johnnyzip84

Andy Staples of CNNSI with historical perspective on some of the issues we're discussing.

Moody's has upgraded UA's debt rating from negative to stable (A1). This is good news considering how football attendance has clearly not gone according to plan.

Let's talk scenarios and probabilities. If UA were to drop to FCS, the following are the likely scenarios. Entire MAC to FCS Pros - keep biggest rivalry with K.E.N.T. , maintain other geographic rivalries, other sports aren't forced to find a new home Cons - horrible timing coming off best MAC football season in history, probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Joins MVC for Football Pros - a slighty higher chance for success (win percentage), chance to play for a national championship Cons - longer road trips, possible increase in travel expenses, Joe Akron knows less about SIU and NDSU than Ball St, MVC football ~ MAC football, need new home for other sports (GP1's A-10 suggestion is extremely unlikely in the current situation - talk to me when/if a new arena is built), probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Joins CAA for Football Pros - a higher chance for success (win percentage), chance to play for a national championship Cons - longer road trips, possible increase in travel expenses, Joe Akron knows less about JMU and Delaware than Ball St, still need new home for other sports, probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Goes Independent for Football Pros - a considerably higher chance for success, chance to play for a national championship Cons - scheduling will become difficult, might have to have more guarentees to get teams to travel to the Info, still need new home for other sports, probably less TV money If you put a gun to my head and force FCS upon me, I'd probably opt for the last scenario. After all, we have a tremendous resource (VP) at our disposal for how to schedule pitifuly weak opponents early in the season, allowing your team to peak at the right time to make a playoff run. I just hope Joe Akron can tolerate watching Clarion and Edinboro every year. And is Mickey Monus out of jail yet? Now let's consider the odds of winning the FCS championship versus playing in an FBS bowl game. In order to win the FCS championship, you must first get into the playoffs. Let's ask 'eguins how easy it's been for YSU to make the playoffs as members of the MVC. Typically, the MVC (or any other FCS conference) gets a maximum of 3 teams in the tournament. The MAC has 3 automatic bowl tie-ins (assuming enough eligible teams are available) and has played in more than 3 over the last few years. So Akron in the MVC has about as much chance of just getting into the FCS playoffs as playing in a bowl game as a member of the MAC. That might make the FCS indy option more appealing, but it might be hard to get that 1st invite (to the playoffs) without a network of coaches and AD's lobbying on your behalf. The bottom line for me is I believe the current coaching staff will eventually succeed, whether UA is in the MAC, MVC, CAA or FCS-indy. This entire debate has been disproportionately colored by Ianello's epic 2 years of ineptitude. It's been 25 years at the FBS/1-A level, but it's only been a few years at the FBS/1-A level with legitimate FBS/1-A resources in place. How about waiting 3-4 years before throwing in the towel?

Dude, I hope you have more enoyable plans for your 2013 Holiday Vacation than trolling on the message board of a sad-sack football program Let's talk scenarios and probabilities. If UA were to drop to FCS, the following are the likely scenarios. Entire MAC to FCS Pros - keep biggest rivalry with K.E.N.T. , maintain other geographic rivalries, other sports aren't forced to find a new home Cons - horrible timing coming off best MAC football season in history, probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Joins MVC for Football Pros - a slighty higher chance for success (win percentage), chance to play for a national championship Cons - longer road trips, possible increase in travel expenses, Joe Akron knows less about SIU and NDSU than Ball St, MVC football ~ MAC football, need new home for other sports (GP1's A-10 suggestion is extremely unlikely in the current situation - talk to me when/if a new arena is built), probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Joins CAA for Football Pros - a higher chance for success (win percentage), chance to play for a national championship Cons - longer road trips, possible increase in travel expenses, Joe Akron knows less about JMU and Delaware than Ball St, still need new home for other sports, probably less TV money UA Drops to FCS and Goes Independent for Football Pros - a considerably higher chance for success, chance to play for a national championship Cons - scheduling will become difficult, might have to have more guarentees to get teams to travel to the Info, still need new home for other sports, probably less TV money If you put a gun to my head and force FCS upon me, I'd probably opt for the last scenario. After all, we have a tremendous resource (VP) at our disposal for how to schedule pitifuly weak opponents early in the season, allowing your team to peak at the right time to make a playoff run. I just hope Joe Akron can tolerate watching Clarion and Edinboro every year. And is Mickey Monus out of jail yet? Now let's consider the odds of winning the FCS championship versus playing in an FBS bowl game. In order to win the FCS championship, you must first get into the playoffs. Let's ask 'eguins how easy it's been for YSU to make the playoffs as members of the MVC. Typically, the MVC (or any other FCS conference) gets a maximum of 3 teams in the tournament. The MAC has 3 automatic bowl tie-ins (assuming enough eligible teams are available) and has played in more than 3 over the last few years. So Akron in the MVC has about as much chance of just getting into the FCS playoffs as playing in a bowl game as a member of the MAC. That might make the FCS indy option more appealing, but it might be hard to get that 1st invite (to the playoffs) without a network of coaches and AD's lobbying on your behalf. The bottom line for me is I believe the current coaching staff will eventually succeed, whether UA is in the MAC, MVC, CAA or FCS-indy. This entire debate has been disproportionately colored by Ianello's epic 2 years of ineptitude. It's been 25 years at the FBS/1-A level, but it's only been a few years at the FBS/1-A level with legitimate FBS/1-A resources in place. How about waiting 3-4 years before throwing in the towel?

Time to bump this bad boy once again. So rabies is the cause for all of this FCS talk

Woodson was named one of the Class AAAA All-State QB's for PA.

They were supposed to be implementing a form of the spread this year (not sure it it was run-spread or pass-spread). But it looks like they clearly went back to a run first mentality after the first few games. Stockett passed for THREE TIMES as many yards in 2011.

Woodson is apparently much bigger than the Scout profile suggests. I still have family back in Western Pa and it's no secret that McKeesport was disappointing on the football field this season. That's not all on Eddie for sure, since there were a lot of new recievers and linemen for the Tigers this year. But Woodson's stats were MUCH better than Eddie's in 2012. The Tigers barely threw it at all by season's end.

Here is an article on Dee Frieson from his hometown. Oooops regarding Tommy Bowden being his head coach I expect Dee to have another good year in 2013.

There’s no doubt that Reggie played well last night and that was nice to see. In fact, I wish he’d have seen a little time at the point because I’m not sold on the back-ups to AA at the moment. KD even mentioned during the postgame that he thinks something might be “wrong” with Melo. Adjusting to college can be difficult for all freshmen, but throw in the demands of basketball, cultural differences, etc. and it’s not too hard to picture Melo needing to work through some things before he starts to improve on the court. It’s just my opinion, but I think Reggie is a little stronger on the ball than Deji and he sees the floor better. The point guard position will be my main area of concern for the duration of the season.

They're trying to keep him under wraps before MAC play begins

Who was fourth on the team in scoring last night, in only one official minute of play? I’m sure "Zips Win!" knows the answer to this question It was none other than Stat Stuffer Stalyga

I have no idea what this means, but I'll respond to your earlier comments. While it doesn’t necessarily mean that moving down a division is NOT the better option for UA, it remains an odd fact that in the 34 years since I-AA/FCS was created not one school has made the decision to make that move. How can that be irrelevant to the discussion? Maybe all of these administrations have it wrong. The reason why I brought up the MVC is it remains the most logical 1-AA/FCS home for the Zips (midwest flavor, natural rival in YSU). You bring up schools like Dayton and Duquesne. You do realize that there is a big difference between traditional non-scholly I-AA teams and regular 1-AA teams. The likes of Dayton, Duquesne, Georgetown, etc. are only classified as FCS/1-AA because of the so-called “Dayton rule” that the NCAA passed a number of years ago. These teams were kicked out of DIVISION 3 football (and into 1-AA), because it was felt that there prowess in D-1 hoops gave them a potential recruiting advantage in D-3 football. The facilities and football budget of a Duquesne versus a North Dakota State is not even close. If you’re going to make a serious 1-AA/FCS proposal for the Zips, at least make it a realistic one.

I've got a couple questions for you, Spin: 1) How many teams in NCAA history have gone from FBS/1-A down to FCS/1-AA? 2) What do you think the Zips' record would have been as a member of the football MVC any of these past 3 years?

I'm not offering this as an excuse at all, because I think the Zips blew the game the other night and they have been very disappointing coming out of the gate. But Detroit-Mercy gave #3 Syracuse all they could handle in the Carrier Dome tonight before ultimately losing 72-68. One thing is for certain. The up-tempo, full-court pressing defense has been an abject failure up to this point. And frankly I don't want to se the Zips use it to simply blow out overmatched squads like Pine Bluff. If it can't ultimately prove useful against the better teams left on the schedule, just scrap it for now. There's still time to have a good, even unprecedented season, but the improvement must happen soon. I really think either Melo or another player must step up and play better as the back-up PG. Sure AA has been off lately, but a lot of that is due to his high minutes and historically injury-prone body. If we keep riding him 35 minutes every game, a season-ending injury might unfortunately bite us in the rear. With no Q to bail us out this year, that would likely be a crippling blow to any chances of winning the MACC, let alone making a run in the NCAA tourney.

Isn't that the theme for men's hoops this year? Drink Bigger

It gets some points in my book for name alone!

Obviously everyone's entitled to their own opinion as to whether they wish UA football to stay in the FBS/D1-A or transfer down (in a unprecedented move by the way) to FCS/1-AA. I assume this is at the core of STZ's MAC/Bowl bashing. But I think you should consider the following before you spend (read waste) too much time commenting on his curiously bitter rants against Zip football, the MAC, Coach Bowden or the bowl system. My guess ( )is STZ didn't attend either the 2005 MAC Championship game victory over NIU or the 2005 Motor City Bowl versus Memphis. If he had, he would vividly recall how 30,000 UA fans invaded Detroit for one fantastic and unforgetable moment of UA gridiron relevance. It was truly surreal to have all of those gold pom-pom adorned Zip fans enjoying a brief instance in the spotlight. STZ and others will counter that nobody outside of Akron cares 2 cents about that season. But as a longtime, fervent supporter of ALL Zip athletics, that championship season and bowl game remain the high point for me personally. That's what a bowl game is all about for a college football junkie like me.

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She's pretty happy to hear that. I've been looking to pick up some Bell's. I'll have to make it a point now. The other day I bought some Mama's Little Yella Pils from Oskar and it's pretty tasty.

Stewart Mandel of CNNSI picks the MAC to go 4-3, including an NIU upset of Florida St in the Orange Bowl.

We weren't really in the running, but Jake Waters selects Kansas St over Penn St.

MACtion gets a mention in a Tampa newspaper article on the MAC's recent success in recruiting Florida.

I like it. It's a good way to get around anyone complaining about playing the same team too often.

Regarding alternatives, I like an old idea that Joe Dunn mentioned on 1350 am Big Time Sports yesterday. Let's have the 4 NE Ohio hoops teams (UA, CSU, YSU, K.E.N.T.) play a mid-season mini-tourney. So what if it means we have to possibly play K.E.N.T. 5 times a year. The mini-tourney games would obviously count as OOC games. If you want to avoid additonal YSU-CSU and UA-K.E.N.T. clashes, you could alternate two of the four teams year-to-year and bring in 2 bigger names instead.