exit322

I honestly don't, but I think the "successful decision" here was fairly unique to NIU. More money from the MWC and a more local set of rivals in a league that's probably more suited to all their other sports. The "MWC - Horizon League" move would not be as fruitful for Akron/Kent, though adding YSU twice in basketball wouldn't be the end of the world. I think there is a path for Akron to make a move in that realm that would work, but I think you're right (at least, together as a group of the six Ohio MAC schools).

If you have the couple million to really beef up the basketball team, you're playing a nonleague schedule that negates the "negatives" of the MAC in that regard. BUT, if in this hypothetical you're going to the A10, you do have more leeway from not being in a one-bid anymore.

The talent seems to be there. But it seems they just aren't getting coached up. Having the extra practice with the grades back up doesn't seem to be helping... Maybe that means the talent really isn't there.

Official attendance today was 5,607. Honestly that feels low, especially since the RMU game was announced at 10,032.

A few million more might make the basketball team good enough to win an NCAA Tournament game. No no I'm wrong. A few million more and they are absolutely good enough to win NCAA Tournament games.

I've wondered that. It's a very good question. Might go into your Dayton/Davidson discussion in the other thread...

Roggow wasn't bad, but had a tendency to panic at times. I think a better offense would have made this game close. Defense couldn't stop a nosebleed but still "only" gave up 38

Akron can't afford to fire him. Otherwise it's long since time to try something else. This isn't working, and he's not the guy to rise above the program's limitations. But he sure will talk about them every chance he gets.

The gameday operations were still very good for Game 2, fwiw Their real test will be the empty stadium games in November.

Oh okay, that could make some sense. Thank you for the clarification. They are both Atlantic 10 basketball teams. Not sure the A10 would want an Akron, but that plus the Pioneer Football League could be the financial answer (and like with Sac State they have teams out west so we wouldn't lose that...)

Just for my own edification, can you elaborate? I suspect you're right but I'm not sure what exactly they've done.

Thing is, it was mostly the mistakes against Minnesota that made it as bad as it was. Joe needs more time.

He needs more time.

You can figure every single MAC team has at least had discussions about leaving at this point. The league just doesn't have strong leadership (which is also the schools' fault, yes)

I think this all is fair. Team really didn't look THAT bad and UNLV is simply better than we are. Just like Mullen was better at Mississippi State than his successor... I will say, Roggow wasn't bad by any stretch but it's clear that Broughton is QB1 on this specific roster. My earlier thoughts on that were incorrect. Also I always appreciate your writeups.

If they were gonna lose anyways, may as well do it with more money coming in.

I suspect the "something" was that it was 11 AM and not 9 AM for that. But it's OK, Joe needs more time to build his program.

I'm not angry about it. It's only Year 5. Joe can't be expected to compete with a 10-4 Mountain West team after only 51 games coached here. Seriously though, Akron isn't good enough to beat teams like this when making mental mistakes, but I think they can win games in the MAC.

Sorry in advance for three tweets linked in a row here...but the "we're looking to leave the MAC" isn't going anywhere... https://x.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/2103458475674358027 https://x.com/On3/status/2103461287443193909 https://x.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/2103462396283208092

I don't think he ever crapped on the opponent when he was going off, though.

This feels like a trivia question where the answer's "Steve Spurrier."

That's the gift that keeps on giving the WHOLE year round!

Yes, double that with a 9 AM kickoff in their bodies, Akron probably has a little better chance than is being let on. I do expect the return trip to be an "after dark" 10:30 PM type kickoff (not as a retaliation, but just...seems to be how they're doing this sort of thing).

That makes sense. Surprised it didn't get announced, our homecoming time came out well in advance of the 12-day window. Maybe Miami does theirs at 12 sometimes?

We may know earlier than a 12-day window on the unknown-channel empty stadium game against UMass; I'm not sure how that setup works.