2018 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game To Feature
Buffalo vs. Northern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:00 PM ET (ESPN2)
Watch LIVE on ESPN2: Clay Matvick, Dan Orlovsky, Paul Carcaterra; Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.
The 2018 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game will feature the East Division Champion Buffalo Bulls against the West Division Champion Northern Illinois Huskies on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:00 pm ET/6:00 pm CT in front of a national television audience on ESPN2. This contest will mark the 22nd annual championship game for the MAC and will mark the 15th neutral site game at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. Buffalo as the East Champion is the designated home team.
Buffalo (10-2, 7-1 MAC) clinched the MAC East Division title with a 44-14 win at Bowling Green on Nov. 23. Buffalo is making its first trip to Detroit since 2008 and the program’s second appearance in the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game. Buffalo enters the game having won six of its last seven games as the Bulls reached the 10-win plateau for the first time since moving up to FBS and joining the MAC in 1999.
Northern Illinois (7-5, 6-2 MAC) clinched the MAC West Division title and will be making its first visit to Detroit since 2015. The Huskies won the West Division six consecutive years from 2010-2015, including MAC Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2014. This marks NIU’s seventh trip for the league’s title game in the last nine years, including four trips in six years under Head Coach Rod Carey.
Buffalo and Northern Illinois last faced each other during the 2017 regular season as the Huskies defeated the Bulls, 14-13, on Saturday, Oct. 14 at UB Stadium in Buffalo.
MAC Notes
• Buffalo (10-2, 7-1 MAC) is making its first appearance in the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game since 2008. This is Buffalo’s second appearance in program history as the Bulls look to repeat its success ten years ago when they defeated No. 12 ranked Ball State, 42-24. Buffalo’s 10 wins this year are the most since moving to FBS and joining the MAC in 1999. Buffalo is also bowl eligible for the second consecutive year.
• Northern Illinois (7-5, 6-2) is making its first appearance in the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game since 2015 and the program’s seventh trip to Detroit in the last nine years. For six-year head coach Rod Carey this marks his fourth West Division Championship in leading the NIU program. The Huskies have been the MAC model of consistency as NIU is bowl eligible for the 10th time in the last 11 years.
• The MAC has seven teams bowl eligible -- Buffalo (10-2), Ohio (8-4), NIU (7-5), Western Michigan (7-5), Toledo (7-5), Eastern Michigan (7-5) and Miami (6-6) . The 2018 bowl season will be set this Sunday, Dec. 2 as bowl invitations will be extended to eligible teams. The MAC’s seven bowl eligible teams ties a MAC single season record. The MAC had seven programs accept bowl invitations during both the 2012 and 2015 bowl seasons.
• Over the last three seasons, the MAC will have six different programs participate in the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game. In 2016 Western Michigan defeated Ohio, 29-23, while 2017 witnessed Toledo with a 45-28 win over Akron.
• In MAC crossover games this season, the East and West Divisions are tied, 8-8. In each of the last eight consecutive years (2010-2017), the MAC West Division topped the East Division in regular season head-to-head crossover games.
Buffalo Notes:
• The Bulls are playing in the MAC Championship game for the second time in school history. The Bulls defeated Ball State, 42-24, to win the 2008 MAC title.
• Buffalo’s 10 wins are the most in school history.
• The Bulls finished 7-1 in MAC play. It is their best record since joining the MAC in 1999. Buffalo’s previous best MAC record was 6-2 in 2013.
• Northern Illinois is the only MAC opponent Buffalo has never beaten since joining the league in 1999. The Bulls are 0-10 against the Huskies as MAC members. Buffalo trails the overall series, 11-1, with its lone win coming in 1968.
• The Bulls are playing in a dome for the first time since the 2009 International Bowl in Toronto’s Roger’s Centre on Jan. 3, 2009.
• Tyree Jackson’s next touchdown pass will be his 26th of the season which would move him into second place in school history for touchdown passes in a season, breaking the tie with Drew Willy (2008). Joe Licata holds the school record with 29 in 2014.
• Jaret Patterson is 44 yards shy of Buffalo’s freshman rushing record. Aaron Leeper set the record of 917 yards in 2002.
• With 423 points on the season, Buffalo is one point shy of the school record for points scored in a season. The Bulls scored 424 points over 14 games in 2008.
• The Bulls are 58 yards shy of breaking the single-season rushing school record. Buffalo has rushed for 2,406 yards on the year. The school record is 2,463 set back in 1998.
• The Bulls have won 13 of their last 15 games dating back to last season.
Northern Illinois Notes:
• The NIU Huskies will make their seventh appearance in the MAC Championship in the last nine years; since the advent of FBS conference championship games, only one other school - Florida (1992-96, 1999- 2000) in the SEC - has had a similar stretch of success.
• NIU is 3-4 all-time in MAC Championship games; when the Huskies kick off against Buffalo in Detroit, they will have played every team currently in the MAC East at least once in a MAC title game.
• The Huskie defense has held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing in seven games this season and NIU opponents are averaging just 2.6 yards per rush in 2018.
• Rod Carey has led NIU to the MAC Championship game for the fourth time in his six seasons as head coach, and for the sixth time since he arrived in DeKalb as offensive line coach in 2011; his 51-29 record and .638 winning percentage rank fourth all-time among Huskie head coaches and in the MAC Top 15.
• Left tackle Max Scharping, who will start his 52nd game in the MAC Championship contest, is one of 13 finalists for the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy, given to the top Scholar-Athlete in college football and will travel to New York on Dec. 4 for the NFF Honors Dinner.
• NIU standout defensive end Sutton Smith is coming off one of the best days of his career at Western Michigan with a career best four sacks and five tackles for loss, as well as an 85-yard fumble return touchdown. Smith currently ranks fourth nationally in sacks (13.0) and sixth in tackles for loss (21.0) with four forced fumbles and three recoveries.
• Sophomore tailback Tre Harbison has led NIU offensively with 950 rushing yards on 177 carries to average 5.4 yards per rush. He can become the Huskies’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Joel Bouagnon in 2015 and has five 100-yard games this year.
• Following the MAC Championship game, NIU will play in a bowl game for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, a record of consistency matched by just one other per Conference team (Boise State).
