Late last evening, I was gathering information about college football to use tomorrow for the inaugural Football Friday for the season. And then, I went down a rabbit hole for about two hours chasing stuff that is not sufficiently material to be called “ghosts”. Let me use this morning to take you on this journey into phantasmagoria…
It all began when I ran across the fact that UMass will be part of the MAC this year. I guess I should have known that – – but I did not – – and the news struck me in a curmudgeonly way. I often make fun of MAC football, particularly those televised games in late October/early November on Tuesday nights when one can count the house on TV because no one is there. Added to that sort of scorn is the fact that some teams in the MAC recently have been “less than fully competent” on the field. Kent State last year was the only winless team in Division 1-AA and they won the Brothel Defense Award for 2024.
I figured that UMass would fit right into the MAC. In fact, UMass is a two-time winner of the Brothel Defense Award back in 2021 and then again in 2023. I was contemplating a competition between UMass and Kent State in a “race to the bottom” and immediately found that UMass will visit Kent State on October 11th. It was at this point that a thought entered my mind:
- The MAC is where high school football aspirations go to die.
I quickly realized that it was way too harsh. I know that Ben Roethlisberger played for Miami (Ohio) and went on to recognize his football aspirations. I also know that Jason Whitlock played for Ball State and even though Whitlock never made it to the NFL, he has been hugely successful as a sportswriter and TV commentator. That is when the rabbit hole appeared, and I saw a white rabbit scurry into the hole with me in hot pursuit:
- Has the MAC produced solid NFL players?
The short answer is, “Yes”. However, the way I got to the point where I could say something so terse took about two hours of Googling. From that search, I am confident that Ben Roethlisberger is the best QB to have emerged from the MAC, but I was surprised to find as many pass catchers of note who were MAC alums:
- Antonio Brown (Central Michigan)
- Julian Edelman (Kent State)
- Antonio Gates (Kent State) HoF
- Randy Moss (Marshall) HoF
I only found one running back who ”made it” in the NFL out of the MAC. Michael Turner (Northern Illinois) played nine years in the NFL and was invited to the Pro Bowl twice and made the All-Pro team once.
That is not a long list of offensive “producers” coming out of the MAC and the reason for that seems to me to be that there have been some outstanding defensive players from those schools. Just consider these four linebackers who are MAC products:
- James Harrison (Kent State)
- Jack Lambert (Kent State) HoF
- Khalil Mack (Buffalo)
- Jason Taylor (Akron)
Two defensive linemen you have heard from and about who played in the MAC were:
- Maxx Crosby (Eastern Michigan)
- Bob Rowe (Western Michigan)
It is too early to know if Quinyon Mitchell (Toledo) belongs to a compendium such as this, but he certainly had a highly competent rookie season for the Eagles in 2024. Clearly my idea that the MAC is a graveyard for high school football aspirations was overblown – -but I could not stop there and get on with what I started out to do. No, I then wondered:
- Has UMass sent any talent ahead to the NFL that is comparable to other MAC schools?
From my set of Google inquiries, the short answer to that is, “No”. Here is what I found to be the notable UMass contributions to professional football:
- Victor Cruz – – WR
- Vlad Ducasse – – OL
- Greg Landry – – QB
Looks to me as if UMass will need to step up its game to keep pace with its new conference compatriots …
I hope this journey into chasing ghosts has been entertaining – and sufficiently scary – such that you do not allow yourselves to get sucked into similar vortices in the future.
Finally, the only way to close out today’s rant is to hear from Lewis Carroll:
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
And …
“That’s the reason they’re called lessons, because they lesson from day to day.”
And …
“She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………