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Fake news. The Akron/FAU rivalry is the most lopsided in college football history. Have you not been reading this thread? Akron is 22 pt. underdogs to one of their biggest rivals.

If they beat USC, they get the winner of Princeton/MT. If they lose, they get the loser of Princeton/MT in the loser's bracket. If they win that, they get the whoever comes out of the losers' bracket of Davidson, New Mexico State, Miami and Hawaii. Aaaaaah hell, here's the bracket- http://espnevents.com/diamond-head-classic/bracket/

How on earth did the Zips make it to the MAC championship this year? They have some of the worst stats in BCS football, they have no real notable names except for an inexperienced Re-read and A MAC preseason DPOY, and they have sustained injuries to the few players who seemed to breathe some hope into a team that was picked to finish 4th in the MAC East. If you have any familiarity with the Human Resources world, you might be familiar with Gallup's Strenthfinder model. The model relies on a study where 2 pools of people were taught speed reading. The first group was pretty poor at speed reading. The second group was decent at speed reading. Which group saw the biggest jump in speed reading proficiency? The group that was already decent at it. Gallup took these results and developed a model that helps people identify their strengths and encourages people to focus on developing their strengths, not their weaknesses. It seems that Terry Bowden and Chuck Amato have, at least to some degree, employed the Strengthfinder model and it has worked for them. They seem content to let stats be damned in favor of, "scoring one more point than the opponent" with a bend but don't break defense. They have won off of the efficiency of a few big plays by gaining enough of a small lead and playing to preserve that lead. We converted on third down, when it mattered, and our defense played good enough to stop the opposition on third downs and hold them to a kick. We had good enough kick return coverage to prevent run backs for TDs, but gave up a lot of field position in the process. The kicking game, pretty sketch at times, was good enough when we needed it to be good. From all accounts, the only player who really seemed to excel each week was punter, Nick Gassed, who's directional kicking ability and ability to punt with few touchbacks helped a Zips defense that seemed like a sieve, at times. The staff took some very fast receivers who seemed to have trouble catching the ball and somehow got them to a spot where they have started to make catches. We had a poor run offense but were able to run the ball at the end of big games when we needed yards on the ground. We did not rush the passer much, but when we needed to, we did so with a vengeance. And although we did give up points, we robbed more QBs with a tough secondary who seem to be ignored, all year. The Zips demonstrated a robust resilience in a whacky Sunday game against WMU and raw emotion with the MAC East on the line against Ohio where our defense got in the head of talented QB. We have had ugly moments, too. We had a stiff OOC schedule and it had yet to be revealed how good PSU and Iowa State would be when they soundly beat us. Toledo destroyed us, twice, and an improving Miami of Ohio beat us, taking advantage of our R-FR QB who was starting on 2 days notice. But, overall, the Zips did better than anyone thought they would. We won games we didn't expect to win and lost a game we didn't expect to lose. They clawed their way into the MAC title game, for the first time in 15 years in a year they were not supposed to and back to a bowl game, for the second time in three years, and only the third time, ever. The 2017 Zips are not your prototypical successful team and perhaps, that makes their season all the more glorious. We won and we defied the odds and now, suddenly, no one is discussing whether the coaching staff has a future in Akron as they defied the odds and are savoring the beaches and warm weather in South Florida and a chance for one more win. Go Zips!

In the end, the Bracket Buster was a watered-down Bracket Buster. I think home-home games with the likes of MTSU, Oral Roberts, NDSU, Drake, Valpo...those are all possible if UA wants them, even without ESPN.

I have been looking for any sign of one and as far as I can tell, there is nothing official. It blows my mind that the university didn't help arrange something.

Good find!! I know Jest will be back on campus in January. I suppose he'll participate in spring ball.

Wait just a minute. You're telling me being the only mid-major on the list of teams with X amount of consecutive seasons with 21+ wins, that didn't separate us? This makes sense. I forgot about the conference realignment that took place. I am surprised CBS or Fox hasn't restarted it.

Not sure when they will be eligible to return if ever, but I noticed that 2 former Zips wound up at Hutchinson CC. DL Andy Jean-Baptiste was listed as a Freshman this season and DL Davonte Jest a Sophomore. Also on that team was 2017 non-qualifier OL Marcus Kidd.

Coming soon, according to "unnamed sources"....

Dener's speech begins at 1:21:28.

Love this

I miss the old "Bracket Buster" match ups.

MTSU was the perfect mid-major matchup that we should have more of. Teams in the same situation as us that are opportunities for very quality wins.

Going to be warm for the Bowl. About 78 already today. Low 80's for tailgating and about 75-76 for Kickoff. No rain in the forecast. Zip's Pep Rally @West Palm Beach's City Place 6pm today.Zips-Owls Luncheon in a couple of hours. Fan Fest starts @3pm tomorrow outside of the Stadium(it is alot of fun). Gates open@5:30pm. Going over to the Stadium in a little while.

MTSU and loyal, long-time coach Kermit Davis have built the mid-major basketball program we all hoped Keith Dambrot could have built at Akron. 25+ wins per year. Winning NCAA tournament games. They've already beaten Vanderbilt and Mississippi this year. Dambrot did a great job at Akron. Davis did a better one at MTSU.

I would expect an article maybe, but I don't expect a presser, at least the day of, since it is the day after our bowl game. Another random thought I had about early signing day: I wonder if one semester is enough for the "non-qualifiers" (Bridges, Corner, etc) from last year's class to become eligible and officially sign? Even more, would players that could come back like Jest and King already be eligible and able to sign again?? Once again, I don't expect to know much or anything until the spring game or even fall camp because thats just how it goes here, but it would be nice to know that now if able.

Tamatoa Neher and Shane Johnson within the past week per @MACProspectus on twitter. Both look to be from Snow College (JUCO) and have Kent as their only FBS offers according to their twitters and were offered prior to Haynes being fired.

Timely Hustlebelt article discussing the state of the program. Maybe they can take one for the team and we can add Marshall back in their place? I wouldn't mind us getting the pick of the litter of their players as well, assuming we'd be a popular choice based on proximity alone. I'm sure they have a few worth a scholly... https://www.hustlebelt.com/2017/12/18/16787526/kent-state-university-football-division-one-midamerican-conference

Congratulations to Joao and Daniel Joao freshman of the year and 3rd team all american Daniel 2nd team all freshman https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2017-mens-division-i-postseason-awards_aid43574

The corruption level in our government is unreal. Hence why the slogan "Drain the Swamp" was/is so popular. I actually think the problems derive from the two-party political system our Founding Fathers warned against. We've been divided into Democrats & Republicans, and instead of focusing on the issues, we focus on the parties. Not really a discussion to have in this thread, but it certainly is an interesting one to say the least.

I'm willing to see how it all plays out, but I can't debate this via my smartphone. But what's rather cool is that while we diverge politically we both appreciate well-timed time outs and assistant coaches who actually coach!!!

Right. The current leadership brought all that about? Economy was and is humming along. Corporations aren't suffering. Tax cuts are historically used to help jump start a faltering economy. Think about the late 90s and after some tax increases the country went on huge economic growth. When the economy is going well, why the need to rush tax cuts through? Why not drop corporate tax to 29% or 30%? Where is this lost tax revenue going to be made up?

Because that is the type of player/play that MLS values and the referees in the College Cup are MLS referees. It's the same valued style and type of players that continue to stunt the US ability to compete with the rest of the world.

could you run that by me again?

How about 3

I DID notice that right away! Glad it wasn't just me!

Before that law was put in place, ISPs were considered Title I under the communications act of 1934. But then they challenged in court that the FCC had no authority over them under that classification, and won. So the NN law was passed to classify ISPs as common carriers of telecommunications under Title II. That is what was repealed. So yes, the internet was fine before it passed, but it wouldn't have remained fine because the ISPs had just established in court that they didn't have to treat their customers communications equally. They essentially were about to become a set of regionally exclusive Ma Bells thanks to regional monopoly rights granted to them by state governments in recent years. The only way it would continue to work as it had in the past is if they were classified as common carriers, or if the federal government were to eliminate the states' (and municipalities in cases where the states haven't yet enacted them) rights to create monopolistic contracts with single corporations. NN was the solution to preserve the internet as it had been before the court cases without trampling state rights. And now it's gone, pending a handful of legal challenges that will be interesting to follow as they dig through the FCC's mandated public comment gathering phase looks to have been rigged and abused from both sides, which could invalidate the entire thing since it was based on false information.

The very issues that NN will supposedly regulate are already being manipulated by the likes of Goggle and others. All NN does is let the government decide who the winners and losers will be instead of a free market. More lobbiests and bribes to politicians. https://www.forbes.com/sites/fredcampbell/2017/05/03/the-truth-about-net-neutrality-the-left-and-google/#185730fe3745

RJ has another State Title under his belt. I really think he's going to be the stud lineman we've needed.

Scary we think alike.

I knew somehow that this would get back to defending the same liberal talking points that we've heard for decades. We're hearing it today with the complaints about the new tax overhaul too. This country is seeing much higher GDP growth, stock market records, historically low unemployment, etc., because we have leadership in place that sees American's free market system the way it should be seen. It's great to see us returning to those principles.