The 2009 Marathon MAC Championship Game was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game played by the Central Michigan Chippewas and the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946 ...

. The game, sponsored by

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, was the final regular season contest of the 2009 college football season for the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

. The game was held at

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL), the Mid-Americ ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, where it was moved to following the 2003 MAC Championship Game. The Ohio Bobcats were selected to represent the East Division by virtue of a tie-breaking head-to-head victory against the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the college athletics, athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson (athletic director), Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and masco ...

in the final game prior to the championship game. They ended the season with a 9–3 record, including 7–1 in MAC play. The West Division is represented by Central Michigan, who had a 10–2 record prior to the game, including a perfect 8–0 in the MAC. This game was a rematch of the 2006 game, where the Chippewas came out victorious in a 31–10 decision.

Selection process

The

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). History The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into div ...

matches the winners of the East and West divisions of the

. The game began in the 1997 season when the MAC added

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

. This expanded the league to twelve teams, and therefore the conference was able to hold a conference championship game under

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) rules. The divisional champions are selected through a lengthy tiebreaker scenario. However, the scenario wasn't required as only two teams were tied in the East Division.

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

both ended the season with a 7–1 conference record. Ohio's win over the Temple Owls in the final game of the regular season allowed the Bobcats to advance to the Championship Game. In the West Division, only the Central Michigan Chippewas finished the game with an 8–0 conference record, and would therefore be the team chosen to represent their division.

Central Michigan

The Central Michigan Chippewas entered the 2009 college football season after going 8–5 during the 2008 season. Although that didn't earn them a bid into the 2008 MAC Championship Game, they were able to go to the

2008 Motor City Bowl The 2008 Motor City Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association bowl game in which the Florida Atlantic Owls defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas 24–21. It was played on December 26, 2008, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan and ai ...

, where they would lose to the Florida Atlantic Owls in a 21–24 decision. In the MAC Preseason Media Poll, the Chippewas received 154 points, and was chosen to win the West Division of the conference. Central Michigan began their 2009 season with a 6–19 loss to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. However, in their next game against

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

opponent

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, the Chippewas came out victorious, thanks to a game-ending field goal. In their home opener against the

Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The club was founded in Boston, ...

of Alcorn State, the Chippewas had their way with a 48–0 victory, and they would end the first part of their out-of-conference season with a 2–1 record. They began conference play with a 48–21 victory over Akron, with starting quarterback Dan LeFevour having a hand in six of the seven Chippewa touchdowns. After that they traveled to Buffalo to post a 20–13 win over the Bulls. In the first quarter of the game, LeFevour broke

Byron Leftwich Byron Antron Leftwich (born January 14, 1980) is an American former professional football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He is currently an assistant coach at Colorado. He played college fo ...

's previous MAC record of 939 completions in a career. After victories over

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

and

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for a region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Generally, it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake ...

, the Chippewas were able to claim the

Michigan MAC Trophy The Michigan MAC Trophy is given to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) university from Michigan – Central Michigan University (CMU), Eastern Michigan University (EMU) and Western Michigan University (WMU) – which has the best head-to-head re ...

for 2009. After a 24–10 victory over the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

, Central Michigan held a 5–0 conference record before traveling to

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

for their final out-of-conference match-up. Although Central Michigan scored the first points on a 34-yard field goal, Boston College was able to contain LeFevour and the Chippewas. CMU ended up losing the contest to a final score of 10–31. The final three games on the Chippewas' schedule were three straight MAC contests, two of them held in

Kelly/Shorts Stadium Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium is an American football stadium in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It serves as the home field for the Central Michigan University Chippewas. The stadium opened in 1972 and holds 35,127 spectators, making ...

. The first of these three games was a high-scoring 56–28 victory over the Toledo Rockets. They followed that with a 35–3 victory over Ball State in

Scheumann Stadium Scheumann Stadium (officially, the "John B. and June M. Scheumann Stadium"), formerly known as Ball State Stadium, is in Muncie, Indiana. It is primarily used for football, and it is the home field of the Ball State University Cardinals. The s ...

, and then returned home to defeat

in a 45–31 decision.

Ohio

After finishing the 2008 season with a dismal 4–8 record (including 3–5 in the conference), the Bobcats were able to make a comeback, finishing this season 9–3 with a 7–1 record in the conference. In the preseason media poll, the Bobcats were selected fourth in their division, receiving only 116 votes, in comparison to Buffalo, who was selected to win their division, earning 155 points. Along with the Chippewas, the Bobcats began their season with a loss, theirs coming 16–23 in the hands of

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. However, they were able to win their next two out-of-conference games. In a contest against

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

, the Bobcats were able come back to a 20–20 tie at the end of regulation. In the first

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

, both teams managed to score field goals, putting the game at 23–23 before the second overtime. In the second overtime, North Texas was able to score first on a 7-yard Cam Montgomery touchdown. Ohio answered back on a 15-yard pass from Theo Scott, however instead of a tradition extra point attempt, Ohio went for two points, once again a pass from Scott to wide receiver Taylor Price to seal the victory. In their next game, they faced Cal Poly in Athens and came out with a 28–10 victory. The Bobcats finished their out-of-conference season against

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, losing that match 23–34. The Bobcats then began their MAC season against fellow East Division member

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. With two passing touchdowns and another running touchdown from Scott, Ohio was able to come out victorious with a 44–37 final score. Ohio then traveled to InfoCision Stadium, to visit the

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

in their new home. They were able to upset the Zips, leaving with a 19–7 victory. After that game, they returned home to face the

Miami RedHawks The Miami RedHawks are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Miami is a member of the Mid-American Conference ...

Peden Stadium Peden Stadium, also known as Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium since August 2022, is an American football stadium on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Situated on the banks of the Hocking River with a seated capacity of 25,210, Pe ...

, and won 28–7. Their one conference loss came at the hands of Kent State, where they lost at home. The only scoring that was allowed by the Flashes was a 22-yard field goal by Matt Weller and an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown. The final four games of the season proved to be a launching pad for the Bobcats heading into the championship game. In a contest at Ball State, the Bobcats scored a touchdown with three minutes remaining to put them ahead 20–17. They were also able to win on the road against Buffalo in a nationally televised contest on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. The final two games of the Bobcats season were both played at home, where they defeated

by a score of 38–31 and

with a score of 35–17. That victory against Temple also became the tiebreaker which sent Ohio to the championship game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Mac Championship Game Championship Game MAC Championship Game Central Michigan Chippewas football games Ohio Bobcats football games American football competitions in Detroit December 2009 sports events in the United States MAC Championship 2009 in Detroit