BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (Ticker) -- Bowling Green gets another shot at 15th-ranked Miami Ohio in Thursday's Mid-American Conference championship game.
Miami (11-1, 8-0 MAC East) completed an unbeaten season in conference play with last week's 56-21 rout of Central Florida and its 11-game winning streak is the second-longest in Division I-A behind Oklahoma's 14-game run.
Miami handed Bowling Green (10-2, 7-1 MAC West) its only conference loss with a 33-10 victory on November 4, but the 23rd-ranked Falcons will get a chance for revenge at home.
After a steady diet of Marshall (six appearances) and Toledo (four appearances), this year's title game will have a decidedly different feel as it pits two teams who captured their first division titles since the MAC went to division play in 1997.
But while the schools will be playing in their first MAC championship game, they are no strangers to MAC titles, ranking first and second in league history. Miami Ohio has 13 MAC crowns and Bowling Green 10.
Miami already has accepted a bid to the GMAC Bowl but Bowling Green may need a win to secure a spot in the Motor City Bowl, the other postseason game affiliated with the MAC. Should Bowling Green fall, Northern Illinois, which also has only two defeats, could be tabbed for the Motor City Bowl.
Bowling Green will try to shut down a Miami offense that set a MAC record for points in a season with 504 - an average of 42 per game.
Ben Roethlisberger completed his first 14 passes against Central Florida before finishing 24-of-29 for 327 yards and five touchdowns. He became the fifth quarterback in MAC history to pass for more than 10,000 yards. Martin Nance caught nine passes for 161 yards.
Bowling Green clinched the MAC East title last week with a 31-23 victory over Toledo. Josh Harris threw three touchdown passes and caught another as the Falcons rallied from a 14-7 halftime deficit. He accounted for 379 of Bowling Green's 433 yards.
Harris has passed for 3,167 yards this year, leaving him just 98 away from breaking Brian McClure's school record set in 1983. Harris is 14-0 as a starter at home.
However, Roethlisberger got the best of Harris in the earlier meeting, completing 19-of-28 passes for 230 yards. Harris was 20-of-30 for 160 yards as the Falcons were held to a season low in points and total yards (344).
