The Mid-American Conference title match-up should feature Bowling Green and Toledo according to the pre-season media poll, the Rockets will win the championship.
Behind Toledo (9-4, 7-1) in the West are Western Michigan (8-5, 6-2), Northern Illinois (11-3, 7-1), Ball State (5-7, 4-4), Central Michigan (7-6, 5-3) and Eastern Michigan (2-10, 1-7).
Toledo has five offensive starters back and 10 on the other side of the ball for head coach Matt Campbell, who is in his fourth year.
Junior quarterback Logan Woodside leads the offense after throwing for 2,263 yards and 19 touchdowns. He has his top two receivers back as well in junior Corey Jones (68 rec., 842 yards, 5 TD) and senior Alonzo Russell (51, 770, 8). Junior running back Kareem Hunt gained 1,631 yards with 16 scores last season.
On defense, the Rockets return senior lineman Trent Voss, who had 77 tackles in 2014. Junior defensive back DeJaun Rogers added 67 stops last fall.
Bowling Green (8-6, 5-3) leads the East with Ohio (6-6, 4-4) and Akron (5-7, 3-5) tied for second. Massachusetts (3-9, 3-5) is fourth followed Buffalo (5-6, 3-4), Miami (2-10, 2-6) and Kent State (2-9, 1-6).
The Falcons welcome back all 11 offensive starters from 2014 for second-year mentor Dino Babers. Junior signal caller James Knape threw for 3,173 yards last season with 15 touchdowns. Sophomore receiver Roger Lewis caught 73 passes for 1,094 yards and seven scores. Senior running back Travis Greene was the leading rusher with 949 yards and seven touchdowns.
There are only three defensive starters returning for Bowling Green with junior linebacker James Sanford topping the tackle list with 72 a year ago.
Some players expected to have an impact in the MAC: Akron: Jatavis Brown, Kyle Pohl, Cody Grice; Ball State: Jack Milas, Zach Ryan, Ben Ingle; Buffalo: Joe Licata, Okezie Alozie, Anthone Taylor; Central Michigan: Cooper Rush, Nick Beamish, Tony Annese; Eastern Michigan: Reginald Bell, Pat O’Connor, Great Ibe; Kent State: Jordan Italiano, Nate Holley, Colin Reardon; Massachusetts: Blake Frohnapfel, Tajae Sharpe, Jovan Santos-Knox; Miami: J’Terius Jones, Heath Harding, Jared Murphy; Northern Illinois: Drew Hare, Marion Moore, Rasheen Lemon; Ohio: Javon Johnson, Derrius Vick, Quentin Poling; Western Michigan: Zach Terrell. Corey Davis, Jarvion Franklin, Grant DePalma.
Editor’s note: Quotes, photos and logos courtesy of CollegePressBox.com.