Spin

IMO Terry has "been there, done that". And still has the high blood pressure from working at a big school. He looks more comfortable in this setting, where he can build from the ground up his way, without the constant pressure from all sides. I don't think he wants back in the pressure cooker. And why (other than money) would a Wake Forest be such an upgrade over Bowling Green? There's no legacy there, when you think of college football hot spots the Demon Deacons never come to mind. Do you see TB making a lateral move like that? For what, to take on big school-type pressure to build a similar program to compete against the top ACC teams? I wouldn't. Especially if I were Terry's age.

A lot better article than the one that told us the Zips need better attendance in order to need a new arena. That fallacy was never even brought up by the people in this article. A lot of it read like our old threads, we're not as out-of-touch as some claimed.

One of the President's biggest jobs (according to Dr. Proenze) is raising funds. That's a big part of Tress' current position. Any news on how that's been going?

Gotta love Terry

Hell yeah. Bu bowl season next year I'll be getting my vaca time, and will have the funds to travel. I got the first round.

So, we're not getting roller derby?

You heard the boss man. We're not allowed to talk about that anymore.

We're adding roller derby, and they're going to play on the track at the Rec. "You do NOT want to go over the rail in Akron..."

I don'think we cut sports, we just learn to live within our means. You know, like the university teaches us in those classes we need to get our degrees. And then doesn't follow that edict in the athletic dept. College sports are sustainable at many different levels. The secret is finding the level you can sustain. If you depend on hand-outs from the legacy schools and big-time bowls, that is a warning sign to me that we are in over our heads. Not just Akron but the whole conference, probably anybody in D1 who is not in a BCS conference. IMO the "outer" conferences should be looking at ways to cut the cost of participating in them, instead of scheming ways to get a fat payday from the big schools. And then realign the lesser bowl games to spotlight themselves, have division and conference champions play each other instead of, say, the 8th best SEC team. Not a demotion to Division III like some fear, just rationalization.

Not all of it, of course. But this is the perfect illustration of how mid-major college football is not sustainable. When you NEED to go to a big school to play for a seven figure payout, when you NEED to put your top teams up against the conference cupcakes to get them into a higher bowl, something is wrong. It is not sustainable. You can't keep up with the 80 scholarships and million dollar coaches and big recruiting budgets without prostituting yourself out. We are not Texas. One reason is what happens if that gravy train derails? The Doylestown Chipps won a playoff game this year. That was the most excited I have been at a football game in a very long time. They weren't playing out of their league, they can't play with the big Catholic schools and the Mentors. Who cares. It was a great time. There's a lesson in there somewhere for anyone who will listen. GP1 would understand.

So you're claiming the MAC plays a balanced schedule. That's why our strength-of-schedule was one of the toughest in the country. I gotta a car I'll sell you. Cheap. A real cream puff, driven to church by a little old lady. You'll love it.

Exactly, that's what it's all about now for some people. It's not about fighting hard to make and win the conference championship, and play in a bowl game against another program with a similar resources. You know. Have an exciting game. It's not even about pretending you can play among the Alabamas and Texas' with a small fraction of their budget. It's all about how much money the conference suits and AD's can put in their pocket.

Scheduling.

Good. Maybe the MAC can quit playing favorites and go back to being a fair, balanced league again instead of propping up their darlings in hopes someone will think they are BS BSC quality. For what? Another ass kicking for a payday on national TV? I thought that was what the non-con was for. Here's a thought. Lower your budgets so you don't have to whore yourself out like that, (and whore out your weaker schools to get slaughtered every week by the favorites) and do what you do best.

Mid major programs are not only invited to the tournament (something that will NEVER happen in football), with their roster size and lower co$t they can and do have a chance to win it all.

I was born into an Ohio State family, and my first football memories watching Woodie Hayes and Archie Griffin. And Mike Phipps and Brian Sipe, for that matter. I make no apologies.

There is no theory on the way the MAC schedules. That's scientific law. And if they're doing that... I don't completely buy into the conspiracy theories, but after reading "The Fix is In" and " Blowing the Whistle: The Culture of Fraud in the NBA" you can't help but notice trends. Getting back to the original question, will we get a friendlier conference schedule now? Or will it be like other conferences with the clique schools, and the same schools will get the same cake schedules? Or are you in denial that the MAC (like some other conferences) hand out cake schedules to potential bowl teams?

Am I the only person who has seen some of the bad calls/no-calls starting to go our way, instead of us always being the victim? And it parallels our growth through the last 2 years? Maybe the MAC sees the improvement, the market, the facilities, and the location in "football heartland" and looks at Bowden as not going the Hazell route. Maybe the more you win, the more they want you to succeed. Unlike the legacy conferences with their clique legacy schools, I wonder if the MAC cares WHO'S at the top, as long as they have staying power and don't embarass the conference. Akron is already well known as contenders in other MAC sports. I guess we'll see when the 2014 conference schedule comes out.

Too much cold wind on my bald head. Yeah, I'm sticking with that.

So proud of these men, and so proud to be a Zips football fan. That was the best game of the year IMO. This was the first year we had season tickets and boy did we pick the right year to start that. Hopefully this notches us up the MAC totem pole and we don't have such a nasty schedule next year. We earned it. Let's take a look at a couple of those losses. Lost by four to 7-4 Michigan (ranked at the time) Lost by five to 8-2 Louisville Lost by a touchdown to 12-0 NIU We beat Can't State We beat a bowl bound 7-4 Toledo We won the games we were suppose to (JM, Miami, UMess) Couldn't be happier!!! There's plenty of room for bandwagon jumpers, as long as you bring the ribs to the tailgate.

Couldn't connect to either wifi

No shit. I thought we were bowing down to kiss ESPNU's ass, now that the game wasmoved to the feed, why can't we play at our regular time?

...and it can accommodate hockey.

Last year, those big plays (and timely interceptions) was basically all Ken+ had. That's how they stayed in and won all those games. They were exposed in the bowl, and every game since.