MAC West rankings: Toledo holds on to top spot

Toledo is on top of the MAC West rankings.

With the last week of the season upon us, here is one last regular season look at the Mid-American Conference West rankings:

1) Toledo (Last week: 1) – The Rockets were able to handle rival Bowling Green on the road and will host Western Michigan on Friday with a chance to go to the MAC championship game.

2) Northern Illinois (Last week: 2) – The Huskies topped Western Michigan 35-31 to stay alive in the MAC West race. NIU would need a win over Central Michigan on Friday and a Toledo loss to make it to Detroit.

3) Central Michigan (Last week: 3) – The Chippewas beat Kent State 42-23 last week and sit at 5-2 in the conference. Central Michigan can only play spoiler, because even if the Chippewas win and Toledo loses it would create a three-way tie for first and Toledo would go to the title game because of head-to-head wins over NIU and CMU.

4) Western Michigan (Last week: 4) – The Broncos suffered a tough loss at Northern Illinois and at 4-3 in the conference are left to try to play spoiler at Toledo on Friday.

5) Eastern Michigan (Last week: 5) – The Eagles finish 3-5 in the conference after a home win over Bowling Green on Tuesday night. It has been a disappointing season for EMU with a number of very close losses.

6) Ball State (Last week: 6) – It’s been a tough year for the Cardinals as they sit at 0-8 in the conference and just 2-10 overall and have been in this spot the whole season. They closed their season with a loss to Miami on Tuesday night.

Contact Brian Buckey at bbuckey@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @BrianBuckey.