I guess I would have to ask the question - what would make anyone think the Zips football program would have the success that YSU, or NDSU, or App State or Georgia Southern or Marshall enjoyed during their 1-AA hey days? Based upon what I've seen over the past 30 years...a pretty relevant statistical sampling period... I'll guess the Zips would have been nothing more than minor playoff contenders, with more losing records than winning ones.
At the 1-AA level: YSU had Tressel, who won multiple championships. We had Dennison...who was a decent coach.
YSU's losing began when Tressel left. And mysteriously kicked back in when he returned (yeah, he's not the HC, but that's irrelevant).
A better, more realistic question regarding the fate of UA in general and its football program would be - what if we'd hired Tressel instead of Scarborough? Tressel seems to know what it takes to win football games. And YSU's overall prospects are also trending upward since he became President.
Akron blew it every which way possible when it let Tressel walk. UA had the the cure to cancer in their back pocket, and flushed it down the toilet.