On Saturday, the two titans of the Mid-American Conference will meet for the first of what could be three meetings between the two schools, if they both navigate the field in the MAC Tournament next month. The Ohio Bobcats travel to Akron to take on the Zips in the most anticipated conference game of the season. All 12 teams take the court again on Saturday, as the grind of the MAC regular season continues.

A lot of things went according to plan on Wednesday night. Akron, in what could have been a look-ahead spot, played great defense, holding Bowling Green to just 55 points in a 13-point road triumph. Western Michigan had their difficulties, but beat Miami of Ohio by four to maintain their lead in the MAC West Division. Toledo showed some offensive prowess, shooting 51.7 percent from the field in an 11-point win over Ball State, despite being outrebounded by 20. Five players were in double figures in scoring for Buffalo, who scored 91 points en route to a 91-73 win over Central Michigan. Northern Illinois, who has epitomized Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde during the month of January, bounced back from their record-setting offensive futility to beat Kent State 67-65 in front of 719 people at the Convocation Center in DeKalb.

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The Twitter hashtag #MACtion originated from the sight of a lot of offense during ESPN’s coverage of weeknight Mid-American Conference football games. There were plenty of big plays, kick return touchdowns, no defense whatsoever, and a lot of people finding weeknight MAC football to be enjoyable, or at least a distraction from watching network TV dramas with their wives.

The opposite of #MACtion was played in Ypsilanti on Saturday. In my preview of last Saturday’s games, I called the Northern Illinois/Eastern Michigan game from last year’s MAC Tournament a “barnburner”. Obviously, I was being sarcastic, as the score was 18-11 at halftime in that game. As it turns out, last March’s game had nothing on Saturday’s game. To put it nicely, both teams had record-setting defensive performances. To be completely honest, both teams had incredibly pathetic offensive performances. Northern Illinois scored four points in the first half. They went over 24 and a half minutes without a field goal in the game and, at one point, were 0-for-32 on three-point attempts. Eastern Michigan eventually won 42-25, in a game that was a running joke on Twitter for the better part of an hour.

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All 12 Mid-American Conference teams will be in action on the final Saturday of January as the regular season moves onward and the teams inch closer to the conference tournament. Four of the six matchups are interdivision rivalries, making Saturday an important day for several of the teams in the conference.

On Wednesday night, there were some interesting results, none more interesting than Northern Illinois’s offensive explosion in their road win over Central Michigan. After being held to 34 points by Western Michigan in the previous game, the Huskies nearly had that much at halftime and exploded for 42 points in the second half to beat the Chippewas by 13. The Huskies made 10 of 19 three-point attempts and were aided by 31 free throws attempts, knocking down 22 of them.

In other Wednesday MACtion on the hardwood, Akron gave Toledo their second straight loss in a game televised on SportsTime Ohio with a 71-56 victory in a game that was never very competitive. Ohio took care of their affairs, winning both halves in a 12-point win over Miami of Ohio. Just like last season, Kent State lost on the road at Bowling Green, falling 70-55, marking the fourth time in eight losses that the Flashes were held below 60 points. Western Michigan gave Eastern Michigan a taste of their own medicine from last season, winning a close game by a 63-59 score. Ball State continued their losing ways in the MAC, falling at home to Buffalo by three.

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It was a tale of two halves for a large portion of the Mid-American Conference on Saturday, as four of the six winners trailed at halftime. In the marquee game of the weekend, the Akron Zips overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to escape Kent with a 71-67 win over the Flashes. It certainly wasn’t pretty, as the Zips shot just 46 percent from the free throw line and missed 18 of 25 three point attempts. But, 22 offensive rebounds and a monster effort from Demetrius Treadwell, with 15 points and 16 rebounds, helped the Zips to victory. The Flashes were paced by Chris Evans, who had 19 points.

In a game that was seen on SportsTime Ohio, the Ohio Bobcats took care of the Toledo Rockets with a 76-67 win at home. Their comeback was less of a task, as the Bobcats only trailed by three at halftime. Some great adjustments by head coach Jim Christian led the Bobcats to a 43-point second half and their fourth conference win. Eastern Michigan took a 13-point lead into halftime and held off Miami of Ohio for a 65-58 win. Central Michigan beat Ball State for the first time in over three years by erasing a two-point deficit at halftime and holding Ball State to just 20 points in the second half in their 71-57 win. As expected, Bowling Green and Buffalo played yet another close game, with the Bulls prevailing 68-65, after trailing by eight at halftime. In the late game, Northern Illinois managed just 34 points in a 71-34 drubbing at the hands of Western Michigan. For context, the NIU football team scored more than 34 points in 11 of their 14 games.

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