Conference championship weekend may be headlined by the SEC and Big Ten, but the action gets kicked off by the MAC. On Friday night at Ford Field, Ohio and Northern Illinois will meet in the 2011 MAC Championship Game. Both Ohio and NIU enter this game with a 9-3 record, and both schools have their sights set on their first ever win in the MAC Championship Game.
This year marks Ohio's first trip to the MAC Championship Game since 2009. The Bobcats have been in the title game twice before and lost both times. In 2006, Central Michigan beat Ohio, 31-10. Two years ago, the Bobcats fell by a score of 20-10 to CMU.
Northern Illinois is back in the MAC Championship Game for the second year in a row. The Huskies fell by a field goal to Miami (Ohio) a year ago in their second appearance in this game. NIU's first appearance came in 2005, when Akron edged the Huskies by a point.
The action (or "MACtion," as some like to call it) is set to get started at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.