2012 wmu football record book - Western Michigan University ...

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE67THIS IS THE MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCEProviding leadership in education and diversity, the Mid-AmericanConference moves into its 66th year of service to the studentathlete.Since its inception in 1946, the Mid-American Conference hasprogressively grown and developed into one of the most aggressiveDivision I conferences in the country. One of only 11 football BowlSubdivision (FBS) conferences, the MAC named Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecheras its eighth commissioner in March of 2009.The league has grown its commitment to championships by expandingto six its number of neutral site post season events – football(Ford Field, Detroit), volleyball (SPIRE Academy, Geneva, Ohio),men’s and women’s basketball (Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland),softball (Firestone Stadium, Akron) and baseball (All Pro FreightStadium, Avon, Ohio).In 2011, the MAC set a conference record with a 4-1 record in bowlgames and won the prestigious ESPN Bowl Challenge Cup for thebest FBS conference record in bowl games. The MAC also tied aconference record for bowl invitations in a single season as thefive bowl invitations marked the fourth time in conference history(2004, 2008, 2009, 2011). The five MAC programs that wereextended bowl invitations included: Temple (Gildan New MexicoBowl), Ohio (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl), Western Michigan (LittleCaesars Pizza Bowl), Toledo (Military Bowl presented by NorthropGrumman) and Northern Illinois (GoDaddy.com Bowl).The 2011 season also witnessed Northern Illinois win the 2011Marathon MAC Football Championship Game with a 23-20 win overOhio. MAC programs were a combined 4-0 against Army last season(wins by Northern Illinois, Miami, Ball State and Temple), whileTemple had an impressive 38-7 win at Maryland (ACC), WesternMichigan’s 38-31 win at UConn (Big East), Ohio’s 44-7 win overMarshall (Conference USA) and Ball State’s 27-20 win over Indiana(Big Ten).For the first time in its history, the MAC will have seven bowlrelationships--three primary and four secondary. The three primaryagreements are with the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl (Detroit, Mich.),GoDaddy.com Bowl (Mobile, Ala.) and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl(Boise, Ida.). In addition, the MAC has secured secondary agreementswith the BBVA Compass Bowl (2012-2013), the Gildan NewMexico Bowl (2012-2013), the Beef O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl(2012-13) and the TicketCity Bowl (2012).In its partnership with ESPN, the MAC is in the fourth year of itseight-year rights agreement (through 2016-2017 academic years)for football, as well as men’s and women’s basketball. The dealis the most extensive in the 66-year history of the conference.The agreement calls for a minimum of 25 events annually to beproduced and aired on an ESPN platform including the men’s andwomen’s basketball championships, a regular-season MAC presenceon ESPN, the Marathon MAC Football Championship Gameand a minimum of 11 regular-season football games.In men’s basketball, the MAC tied a conference record as sixprograms received invites to postseason tournaments, highlightedby Ohio’s run to the NCAA Sweet 16 and an overtime loss to No.1 seed North Carolina. Ohio reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAAChampionship after tournament wins over Michigan and SouthFlorida. The Bobcats became the first No. 13 seed to advance tothe Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament since Bradley in 2006. TheBobcats also became the first team from the MAC to advance tothe Sweet 16 since 2002. Ohio finished No. 25 in the ESPN/USAToday Coaches Poll, marking the first time the Bobcats have beenranked to end a season. The MAC had a total of six men’s basketballprograms reach the postseason in 2011-12: Ohio (NCAA),Akron (NIT), Bowling Green (CIT), Buffalo (CIT), Toledo (CIT) andKent State (CIT). Buffalo’s Mitchell Watt was named an honorablemention All-America by the Associated Press.In baseball, Kent State won the MAC championship and earned anautomatic bid to the NCAA baseball tournament and advanced tothe College World Series in Omaha for the first time in program historyand the first program from the MAC since 1976 (Eastern Michigan).The Golden Flashes began the postseason with a dramatic7-6 win over No. 2 seed Kentucky in 21 innings in the Gary, Ind. Regional.Kent State went on to defeat Purdue and Kentucky for thesecond time to advance to the Super 16 Regional in Eugene, Ore.Kent State continued its dominance by winning the best-of-threegame series over host Oregon to advance to the College WorldSeries. In Omaha, Kent State opened with an 8-1 loss to SouthCarolina before defeating No. 1 seeded Florida, 5-4 to knock theGators out of the postseason. Kent State finished with a 4-1 lossto South Carolina. In the process, Kent State finished the seasonranked No. 6 in the nation by College Baseball and No. 8 by theESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. A total of 18 MAC student-athleteswere selected in Major League Baseball’s 2012 Draft – includingBuffalo C Tom Murphy (Colorado, 3rd Rd., 105th overall), Ohio RHPSeth Streich (Oakland, 6th Rd., 199th overall) and Kent State LHPDavid Starn (Atlanta, 7th Rd., 239th overall).During the 2011-12 academic year, the University of Akron men’ssoccer team witnessed sophomore Darren Mattocks and juniorScott Caldwell earn All-America status as the Zips made theirfourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA postseason Round of16 with wins over Northwestern and SMU. Northern Illinois wonthe MAC Championship with a 1-0 win over Western Michigan,and earned an appearance in the NCAA tournament and defeatedWestern Illinois before falling to Creighton. The MAC announcedthe addition West Virginia as an affiliate member in men’s soccerfor the 2012-13 academic year as eight teams will compete inconference play.In wrestling, Central Michigan won its eleventh consecutive MACchampionship, while the MAC sent 24 wrestlers to the NCAA DivisionI Wrestling Championship. In addition, three grapplers secured