GJGood

I agree, although, even with an RPI in the 40s Akron may have had a shot due to their record and the long winning streak had gone to 21 games just before the MAC title game. I don't think its an issue of RPI alone nor record alone. I think it is some sort of hybrid between RPI, record, and perception. I wouldn't have bet on an at-large in 2013 but there at least would have been some discussion about it. I don't think there is a big conspiracy against the MAC by the NCAA selection commitee. I just don't think they, or any of the large media hubs, research the MAC enough to know how good the conference teams may actually be. It is the NIT selection committee that drives me nuts. If any MAC school gets in at all, they are always underseeded to decrease the probability of a home game.

I believe that in 2008 our arch rivals would have gotten in as an at-large but they won the auto bid anyway keeping the MAC to one bid that year. I believe the MAC could be a multi-bid league if there were three or more teams with an RPI similar to Buffalo's this year and those teams had won-loss records somewhere around what Akron had in 2013. To me its threefold, RPI plus record plus other good RPI competition within your conference. It is much more doable in the MAC than in a league like the Ohio Valley or Atlantic Sun but still not something we are likely see with much frequency. I miss the way it was when I was still in school, back then the MAC would more frequently get two teams in. I think there may have even been three once but I'm not certain about that.

H He is probably my least favorite basketball player of all time and he is quickly climbing that list for coaching as well. I know most see Can't and OU as our primary rivals but for me personallly there is nobody I love to root against more than UB right now, simply because of their head coach. Before he arrived UB was probably my second favorite team in the East and they may be again once he is gone but something about that guy and his attitude has always (from his Duke playing days till now) irrtated me to no end. That, of course, doesn't mean that I thought he was a bad player or even is a bad coach (jury still out on that one) and that his abilities shouldn't be respected. I fully expect him to have his team ready to play , and play well, when they come to the JAR.

I also believe the old uniforms were getting outdated and a change may have been due. I just wanted the new uniforms to be based on the school colors and the traditional Akron font. The font is probably the most uniquely Akron thing to me and I'd like to see it stay around. I prefer the 'A-Roo' to the 'Z' but I can live with the 'Z' as well. While I was at the school we still had the 'running A' and the "gold" looked awfully yellow. While I thought the running A was just OK, I definitely like the color schemes now better than that bright yellow passing for gold. The one thing I don't like the most about the new helmets I have seen pictured is the numbers on the side. I have never been a fan of uniform numbers being so prevalent on a football helmet. I'd rather have every player on the team have the same thing on their headgear.

Huge game this weekend. Everybody needs to rally the troops and pack the house for this game!

I understand that people will often cheer for schools even though they really have no connection to that school. It is usally about geography or bandwagoning. Living just east of Columbus I see that in abundance. What I don't get, however, is when people cheer against their own alma mater. They chose to go to that school and they earned a degree there but they then want to see them defeated in their athletic pursuits? That doesn't make sense to me.

I have one coworker that graduated from OU and roots for OSU who says when they play each other he is just happy for whoever wins. I have another coworker, however, who is a Toledo alum but roots for the Michigan Wolverines over everyone, even if they are playing the Rockets.

I expect the good BG team to show up tonight. I agree that a huge key in this game is foul trouble. If Holmes gets in trouble and the Zips bigs do not then BG may have a problem. If Forsythe gets in trouble and Holmes doesn't then that script may be flipped. If they both have foul issues then I like how the matchups play out for UA. If neither has issues then I fear the advantage may go to BGSU simply because when the refs 'let them play' it seems to allow home teams to get into more of a flow and feed off the crowd.

Neutral site games are away from the JAR. If Akron has won a neutral site game then they have won away from the JAR even without it being an 'away' game. I have no real opinion on GT overall but if he said they got their first win away from the JAR in Kalamazoo then he was clearly incorrect. Despite not always being happy with it I am not one to frequently complain about the quality of Zips coverage, however, I do think the program often deserves much better in terms of quantity of coverage.

Not terribly surprised that Kretzer is out but thought Forsythe would be back.

I have no idea which team will show up in this one. The Zips haven't won a true road game this year. They did win in Charleston against South Carolina which was a neutral site game technically, but not geographically, so I think they can win on the road. We all know the Zips matched up quite favorably with the Broncos earlier this season so the confidence level against the opponent should be decent. This is also the first time the Zips have faced road environment games back to back. Will the Zips wilt in that scenario or does playing two in a row benefit them in the second one as it seems to do with some teams? Let's hope the Zips go in and play well today, giving them more confidence as we move on in the schedule.

When was the last time a Zips player scored more than 30? I know Romeo had 30 in 2007 against BG but McAdams had 31. Who is the last to do it? Has it happened in the Dambrot era?

Completely agree with everything here. I actually think 14 teams, with all ten conference champions, is the ideal number for a playoff. It would allow the top two to get byes. I always liked the race for the top 2 in the BCS system. I just didn't always think they got the right two as the top two.

Doesn't have to be 16. It can be less with byes but all ten conference champs need to be included. otherwise it still is not decided on the field. It never will be as long as you have to be chosen by someone to get in.

OK, so for the MAC it may not make much difference as to an at-large invite. I do, however, think playing an early road game that you should clearly win is a good thing as far as team building goes. As far as a conference challenge goes I personally wouldn't want it to be with the Horizon League. I say this only because the two conferences already schedule each other so much anyway. I think the matchups in a challenge type event should be a little more unique than what a MAC-Horizon challenge would offer. Is there a conference that is a little less in our region of the country that may also fit the bill? Maybe the MAAC or a conference in the west or south?

I get the fact that 20+ win seasons may help recruiting. I have to admit I am tired of seeing teams with 300+ RPIs on the schedule though. I am not saying I want them to go crazy with scheduling an impossible gauntlet opponents or anything. I would just like to see opponents ranked between, say, 170 and 260 more often. Also, if we are going to schedule that many cupcakes at least make them different cupcakes each year. How many times do we have to play UAPB? Nothing against them but variety would be nice. As far as things like RPI and other rankings go, do teams get rated higher for road wins than home ones? If so, I wouldn't be entirely against playing a non-conference team that Akron should have no problem with at all as a road game. I have always believed that road games early in the season help a team "grow up" or "gel" more than home games do. So why not have a near sure thing road game very early on in the season? I remember a few years ago there was talk of the MAC getting a challenge together with another conference, like the Big Ten does with the ACC and the Big XII does with the SEC. Anybody heard anything about something like this lately? If it were to happen what conference should the MAC be paired with to try to get close competitive games from top to bottom of the leagues?

How do the Zips match up with the Broncos? Focus should always be sharp when it comes to conference opening games but do the Zips have a little extra incentive after the MAC semis last year?

In saying "Auburn offense" do we mean the one being run now by the Tigers or the one Bowden himself ran at Auburn? I, for some reason, took it to mean the latter but most of the discussion here seems to assume the former.

NDSU also had a head coaching change. I admitedly don't know much about them this year but they could be learning a whole new system compared to seasons past. This is Akron's final return game from the BracketBusters series. I really miss that event. I always made the trip to Akron to see the home games for BracketBusters. I just liked seeing the variety of opponents at our level that it let us go up against. I hope in some way shape or form that some type of event like this comes back into the fold.

Don't forget North Dakota State. It has to beautiful in Fargo this time of year.

With teams like Pitt, Illinois, and Virginia Tech getting into bowl games it would have been nice to see at least one of the MAC's bowl matchups be against a team from a Power 5 conference. At the very minimum every Group of 5 conference champ should get a shot at a middling power conference team.

If the black and gold chrome is going to bring in recruits or help the program in any way then I am fine with it. I still would prefer the traditional Akron font for the names and numerals however. Why couldn't that be incorporated?

I don't fear any one particular game. My thoughts were 'bigger picture' than that. I was merely stating that the first three games next year will mean the Zips will face one of, if not the, toughest schedule they have ever played as a program. If the way we are measuring progress of the program is by winning records and/or bowl berths I think the non-conference games next season make that progress much more difficult to achieve than it would have been this year. I understand that the model we are following is FCS at home, payday game on the road, and two FBS home-and-home opponents. I actually like next year's scheduled teams, just not the fact that the "pay day" game comes first or that the FCS game is all the way down at Game #4. Those first three weeks will be tough back-to-back-to-back and we aren't likely to catch a team like Oklahoma sleepwalking through a 'trap' game if it's their home opener.

Trying to watch the live stream on iPad but every time I try to go full screen I lose the video entirely and have just audio. Anybody else having similar issues? Any suggestions?

Anybody have a scouting report on Tim O'Shea's Bryant club? What type of game do we expect? Is there a key player we need to stop?