This just in: The MAC is pretty good when it comes to football.

Thanks to Miami-Ohio’s convincing win over then-No. 15 Bowling Green, the RedHawks became the third MAC team to be nationally ranked in the top 25 – a first in the 57-year history of the conference.

Once again, NIU is the highest-ranked MAC team at No. 21, while Bowling Green is No. 25. The RedHawks are No. 23 – the first ranking for the school since the 1976 Associated Press preseason top 25.

With all the success the conference has had this season, it’s no surprise that there has been talk about why the MAC is not a BCS conference, and talks may surface again with three teams ranked.

But are the arguments worth it?

Some of the MAC powerhouses proved a point on a Saturday in September. While the Huskies were down in Tuscaloosa beating then-No. 21 Alabama in front of 83,018 fans, three other MAC teams had their way with BCS schools.

Marshall, Toledo and Miami-Ohio all pulled off upsets, while Bowling Green nearly ended defending national champ and then-No. 5 Ohio State’s winning streak. Marshall beat then-No. 6 Kansas State, Toledo topped No. 9 Pittsburgh and Miami beat preseason No. 23 Colorado State by 20 points.

That is, three ranked teams and one ranked in the preseason all fell to the MAC in one day.

So far, the MAC has beaten eight BCS teams this year. The list includes: Bama, Pitt, K-State, Iowa State, Colorado State, Northwestern, Purdue and Maryland.

Nearly half of those teams fell to NIU.

But where is Alabama now? In fact, where is Colorado State or Maryland? Not in the top 25, that’s for sure.

In fact, of the eight BCS teams to fall to the MAC, just two of them currently are in the AP top-25 -Purdue (No. 11) and Pittsburgh (No. 16), while only one of the other five have a winning record. Kansas State is No. 25 in the coaches’ poll.

The records of the five teams not ranked in either poll goes as follows: Iowa State (2-7), Alabama (4-6), Northwestern (5-5), Colorado State (5-5) and Maryland (6-3).

The ranked three are a combined 22-7, while the other five are just 22-26.

So is the MAC, with three ranked teams, BCS-worthy?

Umm, no.

Without the top five teams (NIU, Bowling Green, Miami-Ohio, Toledo and Marshall), the MAC is winless (0-23) against BCS teams. The big five are 8-5.

The bottom of the barrel in the MAC is a far cry from the top, with Buffalo and Eastern Michigan both in ESPN.com’s bottom-10 in the nation.

Take nothing away from the MAC officials and people involved in the recent success. It has been a magical season for a select few in the conference, but the MAC as a whole has no business being thrown in with the likes of the Big-12, Big-10, SEC, ACC, PAC-10 and Big East – yet.