Midweek MACtion brings you the GOOD rivalry trophies: Previews, Open Thread

First, a huge thank you to everyone involved here (mostly just Hustle Belt and their writer The Vannzee, but still):

We put out a call to help us find a picture of a disgusting trophy that probably shouldn’t exist, and people came through in, like, 30 minutes. The internet was a great idea. (And then assholes responded a day later, citing THAT VERY PHOTO, saying “It literally took me 5 seconds, moron.” The internet was a mistake.)

Do you not yet follow Hustle Belt on twitter @HustleBelt or at their website? Go rectify that immediately:

Then, MACtion delivered:

Here’s what that Western comeback looked like:

Does this week have more MAC shenanigans in store? LET’S FIND OUT TOGETHER:

Tuesday, November 17

Buffalo Bulls (2-0) at Bowling Green Falcons (0-2)

6pm | CBSSN | Buffalo -31.5 | O/U 60

Well.

Akron Zips (0-2) at Kent State Golden Flashes (2-0)

7pm | ESPN | Kent -25 | O/U 59.5

WELL.

WE GOT US A TROPHY.

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

This one’s easy to find: WAGON WHEEL.

[T]he Wagon Wheel trophy was introduced when the series resumed in 1946. It was the idea of Raymond Manchester, the dean of men at Kent State. Manchester donated the wheel, claiming it had been discovered in Kent in 1902 during construction of a pipeline or building near the eventual site of Kent State University. He connected the wheel to both schools by creating a legend that the wheel had been part of the carriage of Akron industrialist John R. Buchtel, the main benefactor and original namesake of what is now the University of Akron (known as Buchtel College from 1872–1913). Manchester’s story was that Buchtel had been near the future site of Kent State in 1870 while scouting for a site to locate a new college. Buchtel’s carriage became stuck in the mud and his horses pulled it apart, with one of the wheels becoming embedded in the mud. That incident, Manchester claimed, caused Buchtel to ultimately choose Akron as the site of the new college, which opened in 1872 and eventually became the University of Akron.

Dumb backstory? Weird noncompetitive stretches? Doesn’t ring a bell...

Anywho, we at OTE are strong believers in watching bad football, particularly when a silly trinket is on the line. The Wagon Wheel is the silly trinket I think we all need right now.

Ohio University Bobcats (1-1) at Miami-Ohio Redhawks (1-1)

CANCELED: COVID

Fuck you, COVID, for denying us the Battle of the Bricks.

Wednesday, November 18

Northern Illinois Huskies (0-2) at Balls Tate Robotbirds (1-1)

6pm | ESPNN | Balls -14 | O/U 60

YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS:

message board

The trophy Iowa and Iowa State were too stupid to come up with—GIVE US MORE BRONZE STALK. Give us more weird side-eye at this dumb thing.

LONG LIVE BRONZE STALK.

Toledo Rockets (1-1) at Eastern Michigan Eagles (0-2)

6pm | CBSSN | Toledo -6.5 | O/U 62

This is my last week of a commute to Texas for work, and I’m most thrilled that in the coming weeks, I will no longer miss any part of these dumb and bad football games.

Toledo is still possibly one of the best three teams in the MAC, and Eastern is nothing to sneeze at for an 0-2 team. Don’t adjust your TV, you’re watching football LIVE! from the Factory. Tune in, and let’s get weird.

Western Michigan Broncos (2-0) at Central Michigan Chippewas (2-0)

6pm | ESPN2 | CMU -1 | O/U 59.5

GAME OF THE WEEK.

Wait...don’t tell me...

...surely not a rivalry troph—

CMU Life

RIVALRY TROPHY + GAME OF THE WEEK + MACTION.

The winner of CMU-WMU takes home the Victory Cannon, so named for the cannons fired off at Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant and Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo. Why Eastern was left out of this trophy (the winner of the Michigan MAC schools gets the uncreative Michigan MAC trophy) competition, I do not care to know. I only care that there is another silly, whimsical MAC rivalry trophy. JUST LOOK AT THIS SHIT:

The Black Sheep

These two teams—look for CMU’s QB Daniel Richardson to get his both through the air and with his legs—can put up some dumb points and, if we’re lucky, another comeback.

Anyone know if CMU HC Jim McElwain has ever been photographed with a trophy? I dunno, like a trophy fish? Lemme know in the comments.

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Here’s your open thread for the midweek MACtion. Behave. Enjoy.