kreed5120

I wasn't talking about being able to compete with the Alabama or Ohio State of the world. G5 weren't positioned to keep up with those programs even before the changes. We can't even compete with the Rutgers, Indiana's, or top tier G5 programs anymore.

Collegiate athletics is just a marketing arm for the University. Them turning a profit isn't a necessity, but with all marketing plans you have to evaluate whether the reach it provides is worth the dollars that you're spending. Little to no good has come from football in the past 15-20 years. In fact, the negatives have only tarnished perceptions of the university. Something likely needs to done. Ideally, it would be great if the MAC as a whole decided they can no longer keep up and decided to drop down to FCS, preferably non-scholaship FCS. Trying to keep up with the Jones's, even at the G5 level, has grown prohibitively expensive.

I think it had potential to be a fairly decent G5 job 10-20 years ago for all the perks you mentioned above. Akron was getting the IPF, new stadium, talent rich area, rapidly growing campus, etc. The problem is the landscape of college sports has vastly changed over the past several years. At the same time enrollment has plummeted, causing financial strain to a University that took on too much debt falsely believing they were positioned to be the next Cincinnati.

He was making similar comments last season as well. To me it just comes a crossed as he's incapable of adapting to the changing landscapes of college athletics. Kent also has a poorly funded football program. Sean Lewis found a way of turning lemons into lemonade. He was too busy finding ways of making due with what he had to make excuses. Perhaps Moorhead is just at a point in his career where he no longer has that drive.

About halfway through the 3rd Qtr, after seeing no half-time improvement offensively, I knew it was going to either take Wyoming turning it over deep in their own territory or a broken play defensively (on Wyoming behalf) for Akron to find the end zone. Akron showed no ability to sustain a drive. Fortunately the defense showed up in a big way otherwise this game would have gotten out of hand fast.

Akron is certainly the school for a punter to be able to showcase their talent.

If you're digging on ESPN+ to find an Akron game you're either already a diehard fan or a degenerate gambler. Joe Akron isn't going to be put off from Reghi because frankly he isn't going to be watching the game in the first place.

Knowing how Akron operates they will just likely keep throwing more good money after bad. We give Kent sh*t for obvious reasons, but at least their board saw the changes coming to football and had the foresight to give up trying to compete altogether. Instead focusing their attention on other sports like basketball and baseball. Fortunately for us we have Bud heavily involved with basketball. Otherwise our basketball program would likely be decaying from its former glory leaving us with nothing. Akron isn't in a position financially to try to compete in football. A situation that's likely not going to improve considering Cuyahoga, Summit, and Stark County are all projected to lose 15%+ of their population by 2050. Football is where everyone is throwing their money. Basketball provides more bang for the buck and has lower overhead costs.

The cost of time was more what I was hinting at in my original post. The product is so bad that they can't sell it to poor 18-22 year olds that only have to show up to the game to get in. We literally have to bribe them with free tuition giveaways or $2 beers just to make them even mildly interested.

Crazy how quickly people forgot about losing to a 4-7 FCS school. This wasn't even in the bottom 20 worst loses since I've been a fan. At least this was still a game late in the 4th qtr. I've seen countless Akron games in the past against other G5s that were over by half-time.

Yes, I understand they pay the student fees. I'm more saying there is no additional cost for them to show up and attend the game. Perhaps I could have worded it better.

Yes, I understand that, but it doesn't cost them anything additional to get into the game. The students pay those student fees regardless if they show up or not.

They do give them away for free to students and they still don't show. That alone speaks to the quality of the product.

The problem is we are a cupcake in the FBS and have been one for much of the past 10 years. Saying a mid MAC team could win 7 games with this schedule is irrelevant as we haven't proven ourselves to be one. Outside of Kent and Duquesne I wouldn't feel comfortable penciling in any "for sure" wins. That's not me saying we will only win two games, but those are the only ones I'm confident in us winning. Getting to 7 wins when you're an underdog (many of which 10+ points) in all but 3 or 4 games is a challenge.

I never really understood the optimism many had coming in to this season. We weren't good last year and we lost a good chunk of our best players to either graduation or poachers. We notably have one of, if not the smallest, NIL budget in the MAC so it's not like we're in a position to upgrade. Outside of blind optimism I'm not sure how anyone could have thought this was going to be a 6 or 7+ win team. Another 3 or 4 win season incoming.