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That top crop last year is looking pretty good. Winston and Mariota are doing decent for their rookie seasons last year as well. I would rate Carr as the best out of last year's class right now. The thing with that though, they went out and got him weapons. Makes it a lot easier for him to succeed. Regarding Manziel/Browns QB situation. I think McCown has played pretty well this season.With that said, the team is 2-7. Even with good QB play, they still suck. Get some damn weapons! The BRowns have by far the worst weapons on offense compared to ANY of the QBs named above. Regardless what you think of Manziel, I think he needs to be given time to show if they can move forward with him or not so you go into next year's draft with no second guesses.

Is anybody going to the Villanova game? Depends on a few things if I can go, but where did you go your tickets? Anyone to contact at the U?

The home OOC schedule is a joke. Attendance will probably suck, and really rightfully so. But that away OOC schedule more than makes up for it. Best OOC schedule ever for the Zips?

I don't think they are quite on the level of Toledo, NIU (even though they did beat them), WMU, and BG. But I also do think they are above that next tier in OU, Buffalo, and maybe even us. Still, doesn't change my opinion that we should have won that game.

I dont want the ball in my Centers' hand during a press. I want the ball in a ball handler's hands. I agree we should have no problem with it, unlike our tourney games vs VCU.

The West will be fun to watch the next few weeks.

Just like that...Buffalo is back in it. 31-23 in the 4th

Impressive catch by McGill right there though.

Yep. Getting the hell beat out of them by NIU minus Hare and Lewis. Cant believe they waxed OU. I guess that's the MAC for you.

WMU goes for it on 4th and 1 from their own 20 and converts.

Have the BG/WMU game on tonight and the NIU/BU game recording.

You may have quoted the wrong person, because I've never claimed CMU is mediocre, although there is no reason we shouldn't have beaten them.

21-17

I like PFF, but there are definitely flaws with it. Not saying that I disagree with most of their grades, though.

I would like to say, as someone who has been more critical of Embick, that I think he and the team have done a great job this season. I hope he can prove me wrong and make a nice tourney run!

Don't get too worked up. 6 win teams will get it before any 5 win team.

They both generate revenue. They key word is profit.

I think you're making way too big of a deal regarding the whole grad transfer thing. Its really not that big in CBB to my knowledge. Its more prevalent in football (look no further than our team). However, I do think the transfer rules in general for CBB are a joke. The "hardship" waivers seem like they are given out like candy. Remember that's how Pat was able to play immediately (though he was certainly worthy of the waiver. Edit: I took a look and it actually looks like the NCAA did away with the hardship waiver earlier this year. It still doesn't seem like the grad transfer rule is that big of a deal in CBB, although it certainly affected CSU. wadzip seems more in the know than me, so I'd like some examples if you have them. I don't mind the grad transfer rule, however. If a player has graduated and still has eligibility, good for them.

no raise or bonus for Scarby this year.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions This updated bowl prediction by CBS has CMU as a replacement in the Cactus bowl, OU as a replacement in the Heart of Dallas bowl, Akron in the Bahamas bowl vs Marshall, and Buffalo as a replacement in the Cure bowl. A total of 8 MAC teams getting a bowl invite. That would mean 6-6 would get the job done regardless of who we lose to. I also found this by Stewart Mandel talking about there most likely not being enough teams bowl eligible. Note that it isn't updated for this week, but still has Akron in the Cure bowl in Orlando before the win. It does seem like 6-6 will get the job done. http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/bowl-projections-2015-cotton-orange-peach-fiesta-rose-sugar-college-football-playoff-chart-110315

I don't have much to do today since I don't have the Browns to disappoint me, so I wanted to do some digging into bowl outlook and maybe create some good karma! Me and a buddy have already said we are attending the bowl game if the Zips make one regardless of where its at. I've never really thought about it before, but as pointed out by Dr. Z I believe, it probably is really good for the program to have an extra month of practice regardless of the outcome of any game, not to mention a step forward for the program and an added recruiting point. So I want to start by looking at the Zips remaining schedule. The Zips are currently 4-5. One would think we probably need to win out to get an invite, but I'll take a closer look at that below. The Zips currently have Miami, Buffalo, and Can't St left. Even as a Zips fan, I have to consider Miami a gimme. Miami is 2-8 with a win over Presbyterian and a 2 score win over EMU. They played Cinci surprisingly close, but on the other hand, got blown out by Ohio and about every other decent team (MAC-wise) they've played. There are only 6 teams in FBS that score less points that Miami. Their offense mixed with our defense smells like a recipe for success to me. Next is Buffalo. Buffalo is a game that can go either way. They are probably the closest equivalent to us in the conference program wise. This game will probably be critical for both us to get a bowl bid. On one hand, they have blow Ohio out and played BG close. On the other, they barely beat Miami and Can't St and got embarrassed by CMU. Finally, Can't State. Remember that poor Miami offense I pointed out above? Well Can't St's is even worse. Only 3 teams in FBS score less ppg than Can't. They've done pretty much what you'd expect out of them. A few wins over the MAC bottom dwellers and getting killed by any team that has actual talent. That coupled along with them against us at home, for the wagon-wheel, and a bowl bid on the line, I expect a W. In this section, I'm going to take a look at the MAC bowl tie ins/current teams I'd expect to get a bid. The MAC has 5 primary bowl tie-ins: The GoDaddy bowl, Bahamas bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Camellia Bowl, and Idaho Potato bowl. Just looking at primary ties in and assuming the Zips are bowl eligible, I'd expect these spots to be filled by Toledo, WMU, NIU, BG, and CMU. These teams are the clear cream of the crop in the MAC and will certainly earn bowl bids, IMO. This leaves us fighting with OU and Buffalo for any secondary tie-in bowl bid spots the conference may get. This is where it starts to get a little fuzzy. Based on what I have found, the MAC has a secondary tie in to the Poinsettia bowl if Army fails to be bowl eligible. Well, as of yesterday, it is impossible for Army to become bowl eligible. Ohio has Can't, Ball St, and NIU left. They are going to be bowl eligible. 6-6 at worst. If they are 6-6 and we are 7-5, I don't see how we would get a bowl bid over them based on them beating us, but its hard to understand a bowl committee's logic sometimes. Assuming all of the above comes to fruition, it looks like it will be between Buffalo and Akron looking for any scraps. As other have pointed out on this board, as of now, there *looks* to be a shortage of bowl eligible teams this season. This updated projection has us in the Independence bowl as a replacement (against ULL of all teams who would also be a replacement team). If it came down to us/ULL to take a replacement spot, I'd hope our convincing win over them at their place would be good enough to get the nod over them. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/11/8/9691220/bowl-game-projections-2015-ncaa-football-playoff This one has us in the Military bowl vs Navy http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/11/03/college-football-bowl-projections-week-9-playoff Something I've noticed is that in both of these projections, it seems like the ACC will have difficulty filling its slots. Better yet in regards to the Military bowl, it looks like if Navy wins out, they will earn a spot in a New Years day bowl as the highest ranked G5 team. Bottom line: It looks like if we take care of business, we will get that elusive bowl bid, but we do need things to go how they should. I'd argue that a loss to Buffalo would be more devastating than a loss to Miami or Can't, since it appears we will be fighting with them for a bowl spot. Based on projections (which I don't put a lot of stock in), it appears there is expected to be a shortage of bowl eligible teams, even though I can't find any documentation on it. However, it looks like that is the only way Akron is going to get a bowl bid. Please share projections/anything related to Akron's chances of getting a bowl bid in this thread. Looking forward to a trip down south (or even Idaho) in December!

If I'm allowed to cheat, I'll take Williams as well. But to stay on topic with returning players, I'm going Antino "Hulk" Jackson. IIRC, he played well last since when Noah went down. I think Noah has the capability to increase his scoring average the most since he is probably the best talent on the team; I just don't think he will be asked to do that. Kwan has that potential too, but I didn't see enough from him last season to expect a breakout year. Jake is a good option as well since he seemed to have a down year last season scoring wise. I also think Aaron Jackson is a candidate, but for next season. I like what I see out of him when he's on the court, but he's sort of buried on the depth chart and I dont recall him getting much run last year. However, as I said above, I'm going with Antino. His minutes will be similar to what they were towards the end of last season while Robo is out/working his way back. Once Robo comes back, I think he will assume a 6th man role and have plenty of opportunities. I think he was playing best or second best on the team at the end of last year, so that average is a bit misleading I think when you look at how little he played earlier in the season. He averaged 11.3 the last 10 games of last year.

I'm glad to get this win out of the way. Out of our 4 remaining cupcakes, Buffalo and UMASS scared me the most talent-wise. While UMASS is horrible, I think they actually have a little bit of talent but have underachieved this season. Buffalo is just weird. Completely unpredictable, but have shown they are capable of beating solid MAC teams. I think Miami is a gimme. Can't St is pretty bad as well, but I wouldn't count them out as being able to beat us because its a rivalry game (see last year).

And with announcers who don't regurgitate the same crap weekly. Feely and the other guy did pretty good for it being their first time with us.

Not pretty. Almost never is, but I'll take it.