kreed5120

I think UMass and Buffalo both have potential that they could be attractive to a conference like the AAC given their media markets. Their athletic performance, particularly in football, is what has held them back.

This is pretty spot on. I don't see what Miami would bring the AAC. Cincinnati and Xavier already own the Cincinnati market. OSU has a monopoly over Columbus. In-between even Dayton is a much bigger basketball brand. Their ceiling is SunBelt as they're already in a saturated market.

I also think 5-7 is the most likely outcome given this schedule. The team on paper might be slightly improved, depending on if O-line doesn't severely regress, but not sure it's improved enough to make up for a more challenging schedule.

The jersey sponsorships are relatively new. I think it was just in the spring that the NCAA announced that they would be a thing. Now you have 350+ D1 schools and I'm not going to try to guess how many none D1 schools all trying to seek deals. I don't think it's as much that Akron and other MAC schools don't want them. It's more about finding sponsors who are willing to pay mid-six figures. Especially since many of your local credit unions and regional mid-size businesses might have already had their marketing dollars already budgeted and allocated for all of 2026 before they knew jersey patches were going to be a thing. New Mexico State in CUSA signed a deal that pays around $350K/yr. If Goodyear, Timken, Cleveland-Cliffs, or whoever was offering Akron $300K-$500K/yr I'm sure they would have already accepted. It takes two to tango.

The most painful loss IMO (if you want to call it that) was the cancelled tournament. That IMO was the best Zips team to not make the tournament. There were a few Zips teams better, but those teams had the opportunity to make noise. If we exclude that, I'd say Big Dog/Kwan senior year. That was the one year we had legitimate P5 size and couldn't be bullied down low. I actually feel Big Dog could have been a huge mismatch against the right opponent. That team just wasn't built to win 3 games in 3 days in Cleveland.

Weird, I didn't get a paywall when I viewed it from by phone, but I am now that I'm at my computer. I was able to view @Dr Z article though.

It worked fine for me. I'm on my phone right now. If I remember later I'll copy and paste the article from my pc.

The Toledo Blade asked coaches questions during media day and they answered them anonymously. The Blade usually puts together a few of these good articles each year between football and basketball. I figured I'd share if others wanted to read. https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/college/2026/07/25/briggs-mac-coaches-anonymously-dish-leagues-best-jobs-worst-trips/stories/20260724086

You have to remember with players having the opportunity to play 5 years now it's often times best for them to go somewhere year 1 that they have an opportunity to play, even if it's just special teams. It doesn't really help their market value being burried as the 4th or 5th RB on a team like Kentucky's roster where you will have little to no film to market yourself year 2. Now if you're a 5* recruit that commands immediate play time or large upfront money that's a different story. That wasn't the case here.

Last year the non-conference schedule was released on August 15th and the year before August 12th. It will be here before we know it. I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been more leaks on what games are on the schedule. I feel we knew a handful or so by this time last year, including what MTE we would be playing in.

I'm not in disagreement that 6-6 is attainable. Based off the games you have marked as wins that would put Akron at 2-3 heading into this game. That's not going to excite Joe Akron to attend. All this said, I'm not really complaining. Nor am I trying to talk anyone out of attending. I have no problem with lofty targets. If they get 20K that would be great. I'd feel better about the reality of nearing a sell out if the cards fell right that we got to host Kent on a Saturday during homecoming.

I do like Goodrich's optimism. It's probably not a great time to be an AD at a G5 school with costs soaring, but budgets getting slashed. All that said, I don't see Infocision selling out again in my lifetime, at least not for Akron football. Certainly not against a program like EMU. There is a lot less community in sports than there was 3-4 decades ago. People care much more about the large spectacle events, even if it means just watching on TV instead of in person. MAC football isn't that.

They're literally on the border with Kentucky and Indiana, but only leave the state of Ohio for 1 non-conference game (excluding MTE). Cowards!

TBH in this hypothetical Amani would instantly fill our biggest question mark as we lack a 5 with his proven skill set. I do see potential in Buddy Hammer, but it's no guarantee if we can fully unlock it in 1 season. It might sound weird to hear this but IMO Tahj makes Tavari a bit redundant. We really couldn't play them together. Even though Tavari might be better, I don't think there will be a big drop-off in production between the two. In my honest opinion I would guess at this stage we probably couldn't afford either financially. One would think our cash was mostly spent this offseason and that was before Bud dug deeper into his pockets to bring back Evan. I would think Tavari would command $500K+ and I wouldn't be surprised if a desperate team that lost out on musical chairs for a quality big offered Lyles something in the neighborhood of $800K or more.

I saw Amani and Tavari were also in the suit that granted Evan an extra year. We, as of now, don't have any roster spots. Anyone know if either of them plan to return for an extra year of college and if so where?