We’ve talked in the past on here about the MAC’s options moving forward after UMass departed the conference in 2015. When that happened, we looked at potential candidates for expansion, assuming this was the conference’s mission. The list seems to have been a pretty good one; one candidate on that list, Liberty, will play independent-level FBS ball starting in 2018.
So, why are we talking expansion again? Well, it’s simply because it’s a spectre that just lingers in the back of the mind. Always there, but never acting. At least, until last season.
Northern Illinois was a potential target to be included in the Big 12 expansion before that ultimately proved to be an excuse to have 19 free catered lunches and it gave the MAC (whether it wants to admit it or not) some nerves about what the conference might look like if NIU did indeed move.