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This discussion is nothing new. You can bet your ass the offense will be different. Even if it was, I don't see a reason to be a jerk about it. There are people who are somewhat connected believe it or not.

The Doc should like this Players Tribune story. Old, but being promoted by them on Twitter. http://www.theplayerstribune.com/deflategate/

well for one (maybe it's just a formality), Tra'von isn't pencilled in as the starter. Two- we would need actual running back talent. Dr.Z may or may not know more than I do on the situation, but I'm a little skeptical of it. I'd picture more of an Auburn-type of spread as has been mentioned on here previously.

id probably throw in Air Force as well. At least a variation of it if I recall correctly.

Pitt for sure! For multiple reasons including me needing to beat Keener in the attendance bet ?

Not that I'm happy to see it or anything, but the only time I ever stepped foot in EJ was for graduation.

The name doesn't sound familiar to me. Was he mentioned on here prior to the thread?

I don't have any sources on hand (on phone), but I was at a football HOF event a while ago and President David Baker said that the HOF gets 200 something thousand visitors every year. I recently read an article that EJ Thomas gets 300k visitors/year. Obviously EJ Thomas doesn't bring in near as much revenue as the HOF, but it's still interesting that EJ Thomas has more visitors.

But didn't he hire his mom coming out of school (which realistically would have been his best shot).

something else to look at (maybe a Dave project), would be to see what the highest rated Academic Partnerships school is.

Has there even been a first Zip in the NBA? Nobody stands out on the current roster right now (maybe Pat, its weird how 7fters are so highly regarded, but of course, we thought the same about Zeke), but I do think the talent is there for one of them to make it. Kwan is a very unique player that could find himself in the NBA with improvement in a few areas of his game (rebounding and more consistent 3/overall offensive game). Pat as I've mentioned before, maybe Robo I think if he becomes a bigger threat offensively. Hard for me to compliment on Williams since I haven't seen him play college bball.

Which takes it back to my post on the topic with the question- What is UA going to do to make an online degree candidate choose UA instead of some much more well known and reputable university?

Saw some players at Summit mall today getting donations for an Akron AAU team. Nice to see them out in public, especially doing something for the community. They said they are feeling good about the season and pumped for the Oklahoma game.

congrats to Darren. My favorite Zip player to watch while I was at UA.

lol thats hilarious.

Attendance definitely needs to improve and I'm not going to get into all of that tonight, but based on what has been discussed in this thread before with the unfortunate scheduling last year and the somewhat beneficial scheduling this year in regards to dates, times, and opponents I'm will to bet our attendance increases 33% at minimum this season. I hope someone saves this post. Will be interesting to look at after the season.

Great digging Dave.You've provided a ton of good information.I've finally had time to do some reading. This to me shows that Scarby (thats what I'm referring to him as for now on) cares more about bringing in revenue than quality of education, which is not surprising based on his past and all of the moves he has made thus far at UA. Lets face it, companies aren't beating down doors looking to hire U of Phoenix grads. I personally think a happy medium should be found, though I admittedly don't have an idea how that would be done. I read an article on Forbes regarding Academic Partnerships, and it stated they get 50% of the tuition from their program. I think I saw above that some partnerships have been higher. I haven't looked into contracts at all, but I'm assuming there is an upfront cost as well. Seems insane, but for the most part its only "costing" you when students are participating in the program. In other words, theoretically you are still coming out ahead because you are bringing in revenue you otherwise wouldn't have. However, there would students switching from the traditional program to the online program, so you would also be increasing costs you otherwise wouldn't have. The low estimate of 50% cost means you are going to need close to twice as much, probably more, enrollment in programs as a breakeven point compared to the traditional way. Not to mention the opportunity cost of losing students who would prefer to get a real college experience over an online one, which I'm assuming is still largely preferred. The biggest question (and something I'm curious to know) is what is UA going to do to attract students? Why would I choose to take a UA online program when I can do it at a higher regarded University? The partnership is sure to piss a lot of people off, as we know from the Toledo deal. People are also going to lose their jobs. I'm sure it could be done internally at a lower cost which would make for a better profit margin. I think there is a place for online classes in the year of 2015, but I think it needs to be done in moderation and with much due diligence to reduce the hit on the quality of education as much as possible. More than enough data should be available for UA to know if they are making the right decision. Is the increase in enrollment worth the cost, drop in quality, lost jobs, and bad PR? Scarby has all he needs to make an informed decision. I hope he is making it based on his best judgement and not some ulterior motive(s). Most likely an independence issue for sure, but based on his past with the company and him pushing it wherever he goes, I wonder if he has a stake in ownership?

UA named the 7th best university in Ohio and 543rd best in the world http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/07/11_ohio_universities_among_top.html

Scarb backpedaling again http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20150720/NEWS/150729989/university-of-akron-president-scott-scarborough-plans-to-roll-back

Before that they were ranked 24th in the CFP poll with Boise being the only threat at 23. Certainly possible an undefeated Marshall team could have jumped one spot.

I believe the stipulation was the ceiling "if everything went Akron's way", which i assume is synonymous with them being the highest ranked G5 team. To put it in perspective, Boise got the automatic bid last year being ranked 20th with two losses and not a single win over a P5 opponent. Marshall actually lost a barn-burner to WKU, but would have made it even with the weakest schedule in probably D-1 history. They somehow managed to avoid playing a single P5 opponent.

You sure about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_bids_to_college_bowl_games

Once again, incorrect. Maybe not the Fiesta Bowl, but if the Zips were to go undefeated, which would include a win over top 25 ranked Oklahoma and bowl bound Pitt as well as "everything else going their way", they would be a lock to be selected to a CFP (fomerly known as BCS) bowl game by being the highest ranked non-P5 team and there isn't anything any bowl rep can do to keep them from getting into one of them. You all are forgetting our friends in Portage County were some dumb TE reverse away from going to the Orange Bowl themselves a few seasons ago.

Why not just drop football altogether so we would never lose another football game again!?!

Incorrect.