Talk about a season of polar opposites for the MAC in 2016.
On one hand, Western Michigan became the conference's first Group of 5 team to bust through to a New Year's Six bowl game by going 13-0 and qualifying for the Cotton Bowl.
The MAC also saw half its team play in the postseason.
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On the other hand, the Mid-American went 0-6 in those bowl games.
As the conference prepares to rebound on its 2016 postseason record, let's have some fun and rank the best MAC helmets from 12th to 1st.
Note: These rankings are for each team's standard helmets. We'll be ranking the best overall Group of 5 alternate helmets soon. In the meantime, check out our helmet rankings for the AAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt Conference and Mountain West.
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12. Eastern Michigan
First the Eagles put in a sharp-looking grey field in 2014. Then it started sporting awesome new alternate helmets. Most importantly of all, it broke its decades-long bowl drought last year with a surprising 7-5 regular season.
But these "normal" EMU helmets are just plain … well … plain.
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EMU Athletics[/credit]
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11. Miami (OH)
It will be hard to keep the Redhawks off the #1 spot for its alternate helmets, but there's not much going on here.
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Gameday-Collectibles[/credit]
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10. Ohio
With a fierce mascot like the Bobcat, it's a wonder Ohio decide to simply spell out the school name across its dome.
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FootballHelmets.com[/credit]
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9. Central Michigan
Starting to notice a theme? Central Michigan joins its brothers above as a simplistic helmet feature just letters.
At least they underlined theirs.
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Schutt[/credit]
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8. Toledo
Simple. Old-School. Classy.
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Schutt[/credit]
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7. Bowling Green
The team with "Green" in its name is anything but, and we dig the falcon peering out from the "BG" logo.
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Schutt[/credit]
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6. Northern Illinois
Speaking of mascots peering out from the logo …
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Schutt[/credit]
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5. Ball State
We definitely like this version of the mascot better than the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
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Ridell[/credit]
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4. Western Michigan
And speaking of better than an NFL counterpart, WMU's lids are infinitely more artistic than the Denver Broncos mascot, which looks like it's about to eat a snack.
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Schutt[/credit]
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3. Akron
The Zips give Baylor's chrome domes a run for its money with these beauties.
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ZipsNation.Org[/credit]
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2. Kent State
Now THIS is how you slap a menacing, fierce-looking mascot on the side of your helmet.
Well done, Kent State.
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Ridell[/credit]
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1. Buffalo
It's difficult to know what Buffalo considers a "normal" helmet these days considering it started rocking these new lids last year.
Does the bull logo resemble a certain NBA team from Chicago? Maybe.
Do we care? No sir.
These are definitely the best-looking helmets in the MAC.
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UB Athletics[/credit]
