With college football’s conference championships approaching, fans of Ohio University and Toledo are wondering why their teams did not receive a MAC championship bid over Miami.
Sitting alone atop the league standings with a 7-1 conference record, Western Michigan will play 6-2 Miami in the MAC Championship at noon Dec. 6. The RedHawks finished tied for second and had the same league record as Ohio and Toledo. Miami got the nod thanks to the MAC’s tiebreakers, even though both Toledo and Ohio beat Miami in the regular season.
The RedHawks won their final regular-season game against Ball State in a 49-25 victory that punched their ticket into the conference final.
Find out why Ohio and Toledo were left out of the 2025 MAC Championship game below.
What are the MAC Championship tiebreaker rules?
These are the MAC Championship tiebreakers for three or more teams with the same conference record:
Why did Miami football make the 2025 MAC Championship game over Ohio and Toledo?
Miami advanced according to tiebreaker rule No. 3. The RedHawks have a better win percentage than Ohio and Toledo vs. all common opponents, going 3-0 against the three common opponents the tied teams faced (Ball State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan).
Toledo lost to Western Michigan, while Ohio lost to both Western Michigan and Ball State.
The first two MAC tiebreaker rules were skipped because all three teams did not play each other, and no team defeated both of the others.
When is the 2025 MAC Championship game?
The 2025 MAC Championship game between Miami and Western Michigan is at noon Dec. 6 and will be broadcast on ESPN.
This story was updated to include additional information.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why are Toledo and Ohio football not in the MAC Championship game?
Reporting by Dan Aulbach, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
