in the MAC. The only reason UMass left the MAC in the first place is because the MAC gave UMass an ultimatum; either join as a full member or get out. Since UMass wasn't ready to leave the Atlantic 10 for the other sports, it decided to get out. I assume the only reason the MAC was willing to do a football-only deal with North Dakota State and Sacramento State is so football could get to an even number of teams for scheduling purposes. The reason I say that is because technically the MAC was in violation of the bylaws when it had 13 members. Specifically I am referring to satisfying the round robin division schedule requirement in order to play CCG. The MAC quickly found out there was no way for a division with 7 teams and a division with 6 teams could play a round robin division schedule (6 games or 5 games) and still play a total of 8 conferences. The MAC could never get the math to work out. The MAC was going to run into that problem again when UMass joined as a full member (?) to bring the membership back up to 13. Northern Illinois decision to leave solved that problem from a numbers standpoint, but not from a division standpoint because the East Division with UMass would have 7 and the West would now have 5 unless Bowling or Miami (OH) agreed to switch divisions. Adding North Dakota State and Sacramento State now solves the division issue AND the scheduling issue.