MDZip

Not real happy with the bracket. A lot of tough teams in with us including Indiana and UConn and UCSB. And yet another ACC tool on the selection show, Taylor Twellman of Maryland, who loved their bracket and asked if we even needed to play the games? Had UNC beaten UMD in the ACC final, Akron would have had that bracket. A bit annoying but nothing the Zips can't fight through.

And the NCAA's projection. Not sure why they have one and it has to be wrong anyway since it still has Wake Forest listed (who has an overall losing record and is not eligible for the tournament). Zips have the number two seed and would likely get Virginia in the second round if it holds up.

I also didn't want to mention this but sometimes you have to discuss tough topics head on. Our commissioners name begins with S. All of the MAC teams that are bowl eligible (assuming Western beats Can't as expected) have school names beginning with letters in the second half of the Conference (M-Z). All non-eligible teams are in the first half of the alphabet. I smell conspiracy. Our commissioner may well be an alphabeticist.

OK, I know we're not in discussion having been the first team eliminated from post season play this year. The MAC, however, is looking a little better. With all of the teams in other conferences struggling, the MAC has 5 teams bowl eligible and the winner of Can't State-WMU (go Broncos!) game will also be eligible. As long as the the MAC wins at least a couple of those games, at least there might be the start of the perception of pulling out of the tailspin. Interestingly, the AP stats have the MAC as the 8th best conference in the country right now, ahead of the Big East, Conference USA and Sun Belt. The computers still have the MAC at #10.

Final RPI that will help determine NCAA seeding will be out tomorrow. While we didn't get any help from who we played this weekend, officially Louisville recorded a tie in the Big East final. Will that be enough to vault the Zips back to the top spot? In any case, the Zips will almost certainly get a top four seed which means all games would be at home until the College Cup. Since the NCAA also typically regionalizes the opening couple of rounds, we could be seeing OSU or Xavier as our second round opponent.

Zips by 14.

Might as well have been named most affordable MAC college towns, MAC had 8 of the top 11 spots, including #1 (Muncie, IN) and #2 (Buffalo, NY). No wonder MAC schools can't see football tickets.

And one final piece of evidence, All-MAC teams came out - Zips swept player (Nagbe), newcomer (Mattocks) and coach (think you can figure that one out) of the year, and took 9 of the 11 spots on the all-conference team (Chris Korb also made second team, mostly due to the fact they selected only three defenders for the first team).

You really ought to go with a black and red striped shirt, knit hat and black, round glasses.

I agree with you. BUT the newly discovered 1 TRILLION in mineral wealth may have a lot to do with it. Terrific, just what we'd need - another unstable Middle Eastern country that hates us and has a ton of money. Great.

GP1 may be right. Far from being all McCoy but the Browns knocking off New Orleans and now maybe New England? Maybe they can just beat teams that start with New because they think they are expansion teams?

Hartwick has had an awful year (2-13-1) but I hope the Zips learned a lesson never to take a program too lightly. This would keep a conference unbeaten streak alive at 29 games and keep the Zips at the #1 RPI spot (probably) going into the MAC tournament. Zips play angry against an overmatched opponent. Zips 3-0.

Looks like the winner of FAU-BGSU this week will the the 4th team in Akron. What if they tie? If Saturday's game ends in a tie, then multiple tie-breaking scenarios will come into play including win-loss record against common opponents and goals scored in conference games (from the MAC web site). So that won't be known until all of the games are completed. What is known is that UB and WMU will play in one semifinal and the the Zips get whoever survives out of FAU-BGSU.

From the Article: Senior running back Mike Thomas said players had to adjust, but he said he respects Ianello's approach because it will help in the long run. Well, there's your problem, right there. He's been playing linebacker all year. Sometimes you just have to be able to recognize your team's greatest strengths. (Sigh) I am seriously worried about morphing into Zipmeister II. Zips get better but not enough points to win it. Ball State 24-14.

We don't yet know what the team chemistry will be like when Brett McKnight returns. This is Steve McNees last season. We still have the worst footballl team in D-1A. They never did catch that Anthrax guy.

Wow, 74-28 with about 15 minutes left. Starting to think that Keith "he deserves this" quote means he actually hates the guy.

I wasn't aware that Boise St. had only been a D1A program since 1996. Their first three years they were ranked 106th, 96th and 69th. That makes me feel even better.

First, I didn't know Stan Hywett was a non-profit organization, but mainstreet.com gave them one of the worst ratings in the country. Article is a little old (June 2010) but I hadn't seen anything on this before. 12. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Administrative expenses: 45.8% Like many historical landmarks, the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio is a window into the past. The former home of one of the founders of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, it was built in 1915 and was turned over to a nonprofit organization in 1957. The site exists to educate the public about itself: the history of the land, the owners, and the local rubber industry. Maintenance of the property, as well as the $150,000 paid to its president and CEO, Harry Lynch, ate into the home’s budget of over four and a half million dollars in fiscal year 2007, which goes to educational programs for schoolchildren as well as the local population. Being the only historical landmark in Akron, known at one time as the “Rubber Capital of the World”, the Stan Hywet house is an important local resource whose impact would surely be even more substantial if it could reduce its administrative overhead.

And I win. Ball State-Akron is the pillow fight of the week, and the Zips hold on to the coveted #1 spot.

Tickets already in hand (plane and Cup). I I believe I believe that I believe that we I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win!

Update via Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated. Looks like he thinks the Big East will be taking UCF and TCU, but One other possibility is Temple re-joining the conference, but I can't imagine that's high on the wish list. Probably not, but they certainly have put themselves in position for it. The only way I could see this happening is if Villanova doesn't want to make the investment and turns the BE down. I've been to Villanova and they do not have a very nice stadium. Maybe we could sell them ours?

How do you know when you've played a tough schedule? When you can lose to Cleveland State and still stay #1 in the NCCA RPI. Wow.

I have to give Mike credit, well done. The part I liked the best, however, was his player rotation. PG: McNees, Abreu SG: Roberts, McClanahan SF: McKnight, Diggs, Egner PF: Cvetinovic, Euton C: Marshall, Bardo Loved seeing that Egner might get some playing time. Really want to see him in action.

Looks like Jason Taylor may hang it up after this year. Dang, used to love seeing him on national games showing he was from Akron. Even have a picture of it from some game in the past. Sorry he never won a Super Bowl but not rooting for the Jets for him to get it.

I think it depends on how you're thinking of the vote. Emotionally, I think every fan would love to get rid of a coach that is performing poorly. If you did, where would that leave you? With coaches who know that if they do poorly in their first year, they'll be gone? Who would want to take that job other than a desperate coach? I also think the Zips should have been able to at least win a couple of games (and maybe they still will). Those thinking with their heads also know this is a dead topic. Even without the financial considerations, iCoach wil be here for at least another year and probably at least two. There have been plenty of examples cited where coaches who do very poorly in their first year do turn their programs around. I have no idea whether iCoach is one of those folks, but the bottom line is we still have time to find out because he is not going anywhere. Unless T. Barberton Pickens is out there somewhere that we don't know about. Or Gary Taylor is upset and has a lot more influence than we think.