ZachTheZip

Whatever he was in high school, he's 1-AA now. That's where he's going.

He's a 1-AA kid. I don't want him coming here. We already will be having a 3-way QB battle (sound familiar?) and having some guy come in here thinking he's all that because he played for a 3-9 BCS team is a waste of a scholarship.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/40478602.htmlGood to see JD know what needs to be worked on. 4th quarter chokes and defense.

I struggled when I wrote that. I originally has this big post planned callign the fans out about the poor attendance, about how much it helps our young team stay focused, how we can't sleep through anymore game like against Miami, etc., but I chose to leave it at that one sentence.I wrote three games left in the season because after that it's all elimination games, which I consider the post-season.

The MAC's problem is that it's too competitive. Look around at other conferences that are considered successful in either basketball or football. They have a consistent group of two or three top teams that compete on a national level, a group of middle teams that sometimes compete for a conference title, and then some cupcakes. What I'm saying is that they have a structure. The MAC really doesn't have a well-defined structure like that.The MAC needs to have an identity. They need two or three teams that people think of when they hear the name "MAC". Merging with another conference doesn't help, adding more cupcakes doesn't help, and removing teams doesn't help. What needs to happen is for a couple of teams to step up and dominate this crappy conference. Akron is in a position to begin doing just that, but we can't let it fade after two or three years. Consistency goes a long way towards credibility.Once that is established, the MAC needs to focus on showcasing its top teams. Right now, our ESPN contract in football shows all teams about equally. Same goes for basketball. You don't see other conferences parading around their last place teams on national television. It creates a bad image.

Top secret product placement.

Sunday brings another game where the Zips battle for first place in the MAC. BG seems to have bipolar disorder. They can either be really good or really bad.There are only three games left this season, and both the team and the fans have to show up for the full 40 minutes each time.

Tiers are made up by those ranking magazines. We can't move up unless the state allows us to change our enrollment policy. Toledo has the same problem.We could have all the top programs in the country in every field of study, and we would still be tier 3 because of the open enrollment.

Blog space sin: You didn't post a link.Last week the projected winner of the MAC (UB) was setup with Florida State. I think that would be a great match up for us. Anyone else have a desired matchup for the NCAA Tourney provided we get there?Florida State would be great for rematch, and I'm sure they haven't forgotten about us. If we're going to be somewhere around a 14 seed, we'll end up playing one of the top 15 teams in the country, which means that Brett McKnight will turn into LeBron James again.

I would count Miami and OU as rivals, at least in basketball. Any time we play them you get that "rivalry" atmosphere because so much always is riding on those games.Buffalo is the closest thing to a rivalry in Soccer, but beyond that they'll need to be successful for a few more years in football/basketball before I can consider them rivals. The AK-Rowdies going up there every year to antagonize them might speed things up a bit, though.

Yes, but the scenario that would have to happen for OU to be the #1 seed is next to impossible. We're talking about an epic collapse of every team above you for the remainder of the season. I just don't see that happening.This is the MAC. I simply can't count anything out. I've seen too much weird stuff happen near the end of seasons to assume anything beyond a mathematical certainty.

A top seed guarantees post-season play in the form of an auto-bid to the NIT. It's the only guarantee we can have in this conference, unless we win the MAC tournament.

We were originally going to have Kentucky open the stadium, and follow that up with Indiana. This would be perfect, but I doubt it would happen.

Perhaps my information is a bit dated. 5 years ago, Akron was considered a last resort even behind some D-1AA schools. I certainly hope that's not the case now. The biggest problem that more than likely still exists is the misconception that our campus is still what it was like 10 years ago, and our academics being sub-par.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ss...i_as_athle.htmlLooks like Mack is staying... for now.

Anybody know how much Mack makes here? Big East ADs make a $350k salary on average.

You can't see it in the cams, but the old Pizza Now! place/carwash will be turning into a Skyway restaurant over the summer. This is the first sign of the stadium attracting new business to the area, and I can guarantee it won't be the last.

I don't see that happening in any appreciable numbers. The coat-tails of the City Series Ellet vs. Garfield game aren't all that long. I just hope the wear and tear from the HS crowds doesn't trash the place. I do look forward to HS playoff games @ Infocision. I think they could be a good showcase for the U.I'm not so much talking about the fans (aside from major rivalry games or the playoffs), but the high school coaches and staff. Quite a few coaches actively discourage their top kids from being recruited by Akron.

That is up to JD and the team. Beat Indiana, and we'll see a good increase in attendance. The Can't game will sell out our stadium and hopefully get it on TV. If we somehow pull off the upset at Penn State, there's a sold out stadium for this year and half of next. If USD is early in the year, the newness of the stadium might keep attendance high and filled with people that couldn't get in on the season opener.The biggest boost will come from high school games, where the local community finally sees what we have, which might make them want to come back.

I doubt we'll get one until the MAC can find a commissioner.

It's Mack's fault because he wants to get out and leave the trouble of figuring out how to improve sales to somebody else.

The PD article on Mack (the same one that gives him credit for the fieldhouse, so I can't be sure of the accuracy) says we're renovating the JAR. Maybe we're removing the corners to give the upper section a rounded look. Maybe we're removing the track (it causes the biggest amounts of complaints) and having the seating go all the way up. I have no idea what it could be, but I know that it's supposedly going to start very shortly after this basketball season is finished, which is good timing. Renovated JAR + Zeke = very good year for basketball.

The problem is that an increase in SOS won't help the teams that are causing the problems for the rest of us. Could you imagine the massacre that would happen if you forced the West teams to play an even tougher schedule? When the East plays the West, the West's overall record counts for twice as much as their SOS in our RPI standings. It would be more beneficial for the top teams to play West teams around .500 with a terrible SOS than it would be to play a winless team with the top schedule in the country. I think a better solution than to enforce a minimum SOS (which can be difficult since you can't predict how good teams will be when the contract is made) would be to enforce a minimum number of home games. 6 out of 14 is reasonable, and it prevents teams from going on the road and getting killed which hurts the rest of the league. Another requirement would be to participate in a pre-season tournament, which gives them the opportunity to play top teams if they are good enough, or grab wins against bad teams.What that does is improve the SOS of the top teams (by virtue of playing better conference opponents), while improving the records of the bottom teams. I'll use Miami as the perfect example. They played one of the 5 toughest non-conference schedules in the country, and despite not beating any team better than Temple, they sat on top of the conference's RPI because of it. Then they got into MAC play, and when they were playing the East it dropped a little, but stayed a top 30 schedule. Then they played the West, with their abysmal records, and their SOS dropped to worse than 100. What's the point of loading up on top teams (and losing to all of them), if as soon as you play the West it gets erased? If the West had a better record, teams like Miami in the East would benefit the most in terms of SOS. Then the West teams get an even higher SOS boost from playing the East teams with the now-improved RPIs. It's a cycle.

I would imagine that one of the requirements of any new AD hire would be not to mess with coach Dambrot or coach Porter. If I were Proenza, I would never hire an AD who wanted to get rid of our most successful coaches to replace them with "his guys".

Skip, in basketball winning has a different meaning than in football. For football, as a MAC member, the ultimate goal is to get to a bowl game. Just finish above .500, no matter how good or bad the competition was, and you get it. In basketball, winning means actually winning the MAC tournament and going dancing. Nobody cares if you're 30-2 and going to the NIT. The MAC is a 1-bid league, and that won't change any time soon. It would be great to see the MAC get stronger, but what can we do about it? The only thing I can think of would be getting Temple to join the league for basketball and then tossing out EMU. We have to focus on ourselves and pray that the new commissioner has the guts to do something about the rest of the league (the West, specifically).