GJGood

I disagree on the format. I loved the way the CBI was formatted previously. The best of three final guaranteeing both programs a home game was great. The very least the CBI should do now if they insist on a single venue neutral site is make it like an early season tournament format and have a guaranteed minimum number of games for each team with consolation rounds. I mean all the teams and fanbases are there anyway, so why not? It certainly would intrigue more teams given the extra chance to develop against quality competition

I noticed that the NIT was only seeding teams 1 thru 4 in the four quadrants of their tournament and then largely pairing the remaining half of the teams by geographic proximity. I am not a fan of that change. Last time the Zips were in the NIT they were a 7 seed and knocked off the 2 seed. If it were this year’s format that game doesn’t likely happen. Also that year the 6th seed in the quad of the NIT upset the 3 seed so the Zips played at UT-Arlington in the second round... I feel like without seeds when a double upset like that happens they will just award the home game to the bigger arena if there is no firm seeding... this is a disadvantage to Akron and similar schools. As it stands now I would prefer a berth in the newly rebranded “The College Basketball Classic” since it allows a team to experience Homs and away environments and has one more round of competition. What I would love to see from the new TBC is an idea I stole from the old Bracketbusters event, if a team hosts a game in the tournament they should be contractually obligated to make a future visit to the other team’s venue in a future season. This would help, albeit on a small way, with mid-major quality opponent scheduling

How cool would it be to get Duke and be known as the school to end Coach K’s career? They look like a potential 3 seed.

My guess is a 14 seed simply because of being a 4 seed in the conference tourney and the MAC being ranked something like 19th out of the 32 conferences this year, when historically it has been a top 14 conference. I am not sure why but when I look at the possible destination locations the one that seems to be calling out to me is Fort Worth. Knowing that the committee traditionally tries to put top 4 seeds in each region closer to home. So my wild guess, and I actually hope I am wrong, would be Akron in Fort Worth against Texas Tech. The committee could always go for the story line though ( it happens too often to be coincidence) and have John Groce coaching against Illinois. The seeds will line up just about right. If that happened it would probably be somewhere like Milwaukee

I am seeing projections that have teams like Western Illinois and Rice playing in postseason tournaments. I would take any of the top 5 in the MAC compared to those schools. Ohio is senior led so maybe they would not want to play but younger teams should want to extend their seasons as much as possible. Hoping the Zips are in the Big Dance but whoever wins tomorrow night both teams should be playing beyond Cleveland.

Looking at post season projections and clearly we sealed Toledo’s fate to the NIT tonight. We also know the victor tomorrow night is going to the Big Dance. What about Ohio and the team that falls short tomorrow night? There are two other tournaments out there this year and it seems to me a MAC school could be, and should be, represented in each. The CBI this year is all at one site so there is not the pay to host situation that there was in the past. The former CiT is still held on home floors. I just have heard very little said about these tournaments. I expected to hear Buffalo mentioned as a possiblity here after the Zips knocked them out but it has been silent.

Well, in the case of the quarterfinals and finals the games are carried by the ESPN family which means you can watch On Demand after the fact if you have the $6 per month subscription... CBSSN set the 5:00pm game time instead of the traditional 7:00 and then it was nearly 6:00 before they actually showed any of the game. They either need to schedule more time between games or not have a game start until the other televised game is done.

... and they started the semifinal games this year at 5pm for what reason?... TV? It wasn’t on TV until the second half! I was taping the game (since not on ESPN where I can watch after the fact) and had to watch three CUSA overtime’s and have them keep telling me to go to the CBS Sports app, but I was two hours late! Just start the games at 6:30 or 7:00 going forward

Normally I don’t comment a lot on these awards but it does seem a little suspect that they can name a guy defensive player of the year and that same guy can be the only one in the conference averaging a double double on offense and he still not be first team.

I don’t disagree if you only use this year’s numbers. I actually think the MAC would be well served with a challenge against the CAA or Sun Belt and even the MAAC

Has anyone talked to Coach JoMo about his views on Akron’s scheduling in the future. Does he like a FCS opponent every year? How many “pay day” games would be ideal? Will there be an emphasis on getting home and home series’ with other Group of Five programs? Does he think long cross country road trips build team chemistry or would he prefer a more regional approach? How possible does he think it would be to get Power Five schools to regularly visit InfoCision?

The MAC office needs to step in and talk to the members about scheduling out of conference. Maybe the MAC needs to pair up with a similar conference or few similar conferences for a scheduling arrangement or “conference challenge” type thing. The Zips seem to do well with the neutral floor tournaments they get into but also seem to play a lot of teams in the bottom of Division 1 (this year I do like that they got games at Ohio State and Wright State)... I am not saying I want them to schedule an impossible gauntlet, just instead of teams ranked 335 out of 358, why not teams ranked 260 and more home and home contracts that go for 2-4 years? This is also exactly why they need to bring back a Bracketbusters type of event.

Great win tonight. Any insight though on why we didn’t see more of Aziz especially while Freeman was on the bench with three fouls early in the second half?... Not a complaint that he didn’t play more but I think he is a defensive game changer and was just wondering if there is an injury or illness I don’t know about. He looked good in the couple minutes he was in the game early.

Te’Sean looked to be “as advertised” when I saw him, albeit this was only watching the state finals and semifinals on TV. He is a lot like Jennings and Novak in that he is at the helm of a program that is less than a traditional power and is the leader on a team that took that program to unexpected heights. I really think that is the type of guys Akron, and really most of the MAC, would benefit from looking toward in the recruiting process. Getting guys from programs like Hoban and St. Ignatius or Massillon is good, don’t get me wrong, but you wonder how much was the program and how much was the player whereas at a school like Western Brown or Reynoldsburg th see guys we’re part of a culture change And change in expectation of the program by those outside the program. The Zips need this kind of change in the MAC and the MAC needs this kind of change in the Group of Five while the Group of Five needs this kind of change in the FBS.

Thank you for posting this. I feel pretty much the same way in most areas. I did want to make a comment on Jennings though. You are correct about him having a losing record this past season as the team was 5-6. I saw a lot of talent in this guy though and not all losses can be on the shoulders of a QB. In addition to that, those six losses were two to state semifinaist Upper Arlington (one by one point due to a missed PAT) and three of the others were to Huber Heights Wayne, Massillon, and Pickerington Central. This is a who’s who of high school football programs in Ohio. I don’t know how Dijon’s game translates to Akron or the FBS and I can’t prognosticate on his success but I just don’t think being dismissive simply due to a barely losing record In high school when playing that gauntlet of a schedule and playing for a program that usually is near the bottom of their league Is how we should feel either. I can say I go to a lot of high school games and of all the QBs I saw last year he was probably the second best behind Drew Novak at Western Brown and neck and neck with Amare Jenkins of Dublin Scioto.

The colors need to be the colors they are now, although I have to admit I did kind of like the gold chrome football helmets that were worn for a couple of games under Bowden. I thought that look would draw some more eyes to the program. I am not a fan of script Akron because not only does it seem to plain but being from central part of the state I see this script Ohio stuff all the time and I want my alma mater to be more unique. As far as the Z logo goes, it is OK and certainly is unique to us. I guess I am just a little old school in one way though. I have always liked the idea of representing Akron or the mascot more than just the nickname.... for example, if a team name is the Canton Leopards I could see a letter C or a Leopard logo but really am not in favor of the logo being the letter L. The thing I liked about the A-Roo most was it used the school name letter to create the mascot image. I thought that was both creative and unique to us while also maintaining my old school ideals without being too outdated. I am good with the Z though, just count me as not a script Akron fan. Biggest thing to me is keep the traditional Akron colors and font.

Third team All-Ohio QB, older brother Dylan Novak is also a third team all-Ohio WR (these are regardless of division) and was a senior this season. I don’t know his college status but he wouldn’t be a bad target either especially if they would end up a package deal

One high school player I would love to see come to Akron is QB Drew Novak, Western Brown High School, Mt. Orab, Ohio.... Ohio Division 3 player of the year... comes from a small country town East of Cincinnati but would be really exciting to see how a QB like this could develop with a coach like Moorhead. I saw him in the regional finals against Granville and you could see he was the real deal. How do we get him on the new staff’s radar? His numbers are eye popping as well. I believe he passed for over 4,400 yards this past season (his junior HS year). Anyone have any thoughts on him? Too high of a target even though he comes from an unknown and not huge school, even with an offensive coach like JoeMo as a selling point?

If he was the starting QB for Reynoldsburg High School I saw him play at Upper Arlington to open this past high school season. He nearly willed the team to victory over what ended up being one of the best teams in the state

I personally am rooting for former Zips WR Nate Stewart to win a national title today. He looks awfully good for Montana State, even against the FCS elite squad in North Dakota State. What do you guys think? Root for a guy that transferred away or no?

Yes, I honestly don’t know why my phone autocorrect has to do that with proper names.. I know someone named Nate Williams and my phone must have wanted me to talk about him instead

I guess I can’t complain too much. Came into the season with Walton and now no Trimble and still right down to the wire with a very good and well coached Ohio team. The frustrating part is the incredibly slow start two games in a row and then the struggles at the free throw line, either of those are different tonight and the Zips are atop the standings.

Happy to see him offered by Akron. He certainly was one of the best high school QBs I have seen in recent years. Also excited to see my alma mater recruiting Central Ohio again and not letting other MAC schools continue out-recruiting the Zips here.

I hear everything you are saying about an expanded playoff but you neglect to consider one thing... and that is why the G5 is so inferior to the P5 in the first place.. a lot of things would change with G5 conference champions having inclusion in a national playoff, you would see better fan interest, better recruiting, and possibly even better coach retention. While most of the country now will only see the 63 schools that make up the elitist conferences, if there was to be legitimately possible inclusion of the other 67 programs it would only serve to close the very gap that you are stating as the reason it should not happen. Will Akron ever be an Alabama or Ohio State in our lifetimes? Most likely not but with all conference inclusion in a playoff there would be a lot more Boise State, Cincinnati and Central Florida type teams out there. As it stands now I don’t know why recruits would choose a MAC school over a FCS school but if the MAC was guaranteed a rep in the playoff every year that would go against the best that college football has to offer then I can see the recruiting advantage. Sure, it would likely be tough and not all that entertaining for those of us pulling for the underdog in the beginning but given a little time things would become much more competitive. By the way, you say 16 teams but I am a proponent of 14 teams, which would allow those very top teams to be playing to get those two first round byes that were the one bit of true excitement the old BCS got right and to cut down on player opt outs and irrelevance in late season games. If we would have had a 14 team NFL style (all champs in and seeded above wild cards/at larges) playoff this year the matchups would have been greatly entertaining. 1 Alabama ... bye 9 Utah State at 8 UTSA 12 Ohio State at 5 Utah 13 Notre Dame at 4 Baylor 14 Oklahoma State at 3 Cincinnati 11 Georgia at 6 Pittsburgh 10 Northern Illinois at 7 Louisiana 2 Michigan... bye Does it produce a different champion? Maybe not.. Is that really the point though? No.... It’s about rewarding the programs that accomplished what should be their primary goal which should be a conference championship. Secondly inclusion can only help the balance of competition overall. I don’t want to see the bowls go away either but right now there are 84 bowl slots for 130 teams, would having that number drop from 84 to 70 really be that detrimental if playoff games also went up from 3 to 13?

Group of Five 7-1 against the Power 5 in bowl season. MAC 1-0. You can say these mean less than the Cincy game and they do but it still shows that the gap is not as wide as the experts and ESPN would have you believe. I still say if they would just have a playoff, like every other sport, that includes all conference champions, the so called Group of Five would close a good bit of the perception gap after a handful of years. It would only help recruiting, coach retention, and fan interest in conferences like the MAC and that makes a big difference.