even if it was their backups— is the most moxie the team has shown in years, especially when taken into the context of how bad the first half went. Short memory, showing grit, etc.

8. Western Michigan Broncos (LW: 8)

Unanimous #8

WMU might be the most #8 team in the MAC; they’re too good to fall lower, and too bad to jump higher. They have not moved off this spot since season’s start, and haven’t really done very much in the positive or the negative to move them off this spot. They are exactly what we thought they were: a team which lost a ton of key talent and now has to find contributors under live fire. This week’s loss to North Texas, which saw the Mean Green win despite not holding a lead until the walk-off field goal, did nothing to assuage the concerns we had about the Broncos going into this season. This is Year 3 of the Lance Taylor administration, and at the moment, we don’t see a direction for this program. Their start-and-stop nature is hard to trust as far as reading the future.

7. Northern Illinois Huskies (LW: 7)

High vote: 5 (once)
Low vote: 7 (twice)
Average vote: 6.2

We‘re two weeks into what we have been told is an offensive change-up for the Huskies, which was touted as a high-flying, frequently-scoring attack throughout the offseason. It’s been anything but through two weeks, as the Huskies have struggled to even run basic concepts. They mustered 91 yards of passing offense and averaged 2.3 yards per carry (excluding Telly Johnson’s 74-yard touchdown run) in a nationally-televised loss to Maryland, reaching for the endzone just once, where they opted for a 20-yard field goal. To NIU’s credit, the defense did hold strong, limiting Maryland to under 100 yards rushing and 4-of-12 on third-down attempts. That said, there’s a way to go for the Huskies before they can get back to being trusted as a title hopeful.

t-5. Central Michigan Chippewas (LW: 5)

High vote: 4 (once)
Low vote: 7 (once)
Average vote: 5.4

The final score against Pitt was not indicative of the scare the Chippewas gave the Panthers on Saturday, as CMU bridged a three-score gap before the end of the first half to get within one score in the third quarter— thanks in part to some bold fourth-down conversions and a developing passing offense finding some consistency. Pitt was able to regain its balance after taking a haymaker, eventually taking the 45-17 win, but through two weeks, CMU has looked scary, with a playmaking defense (which plucked another interception this week) and an unorthodox offense which isn’t scared to adjust on the fly.

t-5. Miami RedHawks (LW: 4, down 1)

High vote: 4 (twice)
Low vote: 7 (twice)
Average vote: 5.4

Miami took another tough loss, but as we’ve said before, this is a team that is a work-in-progress replacing nearly their entire starting 22 from last season. They’ve played decently against both of their Big Ten opponents in non-conference play, even if the offense has been slower in developing than anticipated. This week against Rutgers, the RedHawks fell behind by three scores right before the end of the half, then rallied back to score 10 unanswered points and bring the tally to 24-17 early in the third quarter. The magic disappeared after that, with Miami losing 45-17, but they showed some decent flashes in the process. The defense was a concern, giving up four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns, but Miami has a reputation for tough starts to steel a team for adversity; one wonders if that’s what is at play again.

4. Bowling Green Falcons (LW: t-6, up 2)

High vote: 4 (twice)
Low vote: 6 (twice)
Average vote: 5

BGSU jumps up two spots despite taking a pretty one-sided 31-17 loss to Cincinnati, which is admittedly a bit of a surprise. The Falcons fell 21-0 early in the first half, and settled for two field goal tries— missing one— to try and cut the deficit early on, but did manage to “win” the second half by outscoring the Bearcats 14-10, so there were certainly positives to take away from their performance. The defense was especially a highlight, limiting the Big XII side to just 106 rushing yards— though the flipside is they also gave up over 300 passing yard and three touchdowns to a quarterback who threw for less than 100 yards the previous week. We should know more about where this team stands after playing Liberty this week.

3. Buffalo Bulls (LW: 3)

Unanimous #3

The Bulls ate their cupcake this week, taking down the soon-to-be-demoted St. Francis [PA] Red Flash 45-6. There are still questions about the effectiveness of their passing offense, but at the very least, the rushing offense looked closer to what we remembered from last season. UB collected 370 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in the effort, and the defense did their job as well, limiting SFU to 119 yards.

2. Toledo Rockets (LW: 2)

Unanimous #2

The Rockets rebounded in a big way this week, toppling the Hilltoppers by a final score of 45-21 in front of the home crowd at the Glass Bowl. It was a nice result to put in the bag after a disappointing outing against Kentucky, where they let a winnable game get away from them due in part to offensive malfunctions. Those malfunctions seem to have been corrected, as this looked closer to the Toledo team we’ve come to know under Jason Candle: an explosive offense with an aggressive, ball-hawking defense. There’s still time for them to make a case for a prestige bowl, even if the loss to Kentucky makes that road harder.

1. Ohio Bobcats (LW: 1)

Unanimous #1

In one of the most roller-coaster non-conference games we’ve seen in some time, the Ohio Bobcats survived and advanced in a 17-10 win against West Virginia. The visiting Mountaineers would see the first score, but Ohio snatched control of the game before the end of the first half, scoring 17 unanswered points to stomp out any potential momentum. The second half was much more nervy, with Parker Navarro making several uncharacteristic mistakes— including tossing three interceptions— and WVU scoring a field goal to get within four points early to add some tension. Thankfully, the Ohio defense once again showed out, preventing any points off turnovers and ending the game with a sack. The Bobcats look like a wagon right now, and it’s hard to see when the ride could end at present.

For transparency, here is our anonymous chart for this week. Did we get it right? Did we miss the mark? Let us know on Twitter @HustleBelt or in the comments section below!