In previous D2SDays, we’ve reviewed some conferences that, despite relatively low national profiles, have existed as long or longer than many FBS conferences. Today, we’ll switch gears and meet one of the newer kids on the block: the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, or G-MAC.
Note: this is not to be confused with the Great Midwest Conference, which existed from 1990-1995 and served mostly as a vehicle for awarding conference championships to the Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team.
Anyways, the G-MAC formed in the 2012-13 season, cobbled together from teams that had departed the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and others. Its football-sponsoring teams are spread over Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Naturally, its headquarters is in Indiana, where it has no teams.
NOTABLE ALUMNI OF THE G-MAC
Lake Erie College - Caroline Ransom Williams, the first American woman professionally trained as an Egyptologist
University of Findlay - WWII Naval flying ace and pioneering member of the the Blue Angels Edward “Whitey” Feightner, who wants to fight you
Malone University - Jeff Timmons, founding member of the pop group 98 Degrees.
I should note that Timmons is listed on the Wikipedia of Malone University, but Timmons’ own Wikipedia makes no mention of having attended Timmons. Either this is an oversight on the people who’ve contributed to the biographies of non-Lachey members of 98 Degrees, or Malone University is trying to steal valor here.
The thing is: if that’s the case, it’s a lie that’s both bold AND low-stakes, which is exactly the kind of thing we’ll look past. Thus, Jeff Timmons attended Malone University, and I was also a founding member of 98 Degrees.
G-MAC GAME OF THE WEEK, THE WEEK I COVERED THE G-MAC
In a game between two teams with losing records and little left on the line this season, Alderson Broaddus and Walsh played a barnburner this weekend, with the Walsh Cavaliers sneaking out a 42-39 home victory in a game that featured six lead changes. Walsh had led by as much as 21-6 early in the second quarter, before the Battlers... battled... back with 20 unanswered points to close out the first half. The game wasn’t sealed until the final minute, with Walsh’s Nick Gassman punching in a 2-yard touchdown to seal the victory.
G-MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, THE WEEK I COVERED THE G-MAC
Brian Benson, Findlay University
The conference’s leading rusher this season, the sophomore back put together his second straight 200+ yard game this weekend, picking up 221 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries in a 63-17 victory over Malone.
ROLL THOSE BEAUTIFUL MASCOT RANKINGS
9. Alderson Broaddus Battlers
Alderson Broaddus’s mascot is an oblique reference to the Battle of Philippi, the first organized land action of the Civil War, which was fought to a Northern victory near the university’s location of Philippi, West Virginia.
Their logo is just a picture of a guy from present-day West Virginia.
8. Findlay Oilers
This is a logo that asks the question “What do the University of Florida and the Houston Oilers have in common?”
The answer is, of course, success in Tennessee in the ‘90s.
7. Ohio Dominican University Panthers
This is a perfectly nice panther.
6. Hillsdale College Chargers
As a small school, you’ve got to differentiate yourself. Identify under-served niches in the market, and exploit them. There weren’t enough Lisa Frank college football teams, and now there are.
5. Walsh University Cavaliers
A red-and-gold color scheme for a team called the “Cavaliers” that plays in Northeast Ohio? This says one thing to me, without even checking the standings: SUCCESS.
[checks standings, sees they are 3-6]
Alright, well, they’re better than the other ones are this year. [clings to 2016 NBA Champions t-shirt, whispers “worth it”]
4. Malone University Pioneers
That feeling when you’re trying to signal to a cow that you’d like to be friends, but from a distance.
3. Kentucky Wesleyan University Panthers
I have previously established, in setting the rigorous and consistent standards that I keep in compiling this recurring feature, that I am in no way bound to use the school’s official athletic logo if, in the course of my research, I find a better alternate logo somehow associated with the school.
Case in point: the official logo of the KWU Panthers:
That is a perfectly nice panther - something that will earn you no better than 7th in this week’s rankings (see above).
But then there’s this:
Oh heck yeah. I want to get into some mid-’90s mischief with this dude. We’ll go surfing and smoke indoors and, uh [trying to remember ‘90s antics] invade Kuwait
2. Tiffin University Dragons
Once again, I must lament that FBS has roughly seventeen each of Bulldogs, Tigers and Huskies, but only one dragon-themed mascot. Tiffin’s exceeds even the UAB Blazer on the Trogdor scale of majesty.
1. Lake Erie Storm
This sounds like a low-level minor league hockey team - the tier of hockey where it’s mostly guys in their 30s fighting. Again, as previously established, I see this as a good thing.
Does the logo live up to it?
Oh heck yeah. I want this tornado to punch me in the face.