UA1996MAENG

I know you made this comment in December (and I hate OSU), but OSU at the moment seems to be in full control of its destiny in the new landscape of top-tier college football, which is a de facto professional league. OSU always had the tradition and money and now it has integrated NIL and the Transfer Portal into its system. What happened in the bowl game was the result of opt-outs and transfers, which occurred because OSU was not in the playoffs and the bowl was "meaningless". I doubt we will see this kind of horrendous performance by OSU again in the 12-team playoff. UA vs OSU next fall only does one thing - it helps finance the UA athletic program that is deeply in debt. I’m not looking forward to it, and I think we will see across CFB and within Power 5 conferences fewer and fewer compelling games. OSU vs Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, etc.? Always boring matchups and now it’s going to get worse.

There are no surprises in the list of profitable programs, but these data always lead me to wonder why and how the other Big 10 members like Wisconsin or Indiana, for example, cannot at least break even considering the large conference payout each gets. The entire MAC losing money is also no surprise, but it's disheartening because I cannot see this going on forever (enrollment at many MAC universities is dropping or stagnant). It's going to lead to more and more program cuts and this will weaken the conference overall from its already precarious position. Soccer is already gone as a MAC sport, etc. Surely more cuts are coming.

At this point, I don't know if this possibility upsets me or gives me hope. On one hand, UA needs stability and the time to develop under Moorhead. On the other hand, Moorhead's 4-20 record is terrible. I'm just a fan - no college football experience, but I have yet to see any of Moorhead's supposed offensive mastery while at UA. I know this was a major rebuild, but the MAC is a landscape in which there usually is not a giant void between the successful programs and the bottom. A good coach can make a big difference in a short time. It seems that given the possibilities and peculiarities of MAC football, UA should be farther ahead than it is by year two. If he leaves, who is the next coach to lead the program? Is Brookhart promoted due to his experience? https://theathletic.com/5219845/2024/01/22/joe-moorhead-akron-nfl-offensive-coordinator/

I am glad he's coming back. My amateur-outsider take is that he'll be able to improve the WR unit. Here's hoping a QB emerges this year.

Maybe I'm late to this topic (I did not see any other mentjuon in the forums - sorry if I missed it), but I saw this mentined yestreday on Footbal Scoop and it looks like his son is already on campus for spring football (at QB).

January 16

That's true, but it could also be true that a high school kid with ability is going to be buried on the depth chart behind older and more experienced transfers (JUCO or Portal) and this in turn prevents him from gaining playing time to hone his skills and prove his worth. Again, I think this is particular, mostly, to struggling, desparate programs.

I suppose that Moorhead has no choice but to focus on bringing in JUCO and Transfer Portal guys (hopefully mature and experienced) to try to win next fall (or he'll be gone). No time to develop high school talent I'm afraid, especially in desperate situations. It's not good that high school recruits seem to be almost an afterthought in collge football, but that's the reality in general for many of them. It seems that with the portal in partuclar a large number of high school recruits will never find a place to get playing time and will themslves have to jump ship to find a better situation. Over and over again.

I have been very pleased with UA as the parent of a freshman. Eveyone in every department has been pleasant and helpful. My son chose UA over Miami, Kent, BGSU, and Ohio State. As a parent during the admission and enrollment process, I just felt from the beginning that UA cared about my son and his education. I can't help but feel that a lot of this comes from the overall vision of President Miller making its way through campus and UA culture.

Thank you for the info

Thank you for the input.

That is what I suspected, but this guy I knew swore that this was commn practice at Ohio State. Thanks

I have a general question about NCAA D1 sports (specifically football) and acadmeic rules. I heard several years ago from an Ohio State walk-on (who made the team) that scholarship D1 football players only take one actual academic class during fall semester and that the remainder of thier schedule is a multi-credit course called "Varsity athletics" (or something similar) to assure that they are full-time students. Then they would take a regular load of classes in the spring and summer sessions. Is there any truth to this?

I have been off campus for many years (1996), but I really like the UA President. My son is a freshman at UA, and I think the university is under solid leadership in, unfortunately, troubled times. I enjoy President Miller's social media posts. I hope he can bring in more freshmen next year.