The MAC is 10-27 in bowl games dating back to 2006 with an infamous stretch in which they did not win a bowl game between the 2006 Motor City Bowl and the 2010 (2009 season) GMAC Bowl. The coaching instability doesn't help, but that isn't the main problem. The main problem is that this conference doesn't have enough money to invest in their programs, so they go from one coach to the next with average to poor facilities. It's just the way it is. Another contributing factor is a diluted talent pool partly due to the lack of coaching and program stability. Something as simple as experience can be enough to catapult a team from the cellar to a bowl game on a yearly basis. The "sleeper" teams from the MAC have been pretty easy for me to spot on a yearly basis (a.k.a., 2012 Kent State, Ball State under Brady Hoke, Ball State under Pete Lembo, 2013 Buffalo, 2006 Central Michigan, etc.). Not to mention our dregs are unlike dregs from other conferences. Not just bad, they're middle-FCS-tier bad.
In football terms, what happened tonight wasn't a shock. Northern Illinois is completely one-dimensional. This one-dimensional offense can fire on all cylinders if you're playing a team that is weak with assignment football, is soft up the middle, and can't tackle. Utah State and Bowling Green are none of those things, hence the lack of production from NIU. Lynch is a very mediocre passer so calling him a dual threat is generous. He would look better against better competition if he had more help, no doubt, but his weakness as a passer truly limits his game. Still a good player, but all things being equal, not a Heisman-caliber athlete.
And speaking of Bowling Green, they love to stuff the box and isolate their corners one-on-one (which is why Indiana steamrolled them). They're not bad tacklers, but they are small. James Conner was about as big as anybody on Bowling Green's defense tonight and he was a load to bring down. I thought he played a whale of a game, but he was a huge mismatch all night long. And Tyler Boyd beat some of the mano-a-mano coverage tonight.
. I certainly wish the top of the league would perform better on bigger stages though.