MDZip

Nope, that's exactly what I'd expect from someone named Spin. Well done.

You frighten us all dude. You know that, right?

I love what Terry Bowden has done. While Tressel would have been a little bigger splash initially, I'm not sure he would have been able to generate the kind of enthusiasm that Terry has. I'm thrilled we have Terry Bowden on board, the promotion and visisbility he has brought has been just what this program needed. Considering the football program as a whole, I think Bowden would have been a better hire even if both would have been interested in the job. I'm fine with Tressel being at UA if he can help in some capacity but I'm also happy to hear that it sounds like the football program will be left entirely in Coach Bowden's capable hands. No need to even consider Tressel for anything football related at this point unless Coach Bowden wanted him to do something.

Yep, on ESPN as well.

Quotes from the Porter article (about time we had someone named Porter really supporting the University, oh, wait ...) “Then they come and see the facilities and they say, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s like every other BCS school,’ ” Bowden said. “Local guys, you have to sell them on a vision and an expectation of success. In their minds, they’ve been fed ‘Why would you go to Akron?’ If you’re not winning and you try to turn things around, you do what you shouldn’t and go further away. That could’ve happened in the past.” In addition to length and speed, Bowden recruited success. He wanted players who were successful in high school. The Zips have won one game in each of the last two seasons. “When you’re trying to change a culture ... you like players who are used to winning,” Bowden said. “Three players won state championships. Four had undefeated seasons, and one is from a school on back-to-back national championships. Two others are from Florida teams that won three of the last five state championships.” It's very obvious to me that Coach Bowden really understands what he was asked to undertake when he took the job. Bravo Coach.

To us it might have appeared that way, but in the postgame Dambrot said he told Zeke he hadn't seen him get beat that much since he was a freshman. To the untrained eye, I thought he did pretty well too. Maybe there are just much higher expectations for him.

Coach Bowden mentioned that in the recruiting video. Said they count against last years class so they could sign up to four more (but didn't want to worry about bumping against the 85 limit (c'mon coach you were in the SEC, oversign ). Someone on the board did mention that it would be good to hold a couple slots open for last second drops from other schools. I'm going to bet that is what's happening.

Did Ianello ever do something like this? This was very good. As an example of finding overlooked players perhaps, they showed Dylan Evans who was brought in as a linebacker, but primarily was used as a running back this year. He wasn't likely to get a D-1 scholarship as a RB, but the coaches dug into his background and found excellent LB skills during his sophomore and junior years. Coach Bowden also appears to have met his goal of bringing in a lot of speed.

Toledo player hanging on the rim.

Yeah, hope they cleared this with Coach Bowden.

Yep, I switched it back over to ESPN3, but even that isn't very good. It cut out right as the Rockets cut it to three, then apparently the Zips when on a 10-0 run.

There was some mention on the basketball broadcast about Jim Tressel joining Akron in some capacity tomorrow. What in the heck is going on?

Zips start out 13 of 16, up by 14 in the first half.

Uh-oh it might stick. Just heard one of the announcers refer to him as the Harney Badger. Apparently the AK-Rowdies picked it up. One for BirdZip.

I checked the stream on ESPN3 and mac-sports. The one on mac-sports appears to be much better. They also kept the mic on during a timeout and got to hear what Dambrot was saying the huddle. Good start.

It worked for me. All three were very similar but I thought all were pretty good too. (Edit: I also had picked #1, the color changing contact lens for diabetics was awesome).

Today is signing day. Have we signed him/her yet?

It might not mean anything as far as an at large bid goes, but with ORU currently projected one seed line above Akron, if the Zips make the tournament, it could mean the difference bewteen a 13 and a 14 seed (or maybe even a 12 if the rest of the season goes really well). Every seed line up increases your odds (not to mention the perception of the MAC as a higher level conference).

I'm a little surprised that Buffalo hasn't gotten any votes at all. They should at least be in the ORV category.

Buffalo made an ESPNU game (against SDSU) and OU made an ESPN3 game (against UNCA). MAC tied with CAA for the second most televised games.

While we were all watching the selection, scrolling across the bottom of the screen was that Zips football recruit Willie Henry committed to Michigan. The others in the mix were Akron, Cincinnati, Lousiville, Pitt and Toledo. At least Coach Bowden is aiming high too. Lunardi also mentioned that best RPI win in the entire CAA this year was VCU's win at Akron.

2:00 Saturday on ESPN/ESPN2.

ORU is a pretty good draw.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Maybe you only know the wrong way.

What, it wasn't enough to knock us out of the tourney and then not have the decency to win the whole thing? And now you have to take a few players? Looks like the start of a potential rivalry to me. Anyway, it looks pretty likely. You can see a little more of that discussion here.