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I agree with Chris' take. Coach Bowden keeps saying this is our "Super Bowl" and I wholeheartedly believe thats the attitude the team has. USU is tired of going there. Ripe for an upset!

I get Eddy's cheesesteak just about every time I go back to Akron. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. I am planning to watch it with some buddy's from college. Watching it actually IN Akron sounds like a good idea.

There is no reason why anyone would think he would consider coming to Akron. Pure pipe dream. He's probably destined for another big time P5 program, tbh.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like we will be going with the "Storm Trooper" look for the game. I like.

If you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks, IMO. Not that both aren't talented. Based on stats, it doesn't look like Keaton has played that well when he has played this season. I just think a two QB system takes away valuable reps from the true #1, especially when they both seem like the same type of player.

I think this is true, but would guess its not a guarantee. I don't know the in's and out's of it.

PFF released their G5 dream team.It is filled with MAC honorees, and 3 of our own Zips made an appearance. We all can guess Jatavis, that means the other two were shafted in the in the MAC awards, but according to PFF's advanced stats, ranked among the best in the nation (non P5) at their positions. https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/12/11/pffs-non-power-5-dream-team-best-players-at-every-position/

Anyone ranking that has either of these teams ranked 99th is a joke. That is beside the point, though.

The ABJ should be writing articles like that Tallahassee paper's. They don't even have a reason to write about Akron, and their article paints the program and accomplishment exponentially more positive than the ABJ. I can't stand it.

I can't get my head around it. There is absolutely no reason to post that article at all. Why go so far out of the way to bash the hometown team that needs all the help it can get?

The outrage flying prices coupled with the distance (if it was in Florida, I'd drive it airline prices were outrageous> Boise is 2200 miles from Cleveland, no way I could make it back before Christmas Eve), and not to mention with it being so close to Christmas is making it look like I'm not going to be able to go. I'll be donating to the band because I know they will be cheering on the team loud and proud. I really like what the (new?) director is doing with them. What is the t-shirt you are speaking of?

Demand to create a good football team so that universities can enjoy the benefits that come along with it including increase in donations and revenue, increase in enrollment, free advertising, better school pride. When those students graduate, they remain engaged alumni, which leads to more donations and ticket sales. Looking at attendance alone- Say average attendance goes from 10,000 to 20,000 with an average ticket sale of $20. All pretty reasonable numbers for a lowly G5 program. 10000 x 20 x 6 is a $1,200,000 increase in revenue/year. That means a university could afford to pay their HC an extra $1m/year (not that they should, but just to prove my point) and they would still have a net benefit. What about money spent at the stadium? I usually spend more on food/drink than I do my ticket. The profit margin on those are huge with the markup and a decent amount of free labor (student groups work the concession stands all the time).This is ONLY including attendance, and not other benefits I listed above. Good talent is worth paying to acquire/retain. Take note, MAC, and especially Akron. I feel like I just gave the U a free cost/benefit analysis. Who do I send the bill to? Larry?

Report is that Utah St's OC is leaving for Missouri. I'll take help anyway we can get it.

Basic economics. Supply and demand.

Its not just Tulane though. O'Leary was making 1.89 million in base at UCF. New HC, Scott Frost, is making 1.7 million in base and he has never been a HC in his life. The MAC needs to get it in gear.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread I think. It's a shame that other G5 programs can offer their coaches a much higher salary than the MAC can. As for Bowden having legitimate interest...who knows, but I would lean towards it not being true. I wouldn't see them turning down Nutt.

Thanks to you and others for joining and hopefully providing insight on your team as well. Akron is a historically horrible program, but many of us believe there is real potential to be a decent program due to our location, facilities, and the amount of football talent in Ohio. OSU is clearly the big fish in the state, but unfortunately there are many small fishes to compete with as well. The school hired Terry Bowden (son of Bobby Bowden, once led Auburn to an undefeated season) 4 years ago after back to back 1-11 seasons. I think its fair to say that Bowden has slowly progressed the program over time. Probably a little slower than some would like, but we also need to keep in mind just how bad our program was; literally a bottom 3 program. Regarding this season's team, they are really what most people predicted. We finally got over the hump and got that bowl bid along with a winning record. However, if you look closely, you'll see that our wins aren't very impressive. In short, we beat the teams we should have beat and all losses were to bowl teams. We are a pretty balanced team. Sophomore QB Thomas Woodson started out the season #3 on the depth chart, but took hold of the position after the 3rd game and never looked back. He isn't a game breaker like Keeton (yet), but he has the ability to make plays with his feet and hit the long ball. He generally takes decent care of the ball as well. Leading rusher is Conor Hundley. Not overly athletic, but just a tough ass player. Rarely goes down on first contact. Love the guy on the team. Leading WR is Jerome Lane. He actually has a position switch this season. He was a stud on the defensive side of the ball last year, but took one for the team and made the switch to WR. He has steadily improved over the season and has turned into a real stud. Still some kinks to work out, but he's a great talent. Our defense is what we like to hang our hat on. Its led by former FSU coach and NC State HC Chuck Amato. The staff is filled with FSU connections via Bowden. We finished the season #3 in rush defense and #17 in total defense. This may be the best front 7 the Aggies face all year, seriously. Led by MAC DPOY Jatavis Brown who is an absolute animal. Also includes Jamal Marcus (OSU transfer and just an absolute beast when he wants to be), Se'von Pittman (OSU transfer), All MAC Cody Grice and Rodney Coe (ISU transfer). We also have Darryl Monroe, a Wazzu transfer in the LB corp. Some may talk the DL/front 7 up, and believe me, they aren't exaggerating. Oklahoma fans were giving them praise after our game vs them this year. I do not know much about USU besides normal tidbits like Keeton, generally a pretty solid G5 team, and that you lost your coach to Wisconsin a few years ago, so any in depth insight would be appreciated. Also, what's your thoughts on JoJo Natson? It doesn't look like he was a model citizen at USU, but seems like he could add a nice new dimension to our offense next season. If you couldn't tell above, Bowden has relied on his connections to land us some transfers to help fills holes and boost recruiting classes while rebuilding the program. Most have worked out on and especially off the field.

i reached out on twitter to the football and university account regarding a travel package. no answer yet. I'd like to support the school, but I'm not going to do it if I can get it much cheaper somewhere else.

Proud to be a Zip! Way to represent guys.

Taking a look over there, they seem pretty disappointed about their season. I think they lost Chuckie Keeton (has been one of the better G5 players the past few years) earlier in the season which may have had a nice impact on their record. They are probably more talented as they've been an above average program (lost a few coaches I believe) for the past few seasons, but I think they'll come in lethargic and we will obviously come in excited and proud to be there. Should have a good chance to win if we come in and play the game we can, but certainly won't be easy.

Appears to be only $325k. Only one lower is the Camelia bowl with $100K (yikes). http://www.statisticbrain.com/college-bowl-game-payouts/

My God. Leave it to some fans on here to find a way to bitch about going to a bowl game against a winnable opponent. Is the location preferable? No. Is the opponent preferable? No. Who gives a damn?! Go out there and win the thing. I'll see anyone else who goes there. It will probably be around a $500 round trip flight. Game tickets should be cheap and lodging shouldn't be bad. It's just money. More than worth the experience. Go Zips!

hope to see some of you in Boise!

assuming utah state

When is the official announcement for all bowls?