Bill Connelly breaks down every team in America’s favorite underdog conference, one by one and with the aid of advanced stats. Follow along!
NIU’s giant, obvious question mark

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It is a fact of life in college football and, to a less rigidly scheduled degree, every other sport. As good as your favorite players are, they eventually run out of eligibility.
Read Article >Toledo prefers depth over star power

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... Toledo has either stabilized or slipped in the last two years.
Read Article >The pieces fit for Bowling Green

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A bold, delcarative statement preceded by hedging. It’s one of my specialties. Regardless, I was very high on Bowling Green in last year’s SB Nation preview, and with good reason: the Falcons returned a ton of experience, the BGSU defense was incredible in the latter half of 2012, etc.
Read Article >Ohio freshens up

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Sometimes relationships just grow stale.
Read Article >WMU’s Fleck is an ace recruiter, unknown coach

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In terms of tangible results, P.J. Fleck had just about the worst year imaginable in his first season in charge at Western Michigan.
Read Article >Kent State, the MAC Mad Libs team

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Each spring, I spend about three weeks previewing MAC teams. Inevitably we end up discussing the MAC life cycle, in which a once-downtrodden conference program is lifted up by a strong coach, who breaks through with a big year or a conference title, then either leaves or falters, leaving the school to start over again. Miami (Ohio) calls itself the Cradle of Coaches, but that really goes for the conference as a whole.
Read Article >Buffalo rebuilds, again

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If you’re not at a powerhouse, the cards are always stacked against you. No one knows this better than the University of Buffalo.
Read Article >Akron is zipping right along

Gregory ShamusConfused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.
...but they mattered for the first time in a while. You noticed they existed. They almost made a bowl.
Read Article >It can’t get any worse for UMass

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Rebuilding tends to take a while, especially when a rebuilding job converges with an upgrade in your level of competition.
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