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I feel your pain. I've been telling everyone for a couple years now that the mac is a I-AA conference. This is a reminder to everyone from the Great GP1.....the MAC is a I-AA conference. I would like to apologize for one thing I said about it. I said we would be the best I-AA conference, I was wrong. My apologies. Come on. Should the Big 10 drop down to I-AA because Michigan lost to Appalachian State? All day long, you could point out a couple of examples of I-AA teams beating MAC teams, just as someone else can point out examples of MAC teams upsetting BCS level I-A teams. These microscopic "proofs" prove absolutely nothing.

Their pressbox looks like the Hartville Kitchen.

Liberty is a Top 25 FCS program. They are moving in the right direction and have a stadium that looks eerily similar to you on a smaller level, though they are planning to expand it to eventually go bigtime: Small....and one level?? And where exactly do you see any remote similarity?

On the first point, I actually think our running game was a bright spot today. On your second point, I pretty much agree. Our corners aren't bad, they were just physically outmatched with some of their big receivers. But, I think our safeties have shown us nothing. And our lack of QB pressure didn't help the situation.

I also have a problem with this here. The stadium is anything but "sterile" it has plenty of character. The problem is you haven't developed any memories in the stadium. That is what adds character to a stadium. There hasn't been anything important (other than opening it) that has happened. Give it time to let the team and surroundings connect with you. Memorable games will happen here. (and as far as support, they have done miles of work and put detail into things, media blitzes are expensive and the budget this year was cleaning up pregame and getting ready to go with STO) That is a great point. I just wish they would have brought the light poles from the Rubber Bowl Thanks for talking me off of the ledge. Now THAT would have added some character to the Info, for sure. Especially if they put them in front of us. And throw in a couple of those trough-style urinals, a couple of stalls without doors, and a bunch of peeling white paint, and we would have really brought some nostalgia to the new place. Oh yes, those sweet Rubber Bowl Memories

I'm just wondering why they can't ever pick another place besides Dayton to host these play-in games

My problem with the "premium game" pricing is that it's going to create some confusion among the more casual fans. If you are not one of the more informed fans, you are going to come to a game like Syracuse, and assume that this is the normal ticket price.

Maybe a former player for the Director of Basketball Operations position. I would love to see Cedrick Middleton come back if playing in Europe doesn't work out for him. Any chance Dials would change his mind about working for the Sweaters?

11 points? At home? Against probably an average I-AA team? Even though many of us are not guessing that we will win by a huge margin, I would still expect college football prognosticators to give us a lot more respect than this.

Come on...this team is a joke. If we don't win by 30+ we have major issues. We have issues. We just hope they aren't major. We'll probably know this in a few more weeks.

I'm still waiting for some information that indicates that there is any chance that our coach would replace his current starting PG, who he obviously trusts to run his offense, is a senior, clearly our floor leader, and has come up big for us in several critical, pressure situations over the last couple of seasons. And we'll replace him and turn the reigns of the team over to a guy who's yet to even wear a Zips uniform? I'm thinking the chances of that happening are pretty remote. I'm not talking about this year. I'm looking ahead to 2011 since this is a thread on a 2011 commit. Got it. I'm still surprised at the number of comments we get here about Steve being replace at the point this year.

I'm still waiting for some information that indicates that there is any chance that our coach would replace his current starting PG, who he obviously trusts to run his offense, is a senior, clearly our floor leader, and has come up big for us in several critical, pressure situations over the last couple of seasons. And we'll replace him and turn the reigns of the team over to a guy who's yet to even wear a Zips uniform? I'm thinking the chances of that happening are pretty remote.

I'm following Quick and Captain's discussion here particularly..... Quick.....I do understand your concern about these guys being athletes, but not basketball players. You can certainly get another Quade M. with guys like this. I also understand your comment about his shooting mechanics, and I do see the somewhat-long release, but actually he looks pretty smooth, which is encouraging for a 16 year old. Unfortunately we don't get guys who have the kind of long-range releases like Dials and McNees every day. But Captain, I'm really with you on this. We need to do this to reach a higher level. Other than the couple of years we had those very talented teams with Romeo/Dru/Woods, Ken+ has been better than us for quite some time, and in some stretches, they've been much better than us (gosh, I hate saying that). We have no choice but to focus on how we match up with them, as long as they are going to be the team that perenially sits near the top of the standings. Sometimes, I just grow a little tired of "we know he's a good kid", and "he has a good understanding of the game". Sorry. I'm ready to see some guys here who can elevate on a guy like Singletary, dunk in his face, stare at him while he's laying there on the floor, and just walk stroll back down to the other end of the floor like it was effortless!! I think the fans would love it too

My Heart: 40-0 (a missed FG and two missed PATs) My Head: 19-7 (still a missed FG and two misssed PATs)

All I really paid attention to was "6-3 Guard" and "High Flyer" Bring him on !!

That's the ultimate compliment....when home fans want to go to the game to see the visiting team play.

If that is the worst team in the Big East, what does that say about the MAC? They would probably go undefeated if they were in our league. After what I saw Syracuse do to us on Saturday, I am hoping they are MUCH better than the worst team in the Big East this year. But regardless, I am afraid to say that I anticipate at least a few teams in our own league will be better than Syracuse. Personally, and this was BEFORE Saturday's game, I felt that Syracuse had a chance to get as high as 5 in the Big East (out of 8 teams). After WVU and Pitt, conference is pretty wide open. I would say Cincy has a solid shot at repeating, but they are definitely down a bit (moreso now with the loss of the USC transfer WR). As for where Syracuse would end up in the MAC. While I was not impressed with Northern Illinois during week 1, I feel that UNI, Syracuse and Temple would be battling it out. If you're right about how good Syracuse is (and I hope you are) then the sky is certainly not falling on the Zips this year. But, I just think we'll find out that this Syracuse team is on about the same level as a slightly-above-average MAC team this year. We'll see. Remember, this Syracuse team could have been beaten by a lot of teams in the MAC just a couple of years ago. I think they're better now, for sure, but not THAT much better.

I'm OK with deducting a point from the football team for the 4th-and-2 field goal attempt. GIVE THE PEOPLE THEIR $20 WORTH COACH I! Ouch. Just the fact that we are even talking about our soccer team outscoring our football team really hurts. I sure hope this amounts to nothing more than a one-week joke. If not, only the diehards will be at the Info by mid-season.

We were cool until you ripped on the greatest tailgating area in the entire sporting world. I'd take the Rubber Bowl tailgating ANY day over the set up on campus. The stadium...well yeah that's a different story. Amen. How can you beat having one big giant party in a wide open grass field? I actually really thought I'd grow to like the "campus tailgating" atmosphere after the Morgan State game. There were house parties going on everywhere. It made me forget about the Rubber Bowl for a week. But, it just hasn't been the same since. Last Saturday, I felt no enthusiasm in the areas around the campus at all. I still like the idea of tailgating at the Bowl, and then coming to the Info for the game.

Mark, I'm glad you were treated well here in Akron. I think we all appreciate your feedback, especially as it pertains to the atmosphere, fans, etc. Coming from someone who's been associated with a higher-level program, I guess we have a little more confirmation on how far we have to go in order to become a bigger and better program ourselves. I chuckled when you talked about hoping that we can get "back to our winning ways". Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the sentiment. But, we've reallly never had a "winning way" as a I-A program. We didn't move to 1-A until the late 80s, and have had very few winning seasons, one MAC title, and one bowl appearance during that time. I'm actually still stunned that we beat you guys in Syracuse two years ago, because we didn't have a good team that year either. Good luck to you guys this year. I admired your good away-game turnout, and we welcome you folks back to Akron again someday, if it works out that way in the scheduling. And please....have a great season so that we don't look so bad.

Which is my whole point= they transfer there b/c they can play right away, not b/c they can't cut it at the "top level". If they could go to a non-BCS school that still is in the FBS, they very well might choose the MAC. Secondly, Bill Stull had a very "Palko" type year last year. And, though Lewis was the key, he was part of a 10-3 team that won a bowl game. It's a great thought. If they could transfer anywhere without sitting out a year, most of the good ones would just transfer to other BCS schools. But, I can see a possibility that some very talented players, who would have slipped down to 1-AA schools, would instead choose a lower-level 1-A school.

If that is the worst team in the Big East, what does that say about the MAC? They would probably go undefeated if they were in our league. After what I saw Syracuse do to us on Saturday, I am hoping they are MUCH better than the worst team in the Big East this year. But regardless, I am afraid to say that I anticipate at least a few teams in our own league will be better than Syracuse.

I know it may have been difficult for him to find positives in this game, but being pleased that his players looked disappointed from the loss? I would EXPECT that!!! These are 18-22 year old kids who love to play football, have been working hard this summer, and just got their butts kicked in their first opportunity to show the fans what they've got. To me, it would be ALARMING if they had reacted in any other way.

As I said previously, I really liked that we prevented a lot of 3-4 yard gains from turning into 8-10 yard gains. I think that the stats show that Wagner and Thomas at LB has a lot to do with that. The one thing everyone in my area kept talking about was how fatigued the DLs looked. A lot of bending over, hands on hips, etc. I don't know. Is it possible that our coaches don't feel confident enough with the guys on the bench to rotate those guys in and out? That would certainly make sense since our need for DLs just increased with the new alignment this year.

Doesn't the ACC pay in Confederate currency? In any case, as long as Coach Porter is at UA, the Zips should remain a consistent top 5 or 10 team almost every season. As long as they're so highly ranked, the need for an automatic conference bid is irrelevant. Unlike basketball, the Zips soccer team should have a lock on an at-large tournament bid every season. Likewise, as long as the Zips are recognized as one of the top teams in the country, they will have no problem scheduling games with other top-ranked teams. So no need to belong to a strong conference to put together a tough schedule as in football or basketball. What Boise State of the lowly WAC is to college football and Butler of the lowly Horizon League is to college basketball, UA is to college soccer, only more so. Neither Boise State nor Butler have ever been ranked #1, though like UA Butler did reach the national championship game before losing. UA soccer is currently in a rare position in college sports comparable to what Notre Dame used to hold in football. UA is currently so good with Coach Porter at the helm that the Zips could be an independent, put together a schedule against virtually any teams they want and be dominant year after year. It's really pretty amazing just how good UA soccer is right now. We Zips fans just don't have much experience at thinking in terms of leveraging the status of being on top of the heap as opposed to being in the middle or bottom of the heap trying to figure out what it takes to climb out of the hole. Confederate money, yes. It has to be more valuable than ours right now. I thought I may have prompted you to present some data on the economic difference between being a MAC member and an ACC member.