DETROIT - Miami edged perennial football favorite Marshall and Central Florida as preseason No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference East Division media poll.

"You keep knocking on that door and hopefully one day you might get in," Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said at the conference's annual media day. "That's got to be the attitude we take. But right now, this championship still goes through Huntington (W.Va.) until someone does something about it."

MAC MEDIA POLL

EAST DIVISION 1. Miami 254 2. Marshall 253 3. Central Florida 248 4. Akron 144 5. Kent State 121 6. Ohio 109 7. Buffalo 47 WEST DIVISION 1. Northern Illinois 269 2. Toledo 238 3. Bowling Green 232 4. Western Michigan 172 5. Central Michigan 114 6. Ball State 104 7. Eastern Michigan 47 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Northern Illinois 15 Marshall 7 Miami 6 Bowling Green 5 Central Florida 5 Toledo 4.

Miami is led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, a junior who is being touted for the Heisman Trophy after setting a MAC record with 6,343 yards passing in his first two seasons.

Northern Illinois was picked to win the West Division and the MAC title game.

"I hope you're right," Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak said. "I've been around this thing for quite a while - not only this tenure but previous tenures - and I think this year, our conference is probably as wide open as it's been in a long, long time.

"I think there's probably six, seven, eight teams legitimately that have a chance to win this whole thing."

Led by tailback Michael Turner, Northern Illinois won six of its final seven games a year ago to finish in a first-place tie with Toledo.

Turner finished with a conference-record 1,915 yards rushing despite replacing Thomas Hammock as starter a game into the season when Hammock was diagnosed with a heart condition.

Just as the Huskies rallied around Hammock last year, Turner said they are using the death of Shea Fitzgerald as motivation this year.

Fitzgerald, a projected starter on the offensive line, died in a porch collapse at his brother's Chicago apartment last month.

"It was just an overwhelming feeling just to lose somebody like that, not just cause he was on our team, but because he was like a family member to everybody," Turner said. "Anybody can play his position but nobody can replace his heart. We want to do it for him, make him proud, because we know he's watching down on us."