MDZip

Somehow the Zips have managed to draw the top three teams from the West again. Only two MAC East home games and once again don't play Buffalo. Outstanding. Ohio draws EMU, CMU and all six East teams. Yeah, this is fair. F this unbalanced scheduling. AKRON Home: Ball State, Toledo, Can't State, Ohio; Road: Northern Illinois, BGSU, Miami, UMass;

Had a feeling it was not going to be a good game, with ND eking out too many wins over mediocre competition this year. If Pitt had a reliable kicker, ND isn't even in this game. I can hear the SEC howls growing louder but the odds of them landing more than one team in the upcoming four team playoff seems a bit unlikely, so that will probably be the next impetus to grow that playoff number again. It's coming eventually, Monday night's game is another good argument for it. And Saban is at $5M a year at Alabama which is the equivalent of an NFL coach. He has a great setup, is treated like a demi-god, can't see that he would have any reason to bolt for the NFL.

And Michael Green was the "producer". Well done, nice to look back on a pretty fun time but also sad to see a few other things, Quincy's contributions to the team, all of the terrific guys and players who have moved on and most to think this is it for Zeke three months from now. Really seems a short time ago we were all excited about this highly ranked prospect choosing Akron. As the only four year member of the senior class, really hope he continues his high level of play (and maybe even cranks it up a notch) for the remainder of the season. Would love to see him play in the NCAA tournament one more time.

Hmm, neither his web site nor this article happen to mention that he is the head football coach at the University of Akron.

We can't give up yet - we just have to win the MAC and beat out the five champions from the other conferences and we are in a major bowl game. Also, the highest-rated champion from the Group of Five conferences (Big East, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) will earn a berth in either in one of the six major bowls; except they will never be eligible for the Sugar or Rose bowls.

If I lived closer I would do this but it looks like Jeremy Guy out of the MAC office wants a couple of Zips fans to join him Wednesday. This was tweeted less than an hour ago. Anyone tried it yet? Jeremy Guy ‏@JGuyMAC LAST CHANCE: Looking for 2 #Akron fans to join me for an ALL-ACCESS experience at Wed. night @ZipsMBB game v. #WMU. RT & Follow to enter!

While the Zips get mentioned in the MAC portion, they are also highlighted in the Big South paragraph where they are mentioned as a good win (along with Clemson) for surging Coastal Carolina who could yet be a title contender. Maybe still not as bad a loss as some think.

In the last several years we have had a home and home with both Cinci and Army, and have a home and home scheduled with Pitt in 2014 and 2015 (assuming it actually occurs), so it is not only possible but probable with some of the lower level BCS schools (did a 2-1 with Syracuse as well - also found it interesting their coach was hired to coach the Buffalo Bills after 4 OK years after the Zips helped run off their previous coach).

And no secret here - NIU reportedly told by an Orange Bowl rep - "We didn't even want you here". No kidding, geez is that because the bowl games always have been and always will be about nothing but money? The only reason the playoff has been approved is they think they can make even more money that way. When they discover their new cow also hemorrhages money, suddenly those playoffs will expand too.

If a team like Boise joined a conference like the Big-12, they surely wouldn't dominate it, but I'd bet they would be competitive after some time. Many schools in the BCS conferences aren't any "better" or more deserving than those in the non-BCS conferences. I don't think it's a matter of commitment, it's a matter of funding. In other words, I don't think it is a guarantee that someone jumping from non-BCS to BCS automatically dooms them to the bottom of the heap. We have a nice test case for that right now in Utah, I am interested in seeing where they finish in the next few years, they were 3-6 in the PAC-12 this year.

I think if everyone is honest about it, NIU absolutely didn't belong in that game, but I love that they were. They didn't have a great showing but they didn't completely embarrass themselves either. You can't make a judgement on one bowl game a year but I think it was assumed in the first years that non-BCS teams would get destroyed if they happened to luck into the BCS formula that they set aside to placate all of the non-BCS schools (and with a formula I'm guessing they thought would only rarely come to pass when they set it up rather than happening almost every year). That hasn't been the case, non-BCS schools have held their own. Removing the one case of Boise v. TCU, only NIU and Hawaii have lost in these contests (and they are the two teams who really probably shouldn't have qualified). So I do think that some schools, were they to be given the financial advantages of playing in a bigger conference could indeed at least hold their own in those conferences. If Boise joined the Big Ten, I think they could stay out of the Indiana category and at least be competitive in the conference. Other schools would simply become bottom feeders. Its simply not fair that a perennial bottom feeder in a major conference gets preference over schools that achieve in lower conferences. Would love to see how all schools would do under an NFL like revenue sharing plan, or I'm also intrigued by the idea of soccer style relegation.

But beating good ones do - one of the Zips wins is against #42 - MTSU.

SEC! SEC! SEC! Louisville (who is one of the reasons NIU made a BCS game) is putting a hurting on Florida. Maybe NIU just got the wrong Florida team. Non-BCS teams are now 5-3 all time in BCS bowls but one of those losses and one win should be discounted because TCU and Boise State were forced to play each other one year. A 4-2 record is pretty impressive.

And aside from the awful Coastal Carolina loss, the three other losses are to teams ranked 16, 21 and 98.

Nice job Dave. See, who says you can't do anything with statistical analysis?

Put up or shut up time. Would give the MAC a good boost if NIU can pull off the upset. And the Zips got some National Airtime, they showed this clip of Lynch running over Commack (an FSU transfer - omen?). They just mentioned that in 1998 NIU broke a 23 game losing streak. I had forgotten about that. Still think this is impossible for the Zips?

Well yeah, but he is seriously buoyed up by that 50% 3 pt percentage.

Looks like he is doing pretty well at Wyoming. Remaining Undefeated College Basketball Teams Wyoming (12-0) Difference-maker: Larry Nance Jr. The sophomore has played up in the big games for Wyoming, scoring 14 against Colorado, 19 in the win over Illinois State and 21 in a win over rival Denver. The Cowboys' staple has been their defense, as you'd expect from a Larry Shyatt-coached team, but it's their surprisingly-balanced offense that has been a pleasant plus.

Zips better blow this team out. When they first walked on the floor they looked like the size of my old intramural team.

Just as an aside, Zeke is only 16 blocked shots from setting the all time MAC record. At his current pace of 4.3 per game, he could break the record against Coppin State on January 2nd. So his defense is still pretty good too.

Sports Illustrated names #MACtion one of the top 112 sports stories of the year. It is at #82. 82. #MACtion! Nothing to watch on a Tuesday night? The Mid-American Conference has you covered. Entertaining, high-scoring football games were the norm as the MAC enjoyed a breakout year. Northern Illinois became the first MAC team to make a BCS bowl game, winning the conference title in predictably thrilling style (a 44-37 double-overtime victory against Can't State). Six MAC teams are in bowl games. It was all summed up with one Twitter-friendly buzzword: #MACtion. And in perhaps the biggest sign that the MAC has truly embraced being a part of big-time college sports, commissioner Jon Steinbrecher confirmed that the league has applied for a trademark. T-shirts will be available soon. And #9 in Stewart Mandel's wrap-up of the College Football Season. 9. #MACtion heads to South Beach. When I first started covering college football in the late '90s and early 2000s, the MAC was the most noteworthy of the non-BCS conferences. It produced stars like Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich and Ben Roethlisberger. Then it slipped into oblivion for about eight years. But starting midway through last season, when Toledo seemed to be putting up 63 points every Tuesday night, MAC football regained an identity -- and a hashtag. The league took things to historic heights this year, notching a record 16 nonconference wins over FBS foes (including Cincinnati, Rutgers, Iowa and Indiana) and seven over bowl teams. The zenith moment was Northern Illinois' 44-37 overtime win against Can't State in a conference championship matchup of 11-1 teams. The Huskies will now represent the league in the Orange Bowl, where quarterback Jordan Lynch (1,771 rushing yards) will enjoy a brighter stage than any of those previous stars ever did. But let us not forget my favorite MAC player in 2012, Can't State's indescribably fast Dri Archer.

Did anyone hear that the MAC got seven teams into Bowl Games this year?

Being the leading rebounder in the game doesn't hurt either, there are lots of ways to help your team on nights when you are not shooting well.

Six points in one minute of play? Why isn't this guy playing more?!?

An absolute beatdown by Dayton. They have definitely improved but have a long way to go before becoming a really good team.