The Mid-America Conference has officially confirmed that it is part of the ACRC, and the teams in the MAC will be eligible for the ACRC rankings next week.

The MAC had been expected to be a part of the ACRC, but a series of miscommunications, and the machinations of USA Rugby in creating a fall playoff seemed to have the MAC remove itself from the ACRC. However, since the ACRC (American Collegiate Rugby Championship) isn't holding a playoff, and instead is holding a series of optional bowl games in Charlotte, NC in November, being a member requires little commitment.

It's unclear whether MAC teams will play in bowl games, or even play in the USA Rugby playoffs - but they ARE in the ACRC.

So that brings us to this weekend, the third in the MAC Conference. Bowling Green takes the weekend off after beating league newcomers Louisville 62-0 in the first week and then edging Ohio State in a non-conference game.

Northern Illinois opens their campaign at 0-1 Ohio, who lost their opener to Ball State, who are idle this weekend.

Ball State looked impressive, but will have to face Miami, which has been probably the #2 team to Bowling Green for the past few years. Miami is a high-powered offensive team. They have more than half their squad returning, and if they can fold in the 20-or-so new guys, they can be formidable.

Louisville tries to rebound against Central Michigan, who lost 39-14 to Dayton.

And then there's Dayton, which is 1-0 and faces Cincinnati in the opener for the Bearcats. Cincinnati beat Vanderbilt in a warmup, and looked pretty good doing it. But Dayton look solid, too.

"We're looking good," said Dayton Head Coach Shane Stacks. "We have a lot of returning players, and were looking to get into the playoffs."

Stacks said the team has been drilling the fundamentals, and working on the basics of body position, especially in contact.

"We're also looking at assessing where the overloads are and reading the game better," said the coach. "With these experienced players we're able to do that."

Captain and prop Conor Squier is the foundation of the forward pack, while in the backs Kevin Hogan, Jake Houk, and Colin Doyle ave impressed.

All of these teams are chasing Bowling Green, but with BGSU being in the North, and Dayton in the South, that chase could last a while.