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Game #6 Ohio


lance99

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I just got home from the Wake vs. NCAA State game. Beautiful sunny North Carolina day, the team I have season tickets for won making the $100 per game I spend worth it, saw some well played football by both teams.... All in all, a good day. How are things around here?

And tomorrow you'll be back on here asking everyone to take you seriously.

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I just got home from the Wake vs. NCAA State game. Beautiful sunny North Carolina day, the team I have season tickets for won making the $100 per game I spend worth it, saw some well played football by both teams.... All in all, a good day. How are things around here?

Wake Forest sucks.

And nobody cares.

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Wake Forest sucks.

And nobody cares.

Bad mood around the board. Surely, the weather must have been great to watch a game and take in the Homecoming festivities?.?. I have a hurricane blowing through today and I'm not moping around with a case of the Mondays.

I figured watching the Zips get beat by 40 would be the type of masochism enjoyed by the board and everyone would be in a good mood to discuss.

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thanks to all the great folks from Akron I met yesterday. Hang in there, it will get turned around. I am trying to include a pic of the first quarter interception. Hope it comes through. oops guess it didn't, I will add it to zips facebook page. Good luck the rest of the year, especially in two weeks.

david

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At what point are we going to stop kidding ourselves and admit that Akron simply isn't a good football program? Never has been and probably never will be. We've changed players, changed coaches, changed systems, changed ADs, changed stadiums, changed practice facilities. None of it has ever really seemed to matter. At some point you have to start looking for the common denominator and the only one I can see is the University of Akron. I honestly don't believe we will ever have a consistent winner on the gridiron here.

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The most telling story of the game was Steve French not awarding an offensive player of the game.

Personally I thought all of their play was offensive...

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Yikes, didn't see this one coming. The penalties are just killer. We're not good enough to overcome things like that. Ohio is better than I thought, but we sure seemed happy to help them out.

Right now it appears the NIU and Ball State games could be ugly. Probably Toledo too. The rest are still winnable. I think.

Hard to stay optimistic, but still just need a MAC win somewhere. Pohl should grow over the next few years. I still think we're better, but this game sure makes you wonder.

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At what point are we going to stop kidding ourselves and admit that Akron simply isn't a good football program?

I'm already past this point.

Looking forward to the day when I can kid myself that we have a good football program after a 4-8 season.

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At what point are we going to stop kidding ourselves and admit that Akron simply isn't a good football program? Never has been and probably never will be. We've changed players, changed coaches, changed systems, changed ADs, changed stadiums, changed practice facilities. None of it has ever really seemed to matter. At some point you have to start looking for the common denominator and the only one I can see is the University of Akron. I honestly don't believe we will ever have a consistent winner on the gridiron here.

No offense, but who was kidding themselves? It's a tough area to recruit. Ohio has lots of talent, but first off you're losing the top layer to Ohio State and Michigan. Then other Big Ten teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc., come for kids. It's not surprising to see a few go south to top programs either.

So now that the state has been mauled, you get to compete with other MAC teams, and there are plenty of them. Plus we have Can't right in our back yard. So you have two teams in the same area fighting for leftovers. Is it really a coincidence neither has ever been very good?

Basketball is different. Small roster and all. But football - it's just hard for us to get that depth. I still think Bowden is doing the right things, but my impression is that for many years Akron had zero relationships with Ohio high school football coaches. I heard one coach - I forget who, shame on me - on 1350 one day admit that he used to tell his kids not to even consider Akron. But now he has a good relationship with Bowden so that's not his advice anymore. How many schools were like that?

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No offense, but who was kidding themselves? It's a tough area to recruit. Ohio has lots of talent, but first off you're losing the top layer to Ohio State and Michigan. Then other Big Ten teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc., come for kids. It's not surprising to see a few go south to top programs either.

So now that the state has been mauled, you get to compete with other MAC teams, and there are plenty of them. Plus we have Can't right in our back yard. So you have two teams in the same area fighting for leftovers. Is it really a coincidence neither has ever been very good?

Basketball is different. Small roster and all. But football - it's just hard for us to get that depth. I still think Bowden is doing the right things, but my impression is that for many years Akron had zero relationships with Ohio high school football coaches. I heard one coach - I forget who, shame on me - on 1350 one day admit that he used to tell his kids not to even consider Akron. But now he has a good relationship with Bowden so that's not his advice anymore. How many schools were like that?

Two hours down the turnpike BGSU and Toledo are in the same boat as Can't and Akron and they both manage to field respectable football teams facing the same obstacles. I am at a loss to explain Akron's futility when it comes to football. For years I blamed the facilities. Maybe it is simple bad luck.

I still have confidence in Terry Bowden. Despite yesterday's debacle there has been an improvement on the field this season. I'm reasonably hopeful that we can pull off another win or two or three.

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In my opinion

Whats frustrating the most about this season is that the football program has received the most media/buzz national recognition (both positive & negative) since i can last remember. That Michigan Game opened up the door introducing us to the nation. The media saw Akron competing against a legendary Big 10 Team in the largest football stadium in America and saw former coaching giants on our sideline and were like Woah. Akron has something special going on here. Even though we lost that Michigan Game, every Saturday since then Akron has been mentioned on national sports shows like College Game Day. We have been chosen twice as upset picks. For Brent Musburger to even believe in us was big. Every time Michigan Struggles this season Akron is a twitter trending topic. This season we have had countless opportunities to capitalize off this buzz and of course we continue to fail miserably in doing so. Thats what frustrates me the most.

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In my opinion

Whats frustrating the most about this season is that the football program has received the most media/buzz national recognition (both positive & negative) since i can last remember.

Actually, this is evidence of how almost useless buzz is. Results count for more than buzz.

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No offense, but who was kidding themselves? It's a tough area to recruit. Ohio has lots of talent, but first off you're losing the top layer to Ohio State and Michigan. Then other Big Ten teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc., come for kids. It's not surprising to see a few go south to top programs either.

So now that the state has been mauled, you get to compete with other MAC teams, and there are plenty of them. Plus we have Can't right in our back yard. So you have two teams in the same area fighting for leftovers. Is it really a coincidence neither has ever been very good?

Can't wasn't any good last year??? 11-3 8-0, nationally ranked, and a bowl game is not very good?

Toledo, Ohio, Cincinnati, Can't, all went to bowl games. All under tOSU's shadow.

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In my opinion

Whats frustrating the most about this season is that the football program has received the most media/buzz national recognition (both positive & negative) since i can last remember. That Michigan Game opened up the door introducing us to the nation. The media saw Akron competing against a legendary Big 10 Team in the largest football stadium in America and saw former coaching giants on our sideline and were like Woah. Akron has something special going on here. Even though we lost that Michigan Game, every Saturday since then Akron has been mentioned on national sports shows like College Game Day. We have been chosen twice as upset picks. For Brent Musburger to even believe in us was big. Every time Michigan Struggles this season Akron is a twitter trending topic. This season we have had countless opportunities to capitalize off this buzz and of course we continue to fail miserably in doing so. Thats what frustrates me the most.

It's the same letdown we have had in NE Ohio since before I was born. Teams look like they're going to actually get out of the basement and do something, and they let us down.

What stings about this game is the way we played the first five games. Yesterday it was clear they didn't want to be there. And neither do I now.

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At what point are we going to stop kidding ourselves and admit that Akron simply isn't a good football program? Never has been and probably never will be. We've changed players, changed coaches, changed systems, changed ADs, changed stadiums, changed practice facilities. None of it has ever really seemed to matter. At some point you have to start looking for the common denominator and the only one I can see is the University of Akron. I honestly don't believe we will ever have a consistent winner on the gridiron here.

Quick, you're standing on the I-480 bridge. If you don't think we can win in football, what makes you think we can be this powerhouse basketball program? What other ingredients do we have besides KD? Basketball can tank just as easily as the football program can. KD won't be here forever, and we are way overachieving in that area (One bid league, dumpy gym, no ncaa wins, etc.). With that said, Wistricill is the guy who wrecked this football program and pretty much sentenced us to a decade in the basement. He screwed up the biggest hire in his tenure, and he should not live it down until the football program gets it right. We changed ADs because the guys we had previously got hired for better gigs. This guy is here because he cannot get a better gig. If you want a common denominator look there.

But those of you thinking that either dropping football or moving down a division is the answer think again. We would just become CSU south. If countless other Ohio schools can figure out a way to get it done, there is absolutely no reason we cannot. Maybe it is time for new leadership in the athletic department.

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If you don't think we can win in football, what makes you think we can be this powerhouse basketball program? What other ingredients do we have besides KD? Basketball can tank just as easily as the football program can. KD won't be here forever, and we are way overachieving in that area (One bid league, dumpy gym, no ncaa wins, etc.).

The major difference is our basketball team experienced success before KD under different coaches. The basketball program is a good program and will continue to be good under the right leadership in the future. The evidence is there for that. If KD left tomorrow, Akron would be an attractive school for good lots of good coaches because they want to take over a winning program.

What we describe as good as it relates to our football program really isn't that good. We have had little success as a D-1A team under various coaches. I think we have a good coach now and we are still struggling to get our footing. The opposite is true for this program. If Bowden left tomorrow, is it an attractive program for any coach? Not really...they struggled to fill the position the last time it opened because it is a losing program.

I posted a link not long ago that showed it doesn't matter what schools do. Historically, schools that are bad tend to always be bad...schools that are middle of the road tend to always be middle of the road...schools that tend to be good are always good. This isn't ALWAYS the case, but it is the case almost always. We have 25+ years of circling the drain at D-1A. That's a lot of evidence that maybe we are not cut out for D-1A. Give it three more years and if things are still the way they are now, we will have 30 years of evidence and they can make a decision as to how to proceed then. Getting rid of football isn't an option. What to do about the program, if anything, needs to be explored at that point.

The best option is to start winning.

Edit: You are correct. It is time for different leadership in the Athletic Department. Every time I think of TW, I think of the guy who destroyed a football program in order to give a friend of his a job because they had the same stupid ideas. The guy has a terrible stink on him. Michael Corleone settled all family business by eliminating people and even killed his brother as one of the last acts of cleaning up past business. Without the clean-up, organizations sometimes can't move forward. TW should have been let go a couple of years ago. I'm not sure why he continues to stink up the Department with his past failure. Please don't anyone tell me about his successes in making obvious decisions. He gets paid to make big decisions and he failed at his biggest decision and we have to suffer with it for years. We could still be suffering even after he was gone. He is so bad, he will never get another job as good as Akron. If he could, he would be gone by now.

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Actually, this is evidence of how almost useless buzz is. Results count for more than buzz.

So why do you think the Akron Basketball team tried to put Twitter Handles on their jerseys?

Buzz does matter. The more attention we get the more interest which = more financial support, increased game attendance and viewership

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But those of you thinking that either dropping football or moving down a division is the answer think again. We would just become CSU south. If countless other Ohio schools can figure out a way to get it done, there is absolutely no reason we cannot. Maybe it is time for new leadership in the athletic department.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the team (we would still get smoked in I-AA). It has to do with what happens if (a very big IF) we do with the way the NCAA is structured.

Some aspire to getting into a pizza bowl, or getting blasted out of a BCS bowl. Or possibly becoming a big time school and still not get accepted to the championship. Right, Boise State/TCU?

Some would like to see us play against schools with similar budgets and go for a national championship. I would take a national title over a discount muffler bowl win. Both hinge on our eventually getting our shit together, and I understand we have a better chance of hitting the lottery.

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I posted a link not long ago that showed it doesn't matter what schools do. Historically, schools that are bad tend to always be bad...schools that are middle of the road tend to always be middle of the road...schools that tend to be good are always good. This isn't ALWAYS the case, but it is the case almost always.

I agree, but it's not impossible. The Portage Countians did it last year. Our next opponent hasn't always been Orange Bowl contenders. It is possible to change your culture.

With the right people in charge.

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