Mid-American Conference 2023 football schedule: One Michigan rivalry can't avoid midweek game

Midweek #MACtion continues to highlight the Mid-American Conference football schedule, and once again the Central Michigan-Western Michigan rivalry will be on display.

The conference released the 2023 schedules for its 12 teams on Wednesday and, as has become tradition, there are games scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays in November. And for the fourth year in a row, one of the MAC's hallmark rivalries -- the Chippewas and the Broncos -- will be a part of it, scheduled for a Tuesday, Nov. 7 kickoff.

But the oldest rivalry in the MAC is between CMU and Eastern Michigan, the winners of the 2022 Michigan MAC Trophy and the only one of the three local schools in the conference to make a bowl game last season. The Eagles, 9-4 last season, visit Mount Pleasant to play the Chips (4-8 in 2022) on Sept. 30.

The Eagles host WMU (5-7 in 2022) on Oct. 28. EMU opens the 2023 season on Friday, Sept. 1 at home against Howard. The non-conference schedule also features a visit to Minnesota on Sept. 9, playing host to UMass on Sept. 16 and going to Jacksonville State on Sept. 23.

Western Michigan starts the season on Thursday, Aug. 31, against Saint Francis (Pa.) and will visit Syracuse (Sept. 9) and Iowa (Sept. 23) before entering MAC play. The Broncos will also play at Mississippi State on Oct. 7.

CMU opens at Michigan State on Saturday, Sept. 2. The home opener is the following Saturday against New Hampshire before visiting Notre Dame on Sept. 16 before wrapping up non-conference play at South Alabama the following week.

For the 20th straight year, the MAC championship game will be at Ford Field. It's scheduled for Dec. 2.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mid-American Conference 2023 football schedule: CMU, EMU, WMU games