ESPN announced 10 of its Mid-American Conference college football game dates for the 2012 season for coverage across ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. The schedule will conclude with ESPN2’s telecast of the 15th annual MAC Football Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. Additional games for coverage, including more ESPN3 exclusives, will be announced in the coming months. All of the pre-season selections are for mid-week coverage with five of the games on ESPN2, four on ESPNU and one exclusively on ESPN3. Games for the two Friday after Thanksgiving windows on November 23 are to be determined and will be selected on a six or 12-day basis between that day’s five games*. ESPN2 and ESPNU will showcase participants in last year’s conference title game in separate games on Tuesday, Nov. 14: Defending conference champion Northern Illinois against Toledo at 9 p.m. ET and Ohio, which lost to North Illinois 23-20 in the championship contest, at Ball State at 8 p. Northern Illinois handed Toledo its only conference loss last year in a high-scoring 63-60 victory. The West Division rivals combined for 1,121 yards of offense and scored for a conference record 17 touchdowns. With a 23-20 win, Ball State was one of two MAC teams to defeat the East Division champion Ohio last season.
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
| Wed, Sep 19 or Thu, Sep 20 | TBD | Kent State at Buffalo | ESPNU |
| Thu, Nov 1 | 6 p.m. | Eastern Michigan at Ohio | ESPNU |
| Tue, Nov 6 | 8 p.m. | Ball State at Toledo | ESPN2 |
| Wed, Nov 7 | 8 p.m. | Bowling Green at Ohio | ESPN2 |
| Tue, Nov 14 | 8 p.m. | Ohio at Ball State | ESPN2 or ESPNU |
| 9 p.m. | Toledo at Northern Illinois | ESPN2 or ESPNU | |
| Tue, Nov 20 | 7 p.m. | Akron at Toledo | ESPN2 |
| Fri, Nov 23 | 11 a.m. | TBD * | ESPNU |
| TBD | TBD * | ESPN3 | |
| Fri, Nov 30 | 7 p.m. | MAC Football Championship Game | ESPN2 |