kreed5120

A blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile

My prediction is Nebraska 48 Akron 3

The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prevents them from doing it. Otherwise they would have already done it.

Evan Mahaffey is going to be a menace in the open court. I think he's going to wreck havoc against MAC caliber players in our fast pace offense. He won't be our best player, but I think he will have the best highlight reel and most electrifying plays.

My guess is one of the walk-ons gets moved to equipment manager or something.

Part of the issue is that it's challenging to market a sh** product. Nobody wants to watch 3 1/2 hours of bad football regardless of what free giveaways or extra amenities are added.

I've said before that athletics is just a marketing arm for schools. Boise State enrollment has grown from 16k to 26k in the last 25 years, which lines up with the time that their football has become relevant. They have grown much more rapidly than other in state public Universities in Idaho. In large part because their football and basketball programs provide an improved college experience relative to their competition. Boise State is one of the few G5s that has been getting a return on their investments when it comes to what they spend on athletics. The $15 million the University spends on subsidizing athletics is a drop in the bucket compared to the revenue they're receiving from having 10k additional students paying tuition. Not to mention donations they receive by keeping their growing alumni base engaged. All of that said, Boise State is unique. They have no real in state competition. Trying to replicate what they have achieved is near impossible since everyone, including Cincinnati, lives in OSU shadows.

It's 20 years of built up frustration. Everyone has a boiling point.

I’m actually on the same page with most of this and have expressed similar thoughts myself. One program I think might make sense to keep at both schools however is nursing, given the existing shortages in the field. That issue is only likely to grow as the boomer generation continues to age, requiring more healthcare, while they will also be leaving the workforce. It would be more the engineering, business, liberal arts, etc that I think would make the most sense to divide. Allow each school to plow as much resources into what they're best at. This way we can offer a higher quality education in our region. There will still be plenty of competition as we will be competing with other states and private campuses.

I think you're wasting your time trying to convince the wrong person. I'm not the audience you need to convince. I've said for a few years now that the cost for G5 football has grown too outrageously high and something needs to be done. Whether its just mailing it in and us being the Pirates of FBS (spend little to nothing, but collect the revenue sharing) or do something more drastic like drop down to non-scholaship FCS.

Not all 1 bid conferences are the same. It's true the MVC typically gets 1 bid, but they are seeded better than the MAC. Below are the seeds by years. 2025 - Drake 10th (2 bids was likely had Drake lost in conference tournament) 2024 - Drake 12th 2023 - Drake 12th 2022 - Loyola Chicago 10th (Had path to at-large had they lost conference tournament) 2021 - Drake (at-large 11th), Loyola Chicago 8th As you can see in the last 5 years years the MVC had 1 at-large and their teams were seeded 8, 10, 10, 11, 12, 12. There is also a pathway for an at-large, but only if the top team from the regular season loses in the conference tournament. The MAC doesn't have that luxury. Also, your odds of winning a tournament game an 8-10 seed are far greater than as a 13 or 14, which is what the MAC typically gets seeded. Besides all of this, I'm not just an Akron Zips fan. I actually enjoy watching quality college basketball. Looking at our MAC schedule there are only a handful of games that I'm excited for. The majority are against cupcakes. Akron would be more battle tested come tournament time as they would be playing a higher level of competition. I understand joining the MVC is likely never going to happen. I'm more just sharing my thoughts out loud.

My whole comment was in response to you grossly overestimating the pull Akron basketball has with the MAC. If we want to be a basketball focused school we would be better served elsewhere, perhaps MVC if they would have us. The MAC isn't going to bend the knee to accommodate us because frankly what they care about is FBS. All the FBS conference schools prioritize football, even the ACC. That shouldn't come as a shock.

That's like claiming to be the tallest midget. If the MAC kicked Akron out of the conference, the MAC might go from being the ~25th rated conference in hoops to the 27th or 28th. Akron basketball isn't earning the MAC any at-large bids and isn't winning any tournament games so it's not adding anything additional for the conference. Akron basketball has been good, but it hasn't been good enough, like a Gonzaga or a MVC days Wichita State, to carry the conference on its back. It would take that level of success for the MAC to cater to Akron's demands. Football is what drives MAC decisions. Basketball is a distant #2. All other sports are irrelevant.

Maybe it would result in more money in totality. I would just expect 60% of it to go the the B1G/SEC, 30% to ACC/Big 12, and 10% to the G5 to split.

My comments weren't pertaining to MBB or Olympic sports. It was specifically about FBS football. We were never capable of competing with the OSU or Alabama's of the world in football. I have no idea why you're trying to take my words out of context. Of course we could compete in MBB. I never stated otherwise. There is always a Cinderella in the tournament. Roster sizes are much smaller in basketball and basketball is a global game so it's harder for bigger schools to hoard all the talent. Also, 1 or 2 guys having a career night from 3 is a great David vs Goliath equalizer. Football is more challenging because even if you do have some skilled players, you won't have the depth or size in the trenches. As for soccer we won a national championship so that's self explanatory. I've long stated we should focus on basketball and soccer as our dollars would go further there since everyone else is prioritizing football. It's not nearly as much of an uphill battle.

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.