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You don't ask to be admitted to a P5 conference. They invite you in if and when they decide it is in their best interest. That being said, the chances of Akron being asked to join a P5 conference at any time in the forseeable future is the same as Bluto's GPA, 0.00.

In a setback for expanding its reach beyond a 50 mile radius, UA has withdrawn from talks with ITT.

That's one of the oddest predictions I have seen this year. Guy studied all year and got 16 percent of the first round right...and people still read every "mock" draft like it's fact. If he gets this one pick right, I'll listen...a little.

Since this is the Idaho Potato Bowl thread, is there anywhere to watch a replay online? I'm in the mood for UA football.

Maybe they can put banners over empty seats like NASCAR does.

The Steelers do love to draft MAC players.

Sorry Zach, I disagree 100 percent on this. I'm not saying that Akron is a shoe-in to "move up," but I don't think it's nearly as far-fetched as you (and some others) are making it out to be. I'll start with the "competition" aspect. What makes NIU and Buffalo ahead of Akron in the MAC? NIU has very good football and has Chicago (although DeKalb is to Chicago as Wooster is to Cleveland). Yes, it's the same TV market, but it's a small town on the very outskirts of a market that already has one P5 school (Northwestern) already in it and another (Notre Dame) that for all intents and purposes is "Chicago's" home college. Granted, Chicago is a huge market that could absorb another school in a more prestigious conference, but I don't think NIU would automatically be the MAC school to be the first to be chosen. But it's probably neck-and-neck with Akron, IMO. Maybe NIU is still on top, but both would be, IMO, high on the list of expansion candidates. Buffalo, I don't see it. Buffalo's biggest advantage is academics because it's an AAU school. But academics seem to be playing a minor role in a lot of this reshuffling, or potential reshuffling. The Big Ten, which had an AAU-only policy, decided to take a Nebraska program that it knew was going to lose its status (and sure enough it did within a year of moving to the Big Ten). Now, there is a lot of smoke that the Big Ten could be courting Oklahoma and Florida State (among others), neither of which are AAU schools. It's TV markets and football prestige that seems to be driving realignment. Buffalo has less football prestige than Akron (which is still the Zips biggest issue) and the Buffalo TV market (No. 54) is way behind Cleveland/Akron/Canton (18). Buffalo, unlike both NEO and Chicago, offers very little in gaining traction into fertile recruiting areas, too. Old Dominion is a program that is in the mix. But if ODU is in the mix, Akron definitely is. That "massive" Hampton Roads TV market is No. 42 in the country (right between No. 41 Grand Rapids and No. 43 Oklahoma City). So, massive is a huge reach, unless you want to say Cleveland/Akron/Canton TV market is a "mega" market. I actually think there is going to be major changes in the college athletics landscape. The Big Ten signing a six-year deal with Fox is a sign that it believes crap is about to blow up once the ACC can't deliver on its conference network and those schools would be able to get out of their Grant of Rights agreement. If the Big Ten starts raiding the ACC, the landscape will look totally different that what it does now. You could see the Big Ten raiding the ACC out of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Florida State. Then going west and grabbing Oklahoma. That would put Notre Dame also in play for the Big Ten. That would put the league at 20 schools, who would break down into four pods: 1. Penn State, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue 2. Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Northwestern 3. Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida State (the old ACC pod) 4. Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota It keeps every traditional rivalry in tact and sets up nicely for a nine-game schedule ... you play your pod and each year one of the other pods. And Notre Dame keeps its East Coast presence by being with PSU and Rutgers. Plus it would only have one true pod test in Penn State where it could continue to keep USC on the schedule. If the Big Ten, which is the driver of the changes, makes that raid, the SEC is sure to follow by taking North Carolina State (or Duke) and Virginia Tech to get into the North Carolina and Virginia markets. That would get them to 16 members and it could go to a 4-team, 4-pod setup. It could look like: Coastal: Virginia Tech, North Carolina State (or Duke), South Carolina, Tennessee South: Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt Deep South: Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi, Mississippi State West: LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri The PAC 12 is just as safe as the Big 10 and the SEC. Really, it could decide to do nothing and stay at 12 (since the West Coast options are limited). Or it could make a power move to the east and try to pick off Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas from the Big 12 and also go to a 16-team setup (and those four schools would easily add to the league's TV package if Texas is involved). I think that's more likely (if the above dominoes fall into place) than it staying at 12. That league would also go to the SEC style 4-team, 4-pod divisions: Southwest: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas (the Big 12 teams) California: USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford Mountain: Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado Northwest: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State The Big 12 losing those four programs (along with Oklahoma to the B10) is a big hit, but it is still easily on better footing than the ACC (which is blown up at that point), because it still would have enough schools, and more importantly the better TV deal, where it could go East and South and start picking up the remains. Like the SEC and Pac 12 (now Pac 16), it probably stops there and goes to the four-team, four-pod setup. North: Pitt, Syracuse, UConn, Boston College Midwest: Louisville, West Virginia, Kansas State, Iowa State South: Clemson, Miami, Duke (or North Carolina State), Cincinnati West: TCU, Baylor, Houston, BYU (three Texas schools and a religious private to go with religious privates TCU and Baylor). That covers (unless I missed overlooked something) every current P5 school outside of Wake Forest (which is screwed, but would be inherited the ACC brand since everybody else bolted). I think this is where GoZips referring to Akron going to the "ACC" comes from (unless you actually think Akron could get in with the current ACC setup, which has absolutely zero chance of happening). Even this "ACC" is shell of it's current self and would be merely the AAC leftovers and some lower-league bigger market teams thrown in. But there would still be TV slots to fill and adding schools located in large markets that could land a solid TV deal (if they bind together and get out of the dead-weight of their current conferences ... AKA Akron). You could reasonably envision the leftovers who are located in big markets coming together to work out a TV package that would be more beneficial than the current setup, even when including the cost of travel ... which wouldn't be that big of a burden if it's broken into pods ... ala which the now P4 would be broken into). These teams still would have zero chance of making the CFP, but it's not like they do now. But there still is some demand from the networks for the product. What you're left with: Wake Forest (ACC holdover, who carries the brand flag) Northern Illinois (No. 3 market, but has P4 competition .. Northwestern for sure, and Notre Dame) Temple (No. 4 TV market with no local P4 competition) Georgia State (No. 9 market, but has P4 competition ... Georgia Tech, which is less than 2 miles down the road) South Florida (No. 11 market, with no P4 competition) Eastern Michigan (No. 13 market, with the most P4 competition of any school since we're talking Michigan. This isn't realistic, but to be fair, I'll include them) Florida Atlantic or Florida International (No. 16 market, but has P4 competition ... Miami) Akron (No. 18 market, with no local P4 competition) Central Florida (No. 19 market, with no local P4 competition) Charlotte (No. 22 market, with no local P4 competition) San Diego State (No. 28 market, with no local P4 competition) UT San Antonio (No. 32 market, with no local P4 competition) UNLV (No. 40 market, with no local P4 competition) Western Michigan (No. 41 market, with no local P4 competition) Old Dominion (No. 42 market, with no local P4 competition) UAB (No. 45 market, with no local P4 competition) Memphis (No. 50 market, with no local P4 competition) Tulane (No. 51, with no local P4 competition) Bufflalo (No. 53, with no local P4 competition) Fresno State (No. 54, with no local P4 competition) Arkansas-Little Rick (No. 57, with no local P4 competition) Tulsa (No. 60, with no local P4 competition) Toledo (No. 77, with no local P4 competition) I'll stop there. I know that's a lot of dominoes that have to fall into place, but when looking at the landscape of what is going down, something that includes most of those schools above (and even some small-market schools like Ohio, Marshall and East Carolina would be in the mix) isn't out of the realm of possibility, especially if you go to a pod set-up. And even if it doesn't fall into place exactly how I put it, there is still opportunity for Akron to "move up" ... as it fits in well with what a network would be looking for ... Big market: check No local P4 competition: check Decent football: Thanks to Terry Bowden, closer to a check, though the next couple of years could go a long way to cementing that Decent basketball: Check Then you have some things that the networks may not care about, but a league would: Football recruiting: Akron's in one of the top 10 areas for producing recruits. Basketball recruiting: Akron's in one of the top 10-15 areas for that. Minor sports: Akron has two national-competitive programs ... track and soccer. I think anybody who is forward-thinking enough can see that moving up isn't some off-the-wall possibility. And I know the people running the athletic office have had a vision of moving up for at least the last 15 years. You don't pump the money Akron has into athletics to be settled with the MAC.

Consider the source.

And unfortunately, I think they missed one of their biggest chances when they chose Scarborough over Tressel. If they would have made Tressel the president, I think our athletics would instantly become more attractive because of the media buzz. That being said, I completely agree with GoZips that we need to get out of the MAC. That has been an obvious MUST for several years. The two biggest things that have held us back: our football program and our basketball arena. Football is now on the definite up-and-up with a Bowl win last year and a win over Pitt a couple years back. The last missing piece of the puzzle is the stupid basketball arena. LeBron... And that's all I'm going to say about that. Otherwise, I would say we are just as attractive, if not more so than an ECU/USF. ECU is the "Giant Killer" in football, which is what garners them so much respect. Their basketball program is average at best, and I don't know much about their soccer program, which means it probably isn't much better than average. USF has pretty decent soccer (Diego Rastrepo still haunts us), but average at best basketball and decent football (sometimes as putrid as Akron's has been). Akron has an up-and-coming football program, an above-average basketball program, and an All-American soccer program. NEO is a great sports market, and we have several very nice facilities (indoor practice field/rec center, InfoCision Stadium, Student Union, First-Energy Stadium, etc.). The AAC is what I want to get into. The teams are intriguing and I believe it is the next stepping stone to get to a P5 conference. One question I have: Would the CUSA be a lateral move, or would that be viewed as an in-between stepping stone from the MAC to the AAC? They have some solid basketball programs, some pretty good football programs, and their soccer can't be worse than the MAC.

I wouldn't mind seeing banners like that in the concourse of the stadium for fans to see on game days.

Brett McMurphy Verified account ‏@McMurphyESPN NCAA Board of Directors rescinds ban on satellite camps, source tells @ESPN

I bet some people may have said that about Cincinnati about 20 years ago, until they made some moves, got competitive on a National level, their radio stations stopped airing Suckeye games, and the local people started displaying some pride in their school. Today, the culture down there is so anti-Suckeye, it's hilarious. They mock the Suckeyes. NE Ohio has the potential to be very similar. As someone pointed out, there's NO Power 5 team here. OSWho, Pitt and WV are all a good enough distance away. But without making a long post here this morning addressing every factor that's been discussed internally and externally over the years, the real attribute for us is indeed the Media Market. Cleveland/Akron/Canton is somewhere between the 18-20 ranking in media markets in the nation, depending on what ranking you see. And we'd be the first in that market to be in a major conference. But our residents have also been bypassing the simplest way that we can make an impact on this. As I've said for years on this board, WE need to show our potential as a fan base to get behind our program. Occupying seats in the football and basketball facilities tells a conference that there's enough potential to draw television audiences, which draws advertisers, which makes money for the conference. And frankly, we fail to show that potential. NE Ohioans would jump onto the Zips Train in a second if we were to make a move like this, but I don't see them supporting the Zips with only the hope that we can make such a move.