UAZipster0305

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.

It is about one on one, but it takes more studs to be good at the offense than it does with the spread. Schools like Alabama have a line of studs waiting to get in their school and on the field...They can run a pro offense because they have 11 studs...they have 11 more studs as back-up players. MAC schools don't get that volume of good players on any team so they have to be more creative and utilize what talent they have as best as they can. That is why the spread is so valuable at the MAC level. That's what made coaches like Urban Meyer and Brian Kelly so good in the MAC.And what concerns me most about iCoach is that both Meyer and Kelly showed immediate progress in improving the program without first instating the Sherman's March to the Sea approach to handling the current roster. They didn't slash and burn. Why did iCoach feel the need? This policy was the first indication I had that iCoach was a disaster.

The recruitment of Chisholm last year has given me a glint of hope. Unfortunately, one outstanding player per class isn't going to cut it. I hope you're right about Chisholm. He's a guy who could possibly be a difference maker. Wagner is already one of those kinds of players. But here's the problem, as you point out. A couple of guys like that isn't enough. What do you need to be successful? Maybe a minimum of 6-8 guys like that? Maybe 10 or more? It's obvious that we are lacking talent. My fear is that, even if RI can get that kind of talent in the coming years, how long will it take before we have enough to be competitive? It's simply not looking like it's possible that it can happen soon enough to make me happy. The only hope we have right now is that the core players are young. But, we still need at least a handful of those guys to emerge as difference makers if we have any hope of winning even a fair amount of games in the next couple of years. And just because we have that kind of talent doesn't mean it results in a team effort or wins. That takes coaching.

The recruitment of Chisholm last year has given me a glint of hope. Unfortunately, one outstanding player per class isn't going to cut it.

Did someone coming out of the plasma center tell you this or do you have legit references? Title IX prevents an imbalance between male and female scholarship numbers.

+1 +2. I said prior to the season when making my dire prediction that I would love to eat crow and have iCoach succeed. Then and now, I don't see it happening presently or anytime in the future. As for TW, I think the football coach hiring has been his only mistake. I've described in several other posts what a solid job he's done. I see him keeping his job, but the next football coach will be recommended by a consultant group and approved by President Proenza. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. President Proenza is no fool.

I'm done posting negative comments about our program. I've said my piece regarding the problems. Keeping it positive, Chisholm is legit! Also, I'd like to instead point out something positive for the MAC: WMU had a solid OOC win on the road against BCS and Big East member UConn yesterday. Way to go Broncos!

+1 ...while listening to Frenchy. OU grad or not, he's great.

I'll trade Herman Trophies for National Championships any time though.

35-13 in the 4th at home...for shame, Temple! Wasn't Toledo terrible just two years ago? I wish we rebuilt like that. Toledo must not be in the Cleveland footprint. Yea..wish we could rebiuld...or build like that. At least we did not choose the Pitt model. I'd take the Pitt model right now!