Balsy

This'll be the first home game I'll attend this season and I can already anticipate the two emotions I will have. Either; or; .

Time to start this thread up again. Last season they announced the schedule before I had a chance to post this, but this is a place to discuss the 2016 season. Hopes, expectations, and thoughts on what teams we will play next year. Our OOC schedule is set in stone, but the conference schedule should be pretty close to this years'. OOC Schedule: vs. VMI @ Wisconsin vs. App. State @ Marshall Conference Schedule (My prediction, Toledo and WMU I'm not confident about): vs Bowling Green vs Miami vs Buffalo vs Toledo @ Ohio @ Can't @ CMU @ WMU All MAC east opponents are pretty much a lock that they'll me on our schedule, with UMass leaving the conference after this season, there are three spots open that would need to be filled by MAC West opponents. CMU visited this year, so I could see us having the return visit next season. We have not played either NIU or Toledo in over two seasons so they seem like a fit to me. WMU is almost a lock for being on next year's schedule to me because we haven't played them since 2011. Thoughts? After this season, I'm really looking forward to next year to see if we can keep the momentum going.

I like all comments so far. IMHO I think the only way the P5 conferences can make an impact in their favor, is to do nothing at the NCAA level. No rules from the NCAA will benefit us or our conference. I think there's potential for P5 conferences to take advantage of the field by getting as many teams Bowl eligible as possible. I highly doubt there will be many years with 80 teams meeting the requirements to get to the post season bowls. P5 conference teams need to find a way to balance in their OOC games between $$ games, opponents that will sell tickets and potentially give wins. The p5 conferences could stack-the-deck a bit when it comes to qualifying their teams for Bowls. It certainly seems that the past two-seasons have been stacked in Akron's favor (mostly because the East stinks). I'm not sure if there's any NCAA rules regulating that, but I haven't heard of them.

I'm surprised that there isn't much press on this, even on HustleBelt: but I just did a count myself. This season ties for the Most MAC teams in post-season Bowls as any other season. The last season we had this many teams in the post season it was 2012. The most teams we've had in post-season bowls is 7.

Is this year a tie for the most MAC teams in Bowl games? (7) or was there a year where we had 8?

Really BGSU? Really...they lost to Gerogia Southern? Really Ohio? Really...they lost to App. State? Wasn't it the first year for both of those programs in FBS?

Did anyone else see who was with TW13 after the game was over and he was all emotional? It was Tra'von Chapman. I'd really like to see the coaches find a way to get him involved next year.

I really do hope my prediction about Bowden is correct, about Bowden retiring as head coach of the Zips. What a story would that be!? Former graduate coach from a famous lineage, who became (in some level) disgraced on the national stage after being very successful, comes back to the program at the lowest of the low, brings it back from the brink, loses a friend in the process, and on top of all that, finds a new wife. I think Akron is going to be a very special place for Coach Bowden even if he does leave eventually in the future. I for one, hope he stays around, as the official ZNO Bowden cheerleader.

Do the winning teams get a higher payout?

Anyone want to revisit the "Questioning Bowden" Thread? Go Zips! And don't forget:

Just saw coach fired up on ESPN half-time roundup talking about how Bowl games do matter, and how if anyone doubts that they can look at his Akron players. Saw the Players all fired up with the band playing songs. Even if the Zips took a loss financially to go to this Bowl, this was the greatest thing that could have happened for this program.

R-O-N!!

Matinee, Highland Square. It's near my apartment so a friend and I went there. There was about a dozen people there, so it's not like it was a big crowd. But even the guy who looked like he clearly didn't care about football even clapped along with us when he noticed they won.

Everyone in the bar that I was in was clapping when the Zips won. Nice to see! Way to go Zips! Best Season in the history of Zips football.

To illustrate that it's a huge problem that needs to be dealt with. A large amount of economic capital is being locked up in debt and servicing debt. That's not good for the economy, and it's a bubble waiting to pop.

Coach is getting out there jumping around and excited! Wonderful to see!!

Offense Clearly watched too much of the Can't game...

Exchanging turnovers. Lets get something rolling on offense again.

Zips looking sharp today! Especially on Defense! GO ZIPS!!

Considering that none of the candidates in the 2016 election have suggested loan forgiveness, that comment contributes nothing to the discussion. But on that note, The biggest student loaner is the Federal Government, not independent banks. Loan forgiveness is an interesting concept, because it frees up capital that can be reinvested in the economy in buying houses, cars, pets, furniture, shoes...etc. Loan forgiveness already exists in some forms, for those some public sector careers in areas of high need.

And you shouldn't. US students currently hold $1.2ish trillion in college debt. It's becoming a bubble, that's going to pop Having fear because of free-tuition and voters that support it, is misplaced. Brazil, Germany, Finland, France, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden all have it. Scotland, the UK, Malta, Trinidad, Tobago have some form of it. It's not as simple as "our generation is voting for candidate x because they want free tuition"...more, they are voting for candidate X because they are one of the only candidates talking about a significant problem. Free tuition is a bit of a stretch, but if you want to make change you start from that frame and work backwards. Our generation is acknowledging the problem and refusing to settle for it. Thats not something to lose faith it, but instead something to be inspired in.

After reading that article that Zippy5 posted, it kinda makes sense for BIG programs/Pro teams to report actual attendance. Why? Because there's a formula behind how much attendance affects concessions and merchandising sales. If people are not showing up, you need to know it so you can address it. 19,000 people not showing up to a Monday-night game in 2013 would be devastating to a program that is used to having no-show attendance of 3-4k. Since those people are "no-shows" that means they did buy a ticket right?

It's not hard when the event is sold out and everyone shows up. Come to think of it, do you have any evidence to support this contention?

If people really understood the cost of college athletics, I do believe that is correct. And since this is the athletic subsidy page, should they still be playing football? College athletics is very much a "don't mind the man behind the curtain" kind of thing.

It is a huge problem, of which a few candidates are looking to gain some political capital on. It's really a smart political choice because this will be the first election where Millennials are the majority of the voting block (Bernie Sanders' support is largely Millennials, very similar to Barak Obama's in '08). I'd imagine whoever the frontrunner in the Republican party will eventually be forced to develop a counter-plan that will reduce the cost of college. Millennials are not happy about having lots of debt and they want to be able to eventually buy homes. I could see them mandating reductions, but I could also see them leaving open a giant sized loophole in student fees, but I hope they'd be smart enough to limit how much could be charged. I wonder how many people would be in favor of dropping a lot of college athletics in order to have near-free college?