ZachTheZip

True about the competition for $$$ and fan support. It makes it tougher to do, but at the same time, if go out and win games against good competition, we will draw more fans to the JAR. Attendance has been going up ever since Dambrot became coach. I think we can outgrow the JAR in just a few seasons if we keep it up.Also, a key to next season is winning that tournament in Alaska. Last year we really screwed ourselves by losing to UALR. Winning that tournament is an essential piece to the strength-of-schedule puzzle.

Tom Gaffney wrote a good article about what the MAC needs to do. He specifically uses the MVC as the example we should follow. I like some of their ideas that they used to bring their conference back from the brink. http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/17055456.htm That pretty much sums it up. Get better or don't get paid. Just like at work.In short, the MAC should:have all teams with at least a 200 RPIschedule tough, but winable gamesNOT schedule "money" games against elite teamsnot pay teams that aren't pulling their weightI like Dambrot's approach to this, which is to schedule mid-majors who can compete in their own conferences and hopefully get winning records, while at the same time padding your record with more wins than losses. The RPI is 25% your record, 50% opponents' records, and 25% opponents' opponents' records. This basically means that your conference RPI is set once conference play begins. The best thing for weak teams in the MAC to do is schedule other weak teams to boost their number of wins. The middle-of-the-pack teams should play other teams at their level and occasionally some tougher teams as well. The elite MAC schools need to schedule teams in the MVC and weak high-major teams that they can easily beat. NO one in te MAC should play "Money games". I think that playing winnable games against weak high majors and strong mid-majors will help the most due to the last part of the RPI formula. You need a balance of different types of teams on your schedule to succeed. Just look at the teams in the "Major" conferences. They play cupcakes in the pre-conference schedule, with a few "challenge games" thrown in to te mix, and then rely on their tough conference schedule to boost them. We should do the same, only replace the cupcakes with winning mid-major teams because we can't rely on the MAC schedule to help us.

Right Here Thanks. Doug Doughty of the Roanoke VA Times had us at #24.I don't seem to remember getting votes from him during the season. It's sad to see that the guys who voted for us earlier forgot us just like the selection committee did. I blame marketing. We could have had a legitimate top-25 team on our hands last season, but it doesn't mean anything if nobody knows about it.

It's about time they get that thing up.

Because it starts discussions like these. Honestly, I could care less what OSU does or doesn't do. If the win, well good for them. If they lose, that's too bad. I view the team as just another big name school for the media to fawn over. No different than USC or Texas. The fans that preach their superiority over other teams that have nothing to do with them though...

Please, people. This is a sports fan website. Lets keep it that way.So... How 'bout those Indians.

There are hints of this being a cross-sport scandal. Supposedly Toledo Basketbal players were involved as well. Did they blow the MAC semi-final against Miami?That just gave me a disturbing thought. What if the timekeeper for the championship game was involved as well? I'm not saying it's true, but this thing puts alot of stuff into question. They did say that they were having trouble with that timekeeper for the whole tournament. Maybe that NIU player let Hixon catch that pass at the MAC championship game. We just don't know anymore. This conference is getting worse and worse by the day.

I don't think that a limit on players will be a problem. We are only gaining 1 more player on the team compared to last year. Remember that is because of the whole Bubba debacle, which means that we should be fine, since we had that many players on the team two years ago.

It's great for team chemistry when you have people playing together who have known eachother before. I like this whole early recruitment thing. My psych professor says that once you give people a good first impression, it is very hard to make them believe different. Get them early, give them a good impression, and it will be hard for them to change their minds later. I actually learned something useful in psychology class! Cool!

I agree with you on that, but the exact same thing can be said regarding CSU, and that is where the problem lies. Why do other state schools (Akron included) have to go to such great lengths just to get another state-funded school to visit them on a neutral or home court? So what if they're #1? If they are going to travel to another school in-state (I think they have some sort of policy to "help those other little needy state schools", as they might put it ), and if they are more than likely going to win, why not go to what is arguably the second best team in the state instead of hurting your SOS even more than you have to by playing a sub-.500 school? I'm not trying to argue against your point, I'm just wondering what is OSU's motivation to choose CSU over teams that would hurt them less, and why it costs so much (3 home games?!) just to get them on a neutral court.Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to try and get some sleep.

You are a complete asshole. Who mentioned anything about who would win in a game between the two schools? Nobody! We are just sick and tired of your fake posts, like you give a darn about the U of A. Within 5 minutes after the Miami debacle, you were onto Luckeye land. Go away! Hey Zips win!I'm still here, just wanted you to know!Numerous people said OSU was "afraid" to play Akron...to me that means those people think Akron would have a good chance at beating the Buckeyes. Oh, and when have we met? I'm just curious how you'd know how much I care about UA. OK. Just so you know, I mentioned that OSU would be afraid to play Akron At the JAR. You have to admit that absolutely no good team in their right mind would come to the JAR willingly because there is a real chance that the Zips would beat them in that building. On a neutral court, OSU probably wins unless Oden fouls out and a few players for the Zips have the best nights of their careers. I was commenting on how OSU will go to Cleveland to play a Cleveland school, but won't come to Akron to play us. They are willing to give CSU a semi-home game because they will win handily. If they played us at the JAR, their chances of winning are thrown into doubt. The reason they will now play at Cinci and Xavier is because Cinci is not that good anymore, and losing to a team from a "Major" conference on the road doesn't look as bad as losing to a MAC team.Basically my problem is this: If they are willing to play "at" CSU, why won't they come play us at the JAR, or Can't at Can't, or Miami at Miami, ect. The answer is simple: They have a greater chance of losing to us, so they avoid us unless we promise to go to their place and get creamed for multiple years in a row for nothing in return except an attendance boost for one game, like CSU has agreed to. While I do think OSU would win handily no matter where they played, I do agree it'd be a much tougher game for them in the JAR. With that said - uakronkid - if you were OSU's AD, would you schedule a game against the Zips at the JAR? And if so, what do you think they'd gain? That's my point...I just don't think OSU could gain much of anything at all. If I were OSU's AD, why would I schedule a game at the Q against CSU? If you were to believe that OSU could beat anybody anywhere, wouldn't winning a game at Akron be more beneficial than winning a game against CSU on a neutral court, at least RPI-wise? That's my problem with this whole thing. OSU is more willing to play weaker schools than they are to play Akron. I'm not trying to argue here, but you contradict yourself when you say that OSU could beat anyone, but they choose to play weaker competition because scheduling games against tougher teams that would help their RPI isn't as smart.I think we are all looking into this wayyy to much, anyways. CSU is giving OSU 3 home games (and wins) just to play them on a neutral court. If we were to agree to such a crappy deal, I would want have everyone involved in making that decision fired.

You are a complete asshole. Who mentioned anything about who would win in a game between the two schools? Nobody! We are just sick and tired of your fake posts, like you give a darn about the U of A. Within 5 minutes after the Miami debacle, you were onto Luckeye land. Go away! Hey Zips win!I'm still here, just wanted you to know!Numerous people said OSU was "afraid" to play Akron...to me that means those people think Akron would have a good chance at beating the Buckeyes. Oh, and when have we met? I'm just curious how you'd know how much I care about UA. OK. Just so you know, I mentioned that OSU would be afraid to play Akron At the JAR. You have to admit that absolutely no good team in their right mind would come to the JAR willingly because there is a real chance that the Zips would beat them in that building. On a neutral court, OSU probably wins unless Oden fouls out and a few players for the Zips have the best nights of their careers. I was commenting on how OSU will go to Cleveland to play a Cleveland school, but won't come to Akron to play us. They are willing to give CSU a semi-home game because they will win handily. If they played us at the JAR, their chances of winning are thrown into doubt. The reason they will now play at Cinci and Xavier is because Cinci is not that good anymore, and losing to a team from a "Major" conference on the road doesn't look as bad as losing to a MAC team.Basically my problem is this: If they are willing to play "at" CSU, why won't they come play us at the JAR, or Can't at Can't, or Miami at Miami, ect. The answer is simple: They have a greater chance of losing to us, so they avoid us unless we promise to go to their place and get creamed for multiple years in a row for nothing in return except an attendance boost for one game, like CSU has agreed to.

It doesn't suprise me. OSU tries to play other state schools to "help them out". Of course it is always in Colombus unless they don't consider the school a threat, then it is on a neutral (as neutral as you can be in Ohio) court. There will be more OSU fans than Viking fans there, even though it is pretty much a home game for CSU. If we were ever to play OSU, it would be in Colombus, because they are scared to play us at home or on a neutral court, just like all of the "big" schools.

The problem with tearing down the RB is that it is the only thing holding up the hill for the Derby Downs. In fact, the reason the Soapbox Derby was moved there was because the hill was created when they moved all the dirt over when they were excavating the hole where the RB was going to be built. Its kind of stuck there, and nobody knows what to do with it. The thing is, in a few years the University can say "Not our problem! " to the city when it really begins to crumble.

What I meant when I said I "recognize" them, is that I have seen film of them, or even met them in person. I have heard of all five, and I hope that list is true. We'll see in a few months, hopefully sooner.

I only recognize three of them.Cowles Stewart played DT at Hargrave Military Acadamy in Virginia.He is 6'2", 310 lbs and runs a 5.4 forty. He can bench 430 lbs and can squat 550 lbs according to Rivals.Brigham VanEtten played WR at West Geauga HS in Ohio.He is reported to be 6'3", 188 lbs and runs a 4.6 forty. We have plenty of WRs on the team, so he may be converted to another position.Jayson Keyser played S at Bellaire HS in Ohio.He is 5'11" and 190 lbs. That's all I know about him.

Who's starting a Facebook event for this? The entire city had better show up for this thing. I know I'll be there. I might go get one of those "26" shirts made to wear on monday.

One can only hope.Right now all the evidence is telling me that good ideas get pushed aside in favor of lost oppurtunity. :o

Say what? I love that chant, but I prefer the "Ziggy Zoggy Ziggy Zoggy Oy Oy Oy!" version of it.

Hey Tommyboy, UA opted out of this. The current administration want to minimize the number of games played in the Rubber Bowl. Why on earth do we allow 10+ highschool games to be played there every year, then?

I think we should cheer for them, just like we should cheer for Oral Roberts and Niagara. It would solidify our claims that we should have been dancing, too. I always cheer for the underdog in the NCAA. I'm so sick of the bias against mid-major schools. In 2004, there were 12 mid-majors invited, down to 9 in '06, 8 in '06, and now 6 in '07. The committee is afraid of a mid-major winning it all. Besides, if Miami wins, the announcers will likely bring up Akron and say how we got screwed. It's more publicity. If those guys on the NIT selection committee are watching, I hope they feel like jackasses because I never want them to forget that they made themselves look like morons when they came out with that bracket. "We picked the teams we would least like to coach against," F'ing morons.

*signed*

The whole idea of conserving the Rubber Bowl is nonsense. If they really wanted to stop the place from crumbling, they would cancel the 15 or so high-school games they have played there every year, some of which draw 20,000-25,000 fans. That's three times the amount of games we play there each year. I think they are building a nice list of "return games" to play at our new stadium. Of course, the big teams usually pay their way out of our contracts with us so they don't have to play us at home, so take it with a grain of salt.

Indiana screwed us over, and the MAC didn't stand up for us. We play at 2 Big Ten schools back to back.

They're not so much free as paid for already. The NYT doesn't donat them--UA buys them in bulk basically. They're free for me.