Mike Strange: Vols brace for MAC attack

Charlie Baggett remembers the five-hour bus rides.

Harry Hiestand remembers the hard-nosed kids.

Jim Chaney remembers the championship ring he got even though he had changed jobs before the season.

What all three Tennessee assistant coaches remember about their days in the Mid-American Conference are good players.

The MAC is headed to Neyland Stadium on Saturday in the person of the Buffalo Bulls.

The Bulls aren't the most formidable representative the MAC could send south. Though MAC champ as recently as 2008, this year's model is only 1-3, the win over Stony Brook.

Temple, for example, waylaid Maryland 38-7 last week and previously took Penn State to the wire before yielding, 14-10.

Ball State has won at Indiana. Northern Illinois gave Kansas a scare.

Toledo got hosed at Syracuse last week and led Ohio State in the second half on opening day.

"You'd be surprised,'' said Baggett, UT's receivers coach, "you get a lot of good athletes in the MAC. Look at the pro rosters.''

Look at the Super Bowl XLV rosters. Between the Packers and Steelers, there were 15 MAC alumni. Only the SEC produced more participants.

Baggett got his coaching start at Bowling Green. Hiestand did a year at Toledo. Chaney was at Western Michigan for six months.

Chaney, UT's offensive coordinator, has more vivid MAC memories from his debut as an assistant at Purdue in 1997:

"We played Toledo and they beat the hell out of us. I have some scars from MAC teams.''

Tennessee is scar-free in limited contact. Still, three games with MAC foes the past decade were battles: 34-24 over Marshall in 2003, 13-9 over Northern Illinois in 2008 and 34-23 over Ohio in 2009.

"The thing I remember,'' said Hiestand, UT's offensive line coach, "was tremendously tough kids. The kids on our team were tough and every team we played in that league had hard-nosed kids.

"A lot of those guys felt a little shorted. They didn't get an opportunity at some of the 'quote' bigger programs, so they're hungry and they're gonna want to prove a point, that they belong.''

"What happens a lot,'' said Chaney, "is we've made so many recruiting decisions on juniors and sophomores. (MAC schools) tend to be more patient and try to find the kid who pops up as a senior.

"A classic is Ben Roethlisberger. I remember looking at him when I was at Purdue, thinking 'OK, he's a good player,' but he really came into his own as a senior.''

And signed with Miami of Ohio, then became a Pro Bowl quarterback with the Steelers.

Tennessee must assume the Bulls will be well coached. This is a league that has sent forth the likes of Nick Saban (Toledo), Urban Meyer (Bowling Green), Brady Hoke (Ball State) and Brian Kelly (Central Michigan) to drop a few recent names. Miami of Ohio is dubbed the Cradle of Coaches for launching Ara Parseghian, Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, among others, to bigger things.

Tennessee fans likely will not see another chapter in MAC upset history Saturday. They certainly hope not.

But with the MAC's distinguished reputation in mind, file away the name of Buffalo's coach, Jeff Quinn, He might turn up at a BCS school down the road.

And watch for a special player or two, like sophomore linebacker Khalil Mack. He might turn up on a Super Bowl XLVIII roster.

Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/strangemike44 and http://blogs.knoxnews.com/strange.