RowdyZip

Funniest thing about this argument, and it is all I'll say, is that the lack of multiple bid conferences in the MAC (and similar conferences) has a lot more to do with the powers that be at the top than it does with actual conference performance. There are a handful of regular season MAC champs over the last decade that would've been easy at-large choices 20+ years ago. The fact of the matter is that the selection process is continuously tweaked and it is not in favor of the little guy. Just like we'll never see a G5 team in the CFP, the next thing we'll see go over the next 10-20 years will be the AQ bids from the smallest conferences. Go Zips! Beat the Mocs!

Zips open at -6.5, now sitting at -7. Should be a fun game tonight.

Yeah, I flipped through the scoreboard real quick on ESPN, and best I can tell is there are 3 more teams that could win a 6th game this week. Two are likely: FSU and NMST. One is unlikely: ULL. So the most will be 6 teams, but it will certainly postpone some bowl selection timelines.

Being selfish, I would love Detroit because it's the only bowl I could make this year. For the team, probably the experience would be better just about anywhere else. On a different note, depending the outcome of the last couple make-up games out there, it looks like between 3 and 6 bowl-eligible teams will be left home. I'm thankful we took care of business in our rivalry game because I would have to guess UA and Buffalo at 6-6 in the MAC East would be at/near the top of teams not being selected. As it is, Buffalo is probably in a decent amount of danger to not receive a bid.

I am from Painesville, home of the mighty Lake Erie College (enrollment ~1,000) Storm. The Storm (3-3, GLIAC) took BG to overtime at the Stroh before falling by 3. Though it's early, the MAC is currently 16th of 32 teams in RPI. RPI forecast has the league forecasted to finish 10th between the MWC and WCC, which would be fantastic (and 2 spots ahead of the A-10). The Zips should be favored for the next 5 non-conference games leading into the tournament matchup with USC. As for this game, the Mocs at 1-3 overall are in the bottom 3rd or RPI. I'm hoping for a double digit win here.

Not sure where else to put this, so I'll put it here: If Toledo and NIU both lose, it leaves a 3-way tie out west between UT, NIU and CMU. Anyone know who wins that?

Flushes also lost on the hardwood at home last night to the mighty Southeast Louisiana Lions. Those same Lions lost to Valpo by 33 three days ago. Rough night for PCCC

From my view it looked like a lower right leg injury. Scared the crap out of me because half the team huddled around him when he was down on the field and most of them took a knee. It was nice to see him back on the field for the next couple possessions. The kid may be one of our next draft picks, we need him.

Our band kicks their band's arse. Go Zips!

I like Accuweather's better.

Just noticed that UD beat the Bobkitties by 14 on a neutral court in Charleston. This will be a very good measuring stick for our expected conference performance. If anything, this season will be impossible to predict. I wouldn't be shocked if we won this game, I also wouldn't be shocked if we lost by 20.

I was mid-fight with Spectrum about my cable bill when the call rang through on my cell. I recognized it as a UA number and was pleasantly surprised to get the voicemail. President Wilson is the polar opposite of that previous turd. I love the guy, makes me proud to be an alum with all the passion he shows.

USA Today re-ranks all 130 weekly. Zips moved up 5 spots to 89 after beating OU. Ohio dropped from 26 to 37 after the loss. Toledo (29) and NIU (34) are the high water marks for the MAC. Kent, Ball State and BG are 120, 121, and 122 respectively, as the bottom reps of the conference.

Accuweather now says <20% chance of rain during game hours, rain moving in at 10pm or later. We might stay dry, but it may scare a few folks off from showing up, and we need all we can get.

Here I go being the pessimist again. We need to win Tuesday. Per the current count: 70 Bowl Eligible Teams, 23 teams could still gain eligibility. This week there are 4 games that feature two 5-win teams: Purdue/Indiana, ODU/MTSU, Cal/UCLA, and Utah/Colorado. That puts the total at 74. Chances are that either FSU (beat Florida and ULM ) or Florida (beat FSU) will fill another spot. There are 13 more teams that could possibly vie for those last 3 spots (ESPN odds of winning): **Louisiana vs GASO (63.6%), @App St (14.1%) *NM St vs Idaho (73.1%), vs South Alabama (70.8%) Louisiana Tech vs UTSA (44.6%) UNLV @ Nevada (40.3%) Florida vs FSU (36.2%) Temple @ Tulsa (35.6%) Duke @ Wake Forest (30.2%) Buffalo vs OU (30%) Tulane @ SMU (27.8%) *Florida State @Florida (63.8%), vs ULM (96.3%) Texas Tech @Texas (25.4%) Georgia Tech vs UGA (21.3%) Ole Miss @ Miss St (13.0%) Minnesota vs Wisconsin (10.6%) *UL Monroe vs Ark St (32.7%), @FSU (3.7%) *-two games remaining, needs two wins **-two games remaining, needs one win We're a couple upsets away from a 6-6 team staying home. I don't want to see Akron be that team.

Interesting. It doesn't show up on the FSGO app yet. I hope that is correct. Though, I'm not sure what Fox College Sports Central is, or it's just a possible feed for FSOhio to pick up. Edit: It is there, so that's good news. A search for "Akron Zips" yields nothing, a search for "Akron" shows the game at 7pm.

I had planned on going to this game. It's a nice overnight getaway from the Akron area. Nice hotels in Dayton on Hotwire for $75ish. I had some family decide to come into town unexpectedly and at the last minute, so I guess I'll be listening via 1350. Surprising there's no TV for this. If Ball State can come a buzzer beater away from winning at UD, we should at least have a shot.

It's funny really, the few people on this board that were so bored with winning the MAC and just missing those NCAA wins, have now turned Keith Dambrot into some kind of villain. I don't get it, but to each their own. The guy did unimaginable things with a program that was mediocre at best for decades. Imagine a football coach coming in and winning 8 to11 games per year for a decade. He moves on, are you mad we didn't win a New Years bowl?

Zips we're favored by 6, won by 17.

Perfecto! Some folks who like to criticize the previous staff thinks the new staff should be above said criticism. The fact is, a lot of folks had grown stale to winning 20-26 games every year and playing a bunch of games in Cleveland, never to get that perfect confluence of events that led to a win in the Big Dance. Some of us valued those wins, some of them found them empty because of the lack of tournament wins. It's all in what you value more. The way I look at it, Groce and company had one mediocre season and 3 above average to great ones (edit: at Ohio). I'm happy if his path leads the same way in Akron. I just find it a little difficult to completely negate the results of his years in Illinois. I have no doubts the Big Ten is a different animal that the MAC, but I'd think a decent coach with at or above average talent for the conference would at least be at .500 within the conference over 4 years, if not a little above. The 14 games below .500 or whatever it was scares me just a little bit. In the end, we're all fans and we all want the team to succeed. This group seems to be the type to really bust their asses and hopefully everything gels in the best possible way. We all just want wins, right?

So the answer is click and close? I can spare the 3 seconds, I guess.

It's funny, because I know George reads these boards. It's almost as if he's trying to poke the loyal fans on Zipsnation. After reading his scribbles on OU, I won't even bother going forward. I'd rather read HustleBelt.

I guess we have differing opinions and that only time will answer that. All that my above post proves is talent doesn't cure all ills. Coaching is a prominent aspect of college basketball team performance and we'll see how much by examining Dambrot's move up to the A10 and Groce's move back down to the MAC. I'm confident we'll continue to win. This season may be rocky, but luckily for us timing-wise, the MAC as a whole is down. We could still near .500 in conference. I think Buffalo/Kent/OU/EMU will be the top 4, but after that it is a crapshoot.

Man. Who is going to catch the ball next year? Kwad and........ Edit: My votes....I went with the majority on all of these. Though I could see the game being closer than 8 points simply due to the rivalry variable. Kato's legs completely changed the dynamic of our offense vs. OU. Huge difference maker.

These are facts: Though highly subjective, according to 247, Akron never had the top recruiting class in the MAC. In fact, they never ranked higher than 3rd, and that was just once in 12 years. Contrast that with the results on the court in the conference. Dambrot and his staff are excellent game coaches and pros at maximizing the talent on the court. They recruited well for the MAC, and the guys they put on the court fit together well. And it's been beaten down, yes we lacked the big wins in the post season. Given. In the 4 recruiting classes attributable to Groce and his staff at Illinois, two are ranked in the top 20 nationally and 2nd in the conference. 2014 was 8th in conference but still 56th overall. 2016 had one player and they were still in the top half of D1. Contrast that with the on the court results: 2016/17: 9th in Big Ten 2015/16: 12th in Big Ten 2014/15: 8th in Big Ten 2013/14: 8th in Big Ten I'm not here to knock the new staff. I like the hire and, like I said, in-game adjustments to maximize the output for your roster can be learned and improved. The fact is, the previous staff blows away what was done by Groce and company in Illinois. Right now, some highly rated guys are flowing in for 2018. Time will tell how the court performance shows up.