My MAC Stadium Rankings

[MDZip]

Living so far to the East I don't suspect I will ever get a chance to see the Zips at every MAC stadium, so while I was in Michigan (among other things) I did a little trip to the stadiums I had yet to visit, so now the only ones I have not seen are Ball State and UMass so not having personally seen their campuses, I'll have to leave them out. I really felt bad for EMU, their campus and stadium weren't too bad but they are literally ten minutes from UM, so I can't see them ever being able to gain much momentum. CMU and WMU are each around an hour from Lansing and MSU so they're a little better but still a tough geography. We think we have an Ohio State problem?

Anyway, my opinion on the MAC stadiums that I have seen.

1. Akron

2. Toledo

3. NIU

4. CMU

5. Ohio

6. EMU

7. Buffalo

8. Bowling Green

9. Miami

10. WMU

11. Can't

As far as the campuses themselves go

1. Ohio

2. Miami

3. Can't

4. Bowling Green

5. NIU

6. Akron

7. Toledo

8. CMU

9. EMU

10. Buffalo

11. WMU

So the combined rankings are:

1. Ohio

2. Akron

3. NIU

4. Toledo

5. Miami

6. BGSU (tie)

6. CMU (tie)

8. Can't

9. EMU

10. Buffalo

11. WMU

[Zipmeister]

I have only been to four of the schools currently in the MAC. If BG is the 4th best one then the MAC must have a boatload of butt-ugly campuses.

[72 Roo]

No way BG's campus is nicer than NIU's or Akron's. Have you ever walked that place? The architecture is horrible and the landscaping is early 1960's state mental institution-esque. We need to stand up for what we have. It is better than most and getting improved all the time.

[johnnyzip84]

No way BG's campus is nicer than NIU's or Akron's. Have you ever walked that place? The architecture is horrible and the landscaping is early 1960's state mental institution-esque. We need to stand up for what we have. It is better than most and getting improved all the time.

Perhaps MDZip is being swayed by the famously high female-to-male student ratio at BG?

[MDZip]

Perhaps MDZip is being swayed by the famously high female-to-male student ratio at BG?

What? There were buildings on that campus?

[72 Roo]

Perhaps MDZip is being swayed by the famously high female-to-male student ratio at BG?

Now I'd be swayed by that ratio any day.

[ROCK1]

Toledo's campus is much better than #7. All of the buildings are collegiate gothic. Plus they have woods and a river on campus.

[johnnyzip84]

Toledo's campus is much better than #7. All of the buildings are collegiate gothic. Plus they have woods and a river on campus.

AND a train runs right through campus

[Captain Kangaroo]

Toledo's campus is much better than #7. All of the buildings are collegiate gothic. Plus they have woods and a river on campus.

I think the Toledo campus' grade is lower due to the garish, glorified Children's Palace / Medieval Summer Stock-looking football stadium.

[skip-zip]

Here's how I see the MAC Stadiums.

For the most part, whenever someone builds a brand new one, it will bump to the top of the list, until someone else builds a new one. That is, if we assume that every school in the MAC is smart enough to do their homework when making the investment, and will include comforts and amenities that surpass their competitors.

So, for now at least, we reign supreme

[you am i]

AND a train runs right through campus

Hey Johnny, a train does not run "right through campus." There are tracks near the south end of the campus that get very little use. In fact, the tracks dead end at the campus. Once in a great while an engine and a few cars mosey through at 5 mph, but I have no idea what the purpose is since, as I said, the tracks lead to a dead end.

Toledo is one of those campuses like Akron that have gone through a dramatic transformation in the past few decades. The planners were smart to give the new buildings a stone-facing so that there is architectural consistency with the older buildings. For instance, the buildings in the middle of this picture are from the 1930's, but the newer buildings surrounding them fit right in.

I love what what Akron has done with the campus, but there is not a lot of architectural consistency between the old and the new. But it works.

Can't's campus never did that much for me. Its like dull, boring buildings were just dropped randomly from the sky into a farm field. BGSU is kind of like that as well. Miami's campus is beautiful, and OU's is not far behind Miami.

I take issue with the crack about Toledo's stadium. The stone facade gives it a solid, classic feel and the massive luxury loges and press box structure on the west side of the field give the place a big-time feel for a MAC school.

[johnnyzip84]

Hey Johnny, a train does not run "right through campus." There are tracks near the south end of the campus that get very little use. In fact, the tracks dead end at the campus. Once in a great while an engine and a few cars mosey through at 5 mph, but I have no idea what the purpose is since, as I said, the tracks lead to a dead end.

Toledo is one of those campuses like Akron that have gone through a dramatic transformation in the past few decades. The planners were smart to give the new buildings a stone-facing so that there is architectural consistency with the older buildings. For instance, the buildings in the middle of this picture are from the 1930's, but the newer buildings surrounding them fit right in.

I love what what Akron has done with the campus, but there is not a lot of architectural consistency between the old and the new. But it works.

Can't's campus never did that much for me. Its like dull, boring buildings were just dropped randomly from the sky into a farm field. BGSU is kind of like that as well. Miami's campus is beautiful, and OU's is not far behind Miami.

I take issue with the crack about Toledo's stadium. The stone facade gives it a solid, classic feel and the massive luxury loges and press box structure on the west side of the field give the place a big-time feel for a MAC school.

I can only speak for myself, but my remark was very much tongue-in-cheek and I suspect others were as well. I really like UT's campus and kind of enjoyed walking over train tracks on the way to the Glass Bowl. Sorry for not making my intent clearer

[you am i]

I can only speak for myself, but my remark was very much tongue-in-cheek and I suspect others were as well. I really like UT's campus and kind of enjoyed walking over train tracks on the way to the Glass Bowl. Sorry for not making my intent clearer

I kind of figured that, but if someone had never been on the campus I thought they might have visions of freight trains barreling through the campus every 30 minutes with students running for their lives.

And I will correct an earlier comment I made about the picture posted showing the UT campus. The building on the left is the old UT field house where the basketball team played up until the mid-70s. Akron traveled there on several occasions before the Zips joined the MAC. The field house was also the site of a concert by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in the late 60s,which is still talked about by the old-timers.

I am an Akron grad and a Toledo grad and I am an avid follower of both sports programs. We talked for a bit last year when Akron played Toledo.

[K92]

I enjoyed my visit to the Glass Bowl. It is an old stadium, but they have modernized it nicely. It has some character and charm.

[johnnyzip84]

I am an Akron grad and a Toledo grad and I am an avid follower of both sports programs. We talked for a bit last year when Akron played Toledo.

I recall our conversation. You sat in front of us. Maybe you'll get to visit the Info in November. If so, you'll need to stop in Lot 9 and say hello!

[bobbyake]

Trains run through the University of Akron campus too. I remember hearing one all the time in the business building.

[LZIp]

Trains run through the University of Akron campus too. I remember hearing one all the time in the business building.

this is true.

[MDZip]

I have been on a lot of campuses and I will tell you it is amazing how many schools have train tracks that run through them or beside them - Villanova has two that criss cross right beside campus, JMU has railroad tracks and is bisected by an interstate highway. Akron's is just a little less obvious since the tracks are sunken. I can only assume since many of these schools were founded before cars and interstate highway systems it may have be intentional to locate them close to a railroad to get students to and from school.