Miami defeated Northern Illinois in their final home game of the season 20-9.

Thanksgiving is a time of celebration for everyone, but the sports nerds among us have a special affection for this week as the NFL, rivalry week in college football, "feast week" in college basketball, NBA cup games, and other sports collide into a single week. With hundreds of games to choose from, there's a Black Friday game that shouldn't be overlooked: Miami at Bowling Green. A 12:00 PM ET game on Friday, the RedHawks and Falcons will battle to determine which team moves on to Detroit, the site of the MAC Championship game on December 7. The winner will likely face the Ohio Bobcats (barring an unforeseen upset loss to Ball State on Saturday) at Ford Field. The loser of the game is almost certainly eliminated from MAC Championship contention.

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Miami head coach Chuck Martin summarized the situation in his postgame press conference following a 20-9 victory over Northern Illinois last Tuesday. When asked about the stakes of the upcoming Bowling Green game, Martin pointed out that his team has been treating the MAC conference schedule as a "seven-week tournament" and jokingly added that the RedHawks started in the "Round of 256" and are now in a winner-take-all matchup for a spot in the MAC title game. While said tongue-in-cheek, there's a lot of truth behind the mentality of the RedHawks.

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The vast majority of MAC teams faced daunting non-conference schedules this season due mostly for the need to land million-dollar paychecks for their respective athletic programs. The RedHawks played Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Cincinnati. The Bowling Green Falcons faced both Penn State and Texas A&M and gave both teams all they could handle. Northern Illinois famously upset Notre Dame in Week 2 of the season which remains the only blemish on the Fighting Irish 2024 slate. Due to the difficulties of those schedules, the MAC was essentially eliminated from the College Football Playoff in October when all 12 member schools had accumulated three losses or more.

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However, the primary goal for many MAC teams is to claim the conference championship and several teams were in play for the trophy and the conference started their traditional weekly games with a four-way tie for first. Now that the dust has settled, college football fans will be treated to the de facto semifinal between the RedHawks and the Falcons.

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Miami is playing their best football and will hit the road with a five-game win streak in tact. Brett Gabbert is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country and he has the RedHawk offenses clicking. He has a strong arm and gets the ball out quickly to playermakers like Reggie Virgil (705 yards, 21.4 yards per catch), and Jevon Tracy (669 yards). Cade McDonald has missed the last couple of games due to injury but Miami is hopeful he'll return for the game against Bowling Green and he was Gabbert's top target before he went down. The RedHawks have found success on the ground with Keyon Mozee and Miami is undefeated when he tops the 100-yard mark.

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Bowling Green wields a threatening offense too led by their own veteran quarterback Connor Bazelak, who played for Missouri and Indiana before arriving in Ohio. His favorite target is star tight end Harold Fannin Jr. Not only is the Canton native arguably the best tight end in the country, but he's now flirting with breaking several all-time tight end records in college football. He enters Friday with a ridiculous stat line of 92 catches for 1,295 yards and 9 touchdowns and the Falcons will even use him in the run game from time to time just to get the ball into his hands. 

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Both teams lean on their strong defenses. Miami is led by the reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year in linebacker Matt Salopek who has now eclipsed 100 tackles in four straight seasons. Meanwhile, the Falcons have held opponents to 13 points in three straight games and they have a five-game win streak of their own.

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The RedHawks shutout the Falcons 27-0 in the 2023 matchup, but head coach Scot Loeffler had done an outstanding job with the Falcons and his Bowling Green squad is arguably the most improved team in the conference this season. The environment should be rocking at Doyt L. Perry Stadium on Friday, and this game will be well worth your time. Get your shopping done and settle in to a phenomenal #MACtion matchup with huge implications.

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