2026 MAC Football Power Rankings: Week 3

Hello everyone and welcome back!

Week 3 saw the last of the slates with exclusively out-of-conference contests, as we now look forward to two MAC matchups in Week 4, and the vast majority of the conference starting play in Week 5.

With that in mind, it's about time to see who's standing where as we get into the games that matter.

13. Bowling Green Falcons (LW: 13)

• Unanimous #13

Hard to know what else to say at this point for BGSU, as they endured another blowout loss to Iowa State. The Falcons failed in all three phases; their one scoring drive was on a broken coverage play by the Cyclones, while special teams allowed a 100-yard kick return touchdown and a 66-yard punt return touchdown and the defense was gashed for 504 total yards and three touchdowns of 30+ yards. It's hard to believe this is the same outfit which upset Toledo in dramatic fashion less than a year ago.

t-11. Ball State Cardinals (LW: 8, down 3)

• High vote: 10 (one)
• Low vote: 12 (one)
• Average vote: 11

The Cardinals flopped in Lynchburg last weekend, once again surging to the double digits in penalties for nearly 100 yards against in a 51-15 loss to Liberty. It was an infuriating watch, as several first down conversions by Keldric Luster were called back by holding or procedural penalties along the line. Eventually, it became too much to overcome, and in the panic to try and compete, BSU only dug the hole deeper against a more-talented football team.

t-11. Buffalo Bulls (LW: 12, up 1)

• High vote: 9 (once)
• Low vote: 12 (three)
• Average vote: 11

If BGSU had managed to come back against Tarleton State in Week 1 to win, Buffalo might have a case to be the worst team in the MAC. Even knowing their last game was against potential Playoff contender Penn State, this was the second week in a row where the Bulls showed no gumption against an FBS-level opponent. The offense is remedial even at its peak, and the defense has been run into the ground over the first month of games. It feels like we still don't know a lot about this team, and now they're facing a second FCS opponent. Will we see growth or more of the same?

10. Sacramento State Hornets (LW: 10)

• High vote: 9 (once)
• Low vote: 12 (once)
• Average vote: 10.6

The Sac State Hornets might have lost their game against North Dakota State really early in the contest, but damn it if they didn't fight back. Second-stringer Jackson Sharman fought hard, celebrating his tail off when he finally struck paydirt on a beautiful pass to Onterrio Smith Jr. in the corner of the endzone. Sharman went 19-for-27 passing for 187 yards and a touchdown in the second half after a 5-of-14 start with a pick. It wasn't a perfect rally, as Sac State left several points and drives off the board, but what was important was they did not fold. Saturday was significant progress for the Hornets and should not be underestimated as they head into conference play.

9. Kent State Golden Flashes (LW: t-7, down 2)

• High vote: 8 (twice)
• Low vote: 10 (once)
• Average vote: 9

Kent State took an expected shellacking against an angry Ohio State squad coming off a marquee loss. There wasn't a lot to learn from it. What's most important is that the Flashes came out relatively healthy as they now look to their first conference game.

8. Akron Zips (LW: t-7, down 1)

• High vote: 7 (two)
• Low vote: 8 (three)
• Average vote: 7.6

Akron took another loss, this one to Minnesota. Unfortunately for the Zips, they're now in even more dire straights than when they entered the contest, as they lost starting QB Cibastian Broughton– already pressed into service due to eligibility issues surrounding Reese Poffenbarger– to a foot injury during the game. Brayden Roggow performed admirably in his stead considering the circumstances, but the offense has generally looked disjointed against FBS competition. Broughton's injury will not help at all. (As of publication, Akron has not released game notes or depth charts for the upcoming game vs. UNLV, so it is unknown what Broughton's status is.)

7. Eastern Michigan Eagles (LW: 6, down 1)

• High vote: 6 (three)
• Low vote: 10 (once)
• Average vote: 7.4

Another outing in Big Ten country where one looks at Eastern's performance and wonders where they are mentally. EMU held their own against Michigan State for a while before that game got out of hand, and looked to be doing the same against Wisconsin, but this time, they fell apart much earlier and couldn't put up more than a slap or two. It's been a concerning trend which has been taken advantage of by every team the Eagles have faced save Sacramento State. We'll see if they can show a full, consistent game against FCS Lindenwood.

6. Central Michigan Chippewas (LW: 11, up 5)

• High vote: 6 (twice)
• Low vote: 9 (one)
• Average vote: 7

The roller-coaster continues for the Chippewas. A week removed from an awful performance until it wasn't against FCS Colgate, CMU thrashed Wyoming in a wire-to-wire finish which saw Angel Flores finish the game with the third-most single-game rushing yards by a QB in program history and the team post their best rushing output since 2019. Between that performance and other results around the league, CMU has jumped back to more or less where we saw them a few weeks back. Miami [FL] is definitely going to be a struggle, but getting out of non-con even at 2-2 is a great first step.

5. UMass Minutemen (LW: 4, down 1)

• High vote: 3 (twice)
• Low vote: 5 (three)
• Average vote: 4.2

UMass went off to a slow start against Stonehill last week, falling behind early 7-3, but managed to score 30-straight points en route to a big victory. Despite the 36-14 final score, we did start to see some of the flaws of this Minutemen team come to the fore. This was Pop Watson III's worst performance of the season, as he looked exasperated at points with Stonehill's pressure on defense. He persevered and led the team despite his individual struggles, so that's a feather in the cap. The defense was the star in this one, with several forced turnovers and a 3-of-16 third-down rate. UMass is 3-0 and we're respecting the hell out of that right now, even with two FCS wins. Their performance against Sac State will tell us whether this team is for real or not.

4. Miami RedHawks (LW: 5, up 1)

• Unanimous #4

If the 2026 edition of the Victory Bell Game is indeed the last one for the foreseeable future, it was a hell of a contest. Miami stormed out to a three-possession lead early– with a game-opening kick return touchdown by Scoop Smith amongst the scores– before the Cincinnati Bearcats made the plays they needed to bridge the gap in the second half on both sides of the ball, stealing away the lead with just under two minutes remaining to retain the trophy. For as much good as the RedHawks showed in the game's first half, it is what happened in the second half that makes us worry. As soon as Miami experienced just a little bit of pressure, they melted down, with undisciplined play and fundamental mistakes marring their performance. We saw the same thing happen against Pitt earlier in the season too. Here's hoping they can fix it before the MAC season.

3. Ohio Bobcats (LW: 3)

• High vote: 3 (three)
• Low vote: 5 (twice)
• Average vote: 3.8

The Bobbies entered Mobile wounded, and left even more wounded after a loss to South Alabama under the Alabama night skies. Already down their starting QB Nick Poulos and HB Duncan Brune, there were also questions about safety DJ Walker and linebacker Charlie Christopher. All but Walker would end up sitting, and the shorthanded 'Cats were pounced by a motivated Jags team navigating an injury of their own suffered by starting QB Bishop Davenport late in the lead-up. At full strength, Ohio has shown they're more than capable of a title run, and thus are still ranked highly.

2. Toledo Rockets (LW: 2)

• Unanimous #2

The Rockets looked like they were set to take a bit of a humiliating loss at home to the middling Temple Owls late in the fourth quarter down two scores. But the Rockets reached deep within themselves, scoring two touchdowns in 11 seconds of game clock and recovering an onsides kick in the process to force overtime, where they would score first and defend their endzone on a two-point conversion try by the Owls to win the game outright. Truly, this was one of the wildest games we've seen a MAC team play in quite some time, and showed that Toledo, under a first-year head coach from outside the Matt Campbell coaching tree in Mike Jacobs, might be just fine. His belief in John Alan Ricter and the rest of the team to toss the pill and get it done despite the circumstances showed incredible composure in a cut-throat situation.

1. Western Michigan Broncos (LW: 1)

• Unanimous #1

WMU did what they needed to do, going down to Houston to face the Rice Owls and taking away a crucial road win over an opponent from a higher-prestige conference. The final score was 28-21, but it was a 28-14 margin until the last possession, with WMU keeping the Owls at arm's length for most of the contest. It was not the prettiest game under Lance Taylor by far, but it was enough. Now they set up for perhaps the most important non-conference game for mid-majors in the 2026 campaign, welcoming new PAC-12 powerhouse Boise State to Waldo Stadium.

For transparency, here is our anonymous chart for this week. Did we get it right? Did we miss the mark? Let us know on Twitter @ByTheBelt, over on Bluesky at bythebelt.bsky.social, or in the comments section below!