The 2025 Mid-American Conference football season was the 80th season for the Mid-American Conference (MAC), as part of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Non-conference play began on August 28. Conference play began on September 13 and concluded with the MAC championship game on December 6 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Just as it was in 2024, the MAC did not have divisions. The Championship game featured the two teams with the best conference records. The MAC saw its first change in its football membership since 2015, and the first change in its core membership since 2005, with the addition of UMass. This was Northern Illinois' last season as it has joined the Mountain West Conference for football in 2026.
Western Michigan finished its conference season with a 7âÂÂ1 conference record. It finished the regular season in sole possession of first place in the MAC standings and earned the MAC regular-season title. Miami finished in a three-way tie for second place with Ohio and Toledo at 6âÂÂ2 in the conference. Miami won the tiebreaker to advance to the championship game in spite of losing to both teams during the regular season. In the championship game, Western Michigan avenged their only regular season conference loss with a 23âÂÂ13 victory over Miami.
Western Michigan's defensive end Nadame Tucker was the Defensive Player of the Year and won the Vern Smith Leadership Award. Western Michigan swept the major awards as quarterback Broc Lowry won Offensive Player of the Year and Lance Taylor won Coach of the Year.
The MAC Football Kickoff was held on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at the Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan from 9:00 am EDT to 1:30 pm EDT. Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher spoke. Each team had their head coach and a student athlete from both the offense and the defense available to speak to the media.
On July 24, the MAC announced the preseason coaches poll. Toledo was named the preseason favorite to win the conference while both of last years finalist, Ohio and Miami, also received votes to win the championship.
The MAC entered the 2025 season with six head coaching changes from 2024.
Ball State head coach Mike Neu was fired on November 16 with two games remaining in the 2024 season. Neu had 40 wins and 63 losses in nine seasons. He won the MAC Championship in 2020 It was his only winning season. Colin Johnson succeeded him as interim head coach. On December 4, Ball State named Butler head coach Mike Uremovich as the new head coach.
On February 28, 2025, Scot Loeffler resigned from the head coach position to become the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL. On March 9, Bowling Green named Tennessee State head coach Eddie George as the new head coach for 2025.
Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain announced on November 20 that he would retire at the end of the 2024 season He retired with a 33âÂÂ36 at the school. On December 9, 2024, Army assistant coach Matt Drinkall was hired as the next head coach.
On March 27, 2025, Kent State placed Kenni Burns on administrative leave with offensive coordinator Mark Carney taking over day-to-day operations. Burns was fired on April 11 after an undisclosed investigation and named Carney as interim head coach for the 2025 season. Burns overall record at Kent State was 1âÂÂ23. On October 30, Carney was promoted to permanent head coach.
On December 7, 2024 Ohio head coach Tim Albin resigned after winning the 2024 MAC Football Championship Game to become the head coach at Charlotte Albin exited the team bus on the way back to campus to accept the position. Associate Head Coach Brian Smith was named the interim head coach for the 2024 Cure Bowl. Ohio named him the permanent head coach on December 18.
On November 18, 2024, Don Brown was fired after a 2âÂÂ8 record to start the season and a 6âÂÂ28 overall record. This was his second stint at the school. During that stint the Minutemen had a record of 6âÂÂ28. On December 4, 2024, they hired hired Joe Harasymiak as the new head coach.
Source -
<small>â </small>Interim Coach
Source:
AP -
Coaches -
CFP -
All times Eastern time.
2025âÂÂ2026 records against non-conference foes, including bowl games:
Regular season & bowls
This is a list of regular season games the MAC has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
The following regular season games include MAC teams competing against teams from the American, CUSA, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt.
The following regular season games include MAC teams competing against FBS Independents, which only includes UConn for 2025.
The following regular season games include MAC teams competing against FCS schools.
Updated through November 29, 2025, Source:
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Mid-American Conference football coaches at the end of the season.
The following players were listed as part of the All-Conference teams.