Hello everyone and welcome back!
Before we start, I’d like to issue a formal apology for missing last week’s rankings. Unfortunately due to various life circumstances out of our control, we were unable to reach a quorum for Week 7’s rankings. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused, and will try to be more proactive if we miss them in the future.
That said, there has been a lot of movement over the last two weeks, as previously established narratives have gone to bunk and new, exciting
stories have emerged from the ashes. The MAC— for better or worse— is a league with incredible parity, and that will always produce very strange, dynamic results. As we cross the midway point of the league slate, 2025 seems to be no exception.
Without further ado: the rankings!
13. UMass Minutemen (Last rankings: 13)
- Unanimous #13
Where do you even begin with UMass?
The old adage “act like you’ve been there before” exists for a reason, and well, UMass was so excited to hold a late lead over Buffalo, they did not act like they had been there before when intercepting a pass against Buffalo with less than a minute to go last week. The Minutemen drew an unsportsmanlike conduct call that put them in their own red zone, then went three-and-out before giving up a touchdown to lose what could have been a program-defining win.
They’ve been down in the basement for awhile because of their frustrating tendency to trip over their own feet, and last week’s humiliation highlighted that. UMass is now out of the postseason chase, taking a 42-6 blowout loss to Kent State the week before last.
12. Northern Illinois Huskies (LR: 9, down 3)
- High vote: 8 (once)
- Low vote: 12 (three)
- Average vote: 12
NIU has officially hit rock bottom as a program. This is not at all what we expected to see out of the Huskies in 2025, even knowing the personnel losses they endured. Whatever levers the staff had left to pull are either broken or don’t exist. Simply put, the team is broken and there doesn’t seem to be any fixes incoming.
The Huskies lost to a moribund EMU team 16-10 on the road two weeks ago, then rolled over and played dead in a 48-21 loss to Ohio. They still have zero FBS victories to claim in 2025, with their only win a two-point win against FCS Holy Cross. If it weren’t for that, they might honestly be in a worse spot than UMass… which is saying something.
11. Eastern Michigan Eagles (LR: t-10, down 1)
- High vote: 10 (once)
- Low vote: 11 (three)
- Average vote: 10.75
EMU stays at 11 as a perfectly imperfect program. In football, we often know what a team within its first five games or so, and through five games, EMU proved themselves to be a very efficient offense paired with one of the worst defenses in a league chock-full of those. You’re not winning many games that way, and the results have bared that out.
After collecting their win over NIU, EMU turned around and lost to Miami by a final score of 44-30— though it wasn’t really that close at the end of the day. The Eagles are 2-6, and would need to go a perfect 4-0 to even be eligible for a bowl game.
10. Kent State Golden Flashes (LR: 12, up 2)
- High vote: 10 (three)
- Low vote: 12 (once)
- Average vote: 10.5
It’s nice to see a competitive Flashes team, especially knowing how much turnover there has been in the program since the departure of Sean Lewis as head coach. The interim coaching staff has done a nice job instilling culture and belief in the program, whose roster is compiled mostly of transfers from lower levels trying to show their talent at the highest level of college football.
Kent State picked up a cathartic win over UMass a few weeks back to get to two wins on the year, then shocked Toledo by getting an early jump on them before falling by a final score of 42-10 last week. The consistency isn’t there quite yet, but they’ve shown spurts of ability— the first positive sign of hope in Kent in what feels like forever.
9. Akron Zips (LR: 10, up 1)
- High vote: 9 (three)
- Low vote: 11 (once)
- Average vote: 9.5
Akron has been a very strange evaluation in 2025. They haven’t looked close to competitive over the majority of the season, and yet, there have been a handful of games where they’ve popped up and hit somebody in the mouth. They have two wins in convincing fashion, including one over CMU where they were obviously better from start to end, and even field a competitive loss to UAB— but their lows are really, frighteningly low.
Their last two weeks have both been losses where the Zips were outclassed, stifled 20-7 by Miami and outgunned by Ball State 42-28. The BSU loss was particularly painful, as Akron had a chance to win late but melted down in all phases with five minutes remaining.
8. Ball State Cardinals (LR: 7, down 1)
- High vote: 8 (three)
- Low vote: 9 (once)
- Average vote: 8.25
Speaking of the Cardinals, they have been a pleasant surprise to this point in the season. It hasn’t always been perfect under first-year coach Mike Uremovich, but there’s definitely positives to build off of for the program through seven games. Ball State sits at 2-1 in league play, and 3-4 overall— right in range to fight for a bowl game spot.
Their only MAC loss was to WMU two weeks ago, a 42-0 blowout which was more about how effective the Broncos have been than anything. Their 42-28 trouncing of Akron last week felt more like the BSU we’ve seen in MAC play, and a reeling NIU is lined up as the next opponent in what could be the potential last edition of the Bronze Stalk trophy game. Could BSU jump into the MAC title conversation?
7. Bowling Green Falcons (LR: t-5, down 2)
- High vote: 6 (twice)
- Low vote: 7 (twice)
- Average vote: 6.5
Bowling Green has sort of survived the season by the skin of their teeth in most of their games, and it finally all unwound for everyone to see last week against Central Michigan. The Falcons were outclassed from kickoff, mustering up just two field goals in 11 offensive possessions. Any momentum they might have had from their cone-from-behind rivalry win over Toledo was squandered quickly and with precision.
What stands out most is the lack of confidence on offense. Whether because of injury or ability or maybe a bit of both, BG has been unable to string together consistent performances on that side of the ball and it has hurt their ability to win. They’ll be limited in their ability until they figure out the answer to that question.
6. Buffalo Bulls (LR: t-5, down 1)
- High vote: 3 (once)
- Low vote: 7 (twice)
- Average vote: 5.75
Whatever confidence voters may have had in Buffalo has been tested the last two weeks, as the Bulls remain one of three teams undefeated in league play, but have looked vulnerable in every one of those contests. Their game against UMass was emblematic of that issue; they likely deserved to lose the game on merit with the late interception, but were gifted a chance to win the game and took it.
Their other conference victories tell similar stories; the Kent State game required a late rally to win, while the EMU game came down to a mistake by the opponent. There is talent for days on the UB roster, but for whatever reason, the on-field product has been shaky. It’s not a good look, but hopefully it turns around soon.
5. Central Michigan Chippewas (LR: 8, up 3)
- High vote: 5 (three)
- Low vote: 6 (once)
- Average vote: 5.25
CMU had a pretty significant and uncharacteristic stumble against Akron two weeks back, but swung back around with a vengeance against Bowling Green the next week to get back on schedule. They sit at 2-1 in the conference with a chance at a bowl game if they win two of their next five games, a great position to be in after three-straight losing seasons.
They’re the only team in the MAC to win a game on the road in both league and non-conference play this season thanks to last week’s win over BG, and hold two of the MAC’s seven road wins overall. That kind of experience matters in November.
4. Toledo Rockets (LR: 1, down 3)
- High vote: 3 (once)
- Low vote: 5 (once)
- Average vote: 4
Toledo has unfortunately been the epitome of a front-runner so far in 2025; if they don’t get going early, they’re not getting going very much at all. Even if they do get going, they’re liable to settling for whatever gap has been built and turtle up. It’s come back to bite them twice in league play, losing in stunning fashion to WMU in their MAC opener, then blowing a three-score lead to rival BG two weeks ago.
UT fell behind 10-0 to Kent State last week in front of the home fans thanks to sloppy special teams play, though they eventually found their way out with a 45-10 victory over the Flashes. It was a small relief for the Rockets, but if they’re not careful from this point on, they may no longer be in control of their own destiny.
3. Miami RedHawks (LR: 4, up 1)
- High vote: 1 (once)
- Low vote: 3 (twice)
- Average vote: 2.75
As ever, the Miami RedHawks are getting hot at the right time. Under Chuck Martin, Miami has been a proud “iron sharpens iron” team— willing to take early losses against strong opponents as long as it means accelerating the development of the team ahead of league play.
The results of that philosophy has shined to this point for the RedHawks, as they sit at 3-0 in MAC play and hold a four-game win streak to boot. Over the last two weeks, Miami has dispatched Akron 20-7 and clipped the wings off a high-flying EMU offense in a 44-30 win. They sit at #5 in total offense and #3 in total defense, and look well-positioned for a run to Detroit.
2. Ohio Bobcats (LR: 3, up 1)
- High vote: 1 (twice)
- Low vote: 4 (once)
- Average vote: 2
The Ohio Bobcats had a BYE week after taking a wounding loss to the Ball State Cardinals to open the conference slate, and came out of it looking more like the defending MAC champions we expected to see at season’s start. Ohio left no doubt as to who the better team was against NIU, racing out to a 21-8 lead at halftime and getting the margin up to as much as 34-8 in the third quarter before the Huskies finally responded back. The Bobbies even ended the game on a high note with a fumble recovery touchdown to celebrate in style.
They have a league game in hand on most of the upper part of the table, but sit at 1-1 in conference play and will need to pick up the pace if they want to remain alive in the MAC title hunt. They’re up top on pedigree, but in a weird season like this one is shaping up to be, they’re as capable of a precipitous fall as an ascent.
1. Western Michigan Broncos (LR: 2, up 1)
- High vote: 1 (once)
- Low vote: 2 (three)
- Average vote: 1.75
WMU, much like Toledo in our last rankings, sits up top despite not having the majority of first place votes. However, they did have the higher average vote, showing confidence in what Lance Taylor and staff have built to this point.
The Broncos played just one game over the last two weeks, but it was a helluva result, as they absolutely pasted Ball State by a final score of 42-0. Their defense has carried them to victories in 2025, currently sitting #2 in the conference at 282.7 yards allowed per game, while giving up just 17.7 points per game. When shrunk down to only conference games, WMU has given up an average of 5.3 (yes, 5.3) points per game through three games— though it should be pointed out two of those games were against UMass and Ball State.
Games against Miami and CMU in the next two weeks will tell us a lot about the state of this team.
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!
