MDZip

I generally like to recognize the sports that accomplish some pretty big things while not getting a lot of attention. As of this moment the women's outdoor track and field team sits tied for second with three competitors left (all in the pole vault) so while it's unlikely that the Zips will catch Oregon for the title, it is still quite possible for them to finish the NCAA runner-up. That's pretty amazing. And the men currently sit in 7th with no more events so the Zips conceivably could have a top ten finish for both the men and women. The only other schools that have a reasonable shot at doing so - perennial powers Oregon and Florida. Nice work again Coach Mitchell.

One thing that does stand out though is that none of the bowls are against any BCS conference foes. The Motor City Bowl used to allegedly be against the 7th/8th place Big Ten team but that didn't happen very often.

Just looking back on the write-up on the Reese trophy and the men really had a phenomenal year. While no huge story like a bowl game, NCAA basketball tournament appearance or soccer final four, it's pretty amazing what the teams accomplished this year. Locking up the Reese trophy without outdoor track and baseball (who came in second and made the MAC title game respectively anyway), the soccer team won the league yet again, indoor track won the title (plus an individual national champion), cross country was second, golf was second and basketball actually had a bit of a down year but still was second in the East and made the conference semi's. Even football was respectable with a third place East finish. That's a hell of a performance from the men. Women weren't quite that good but another fine showing from track (second place for indoor and outdoor), a really unexpected swimming and diving title, softball grabbing the third seed in the tournament and of course the women's basketball team winning their first ever MAC title. Quite a year. Here are the final Reese Cup standings (and the gap between Akron and second place Can't State is larger than the gap between Can't State and last place Miami - wow): Akron 8 79.5 9.93 Can't State 8 61.5 7.68 Toledo 6 45.0 7.50 Eastern Michigan 9 67.0 7.44 Ball State 6 41.5 6.91 Western Michigan 5 34.0 6.80 Central Michigan 7 45.5 6.50 Buffalo 10 61.0 6.10 Ohio 6 35.5 5.91 Bowling Green 6 35.5 5.91 Northern Illinois 7 41.0 5.85 Miami 7 39.5 5.64 Still pissed we lost the overall Wagon Wheel challenge again.

He signed with Western Michigan.

Not laughing as hard this year. Phil lists 11 Zips on his preseason all-MAC team. None are first team but things are certainly looking up.

Huh, saw that article but didn't notice the names of the coaches in the box to the right who just missed the cut. That means the author regards KD as no worse than the 75th best coach on their list. Out of 343 coaches and the only MAC coach represented that's not so bad.

Motif works for the Thundering Turd and Outhouse Pitt.

I could see it happening but certainly hoping it doesn't. That's a tough OOC schedule. But I found the preview to be pretty straightforward, honest and accurate with a definite element of hope to it. I thought it was well done.

Think the list could still be updated since they still list Frye and Corner as being active - as well as Hixon even though he did just retire (two teams later than they have him listed). I think this leaves Chase Blackburn as the only Zip currently on a roster who has played in an NFL game.

Here is the bracket - http://www.mac-sports.com/Portals/20/2014MACBaseballBracket_1.pdf. It says that the Championship Game Replay will be necessary if both teams have 1 loss after Championship Game is complete so it appears that if both Akron and Can't make the championship game undefeated, it's a winner take all scenario, but if one enters with one loss and wins the "final" game, one more will be played to determine a champion. Still an odd format.

It is a bit of an odd format since it is not true double elimination. It is double elimination on each side of the bracket and those the survivors play 1 game for the championship. As it stands right now if Akron and Can't (the last two who have not lost) each win their next games they will play 1 game for the title so if that happens the loser will have only lost one game instead of two. With most double elimination tournaments that I am familiar with the one that gets to the title game undefeated would take on the loser of the elimination bracket and that team would have to win two games against the top team to win the tournament (and usually there are also crossover games so that you don't have to play the same team twice until the championship) so it is a little bit of an odd format. With this format, however, Buffalo or Miami would have to beat the Zips two straight games to keep the Zips from the championship game, so now I like it.

Loved this comment on at the bottom of the article "All other FBS video departments apparently not run by absurdist sketch comedy veterans: step your respective games up. Fear the dadgum Roo indeed". If all publicity is good publicity, well this was different and funny.

A throw away quote from the story "He said he has assured city officials that the bowl would not compete with a planned arena for downtown Akron". So does that mean the decision on a new home for Zips basketball has been made?

That's awesome for him. Here is a link to the selections.

I think everyone is overlooking the obvious. BC is a Christian school. That's the reason he got the job.

Would love to see Boals get a job like this but would hate to play against him. Really liked the guy.

Yedlin's performance grades out as a 6 according to ESPN. I think that's fair, he played the last 23 minutes and had some good plays and a few small mistakes. He was not on the field for any of the Mexican goals. Bright future for this young man. D DeAndre Yedlin, 6 – Had some blazing runs forward and looked a bit more composed than he did on his debut back in January.

Hey leave me out of this. Besides I'm not interested. And if Tressel would ever become President and needs a PhD, I know where he can get one. Maybe he would have the power to award himself and honorary one.

And to take it one step further was part of the team that won back the Wagon Wheel the season before transferring. Starting to feel good about this.

Great shot of her. Got to be the most publicly underappreciated member of the team. I wish I would have kept it but I read an article the other day that mentioned Luburgh and Tecca making the all tournament team but never mentioned Cassell making it (nor her 18 points against CMU in the semifinal). I think the most telling thing about Cassell was this quote in the story "Cassell's assist numbers (677) for her career helped four Akron seniors post 1,000 points in their careers. But Cassell's been there before, as a 1,000-point scorer in high school." Adjusted her own game for the good of the team and helped Tecca, Luburgh, King and Young all reach 1,000 points. Wow.

Rick Pitino unhappy because he has to coach against a former assistant in the first round. Great idea Rick, they should have made that a rule last year, I'm sure that should be the first thing on a committee's mind - he said maybe they were a bunch of soccer AD's. God, that guy whines.

Just for the ones they have listed at the bottom of the page - Monmouth and College of Charleston got 3.5 stars, Akron and Notre Dame got 4 and Georgetown, UCLA and Stanford all got 5. I don't put a lot of stock into those.

Time set up a method by which you can compare schools based on perceived influence of graduates (based solely on Wikipedia information). Obviously it doesn't really mean much of anything but it was fun to play with. I checked and every MAC school came out ahead of UA (Can't kicked our ass, Toledo was closest to us). At least we beat Youngstown. http://time.com/27821/us-college-rankings/

Hate that the women have to take on Purdue on their floor but they certainly have a shot. Go Zips!