GJGood

I just realized I didn't give my own opinion on the 5-7 teams selection process for bowls. If we are going to have 40 or more bowls we are going to have to have a provision allowing for losing record teams in place as there will be many season where it is needed. I actually like what they did in going with APR as the factor determining which 5-7 teams were eligible this year. I think basing it on academic performance is a good way to do it although I do wish they could do it based on this year's team somehow instead of using the APR from a previous school year. My issue with the bowls this year was not with who was declared eligible but with how they were then selected. To me it seems that teams who are granted eligibility simply because of a vacancy of normally qualifying teams should have to go to the lowest payout bowls regardless of conference tie-ins to bowls. I have not done the research but my guess is that normally ineligible 5-7 teams Nebraska and Minnesota are receiving larger bowl payouts than many 6-6. 7-5, or even 8-4 eligibility standard reaching teams are getting. Shouldn't the teams that qualify via the established rules be granted preference over those who got lucky in the fact that there weren't enough eligible teams?

This year with 80 FBS bowl teams needed to fill 40 games we saw three 'ineligible' 5-7 teams granted eligibility based on their APR. Two of the three teams (Minnesota and Nebraska) granted this special eligibility were then able to go to bowl games based on the games' conference tie-ins. Assuming that due to $$$ the number of bowl games will not decrease how would like to see the situation of not having enough eligible teams handled in the future? I think being an up and coming MAC school fanbase that Zipsnation may have some interesting opinions on how bowl teams are selected. Also with the way things shook out we have a bowl game that pits Colorado State against Nevada. Both of these teams are members of the Mountain West Conference but they did not meet in the regular season. How do you feel about this? How would you feel if Akron had a bowl game against a MAC West school that wasn't on the regular season schedule? Speaking for myself I wouldn't like a situation like this and I feel like the MWC and the bowls should have been able to negotiaite with each other to avoid this type of matchup we are seeing this year.

...and the Zips are the only MAC East team to win a bowl game.

I have always felt that the MAC does not get the respect it deserves but that it also is not among the very least respected conferences either. Therefore, I don't think any MAC squad with three or four in conference losses will get at-large consideration unless they had a strong OOC with some big wins. I do think that a MAC team that goes 17-1 and then loses in Cleveland could be in the NCAA at-large mix. There really hasn't been a team in recent years that could test my theory though.

I think if it is left up to him that there may be a good chance he would finish up here, although if a Power 5 came calling I think he may listen. I just don't think that many schools of their stature would be looking to hire a guy at his age unless there is some previous connection between he and the school. I really think if Florida State or especially his own alma mater of West Virginia came calling that he may not be able to pass up those opportunities.

I didn't realize how emotional this day would be. Started following the Zips in 1993, the year before I enrolled, and always wanted to see this day happen. I knew it would eventually happen. I certainly didn't think it would be 23 years but seeing the teams I have seen in that time (including four separate one win teams) only makes this day more special. Now let's make this much more commonplace.

it is for me. I get about 20 seconds then it freezes and I have to hit the play button again. Truly annoying.

If Noah's homecoming was a factor in this year's schedule then I wonder if the Zips will be traveling to the Houston area in a future season or two?

Not sure how this qualifies as being called a "tournament". There needs to be more real non-conference tournaments that include mid-majors, especially since Bracketbusters met its demise.

What do most of you expect from the UCSB and Iona matchups in Las Vegas? Will there be any way to watch the games, either on TV or streaming online? What will the impact of going home for a few days have on Noah Robotham and his game? Just some questions to get some conversation started.

Obviously these rankings aren't based on how close and competitive the games are likely to be. The rankings look like the based more on they are name brand of the teams involved.

Yes they are 6-6 but how beatable is this opponent? If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that Boise State was not winning the MWC, I would have thought it must have been Utah State that did. Injuries hurt them. If they have healed this team is very strong and the Zips will more than have their hands full. The upside, though, is that defense can win games like these and Akron's D, especially the against the rush, is as good or better as anything USU will have seen. I just worry about their passing game against the back end of our D and which of Akron,s Jekyll and Hyde offenses shows up.

I am not complaining about anything about where the Zips are going or who they are playing. I love the fact that they are going bowling. My only beef is the payout. Doesn't it make sense that 5-7 teams that would normally be ineligible should be delegated to the lowest payout bowls by rule? I don't care about conference affiliations, these teams were NOT eligible. I don't know who makes the rules on such things but I do think there should be a writing campaign started to suggest that losing teams granted eligibility simply because of vacancies should go to the lowest payout bowls. It just makes sense.

If this indeed is true it goes toward what I said earlier in this thread, no offense to Georgia Southern but the MAC champion deserves a better opponent than an a four loss Sun Belt team. That's not to say that GSU can't beat BG just that it doesn't give the MAC champ a chance to make much of a blip on the radar of national perception. I'd rather see someone like Ohio or WMU in the GoDaddy.

I'd even be OK with Detroit if there could be the promise of a P5 team or a top 25 type G5 being the opponent every year. The Motor City/ Pizza game had a B10 tie-in but many years they couldn't qualify a team. A conference champ, ANY conference champ deserves a guaranteed better bowl matchup than that.I'd love it if somewhere down the road we'd start seeing G5 champs in games like the Liberty, Alamo, Sun, or some other well known long standing current second tier (or would that be third?) P5 bowl. Since the BCS first came about I have always thought it fantastic that the best ranked G5 team was guaranteed a big bowl spot but I have also contended that the drop-off in bowl possibilities is far too far if you aren't that single G5 team. No offense to the Go Daddy or Carmellia Bowls but ten or eleven win conference champs should play in better bowls against better or more prestigious opponents than those games can offer. Don't get me wrong I love those bowls and I am happy they exist but they should be more for the six to nine win G5 squads.

That is one of the things that disappoints me the most about MAC football. There needs to be that one bowl that everybody strives for, win the MAC title and you go there and play a quality national opponent if the biggest bowls or playoff don't invite you. I think every group of five conference needs a specific bowl for their champion.

Boise State did not make it to their conference championship game. That would be Air Force and San Diego State. I actually wouldn't mid seeing the Zips play Air Force. I don't like the matchup with SDSU as much though and especially not if it was in San Diego. I just have never thought it was right to have true home teams in bowl games. Plus, for those teams how excited can they really be for the bowl if they aren't going anywhere different for it? I don't think it rewards their players enough for a successful season.

Why is Marshall playing a home-and-home with James Madison in one season?

I don't like that one. No problem with getting matched with Boise State, although I think it is a bad draw for us. I just don't want to play a team on their home field or basically in their home city.

Black or blue, I just want the traditional Akron font for the numbers and lettering. The black jerseys don't have that currently as far as I know.

I know it probably won't happen but I believe the Independence Bowl has a decent payout, could provide a P5 opponent, and Louisiana is some good recruiting ground that we could use a presence in.

I may have worded my comment badly. What I meant was if they decline on a school like Akron in hope of landing a 5-7 P5 they may end up with no choice but to take somebody like a 5-7 San Jose State. This could happen if APR decides which 5-7 teams get berths. If I recall SJSU had one of the top APRs among schools with 5-7 teams. I would think a bowl may want to think about that fact before declining to invite the Zips.

That is the exact combo I'd like to see for the bowl game.

This may be true but there is also no guarantee that they will get to pick if the rules end up stating they need to select 5-7 teams in order of their APR. They could end up bypassing a 7-5 Akron for a 5-7 San Jose State depending on how this all shakes out.

I dislike these because they are basically true road games. I realize you don't get "home" bowl games in northeast Ohio but it doesn't have to be in the heart of the opponent's fanbase either.