scottditzen

No worries Dave! I think there are some real parallels to be drawn between SDSU and Akron. For one, SDSU does not enjoy rabid support within their television market. The perceived value of their program is based on potential.

YES!!!!!!!

SDSU president 'optimistic' about Big East San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman said he's "very optimistic" about moving his football program to the Big East Conference next year despite lingering questions about the league's money and membership. ....... In an interview with UT San Diego, President Hirshman said that even if the Big East’s new TV deal falls short of projections, the Big East still is likely to be much more lucrative than SDSU’s current TV deal in the Mountain West. Meanwhile, SDSU can’t afford to turn down even a nickel of new revenue. More state budget cuts are looming, forcing the athletic department to find new revenue sources to keep up. That’s a big reason why the Big East is “absolutely” important for SDSU, Hirshman said. ........ --The money issue. SDSU football decided to move to Big East primarily because of a huge projected increase in TV revenue. The Aztecs expect to increase their annual TV revenue from about $1.2 million in the Mountain West to at least $6.4 million in the Big East, based on estimates from SDSU’s TV consultants. But what if those estimates are wrong and the real number comes in far lower? http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/30...about-big-east/

Talk about traumatic. I'm thinking once you go through that kind of terrible experience, it would be fairly easy to just not care that much about school, or have the ability to see the overall importance of it. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the football field is a place where Turner can tune out all the negative, and excel by focusing and just being in the moment. On the other hand, sitting in a classroom you have time to really think. And that's where the realities of life have the time to catch up to you.

Interesting: FBS Division 1 Offers: Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, Stanford, Wisconsin, Akron, Notre Dame

I'm sure they've already dealt with drunk fans. Then again, we've had such poor attendance recently that perhaps they haven't!

Digging this!! "To be honest, I will carry the ball as many times as the coach says I need it. I know I'll carry my team [until] I can't carry them anymore," explained Chisholm in the Plain Dealer. "How many that is, if it's a trillion, I'll carry them."

Strange coincidence that THREE schools on this list are nicknamed "Owls.

Now here is some good design: http://6000.webpossystem.com/ViewProduct.a...mber=RCC022b-WB

What corporation came up with this shirt? Maybe it will look better in person. And it may even make for a good banner. But as for a t-shirt design? Way too sterile imho. It looks like an engineer came up with this design, not an artist.

Interesting. But on a more frivilous point, how will the USFL commissioner address the fact that the pool of good sports team names has already dried up? Sincerely, The Kansas City Wiz

You rightly bring up the basketball issue that is often being ignored on this thread. However I disagree that it would necessarily "destroy" the program. Listen, I love the MAC Tournament for b-ball. It's really an awesome thing to have this event 45 minutes from our campus. One big disappointment is that UA hasn't improved the experience outside of the games; that is easily remedied, however. And I could go on and on about the close games, the good pricing and the close regional rivalries but we know all that. So back to your "destroy" comment. For a second imagine what Akron home games could be with the likes of Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, Louisville and UConn coming to play at our new, shiny, larger-but-not-too-large arena. Suddenly- Northeast Ohio is presented a high-level college sports entertainment option that is unprecedented. Now obviously we are not yet ready to compete at that level in b-ball. So if we're always losing by 20+ points to those teams the value would indeed wear off. It may sound far fetched to think we could ever best UConn. But ya know what, I don't think there's any reason to believe that Akron can't be just like Seton Hall or Providence or a DePaul with multiple NCAA appearances and who knows, even a regular season championship some day. I personally would LOVE that, because as of now I don't have one iota of interest in seeing home games vs. Northern Ill, Ball State or the Michigans'. Or do you think the program is better off with a realistic chance at a MAC title every year? I can understand that. But given a hypothetical choice, my choice is still the Big East. Back to football, I just want to add that there's no reason Akron shouldn't be able to compete with Rutgers, SDSU, UConn, Cincy, Navy etc. Only Boise St. is head and shoulders above the pack at the moment. But shouldn't we be shooting for a Boise-level of success anyhow?

Darrin Alcorns LOOONNNNGGG FG vs. Toledo? Who was that, Owens right? We stormed the field = big win. As you mentioned, his biggest loss had to be Miami 0-65.

SDSU helping Boise State find league solution Written by Brent Schrotenboer San Diego State is helping Boise State find a stable conference home for its non-football sports, possibly in the Big West for 2013 and beyond. But if that move fails and the Broncos can’t find a suitable league for those sports, SDSU might have to reevaluate its move to the Big East Conference in football next year. “It’s a fluid time,” SDSU Athletic Director Jim Sterk said. “Boise is a great partner and we’re working to help find a solution for them.” Asked what would happen if Boise State could not find a suitable league to place its non-football sports, Sterk said, “It’s just speculation at this point.” Even if Boise State decided to stay in the Mountain West, SDSU still could move to the Big East without Boise as its western travel partner. It would just be a tougher move for SDSU to make on its own. Both Boise State and San Diego State last year decided to leave the Mountain West to join the Big East in football effective July 1, 2013. They are the league’s only future members located west of the Rocky Mountains. SDSU’s contract with the Big East states that if Boise State does not join the Big East as planned, the league will “discuss in good faith” SDSU’s admission into the league as a football-only member. cont here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/14...eague-solution/

But I don't see how Conference USA is any more stable. Especially since they've lost some of their best schools to the Big East. If we want stability, lets just stay in the MAC.

UConn Rutgers Temple Cincinnati Louisville Memphis UCF USF SMU Houston Boise St. SDSU Navy Okay nobody here is clairvoyant, but given this projected scenario I don't know how in the world this conference could be considered a "poor" option for UA football.

Welcome to the forum!!! (where's your net-etiquette guys lol)

I think the Big East leftovers will still be better than CUSA aka "the kitchen sink." Plus, you make it sound like we have a ton of choices in the matter. In your opinion, what realistic, viable options do we have other than CUSA and Big East?

I'm really glad to hear this rumor. If true, it shows the University is performing due dilligence. Complacency in college athletics is not a good thing.

I'm glad I'm not the only one confounded by the GoZips site. I can't imagine it's at all difficult to make fan outreach (and appreciation) a primary goal. This is an area where the U needs to step up its game big time. Yes I had a great time visiting the club areas for the spring game. The ushers were friendly and there was an air of hope all around. Loved it. But the lousy half-hearted fan "organization" during the MAC b-ball tourny is still gnawing at me.

This was indeed poorly written and researched. Yet I did find value in simply being able to have a look at tall the stadiums. Much as in baseball, there's a lot of character in the college stadiums!

It's the tv money, stupid. SDSU moving 'full steam' to Big East by Brent Schrotenboer April 23, 2012 Rumors have circulated for months that San Diego State might not go through with its plan to join the Big East conference next year in football. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/23...steam-big-east/ Even if the Big East loses its BCS status, SDSU is making the move to the Big East primarily for TV money. SDSU expects to increase its TV revenue from about $1.5 million annually in the Mountain West to at least $6.4 million in the Big East. There is some risk involved because SDSU is basing that Big East TV revenue on an estimate. Big East will begin negotiating a new TV contract in September, and the exact figure won’t be known until a new agreement is reached. A new Big East TV contract still is expected to pay much more than any TV contract with a proposed Mountain West combination with Conference USA. That’s because the Big East will have significantly bigger TV markets, including its East Coast base and new members from San Diego, Houston and Dallas.

Dalton threw two bad passes, but despite that I think we could win games with him at QB.

I just wanted to add because I haven't seen it mentioned was senior TE Ryhne Ladrach made some really nice catches. Looks to have great hands. He could be an x factor and get some good mismatches vs. a defense.

What, Exactly, Is Akron Up To? The plight of the mid-major college football program By Michael Weinreb on April 20, 2012 On Terry Bowden's desk, lost amid two unopened bottles of Diet Mountain Dew, a jar of antacids, and a precarious stack of legal pads, is a book called The Greatest Salesman in the World. I have no idea if Bowden has read it multiple times or if someone sent it to him on a lark; at one point, I begin to broach the subject, but Bowden has a genial way of filibustering that makes it easy to lose the thread of the conversation. Given the task he faces, the book's presence is so overt that it's probably better left unaddressed. It is April in Akron, Ohio, which means, as it does at college campuses across America, that the peculiar ritual of spring football is nearing its culmination. As far as I can tell, there is no real purpose for spring football other than to traffic in blind optimism about the season to come, and nowhere has blind optimism been in shorter supply than in Akron, where the hometown college football team — reflecting the ongoing struggles of its city since the rubber industry imploded — has foundered about for decades in search of an identity. This, Bowden knows, is the primary reason why he's been hired; his name, passed down by a father who won more games than any major-college coach other than Joe Paterno,1 brings a cachet that his predecessors did not have. At this point, the Akron job is as much an executive sales position as it is a coaching position, a reframing of a long-ignored commodity, of a football team that is better known for its snappy nickname and its adorable mascot than for any game it has ever won. The Zips have been victorious two times in the past two seasons; the brand-new 30,000-seat on-campus stadium they moved to in 2009 was barely filled to half its capacity. "After a while, it becomes a vicious cycle," Bowden says. "But we've got a fresh start. We're selling a dream. There's nothing inherent here that suggests we can't be successful." Bowden is considerably rounder now than in his late 30s, when he was hired at Auburn just as the Tigers fell into the limbo of NCAA probation (he led them to an undefeated season, then got forced out despite a six-year record of 47-16-1). He has admitted in the past that he is a notorious stress eater, and when he greeted me in the hallway after lunch, he extracted a piece of electric-green candy from a bowl on the front desk and slipped it into his cheek. "Are you taping me?" he said. Then he directly addressed my iPhone, as if a recruit might somehow get ahold of this recording: If I don't sound proper, I got a piece of candy in my mouth. Continued: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/783406...ootball-program