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I often make a point very close to this, so I agree with you, for the most part. Dig a little deeper. It's not just the opponents we're playing. It's the fact that we're not playing FOR anything that matters to most people. In fact, if you asked people around town, you'd probably find that most of them don't even think we play in the same Division as the schools who are playing for a prize that matters. Attendance will improve if things keep moving in the right direction. But the expectations for attendance that some people have about nearing stadium capacity "if we just win more games" is just delusional.

Now there's a guy who's looking at all of this realistically. Announced attendance will be over 17k, but actual attendance will not.

To some extent, I agree with you. But, I also know that every college coach at this level understands that promoting their program is an essential part of their job. Terry SHOULD understand this, since he's been around awhile. Faust was a master at it. Ianello never seemed to get it at all. I'm well aware of his connections to the Browns, and have already witnessed some of the things that have already happened. But, I'm not sure I would credit those kinds of things to the reason why I saw two Cleveland bar owners talking about the Zips this morning. If you do, then maybe you are giving too much credit to those efforts, which have just started to even be noticed by Zips fans.

We got a very unique piece of publicity for this game on the Channel 3 News this morning. A reporter was at a sports bar in Cleveland somewhere, and I believe they were talking to the two owners, who were dressed in Browns gear and talking about the Browns game. The one guy, after giving his Browns pick, held up a mini Zips helmet and said something like, "And as my bonus pick this week...I am picking the Zips over Appalachian State this week". I was stunned. But more than anything else, it was a reminder to me of how much mileage App State has gotten over the years from that Michigan upset, especially from Ohio's typical OSWho Honks. Why else would something like this have happened?

Yes, we made some adjustments, which I have already acknowledged. And we made some key stops when we had to make them. But lets be honest. We gave up 560 yards of offense to Marshall. We're also shuffling a lot of defenders in and out of the game. We need every bit of talent we have available to us on that side of the ball.

It might be hard making that argument, at least in terms of comparing it to the Belichick situation, when you look at Brown's .495 win percentage at his next stop in Cincinnati.

Apparently, they took this long to investigate and decide is charges were warranted. Not all that unusual.

I'm wondering where you are getting your news that he is OUT. That's not what I am getting. He doesn't even have an arraignment until the 30th. There will be a small bail that he will have to post, and nothing more will happen until he has a trial scheduled, which won't happen until long after the season is over.

The only fact here is that I can assure you with 100% certainty that every team in the NFL would trade what they've done over the last decade or so to have New England's success.

No, I think it's just the stark difference between the NFL and College. He's a master at identifying young talent, recruiting them, maximizing their ability, and plugging them into the holes left from the mass exit the year before, and keeping his team at the top. I can't even remember anymore the last season that they did not enter the Playoff/BCS Title Game as the #1 Seed (I think 2013 might be the only one out of the last 7 or 8?). And they've done it in a league where you're going to be strongly challenged maybe 8-10 times per season. That's unbelievable.

Another famous NE Ohio sports screw up. It has to be right up there with the Browns thinking Belichick was a bad coach.

Yet, in terms of integrity, I think they're worlds apart. It actually makes me cringe to think about Dennison even having to be mentioned in the same sentence.

I'm glad someone else remembered all of this. Thanks for sharing. I remember there was another year when the MAC had a good amount of significant wins, but I couldn't remember when it was. Yes, that was also the same year that Charlie and the Zips came within inches of possibly scoring the upset over Wisconsin. I'm glad to see the League making another push at some national notoriety.

I can't believe that we will enter MAC conference play with two of our members accomplishing the following. 1) WMU with TWO WINS over the Big 10 2) CMU with wins over a Big 12 and (possibly) ACC school. 3) Even Toledo, with two convincing wins over a more-reputable Mountain West school, and the school that's dominated the Sun Belt for the past 5 years. Yes, I know we've already posted all of the past wins against the Big 10, but can anyone document a time where there was one 3-week period where we had this many wins against "Power 5" schools?

Ever the realist who understands our history, our fans, and the college football fans in this area. With that said, I will always hope that I am wrong when correcting people who have unrealistic expectations about fan behavior in this area. Guys, give it until the WMU game to see if we've made any impact. I think that's possible.

I wonder if they may have taken us far less seriously without that performance last week? I think it's GREAT for us. But, likely very premature to impress Joe Akron. Or maybe you're referring to the national state with the term "the football world"? If that's the case, you're very early on that one.

I'm pretty sure you're talking about this wild come-from-behind shootout that went to overtime in 2005, which was the MAC title year. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=252672006

They are going to be in Canton. Unfortunately, I can't help them in that area too much.

It's amazing how a progrum can become notorious forever for one landmark win. That certainly means much more than our "almost win" in Ann Arbor, which was probably soon forgotten. But, I probably will never forget Akron running that final play from the 1 yard line. I think it's the closest I've ever gotten to a real heart attack.....well....other than about 5 or 6 of our basketball MAC tournament games.

Yes, you might want to consider leaving your wives back at the hotel when you are going there. Or, keep in mind that you are near a HUGE mall, so you might be able to occupy them with a couple of hours or shopping. I can probably even direct you to a few other "professional performer" establishments. But I'm in my 50s now, and I'm not even sure if any of those places that I used to attend are still in existence anymore. Enjoy your stay here. And enjoy the tailgating and game.

That's the day I am talking about. By contrast, he actually sounds fairly good in this video from last year that Dr. Z posted.

Dr. Z....thanks for the additional info. I have to tell you. In this broadcast you posted from last year, he sounds so much better than he sounded a couple of Saturdays ago. I couldn't tell you why. I'm certainly not knowledgeable about anything related to his issues other than what gets mentioned from time to time in the media.

. I believe that he was in the booth with the ESPN guys for a short time after he was inside the stadium, but I do not know if he ever went on the air with Frenchy. Keep something in mind. I know that some Cleveland sports fans idolize him, and I don't want to be mean, but the guy can barely speak anymore. That might be why we don't see him on any Cleveland broadcasts anymore these days. So, I only wonder how limited his use might be in some of the areas you suggest. But I like your thinking.

I hope it was just because of the very extreme weather conditions. The good news is that we will (likely) not be playing in another game this year in anything close to that kind of heat and humidity.

I said this in another thread, but I really liked seeing Chapman in the "wildcat" formation on short yardage. And it worked. Maybe that's our best option this year in that situation.