you am i

i listened to the osu post-game call-in show and the radio guys spoke well of akron. they were critical of ua's offensive coaching staff for failing to make adjustments once it was clear that the game plan was not working at all. the callers were all osu fans so of course they were totally focused on the strengths and shortcomings of the play of osu. that's just natural. same thing for the buckeye board. no big deal.i was at the game and it was nice to see that when the zips were leaving the field at the conclusion of the game the osu fans nearby were standing and applauding to acknowledge the team's effort. the guy i went with is a big osu fan and was predicting a blowout. he was stunned at halftime. by the end of the game he admitted that he had seriously underestimated akron.

toledo has home games this year with purdue and iowa state. with the new stadium there's no reason why akron could not attract teams of that caliber as home games. i think you'd have to be assured of crowds around 30,000 to cover the expense involved in bringing in teams of that stature, but a new on-campus stadium and a competetive team should draw big crowds for teams like that.

the chattanooga stadium looks like a smaller version of what could pass as a typical mac stadium. its pretty generic. akron's stadium could very well end up looking something like that. i hope it has a bit more character and some distinctive features. i do like the loges as a $$ maker, although i've heard sitting in a loge is a crappy way to watch a football game.

i looked this up some time back. 25,000-30,000 is average for the mac, but would be small for c-usa, which has a typical stadium capacity of around 30,000-40,000, if i recall correctly. the big east's stadiums are bigger still, on average.

it looks like a bgsu helmet is at the top of the pyramid.

"gm phil savage said a couple teams inquired about trading for qb charlie frye, but the browns decided not to let him go." source: plain dealer, 4/30/07.

in 2006: ou defeated illinois; wmu defeated virginia; ut defeated kansas; ua defeated n.c. state.

my guess is that if anyone is gone after next season it will be romeo. this could be frye's do-or-die year also, but savage learned in baltimore that you can win a super bowl with a less-than-marquee quarterback so he'll stick with him if he shows improvement.as stated, the key is the offensive line. unless the lions make their first smart draft decision in years (don't count on it), i think the browns will take joe thomas.savage once said that, at baltimore, the draft philosphy was to take the best player available and figure out what to do with the line-up later, as opposed to drafting according to need. i also remember reading that he is not crazy about taking a quarterback with a really high pick because, historically, quite a few them have ended up being busts. thomas would be the best player available at #3 and he would definitely fill a need.

for some reason, it doesn't look like this story is registering nationally yet, which seems strange. no mention of it on the espn or cbssportsline web pages, at least that i counld find.my understanding also is that the ncaa hands out penalties against the school only where there is wrongdoing by the school, and not just by the player, although the player could lose eligibility. mcdougle is an east cleveland kid from shaw high school. if true, what a waste.

i don't expect things to be perfect but a schedule in which you play only 2 out of your first 9 games at your home field is unbelievable. it's inconceivable that there is any team at any level of college football that has a worse home/away ratio for the first nine games. what a slap in the face to the team and the fans.

since it was mentioned on a post for this topic that you could buy beer at the football game at cleveland stadium, and on some previous topic there was a discussion about why beer was not sold at the rubber bowl, i though i'd post what i found on this issue on yahoo!answers: "the ncaa does not allow beer to be sold at a college game if the stadium is on campus. if the stadium is not on campus, then you are allowed to do whatever the stadium normally does."

my guess is that um will most likely choose an up-and-coming mid-major coach, but kd does not yet have the national profile needed for serious consideration for a job like that.

WHY! WHY! WHY!

miami down by 3; shoots to tie with 2 seconds left; misses. oregon rebound. foul. oregon makes two free throws. game over. 58-53. good showing for the mac. it would have reflected great on akron had miami pulled this one off. miami made oregon play their game. amazing.

56-53. 21 seconds left. miami possession.

same score with 1 minute to play. god help me, i'm pulling for miami. sorry.

oregon 54, miami 51 with 2:02 to play. this is looking like the mac championship game.

54-49 oregon with just under 3 minutes left. i cannot believe that miami has been able to control the tempo. that's got to be some great coaching by coles to keep his team so disciplined.

oregon 15, miami 9 with 10 minutes to go in the 1st half. so far, it looks like a typical miami slow-down game.

the game at cleveland stadium is an interesting change of pace but it doesn't strike me as a true home game. its more like a game at a neutral site.that means only 2 of the first 9 games are truly home games. that stinks.

it would be great for mac prestige for miami to make a run but i don't look for them to make it past the first round. i doubt that miami will be able to impose their slow-down game on oregon. my understanding is that oregon plays an up-tempo game. if oregon jumps out to a big lead early i can't see miami playing come-from-behind. miami scored fewer than 60 points in most of their games and had a handful of games where they only scored in the 40s. oregon scored at least 75 points in most of their games. on paper it looks like a mismatch, but i'd love it if miami could somehow pull off the upset.

as i recall dakich accepted the w.va. job and then changed his mind. i believe that the contract called for him to be paid big money. he's probably wishing he had a do-over on that one.

unless you've heard something i haven't, neither c-usa or the big east has expressed even the slightest interest in having akron join.

mrelegazna - found this by sportswriter stephen fontentet on the san antonio express-news website mysa.com: "no 26 win team has ever been left out [of the ncaa tournament] since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985." contact him and he should be able to give you the site.

antonio, we beat you three times this season, including a heartbreaker at Can't and another heartbreaker at the q. those games must have been very painful for you and that would explain why you did not post on this board after them. despite the tough mac championship loss, i will forever remember this season in a positive light for those three wins against Can't. and, admit it or not, you will always remember this as the year akron beat you three times in a row.