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I'd gladly take one myself right now. Save this exact response for when you see the more "ambitious" posters who talk about getting to the top of the MAC, and staying there. And catch some of our earlier discussion in this thread about whether that's even attainable in the current MAC climate.

That's fine. Then how would you characterize the standard for those who always post that we should just seek to rise to the top of the MAC, and stay there consistently, as the solution to achieve sell-out attendance? Do you think they mean 2 titles? 3 titles? Let us know what you think. I don't think that 5 was an exaggeration.

I think this could be an attainable goal, for sure. And I like how you tied it to attendance, since that was what I think we were all getting at. If we did as well as OU over the next 10 years, considering Akron's dense population compared to the Athens OH area, we'd surely get a boost. It probably won't be what some people are expecting, but it would improve. I just have to openly object when I see people post on here who appear to be waiting for the 5 Consecutive MAC Championships to see if that changes people's attitudes about Akron football.

Good post. We get this viewpoint from time to time on here. First, you get the "just win and people will come". Then when we do win, and people don't come, you get the "well, just get to the top of the MAC and sustain it every year". It's a dream proposition. And it doesn't happen for many of the reasons you describe. We've possibly seen mini versions of it with short runs in recent years from NIU and CMU, and also from Marshall several years ago as a MAC member. But, banking on equaling and exceeding these feats that have happened only periodically to a few teams over a period of a couple of decades in a league that has a dozen or so teams competing every year is pretty long odds. Lottery tickets might be a better option.

I agree 100% on this. I would have said almost exactly the same thing. I wasn't a big fan of getting too many transfers in the past, but the Bowden-era Zips teams have really hit the jackpot with many, many players, and have done a fantastic job of assimilating them with current personnel. It's really given us an infusion of talent when we really needed it to help us get to where we are now.

Right after I thought I had heard every excuse for why Akron does not draw fans, I see "Mount Union". I had to wipe my eyes several times to make sure I was seeing that correctly.

I was just trying to capture what I thought you were referencing. Some of the things you've seen with player behavior would probably upset me too. However, we don't see the totality of how motivation and discipline is handed out from this coaching staff. It's sure doesn't appear to often be open and outward for everyone to see. I'd probably like to see more of that too. But, it's certainly beyond anyone's knowledge to say that one way is proven to work better than another. The reason I referenced OU is because they have a rather stoic, veteran coach, who's also had a very long career. And I personally have no problem with the breaking/burning of the boat oar, and I've explained why previously.

I'm sure we all thought that this was the big deal that it looked like at the time. Unfortunately, CMU has lost twice more since then, including a home loss to Kent.

It probably wasn't necessary to go way, way over the top about WMU's status, just to prove some other point. WMU has never been ranked before. They are a good TEAM this year, based on their record. They might someday be a good or great PROGRAM. But lumping them with Wisconsin and saying that they are "two of the best programs in the country" is way overboard (note the nautical reference, consistent with WMU's slogan). I wish this was all it took to catapult a good MAC season into recognition as a nationally-prominent program. Fleck would probably love to copy and paste that label to his e-mails, coming from an Akron fan. Pull way back on those Bronco reigns for awhile. They have a long way to go to be regarded the same as a Wisconsin.

I think what you might be alluding to here is that he doesn't bring that energy and enthusiasm factor to table, like a younger coach might bring. It's certainly fair to say that we this is one of the negatives of having an older coach who's been around awhile, and is towards the end of a long career. But at the same time, nobody can say that his demeanor vs. someone with a different demeanor is proven to create different levels of success. In fact, this same route that we are on has worked pretty well for OU.

Or, focus on winning just the next TWO games only, and we'll at least get to play for the East title, no matter what anyone else does. We still absolutely control our own destiny.

I'll just say this. I'm always cognizant of the fact that he hasn't had high quality wins (In my opinion, Pitt was the biggest). And others who matter are cognizant of this fact as well. So, it has not been overlooked. On the other hand, I always have to ask the obvious question: Progress has clearly been made. In fact, a huge jump from where we stood a few years ago. So, where exactly do we look to attract someone as experienced and qualified to take us higher? That's always a big risk. Brian Kelly was an incredible find for a MAC school. And is Akron even in a good enough position to attract a top young talent (who would leave when he wins anyway) vs. where we stood during the last 2 coaching searches? In my opinion, we're in as good of a position as we can possibly be in....for right now. And although this season isn't over yet to evaluate it fully, I'm still convinced that if the injury problems with our personnel were not so rampant, we certainly would have been able to play better football for the last month or so.

I remember that super cold game against UMass two years ago, where it was like 20-some degrees. Most of us were in the Suites, and I'm sure there were more in the Club Level. But, I think you would count less than 1,000 in the stands, and probably much less when it turned into a blowout in our favor. Even though the weather on Wednesday will be perfect, if the Indians are still playing, I sadly predict a crowd even smaller than the UMass game.

This is a question for you soccer guys. When was the last time that we did NOT host the MAC tourney? I'm thinking that it's been a long time. Yes, even with a program at our level, there's going to be "down" years. But it's been a long time since we've had a down year like this.

Football has far less than that, in our case. There's only 128 football programs who qualify in the rankings. D-1 is split up in football, and we're in that top division.

Call me spoiled. But, I've had a very difficult time getting excited about Zips Soccer since these losses and ties started piling up this year. It actually makes me feel a bit guilty, because if Football or Basketball was ranked in the 20's right now, I'd be thrilled to death.

I know. All unexpected results. I'm sure I would have thought that all 4 of those games would have gone the other way. Unfortunately, the real impact is that Everyone in the MAC East won....except us.

I have a glimmer of hope since OU beat them. But if we do get blown out, I'll likely feel a little less hopeful about ending the season with a road win at OU.

Miami playing well against EMU, and could be tied with us for 2nd in the East today. WTF has happened to CMU? Just LOST to Kent.

I had to laugh at this. But I had to laugh when I saw this also. I just wonder how you get excited about the basketball season if you already resign yourself to this expected outcome.

When I was told "broken leg", I didn't know how bad that was until he put out the surgery information himself. I honestly don't know how that stacks up vs. a reconstructed knee or ankle, but I'd say that a 20 yr. old can heal a bone much faster and easier than a joint. I hope Ball can heal soon enough to contribute this year. Like I said above, I'm really concerned about where we stand at RB with our #4 guy playing the 2nd half last night.

I remember the announcers stating that Rob I. got some kind of raw deal by being ousted. They even said something like "they didn't even give him a chance to get his own players". Sorry, I still stand by the decision, 100%. When I found out after the WMU game that there were significant issues with Moore and Boxen, I was afraid of the impact it would have. I remember that In The Zone called it "devastating", but I didn't want to go there. I actually wanted to believe those who thought that our poor play in that unit this season just meant that others could surely do a good enough job. But there's just little left up front, and no depth. The coaches feel quite highly of Boxen in particular, but Moore had shown some glimpses of playmaking ability as well. So, I really don't see an answer the rest of the way except to hope the defense can make some big plays, and maximize our scoring. We'll need big 2nd halves, like we played at Ball State. I see that many have mentioned the dropped TD passes. Well, how about the dropped interceptions? I felt like we had so many chances for this game to turn in our direction. And it seemed like every time that opportunity was right in our hands, something inexplicable went wrong.

Balsy....Did you forget that we just commemorated the Knute Rockne Bowl victory from 1976? Well, I thought I had a bad dream last night. But I realized this morning that the bad dream was actually what I was watching between 7 and 11 last night. So, the scenario changes to something very simple after this loss: 1) We now know that the BG game is a MUST WIN to get to a Bowl Game. This has to happen. 2) OU must falter for anything more to happen this year, especially with Toledo on our agenda next week. This loss even brings Miami (believe it or not) back into a tie with us in the East, although that's less of a concern than OU because we already own the tiebreaker with them. Like it or not, we've now gone from eyeing a possible great season to salvaging what little accomplishments are still left on the table, just with one costly late-season upset loss. And I don't think I even want to know why we had our #4 RB in the game in the 2nd half after everything we've been through with injuries this year.

I agree with you on this. In fact, I surely do hope our game becomes uninteresting by the 4th Q.

Thanks for the data. You would have answered my question if it would have provided a comparison between internet-only broadcasts, and TV games, rather than how much ESPN3's viewership itself has increased.