kreed5120

I really can't say much about this, I watched from the comfort of my home.

Yep, it was a double digit loss where we failed to even cover the spread and were out gained by 100+ yards. NIU was clearly the better team last night.

One would have to think these weather conditions would improve our odds of an upset. Not that NIU offense is a world beater, but they still avg 70 more ypg of offense. This should help mitigate that.

Final 4

I got mine for $60 last week. I assumed it came with a parking pass. Maybe he just ended up getting in a closer lot?

UA is obviously bad at math.

Got you. Does family plan come with perks that I'm not aware of? 4 GA tickets add up to $240. The family plan is listed at $250.

Next year order online. It took me all of 2 minutes to order.

We have a lot of new guys playing together. I will probably just end up watching the 1st half from home before moving on to do other things, but I have no problem with them scheduling an easy game out the gate to help players build some confidence playing together. There are plenty of tests in the OOC schedule.

Some of us *points at self* procrastinated and were late ordering our season tickets this year so don't mind UA is late sending them out this year (like they are every year).

I agree, I find it hard to gauge this team. Utomi IMO has 1st team All-MAC potential. Ivey is good enough to make honorable mention All-MAC. I see a lot of athleticism elsewhere, but it's hard to gauge if that translates to on the court talent as frankly I haven't seen these guys play in a competitive basketball game. With a lot of new guys playing together I expect things to start off rough and for them to improve as the season progresses. How good they can by February or March? I have no idea.

If getting to 6 wins and making a bowl game is what it takes for Bowden to keep his job, I'm fully confident he'll find a way to achieve that. He seems to have a knack for meeting bare minimum standards.

Personally, I'm indifferent to it. I don't see a no name program playing a 1-off game at Akron making any impact whatsoever. Now if Dayton or Pitt started to come to Akron to play an annual game, I might start making a fuss.

Yes, I agree there were some that wanted Dambrot replaced. The number was much smaller than the ones wanting Bowden gone. You can't please everyone. Personally, I have no problem replacing a head coach every 3-4 years if him having success at Akron is what caused his departure. People act like that's somehow a bad thing. Since 2010 NIU has had 5 11+ win seasons and only 1 losing season. In this same time frame they have had 3 different coaches. Sign me up for that. Toledo is another program that has had success under multiple coaches. You keep referencing parity, but every time Akron plays the top teams in the MAC, we get smoked. In parenthesis is what year that coach was in their tenure when game occurred. Meanwhile, here we sit in Bowden's 7th year and we're still the 5-8th best team in the MAC. The same that we were in year 3 of his tenure. 2018 - Buffalo 24 Akron 6 (Leipoid 4th year) 2017 - Game 1 Toledo 48 Akron 21 (Candle 3rd year) 2017 - Game 2 Toledo 45 Akron 28 (Candle 3rd year) 2016 - Western Michigan 41 Akron 0 (Fleck 4th year) 2015 - Bowling Green 59 Akron 10 (Barbers 2nd year)

Appears to be accurate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_eligibility

I predict the Huskies to win by 4+, however, the good news is my predictions have been terrible wrong this year.

I want to consistently be competing for MAC Championships. Dambrot consistently achieved that so you won't find a single post in this forum of me calling for his job. Akron plays in arguably the worst division in all of FBS yet Bowden has managed to only lead the Zips to the title game once in 7 years (yes, I'm already penciling in Buffalo to make it this year). Trying to compare what Bowden achieved, which isn't much, to the success Dambrot had is a disservice to the basketball program that went to 9 MACC in a 11 year span. If Bowden achieved that level of success, I'd be asking for him to get a statue.

Hakeem Butler would be a nice pickup, but I'm personally hoping they address the O-line.

Nearly 2 out of every 3 FBS teams (61.5%) make bowl games now. Making a bowl game use to be the benchmark of a good season, but now even 5-7 teams make bowl appearances.

Buffalo Defense Stats (MAC Rank) 1st in scoring defense 1st in yards against 1st in turnovers forced T-2 in sacks Buffalo Offense Stats (MAC Rank) 5th in passing ypg 4th rushing ypg 5th in total offense 4th in scoring They appear to be a complete team and if anything it's actually their defense carrying them.

What's pathetic is being content with a program that consistently finishes ~.500 with no signs of ever improving. We lost to Toledo twice last year by a combined 44 points and you're trying to say the talent gap between us and the top of the MAC isn't much? NIU, BGSU, and WMU all had runs of being a top tier G5 program. We have the best facilities in the entire MAC and are located in a recruiting hot bed. Why can't that be us? I'm not here complaining about the win. I'm glad to see the win regardless of score. My complaint is with his full body of work (35-47 overall, 23-29 in MAC). He's the second longest tenured coach in the MAC and every player on the roster he played a part in recruiting. Him inheriting a 1-11 program can no longer be an excuse.

Word it however you want, but we've only had 1 winning season in Bowden's 1st 6 years. You find that acceptable?

fearless forecast: we will score a defensive touchdown

One has to think a lot of that blame has to go on the offensive line as well. The Zips are also sacked on 7.19% of all drop backs, which ranks them 79th in country.

He's likely on the low end for D1 coaches in pay, but still probably a decent amount more than he was making at the preparatory school. The chances of him having success when he has 1/2 the number of scholarships and a fraction of the recruiting budget of everyone else is slim. I don't see him being able to do well enough with the odds stacked this against him to get attention elsewhere. On the plus side for him nobody is going to fault a start-up program with only a handful of scholarships for being bad. This should give him pretty good job security for a number of years.