Stop if you’ve heard this before... in the wake of recent realignment news, a conference is considering expansion.
According to a report by Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel, the Mid-American Conference — aka the MAC — is exploring the idea of adding to its 12-team league.
Discussions among school officials are expected to begin in the coming days, and a pair of Conference USA schools — the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers — will be among the potential additions examined, Thamel reported.
Per Thamel, there isn’t a rush to add teams. The MAC simply wants to explore expansion given the rapidly changing college football landscape.
“Nothing is imminent about this at this time,” Thamel wrote. “A full discussion needs to take place before any action, and there’s no urgency to expand.”
Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky are two of the five teams that remain in Conference USA after the league recently lost nine of its 14 schools to the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt, the most recent being Marshall.
If the Blue Raiders and Hilltoppers were to be invited to join the MAC and accepted, the conference would include:
- Kent State
- Miami (Ohio)
- Buffalo
- Akron
- Ohio
- Bowling Green
- Northern Illinois
- Ball State
- Toledo
- Central Michigan
- Eastern Michigan
- Western Michigan
- Western Kentucky
- Middle Tennessee
Since Texas and Oklahoma announced that they were leaving the Big 12 in favor of the SEC, five conferences have either added or lost teams this realignment cycle. That number could soon be six (keep in mind there are 10 conferences at the FBS level).