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I must have missed the Beef O' Brady Bowl being on CBS primetime...

And Akron got a TON of exposure this year. All of it negative. If we could put together consecutive winning records in the MAC (or a winning record the last 8 GD years), I may be convinced that Akron could compete in a MAC/CUSA/WAC/MWC world, and worthy of praying for a FBS-lite level coming someday.

Only in your mind. FCS is on the four letter network. Just like the Mickey Mouse bowl games the MAC regularly plays in.

As we speak the FCS championship game is on ESPN2.

It would take far less $$$ to be competitive at the I-AA level. You're never going to recruit with the SEC/PAC-10/tOSU's, but with a winning program you CAN compete for the players we are recruiting now. Let's say you're recruiting tOSU scraps at the I-A level, competing against Toledo, Ohio, Can't, Miami, and BGSU with a 3-33 team. I am recruiting them to the same team at I-AA with a 10-2 team that plays in the postseason, draws more fans, and is on TV more often. Same scholarships, same facilities, same campus. These kids realize they're never going to sniff a BCS Title bowl. I like my chances. Let's just look at the team as it was this season. The one direct comparison (I-A and I-AA) that I found is the Sagarins. Akron would be mid-pack in the Colonial, Southland, and OVC, second in the Mid-Eastern and Northeast, and tops in the Patriot, Pioneer, and Southwest. The only conference we wouldn't improve our standing would be the MV. Unless you really want to travel to the Dakota's three times a year, that's not your choice anyway. Want to hear a sobering thought? In I-AA we would have been ranked 47th. Reality.

We're a day late and a dollar short for that...

I took a couple days to think this over, while waiting for a new keyboard. So how would the split work, would they take apart the conferences and put, say, the top 64 in the top tier and the rest in the next tier? Meaning the Minnesotas, Iowas, and Indianas would drop down. Or would they keep the elitist conferences (and the crappy teams in them) and boot the rest into the second tier? Say, the B12, SEC, B10, Pac12, and ACC/Lil East? That would leave the MAC, WAC, CUSA, Sunbelt, and MW. In the first scenario you're looking at a conference with Toledo, BG, Indiana, OU, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, BallSt, Minn, the directionals, and let's face it, without HAzell, Can't State. In the second scenario you're butting heads with the UCF's, Tulsas, Ark States, Utah States, SJStates, LaTechs. at the top of the heap. Either way, we STILL have to step up our budget, our recruiting, and everything else I talked about. Otherwise we're going to be in the same shitter we are now. There's two hypotheticals here, #1 that this fantasy comes true, and #2 that Akron steps up its program big time. Two humongous IF's in my book. I'm less than convinced either of those will come true, let alone both. But I don't make that decision, so y'all shouldn't be threatened that I'm not convinced yet.

AND a shot at the national title, something we will N E V E R have in the I-A boys club. Soccer and basktball don't have I-A and I-AA genius. There's several reasons they have them in football, reasons you should take a close look at our program. And you're comparing apples to oranges. There are schools (one a few miles to the north) that have made runs in the NCAA tournament and did not have I-A football (or any football at all). Football is a much much more expensive. Agree completely, and we understand HOW MUCH you need to invest to play with the big boys... ...nor the resources. I can also see schools better heeled than us struggling to be relevant in I-A, and the way the NCAA boys club is set up. So save your rah rah bullshit for someone else. If you REALLY want to be more than an antagonist in this discussion, explain to us the University's plan to fund such a huge upgrade. Where is this money going to come from? How are the Zips going to enter into the boys club that is I-A football, when 90% of the programs out there (including Boise and TCU) can't. And if not, how is winning the Bob's Bail Bonds Bowl going to be as much fun, and as much money and exposure as winning a national championship? How are we going to entice 5 star recruits to play for Akron? Take a look at the REAL issues we are. Just once???

That makes about as much sense as claiming I'm a Massillon fan because I want Doylestown to stay in Division IV. Is that the only way you could figure out to skate around the attendance issue? The legacy school issue? The budget issue? You guys got NOTHING on any of that, so you start personal attacks. And don't forget all the notoriety the University gets for being one of the worst football teams in history. Real positive shit there... "I don't like minor league baseball, so I want the Aeros to struggle against major league teams forever and draw a couple thousand people to appease my infatuation with being 'Big Time'.".

And those facilities have boosted attendance to minimum D1-A standards, right?

And the MAC belongs in the I-AA. On every level. Right down to the NCAA attendance requirements How long are you guys going to skate around that basic fact???

Not having credibility with you is a plus in my book. Anyway you're the one who said "YSU won a championship because they hired the right coach, not because they played in the FCS. Here'sa news flash for you: all the factors that lead to success in the FCS also work at the FBS level." So, they would have won at any level? The same "right coach" won in FBS. All the same factors are the same, according to you. You don't acknowledge BUDGET or AVAILABLE TALENT LEVEL has anything to do with it. So if you can win an FCS title, you can also win an FBS title too, right? Bottom line: I'm looking at this as a FAN. I want to win. I want a chance at the whole thing. You're looking at this as if winning the Mickey Mouse Bowl has all of these benefits to the university somehow. We'll never agree. I see FCS as a league we could never afford to build in, and even if we did, would never be invited to the title game. You see FCS as a way to gain exposure (whatever that's worth) by playing in a junior bowl game that nobody watches. Because the majority of college football fans want to see the best, the top 25, not 106th playing 202nd.

So if YSU had played in IA instaed of IAA theey would have won Ia championships. If ONLY the Aeros had played Major League we would have a World Series in Akron. Dang it!!! Oh man you live in a dream world. YSU won a championship because they played at their level, the level they could afford to play, the level they could recruit at, the level they could compete at. So tell me, what is Akron's football budget? What is Alabama's? Ohio State's? What is your plan to beat these teams?

We're still waiting for two straight winning seasons. Hell two straight Cleveland Browns-type seasons would be nice... I'm pretty sure most people declare we suck now. You have a hard time understanding how YSU won national championships? Or how a non-legacy school will never win one at the D1-A level? Or how Norwayne was the state football champion last year? What part are you having trouble with? I doubt we can help you out, especially when the GoDaddy bowl beckons...

Originally Tony Rizzo (a Fox employee and friends with a lot of STO people) said Fox was going to try to move the Indians to FSO and shut down the station. Yesterday he said everyone at STO is looking for jobs, but he's not sure FSO can fit the Reds and Indians on the same network. If that's true, they might continue MAC coverage and TV shows.

All programs have more exposure via TV in the last 25 years, because of cable TV. Including the Ohio Athletic Conference and D3 playoffs. I'm having Three Dog Night withdrawl. Screw the team shop in the winter, open a couple food stands. LOL

Good. The last thing we need is some yahoo yelling "WHY AREN'T YOU PLAYING THE YANKEES!!!! YOU BUNCH OF UNDERACHIEVERS!!!" And if you found out the food is ten times better there than at the Pro, you won't leave.

Because of he football program?

How can an opinion be wrong? Get over yourself.

But that's just it. The whole basis for staying in D1A is nothing but hypotheticals. IF Akron becomes a MAC powerhouse IF Akron becomes a perennial top 10 program. IF there is an 8 team playoff one day (going against all the people making million$ off the bowl system) IF the 8 team playoff allows someone besides the legacy conference in (going against all of the elitist "legacy" program/conference presidents who run college football) IF the NCAA continues to ignore the attendance requirements and allows half the MAC to remain in I-A That's a LOT of IF's in my book. A lot of dreaming. If I were a gambling man, I would bet on becoming a dominant DI-AA program, playing for playoff spots, winning games, and drawing really nice crowds to the Info.

We're already capable of losing to Toledo...

Yet they have never played in the championship game. My whole point. "Fine, Boise and TCU. You ran the table. Here's your consolation game, cuz there aint no way in hell you "belong" in the title game". OK, 16 instead of 15. Pat yourself on the back. So you agree the selection process is flawed and heavily weighted toward the legacy programs. Which is what you seem to be arguing against. In your opinion is the BCS BS or worth trying to aspire to be a part of?

What division was your high school? If they had won the state championship at that level, would you consider it "mythical" if they weren't Division 1? The OHSAA is restructuring the schools and Wadsworth is about to be dropped from Division 1 to Division 2. I don't hear a lot of crying because the D2 state championship is "meaningless". MOST people would be glad to play schools more our size, and not go up against schools that recruit (sometimes out of state) in the playoffs. How is that even fair? I've never seen more people embrace the Peter Principle in one group.

Bullshit. A team not in a "legacy" conference can run the table and still not sniff a prayer at making the national championship. All you hear is "Strength of Schedule" "But they didn't BEAT anybody". Now let's assume for a minute MInnesota and Utah go 13-0, are they playing in the BCS Championship Game? They're B10/SEC, right? In other words, there are only 10-15 programs eligible to play in that game. Or win a Heisman. This dream of seeing a MAC team playing Boise State in the BCS title game is pure fantasy. IF there were an 8 team playoff someday, with 1 or 2 "at large" seeds, then I'm all in for Division I-A. Maybe when all the Gordon Gee's and SEC Networks of the world are dead and gone. Maybe.

see above. And just because the majority think one way, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best. The majority of TV viewers can't get enough of awful sit-coms and reality shows. And we won't even talk about elections...