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As for "expectations," difficult to surpass 17-1. 2 recruits from different schools in Westerville?

Per the AP on 10/22/25: In that first season of NIL in 2021-22, the margin of victory was 18 points for the Big Ten, 15.7 points for both the SEC and Pac-12, 15.2 for the Big 12 and 14.1 for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now the ACC has an average margin of 13 points per victory with the Big 12 at 14.5 points and the Big Ten at 15.5 points.

You're right. I forgot he fled Notre Dame for LSU on his own accord.

“Again”? I don’t think he’s ever been fired?

I don't think anyone is arguing it wasn't a problem before, but it has grown worse. The average margin of victory this season is the largest it has been since at least 2000 based on what AI is telling me. Before if there were 4 or 5 games on TV at least 1, maybe two or 3 would be good. Now it's a struggle to find one game.

Zipped Up's season preview- https://akronzippedup.substack.com/p/akron-zips-mens-basketball-2025-2026?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2970576&post_id=175211323&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=52p862&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

This should've been the final nail in the coffin for Brian Kelly's coaching career. Glad that scumbag is out of a job (again). He needs to be done coaching for good. I love that he hilariously flopped at LSU which also produced an all time embarrassing GIF.

Are common blowouts really all that new with college football, though? I think that's kind of always been the issue.

I think that's fair. 6-6 would be enough to keep him and hope he can figure out the first half of the season (@ Wake, @ Minnesota, Robert Morris, UNLV is a reasonably similar noncon schedule to 2025). Certainly not enough to consider extending given 14-34 is still the record.

Yes. When I got home Saturday night, I tried to find a close game on television. It was around 9:30. There wasn't a single game on TV of any interest that was closer than 10 points. College football is rapidly becoming a bad product. Unless some type of restrictions can be placed on players, there will be decline unless the drunks and degenerate gamblers they market it to can keep it afloat.

If you think about LSU in the world of college football 10 years ago, yes, they should be a contender. They are going to struggle mightily moving forward in a poor state with the best class of money they can bring in being car dealership money. In many ways, much of the SEC has this problem.

I wouldn't be terribly heartbroken if he decides to leave on his own free will. Getting to 5 or 6 wins is kind of his ceiling at Akron IMO. He comes off more as an old school coach and not the smooth talker who can get boosters to open up their checkbook. In this NIL era you need a salesman. Not someone who just complains about the shitty hand they're being dealt. Edit: All that said I'm also not cheering for him to leave either. We can and certainly have done worse.

They a surrounded by schools within their conference who they will never be able spend as much. There are lots of schools like them. I just named a few. I could have included VA Tech, Florida State and many others. The college football playoffs will become much like Major League Baseball. We all know who is most likely to win and a few underdogs sneak by into the post season periodically, but they lose in the end. Like MLB, the drivers will never agree to a salary cap of any sort.

2 weeks ago Umass was leading Buffalo at half and only lost by 7 to them. Don’t get me wrong, they are not good, but the Zips can’t take anyone lightly! In regards to Joe at the end of the season, I think he asks for some changes: increased budget, some modest NIL dollars, etc and if he doesn’t get it he walks. If so, I just hope it happens fairly quickly after the end of the season so Akron has time to find a replacement. It would be bad for the program, and the players, if it drags out and he resigns in mid January.

At home, versus a hapless Minutemen team. coming off a MAC road win at Buffalo, this is a "must win" game for the Zips. Should they win, the Zips are poised to force the locals to pay at least a little attention to the program as the Kent game approaches. They absolutely cannot take a step backwards with a home loss next Tuesday. A win would go a long way in securing Joe Moorhead's return in 2026. That is...should he want to return. But that's a story for the offseason. The Zips have done a good job of handling their business against lesser teams. Relatively healthy, at home, and coming off a road win, I see a 41-17 Zips beatdown of UMass next Tuesday, setting the table for a fun, intriguing Akron/Kent match up the following week. I think I saw Joe Akron's left big toe move a little? Could he be emerging from his coma?

Akron still not ranked again in the Top Drawer Soccer poll this week. Meanwhile, in the College Soccer News poll, Akron moves up to #22. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-week-10-top-25-coaches-poll-maryland-and-virginia-jump-into-the-top-5-and-san-diego-climbs-to-10/

Big difference between “should have” and “could have”.

LSU is a program that should be a consistent national championship contender and Brian Kelly failed to even qualify for the College Football Playoff at LSU. The true short-sighted move was giving a 10 year, $95 M contract to a head coach who has never won a Natty and has questionable character.

I consider "should have won" games that they were in a position to win, but didn't because of a missed opportunity. The UAB loss would be one of them. But if we are counting double-digit losses to Miami and Ball State as "should have won" games, we have to consider a 6-point win over CMU and an 8-point win over Buffalo could have been losses, too. You are what your record says you are.

Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oklahoma aren't going to be able to raise NIL money like an OSU, Texas, Michigan, etc. can. Oklahoma also no longer has the benefit of building its resume by padding win totals against a weaker Big 12. Oklahoma probably can still fundraise enough to be relevant to make the playoffs fairly often, but they will infrequently be one of the favorites IMO. Wisconsin and Nebraska are even a step behind Oklahoma and likely need a homerun hire coach, like a Dantonio or Cignetti. Someone who excels at being able to do more with less. Even then I'm sure there are many P4 programs Dantonio's tenure wouldn't be deemed good enough given today's unrealistic expectations.

And programs that are not traditional powers but have managed to do some building despite NIL, such as Indiana, will be more short-lived now more than ever, unless they have a Phil Knight on speed dial to retain talent and team chemistry.

Why is NIL not kind to these three schools?

Sunday October 26 number 25 Kentucky 1 number 10 West Virginia 0

Good post. Kelly was a terrible hire for cultural reasons. Put LSU into the category of Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Nebraska, etc. Once great programs whose best day are in a world long past. The nil era isn't going to be kind to these schools. They will almost always exist the second level.

Brian Kelly of LSU was added to the bin of discarded Power 4 coaches. It's astounding how short-sighted and toxic these unreasonable demands of proven, quality coaches from administrators and powerful alumni are. LSU lost to an undefeated #3 team in the country and are/were in the Top 25 themselves, yet he gets canned mid-season. There is no such thing as program building anymore. Thanks, NIL.