MAC heads into season with experienced quarterbacks at top teams

Quarterback Dequan Finn is returning to a very different Mid-American Conference than the one he left when he transferred to Baylor last year. His biggest challenge now comes from quarterback Parker Navarro, who led Ohio to the 2024 league crown. Finn's backup at Toledo, Tucker Gleason, is now the incumbent starter for the preseason favorite. And Finn, the 2023 MAC player of the year, is back to prove he's still the best of the bunch, this time at Miami (Ohio). Naturally, the league's three best quarterbacks also happen to be running the top three teams as each vies for a championship ring. "When I got in the portal, that was just like a second chance for me, a second opportunity to showcase my skills," Finn said during last month league media day in Detroit. "And having a second chance to be on the football field doing what I love the most." It didn't take Finn long to find out how fleeting success can be. He lost the starting job after two games and only made one more appearance before opting to leave the Bears. But with so many proven winners and big-name quarterbacks around the league and his starter leaving, Miami coach Chuck Martin waited for Finn to make his decision. Can he help the RedHawks outduel Navarro, the star in Ohio's 38-3 rout of rival Miami in December's title game, Gleason or anyone else? Perhaps. "I don't know if he was looking to come back to the MAC or even to Miami, I don't think that was the plan," Martin said. "You're losing your starter, we had a wide open door for somebody to come in and take the job. It worked out good for him and worked out good for us." Other top QBs in the league include Akron incumbent Ben Finley, the brother of former NFL quarterback Ryan Finley, and Bowling Green's Drew Pyne, who played previously at Notre Dame, Arizona State and Missouri. Each knows the journey will be challenging. "It would be a display of dominance," Navarro said when asked what it would mean if Ohio won consecutive crowns after snapping a nearly six-decade title drought. "But we know there's a target on us, and we're excited about it." Hello and goodbye In a college football era where change has become the norm, the MAC has been the most stable conference in the FBS. It couldn't stay that way forever. The league has expanded to 13 teams this season thanks to the return of UMass, which spent the last nine seasons as an independent after playing in the league from 2012-15. This season also marks the final year of Northern Illinois' second MAC stint. The Huskies first played in the MAC from 1975-85 then returned in 1997 and pulled off last season's biggest upset, at Notre Dame. They're headed to the Mountain West next year. New faces The 13-team MAC has five new coaches this season while another — Kent State coach Mark Carney — dropped the interim tag despite a winless 2024. The headliner is easy: Bowling Green coach Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner. "It was going to take something special (to leave Tennessee State) and this is something special," George said. "This team's been knocking at the door the last three years, a game here or there and they're playing for a championship. And then a chance to come back to Ohio? Oh yeah." The other new coaches are Brian Smith at Ohio, Mike Uremovich at Ball State, Joe Harasymiak at UMass and Mark Drinkall at Central Michigan. The B1G question With Big Ten teams playing nine league games and some schools adapting with new scheduling philosophies, there is some question whether the traditional Big Ten-MAC matchups will continue. Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher is convinced they will. "It makes an awful lot of sense we continue to play each other," he said. "My conversation with Big Ten officials certainly leads me to conclude that (we will)." Nine MAC schools will face Big Ten opponents this season, five on opening weekend. MAC tidbits Kent State has lost an FBS-high 17 straight games and last year became the first 0-12 team since Akron in 2019. ... Akron is ineligible for postseason play because of consistently low Academic Progress Rate scores. The Zips are the first football program to face a postseason ban since Idaho in 2014. ... Only Buffalo (16), Toledo (13) and Ohio and Central Michigan (10) have more than eight returning starters. ... MAC schools have won a league-record 11 bowl games over the past three seasons. Games to watch Aug. 28, Miami at Wisconsin; Aug. 30, Toledo at Kentucky; Sept. 6, West Virginia at Ohio; Sept. 13, Ohio at Ohio State; Sept. 20, Bowling Green at Louisville; Sept. 27, Bowling Green at Ohio; Oct. 4, Miami at Northern Illinois; Oct. 11, Toledo at Bowling Green; Oct. 25, Toledo at Washington State; Nov. 4, Miami at Ohio; Nov. 12, Toledo at Miami; Nov. 19, Miami at Buffalo; Nov. 28, Ohio at Buffalo; Dec. 6, MAC championship game at Detroit. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football