Sept. 20 marked the day the MAC was thrust into the national spotlight. Now, the conference is trying to capitalize on the events of that day to receive more bowl tie-ins.

On that day, the MAC defeated three ranked teams: NIU trumped Alabama, Marshall defeated Kansas State and Toledo topped Pittsburgh.

“What our teams have done this year on the field certainly raises the profiles of the MAC and shows how competitive our teams can be on the field,” Assistant MAC Commissioner Gary Richter said. ”They’ve really popped up on the national scene.”

Richter said he and MAC commissioner Rick Chryst now are negotiating more bowl ties for the MAC.

“He’s well-connected in the bowl world, and he’s talking to people,” Richter said of Chryst.

The GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., and the Motor City Bowl in Detroit, Mich., currently are the MAC’s only bowl tie-ins.

NIU’s Associate Athletics Director Dee Abrahamson said the success of underdog teams in the MAC has attracted fans that will help NIU with future bowl bids.

“This year, our advantage has been that we’ve had high-profile victories,” Abrahamson said. “A lot of people not even affiliated with the university were cheering us on. We had a lot of fans jump on our bandwagon and cheer us on. Those are the types of things that help us when our name is on the table of a committee room for a bowl.”

Before NIU’s loss to Toledo on Saturday, the MAC had three ranked teams. The only conferences with more ranked teams a week ago were the Big 10, Big 12, SEC and and Big East.

With the glory, however, comes more hurdles for the MAC to jump.

The conference’s newfound success will make it harder for MAC teams to schedule games against big-name schools, NIU football coach Joe Novak said.

“I think a lot of those teams are going to shy away from playing us,” Novak said. “If I’m a team that’s struggling a little bit right now, I’m not sure I’d want to play a good MAC team. Those teams are leery of playing Marshall, Miami, Toledo, Bowling Green or Northern because they know we’re not that far away from them.”