Ohio is in the MAC Championship game for the first time since 2011. Western Michigan owns a 32-28-1 record in the all-time series, including a 49-14 win last season. Dec 02, 2016  The Western Michigan Broncos and Ohio Bobcats are a combined 0-5 in MAC Championship Game appearances, but one will break through for the 2016 title. Dec 02, 2016 WMU’s epic run spurs 46K in tickets sold for MAC championship game. Western Michigan in the MAC Championship game Thursday, December 1, 2016 at Ford Field in Detroit. Detroit area.

The Western Michigan Broncos are expecting an elite crowd for tonight’s Mid-American Conference football championship game at Ford Field.

Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard said the tickets sold for the game between No.14 Western Michigan (12-0) and Ohio (8-4) are “46,000 and counting.” That’s a number that would shatter the previous record for a MAC title game.

Central Michigan’s involvement has brought out the three highest crowds for a MAC title game at Ford Field. The highest attendance for a MAC title game is 25,483, when Central Michigan beat Ohio, 31-10, in 2006. CMU beat Miami (Ohio), 35-10, in front of 25,013 in 2007 and beat Ohio, 20-10, in front of 23,714 in 2009.

Beauregard said, and other MAC officials later confirmed, that the upper bowl of Ford Field will be opened for the first time in a MAC title game.

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“It’s just going to be a dream come true,” Beauregard said. “Right now we know that we have sold over 46,000 and counting.”

“They already closed this,” Beauregard said, pointing to the lower bowl before Western Michigan practiced on the field Thursday.

Beauregard wouldn’t speculate how many WMU fans would be coming.

“The Detroit area/southeast Michigan is our largest alumni population,” Beauregard said. “And the largest number of our students come from this side of the state.

“Guys, it’s Broncos. It’s what’s happening in Kalamazoo. We’re the story. We’re it.

“We are a very special team right now. You know I’ve spent my entire career at Western Michigan and in that time we’ve had some wonderful history. But the impact that this team and the leadership under coach (P.J) Fleck… I don’t know of a time when it’s been more energizing.”

Beauregard said the streets in downtown Kalamazoo were full as the Broncos left for Ford Field.

Chess Championship 2016 Games

Fleck said it’s a special year.

“Pulling out of Kalamazoo and having the whole street lined with our city was very powerful,” Fleck said. “I was even informed there was one guy who ran out of the woods on 94, exit 82, literally out of the woods with a Western Michigan flag.

“There’s a guy in the woods with a Western Michigan flag. Just be aware of that.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.

Mac Championship Game Detroit 2016 Tickets

WMU Broncos are 2016 MAC football champions (Photo provided courtesy of the Mid-American Conference)

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The No. 13 (AP) ranked Western Michigan University football Broncos beat Ohio University 29-23 in the 2016 Marathon Mid-American Conference Championship game Friday, Dec. 2, to claim the MAC title for the first time in 28 years.

A record-breaking crowd of 45,615 gathered for the championship game at Ford Field in Detroit, with WMU fans filling an overwhelming majority of the stadium.

This is the school's fourth football conference championship and its first since 1988. Under the direction of coach Mike Gary, WMU championed the Michigan Collegiate Conference in 1929. In 1966, led by Bill Doolittle, the Broncos were named the co-division MAC champions, but did not go to a conference championship game. The 1988 team, coached by Al Molde, won WMU's only other outright MAC football title.

Standouts

• Freshman kicker Butch Hampton made all five of his field goal attempts, the last of which was a 34-yarder that gave WMU a 29-23 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
• Senior wide receiver Corey Davis had eight catches for 144 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.
• Junior linebacker Robert Spillane had a team-high seven tackles, including the game-sealing interception with 51 seconds left on the clock.

Under the direction of head coach P.J. Fleck, the football Broncos recorded a perfect 13-0 season this year, and were nationally ranked for the first time in program history. Currently No. 13 in the AP Top 25, No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 17 in the College Football Playoff poll, WMU is one of just two undefeated schools in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The other is No. 1-ranked Alabama. Alabama is 12-0 and will play Florida in the Southeastern Conference Championship game.

WMU is now vying for a Group of Five spot in a New Year's Six bowl game. Bowl announcements are expected to be made around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. WMU's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics is hosting a bowl announcement watch party at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in University Arena.

For game and individual statistics, videos and interviews, visit wmubroncos.com.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.

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