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Miami's Dan Green cuts up field Saturday, Sept 24, 2011 during the RedHawk's home opener against Bowling Green in Oxford, Ohio.

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer Miami's Dan Green cuts up field Saturday, Sept 24, 2011 during the RedHawk's home opener against Bowling Green in Oxford, Ohio.

Bowling Green switches with addition of UMass to East for football.

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:51 AM Thursday, January 5, 2012

OXFORD — Miami University is losing Bowling Green as an annual rival on the football field.

The Mid-American Conference announced its divisional realignment for football, made mandatory by the addition of Massachusetts as a football-only member. This fall UMass will play in the East Division and Bowling Green will move from East to West.

There will be no protected divisional crossover games under the new structure, so the RedHawks and Falcons will play each other only once every three years.

In terms of overall games played, Bowling Green is Miami’s second-biggest rival in the MAC. Miami has faced the Falcons 68 times, a number surpassed only by its 88 games against Ohio.

“Not every model is going to be compatible with everyone’s preferred scenario,” Miami Athletic Director Brad Bates said; he and the other athletic directors recommended the new alignment to the MAC’s Council of Presidents, which approved it unanimously.

“Travel and existing rivalries make this clearly the best model of all the ones we talked about,” Bates said. “Would we like to play Bowling Green every year based on our history and tradition? Of course. But we have other traditional rivals as well.”

Oddly enough, most of them now reside in the West Division. Miami has played Kent State (East Division) 59 times, Western Michigan (West) 57 times and Toledo (West) 51 times.

Bates noted that this won’t be the first time Miami and Bowling Green are in different divisions. The Falcons were in the West from 2002-04 and the teams did not meet in two of those seasons.

“In some ways we’re going back to the future,” he said.

Bates added that he’s excited about having balanced divisional schedules for the first time since 2006. Each team will play eight games, six from its own division and two crossover contests.

Miami’s 2012 MAC schedule consists of home games against Ohio, Temple and Kent State and a crossover game against Ball State, plus road games at Akron, Buffalo and UMass and a crossover game at Central Michigan.

MAC football realignment

East Division

Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Massachusetts, Miami, Ohio, Temple

West Division

Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

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