kreed5120

The committee's main complaint about conferences like MVC or A10 getting at-large bids is SOS and lack of quality wins. Playing the directional Michigan's and the other dumpster fire MAC teams would feed that narrative. It would make sense for a GW or a Duquesne to schedule a school like Akron, which has consistently been in or around the top 100 for a few years now, but mostly everyone else in the MAC is a waste. Toledo a few years back would have been solid too or Buffalo before that. The real problem is the selection committee. If they offered more incentives for those games getting played, they would be scheduled. The problem is the cartel of the P5 (including Big East) has stacked the deck so that they take all the at-large bids and all the other 27 conferences have to fight over maybe 2-3 at-large bids in total.

A conference is more than just a few programs. I think it makes sense to recognize programs that schedule those games that you talk about, like a St. Bonaventure, while chastising those that don't. I don't think the A10 is loaded this year. They will likely be 1 bid, just like the MAC.

The University is already spending about as much on football as the other MAC schools are. The main difference is $4-$5 million of what Akron is spending is going to Infocision debt servicing. Other MAC schools don't have that overhead so they have more money for additional staffing. I do agree endowments or long-term commitments are really what's needed.

I think it's a conversation worth having for the sake of having the conversation. I would have shared the same if it was a SunBelt, CAA, or Horizon League coach saying the same thing. He has gone to play at other mid-majors so it's not like he's a hypocrite like you keep trying to make him out to be. He literally played at 2 last year. He didn't have to play @American or @ODU last year. He choose to, which goes against the point you made about him actively avoiding them. It sounds like your issue is more with Dayton or Duquesne's of the world as those are the A10 programs in our backyard who don't actively schedule MAC schools. St. Bonaventure regularly schedules Buffalo, including @ Buffalo and has played MAC schools several times in Cleveland. Loyola Chicago I guess would be another culprit. They schedule MAC schools, but only if you play them at home, which beats not scheduling at all, but still not as good as St. Bonaventure going to Buffalo or playing Akron in Cleveland. With UMass in the league I feel you will see a few more A10-MAC battles as even though UMass doesn't have one on the schedule this year, I would expect 1, maybe 2 moving forward.

George Washington just last year played at both Old Dominion and at American, which is in the Patriot League. The coach speaking has gone into other mid-major arenas and played road games. Besides, the point he was making was mainly about MTE. Big schools long quit going to mid-majors to play regular season games. That happened 20 years ago, maybe longer. Its only been in the last ~5 years that you're seeing MTE fields that segregated power schools from mid-majors.

I'm not trying to take away from this thread as this is actually one of the more solid mid-major tournaments. That said the GW coach went on a rant about how in recent years you no longer see power conference schools play mid-majors in these tournaments. It's really a shame because it was one of the few realistic opportunities for top mid-majors to secure resume building wins. https://x.com/jjgottschalk/status/1991507432703685037?t=XYpFnUcuzaziuwb0QSBYkw&s=09

Evansville is giving this game away.

You can tell Iona is coached well. They got down big a few times, but never quit fighting. They should compete in the MAAC this year.

That put back slam from Evan...

I only got to see the closing minutes so nothing to report.

Considering UMass-Charleston game is still going, I'm going to guess the Akron game will start a bit late.

Last week we saw power conference programs play in a ballroom in West Virginia. This arena has to be an upgrade over that.

I would think the 8 weeks are important in the sense that even if you're able to retain 2 or 3 of the offensive lineman it puts you in a much better position to succeed than needing to replace all 5. Some guys will perform at such a high level that we will never be able to afford them. We saw that with Nate Johnson in basketball. We need to at least position ourselves to keep a few guys below that tier so at least we have a foundation to build off of.

I don't necessarily think it means anything other than he hasn't left yet. That's not to say he will or won't be leaving.

I came to this thread excited about Zips hoops, but the first thing I see is someone using the "A" word. Now I'm fully expecting to drop 2 out of 3 games.

I never said George was a bad hire. I said it's still too early to tell, which I stand by.

Yes, I could have worded it better. I was meaning winning 3 (or 4 with UMess win) games when you play 8 of your 12 games against MAC teams isn't anything special regardless of circumstances. Arguing otherwise is just playing mental gymnastics.

3 wins in the MAC will never be an achievement worth celebrating. It's by far and away the worst conference in all of FBS. Like I said, I'm not saying he won't be great there. I'm simply stating the jury is still out, which it is. I'm not advocating for any particular coaching hire at this time.

It's impossible to compare our football to our basketball program. Thanks largely to Bud we're the 2nd best funded MAC basketball program (only behind UMass). Akron football is the bottom of the MAC in funding. If we didn't have the money to retain Tavari, Lyles, Scott, Young, not to mention sign Evan, Akron basketball would also be struggling. Maybe not to the extreme football has, but we wouldn't have had the success we've experienced either. In basketball if you find a diamond in the rough or one just happens to show up unexpectedly at open tryouts (Freeman) that dramatically raises the ceiling of your program as you only need 2-3 players to carry a team. That doesn't work in football where you have 11 starters on offense and another 11 on defense. Not to mention a few specialists. Even if you found 1 absolute star at QB he wouldn't have the same impact that a Steph Curry had at Davidson.

I wouldn't be surprised if more fall when the playoffs expand.

And I'm not saying George can't do well. Let's just wait until he has success before we praise him for it. We can check back in 2-3 years. Edit: As for Deion Indiana is just as hard, if not harder, to win at than Colorado. Especially since the Big 10 is vastly more competitive compared to the Big 12. The coach that deserves praise for turning a program around is Cignetti. Deion had a heisman winner and is still only 16-19 during his tenure.

Toledo with a convincing 17-point win against YSU. Ohio with an embarrassing loss to Bethune Cookman

I'm more confused why the cartel have an interest in college athletics.

Out of likes, but +1. QB is the number one position that teams prioritize spending on. Heck, we lost Zach Gibson to a team that was willing to pay more for him to be their 2nd string emergency policy. Anyone with any promise someone will get paid even if they aren't expected to start.

The problem isn't that we're losing Finley next year. The issue is we'll likely have to replace our entire offensive line, which was probably the best its been in at least a decade. For that reason alone I would be shocked if the QB play improves next year compared to this one. After all, a QB is only as good as the players around him enable him to be.