UAZipster0305

Coastal Carolina coached by Akron alum Shaun Docking coming in at #20.http://www.goccusports.com/sports/m-soccer...ng_shaun01.htmlI'm also getting excited thinking of what the bracket might look like. Could we end up getting Louisville or UVA at home? Wisconsin is about the only Big Ten team we haven't played and/or beaten during Coach Porter's tenure though they'd potentially be very well-prepared for cold weather.

I'd love to see NIU get an at-large bid. Would stop some of the complaining over the MAC as a conference. I wish them well in al of their remaining contests unless they play the Zips.+1.

Completely unnecessary to include random, unrelated political commentary in your post. This has nothing to do with the federal government. Money would likely come from the City and State.

I think that is true. But I will argue that is better for us to be under rated than over at this time. I would rather them have something to prove....and work to prove it.No, we need a top 4 seed for the Tournament to be guaranteed home games through to the Final Four. The prospects of playing UConn or Maryland on the road are ominous.

I'm not sure this even matters. We just want Akron people to support Akron, instead of going elsewhere. Right?And Akron should have a convention center. Were a large enough city.We do. It's called the John S. Knight Center.

When there are 500 or so actual butts in the seats for a UA football game, it's no longer called a crowd. It's more like a get together.

They drive to blossomBrowns fans drive to Columbus to see a winner.

The large MAC schedule is why I believe in the worst of rebuilding years we should be 6-6. If the scheduling is done properly, we get two OOC wins (vs. D1-AA and Sun Belt-esque team) and 4 in the MAC (Can't and UB need to be guaranteed every year and two other wins should not be hard to come up with especially if EMU is on the slate).

I'll just add that a new arena regardless of its location is likely better for the growth of the program and university than remaining in the JAR indefinitely.The basketball facility and current state of the football program are likely the only major factors limiting our attractiveness to more prestigious athletic conferences.

In my opinion, his antics against UNM that ultimately cost us a win preclude Mattocks from being captain. He's a great player, but his actions demonstrate that he should not currently be in a position of leadership.

Unless comparing a non-profitable school that eliminates its athletics department to OSU, the RELATIVE student life quality is a wash. I could have been more clear about that. Thanks for calling me out on it. And also to clarify, I'm not making an argument for or against the elimination of non-profitable athletics departments. I was just describing an underlying theme of the above linked article. You make a good point about sports medicine and management internships. I assume universities would rely much more heavily on high schools for such opportunities. OSU buys wins in September because they essentially have to be undefeated to play in the National Championship game. Hence, OSU would never play 4 OOC games against teams of UT's or UF's magnitude. OSU rarely plays one such OOC game every year.

Right, universities are about learning and creating new knowledge (research). But I think you are missing the point. OSU is the only institution in Ohio that earns a profit on its athletics budget. If all the non-profitable athletics departments were eliminated, the student life component that you mentioned in comparing any school to another (with the exception of OSU) is not an issue. In the end, it's a wash and the students would end up benefiting by not having to subsidize athletic departments anywhere. And if all the non-profitable athletics departments were eliminated nationally, OSU would play Texas, UF, etc. quite frequently and that might actually get boring. In the end, OSU needs the other non-profitable schools so that they can buy 4 OOC home games per year. And this is not me OSU bashing...I've attempted to remain objective in making these points.

I think if we win out, we definitely get a top 4 ranking and seed for the Tournament. We will likely be able to tie one and maybe even lose another and still hang in there. In my opinion, the team has some gelling to do before we can reasonably expect to win out and make a run for the Final Four.

...or something akin to one of Coach Porter's quotes about really building a juggernaut here.

Now THAT'S turning lemons into lemon-aid! More like polishing a turd, CK.

Dennis Green..."Playoffs?! Playoffs?!" or the famous AI quote, "We're talkin' about practice?!" followed by the long sought after mushroom cloud emoticon.

If the Big Ten, Big 12 (8?), and SEC won't take them, WVU becomes the only major program to be demoted to a mid-major conference in all of this madness. If the BE takes the teams you say, I think they lose their automatic BCS birth. I'd prefer to see the BE implode myself...there needs to be an emoticon for a mushroom cloud!

And the only team we've beaten this year is ranked #240...only 246 teams are listed in the rankings...and we didn't exactly blow VMI out.

I was discouraged after last weekend. When you lose to EMU, you have hit rock bottom. We are now officially catfish. I would like to commend the players...in spite of all the losing, I haven't gotten the feeling that any of them have quit playing every down of every game. However, I thought FIU would blow us out. We made it competitive though and felt for the first time during iCoach's tenure that we made progress this week. We created some turnovers, scored some points, moved the ball (a little bit), and made some stops. A 40 yard field goal and good punting are some things I don't take for granted. And this was all with only half of a Chizzle. Of course there are many things to improve, but there is some light. I've been one of the biggest opponents of iCoach since the beginning but I want to eat some crow. Dish it up, Coach! Unfortunately, I think the OU game will bring this all back into perspective. Three wins this season will still be difficult to obtain.

A good win and shutout against a solid Top-25 program that has some explosive offense. Nice to see Mattocks picking up the scoring recently and keeping him in the running for the Herman Trophy. The National Championship race is wide open this year. IMO, any program in the Top-15 has a respectable shot at the National Championship. I'm hoping the UCSB game is analogous to that of CSU from last year. I would love to see UCSB in Akron for the NCAA Tournament as a rematch in the cold.

38-10 FIU.

Well, let's hope this has the same effect as the CSU game last year. I have never seen our defense look so disorganized. Coach Porter is certainly pissed. Someone will be taken to the woodshed on this one. With all the missed tackles and turnovers, this could have been UA football.

This is going to be epic! Show the Gauchos what dominant soccer is all about.

This has all been beaten into the ground in the past, but to really pack the JAR the Zips need to get on an early-season roll. And sustain it. Beat a BCS opponent. Start whipping the other opponents. Start the season 13-2...beat someone like West Virginia and/or VCU...beat CSU...that gets butts-in-seats. "Nice" seasons, where we beat no marquee opponents and have 4 to 7 MAC losses are proven to get us 3,500 butts-in-seats for about everyone except K.e.n.t. That's just the way it is. You always tell it like it is, CK, and I respect that. Beating at least one marquee opponent and not losing to MAC competition would do it. Unlike with football, I feel that we are on the verge of breaking through this next barrier.

I am stoked for this one! Let's hope it's an NCAA record crowd and the Zips win on national teevee.