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I'm just glad to see that Steve is getting some game action. I hope he really comes along. He's a super nice kid.

This makes me want to ask about somebody else too...I saw in the box score (I think it was the Canisius game) that Sullivan played the last minute of the game, and missed a 3-pointer. I though for sure he'd get redshirted, but obviously that can't happen now. This looks like there are too many people on the active roster. And..there are going to be too many players all graduating the same year if none of them redshirt. This could be a problem.

What would be really funny is if all of these Suckeye fans that supposedly got bused up here are ill informed about the location change, and can't find the field I actually also wonder what they did. I'm sure their intention was just to come up here for the night, and go right back. Did they already get here and end up having to go back? Or did they get hotel rooms and stay? And I would suspect that many of them won't come back tonight and will start heading home tonight instead for the holiday.

Carnegie...The MAC East was weak, but everyone thought we'd be the weakest. Please don't forget that. This program was projected to be the bottom of the barrel this year on paper, and we are going to win 5 or 6 games. We beat a BCS team, lost to a top-20 team by 2 points, and played the eventual MAC East champ to the wire. I have to be honest...I wish we had pulled out a couple more games, but I cannot call this year disappointing by any means. Someone made a reference to assistant coaches leaving every year. Have you been around college football very long? Every team has that issue. College football assistant coaching is probably the most turnover-prone profession in the country. Coaches everywhere know each other, and are continually luring assistants to come to position jobs at other schools. It's the nature of the beast. There will not be a coaching change next year. MAC teams don't have the resources to continually pull the plug on coaches. The evidence, once again, lies in our history of keeping our previous coach here for 8 YEARS despite a record of 20+ games under the .500 mark. JD is only a handful of games under the .500 mark through 5 seasons, and has shown me this year that we're on the verge of bouncing back to a competitive position after the last two seasons. Both as a fan, and as a realist about the nature of MAC football, JD will still be here next year, and I want him to be here.

Amen to that Mivid. I'd love to see a 12-0 team here too..or something close to it. And I've been going to games here for nearly 30 years. Remember, compared to most of the teams we play, we are a relatively "new" D-1A program. But, I'd sure love to experience a really, truly great season sometime in my lifetime.

Correct...Big Zip Fan. Seven games decided in the 4th quarter, and we were 3-4 in those games. I keep forgetting how many times my heart almost stopped working, there were so many close games.

Correction on the math on the road losses. Wisconsin was so long ago I forgot all about it. So, that's 4-2 on the road this year, and not 5-1.

mivid....I only ask that people on here look at things from every angle. Everyone who's commented about only winning 1 game at home this year forgets that we lost only one game on the road. One of those feats is less than what should be expected...true. But, the other feat is absolutely phenomenal, and should get tremendous credit...especially since one of those road wins was a BCS team.But beyond that, we knew at the start of the season that the majority of our most difficult games was going to be at home, with a ranked Cincinnati team (I'm thrilled that they agreed to come here..and we turned it into a great game), and who we expected to be the top teams in the MAC East...Bowling Green and Buffalo. And it all ended up being true.

trimmy...I totally understand that you are airing some of your frustration over some of the close games. And I am sure you are a great fan. We need more like you. But, I'm sorry, I don't understand your logic for saying that Can't and EMU somehow do not count as close game wins. Let's recap....there were basically 6 games that were decided in the 4th quarter or overtime this year. We won 3 of them (Syracuse, Can't, EMU), and lost 3 of them (Cincinnati, Buffalo, OU). I really don't care to take the time to get into the shoulda/woulda/coulda scenarios. If you wish to not count Can't and EMU as close game wins, then that's your call.

trimmy10....In addition to the Can't and EMU games, you forgot about the Syracuse game. Although the final score wasn't as close as some of the other games, Syracuse drove down the field to tie the game mid-way through the 4th, and we really closed the deal in the final 8 minutes to score two TDs, and walk away with a 14 point win.Let me tell you. It's hard to argue with someone who believe that the close games we lost were "handed to us", but the close games we lost were because we did all of the wrong things. It's obvious you just want to hammer on JD, and you have every right to do so. But, this is college football. Don't try to make the assumption that we should have somehow expected ALL of the 5-6 close games we were involved in this year should have ALL fallen our way. That's simply a scenario that's not going to happen very often.

Nice Topic...I'll try to be as partial as I can and say that the only edge Cribbs has is that he's a little more physically stronger than Hixon, and may have more ability to break tackles. Other than that, it's no contest. Both teams got these guys to use them as a receiver/return guy....and Cribbs will never be remotely close to having the WR talent that Hixon has.And wouldn't it be nice if Hixon goes to the pro bowl as the NFC return man this year. It might happen.

InTheZone...you've pointed out exactly the reason why JD will stay, no matter what. Money. If by "investment" you are referring to the stadium, that will primarily be covered by private money. Other than that, schools like Akron simply don't have large sums of money coming in to benefit athletics, comparatively speaking to the top teams in the country. AKRowdyA78...I'm not sure what football team you have been watching, but we had probably our best stable of Running Backs that we have had since we came into D-1A. And Kennedy's 2nd half of the season would stack up with just about any back in the country.

Scott...I'll tell you what's wrong. Too many bowl games. Does the majority of the country really care if a couple of 6-6 teams, or 7-5 teams are playing in a bowl that nobody has ever heard of?However I do love that they have a rule that you can't go with a losing record. That prevents the BCS conferences from ensuring that all of their members get to some kind of bowl game.

A few years ago, we nearly got in with 6 wins. In fact, we were the only bowl eligible team that got left out. According to your research, that will not be the case this year.

GP1...a couple of very good points here. First, I would think that every team in the country can justify a way that they could be 9-2 right now, if everything had fallen their way. But, the law of averages tells us that we won a few close games, and lost a few close game, and we are probably where we belong. Sure, we wish they had all fallen our way, but welcome to college football. On your other point, I could not sympathize more. I was a student when we made the D-1A transition in 1986. We've had far worse times than good over the years since, but as a loyal fan, I'm still able to find a way to remember the joys I've had with the good.

Mivid......answer to the question at the top of your post:We also won a few close games this year too. That's the nature of college football.

michelobdog....you and I are certainly on the same page in many respects. I don't want people to forget this. Whatever happened during the offseason, our coaches turned a bad offense (it even turned bad during the last year of the Getsy era) into a very productive unit. And the majority of them will be back again. And from what I've heard from a number of inside sources, Jac is our best QB...the coaches stuck with him...and it paid off for us this year in a big way.The defense. I urge everyone get off of this mindset about the scheme. Is anyone really implying that JD does not have his best 11 defenders in the game? And if he does not, why would he do that? Come on. As we've discussed many, many, many times....we do not have big playmakers right now on that side of the ball. John Mackey and Brion Stokes will not magically appear again. But, I hope we have some guys who will start to fill those kinds of roles very, very soon. I couldn't care less what kind of scheme we play.....we need guys who can make the plays.ZippyTuba...I like your comments. MAC teams do not shuffle coaches. They simply do not have that luxury...financially...like some of the upper echilon schools do. Owens stayed here for 8 years despite a record of 20+ under the .500 mark. For this very reason, MAC coaches tend to have much longer tenures...unless, of course, they are hugely successful and get offers from bigger programs.

My take...Only out of frustration from a close-game loss do we not listen to what ZippyForPresident (and ZippyRifle) are saying. IT IS THE MAC. Like it or hate it, it's not changing anytime soon. Over time, there are very marginal differences between these teams. Like they say..."sometimes you're the windshield...sometimes you're the bug". A couple of years back, we all picked on Buffalo and Temple as the weakest links...before that it was Ohio and Can't. Now..Buffalo has risen to the top, Ohio has won a title....and the once mighty BG and Miami have now been looking up at most of us for the last couple of years. If someone wants to name me a program besides Marshall that has not flip-flopped from the top of this league to the bottom again, and back around again....over the time they've been in this league, I'd like to hear it. My point here his....as fans, let's criticize the team all we want for poor play...let's get mad at JD for some bad coaching....let's get mad if you don't agree with the defensive scheme. But by all means, please maintain an understanding of where we are. We're in the MAC, where talent is mid-level...(but, I believe, improving), and quite a few teams have a chance to win the league if everything rolls their way on any given year.We've seen some great improvements this year, especially from our QB and Offense...let's not forget about them. And....Don't fool yourselves that there weren't times this year when other coaches were saying "oh gosh..where did Akron come from"? We unexpectedly put ourselves in a position to contend, didn't finish it, and we all share the same frustration. Every one of us was hoping for the best, and losing our voices every Rubber Bowl game, and it didn't work out for us. Next year is another year, and I truly believe that we won't be overlooked as a potential contender in 2009. One more comment...I'm simply not seeing the overwhelming criticism of our special teams. ONE element of the special teams failed us today...in oONE game. It's hard for me to be angry at that, after what they have collectively contributed to this team.

Everyone else is looking up at Buffalo too. That might not mean much to us right now, but it's true. And I'm sure some of the long-time well-established MAC programs in the East Div. aren't feeling too well these days.

After 4 games in the books (including the scrimmage), a couple of things are sticking out at me.1) We likely will not iron out the rebounding problem anytime soon. And I'm sure with the way we are coached, it probably is more a problem with personnel than with effort. I really believe this is why you are seeing so much of Cventinovic so early in the season, because he does have the potential to pull down 10 rebounds for us in a night. Nate can sometimes rebound in big numbers, but has so much more he needs to do for us this year. Beyond that, where's the guys who can show potential to possibly be 10 rebound per night guys? I love Chris McKnight, and think he will do great things for us, but I don't see him as a strong nightly rebounder. I don't see it with Brett either. I'd wished Bardo would be one of those guys, but I'm not so optimistic right now. I just think this will be a problem with this personnel. And if Zeke is the solution, I believe he only averages 10 rpg against high school kids. So, it might be some time before we see this team be a dramatically better rebounding team. I just hope we can make up for it in other areas until that time.2) I was hoping early in the season that we would see a couple of guys emerge as the guys we can count on to score points every night. But I am seeing wide swings in almost everyone's point production. I hope this gets much better soon. Teams need to know who they can count on to carry the load every game, and I don't believe this team is anywhere close to knowing who those guys are on the scoring end. If this can happen soon, we stand a chance of winning a good amount of game.

If everyone remembers, we were the only bowl eligible team back in 2004 to not get a bowl bid. But, we didn't have 7 wins that time either. I still believe that 7 wins has to get you in somewhere.

I still get a little bothered when people write these articles and refer to Akron as a SMALL school. We're one of the 50 or so largest universities in the country.

For some of you younger folks, this game against Pitt is bringing back some old memories for me. I brought some of this up on another thread, but here's a little more info....for some motivation...Back in the mid-80's...we had a couple of very memorable games against some very good Pitt teams...1) In 1986, a Huggins-led Akron team traveled to Pitt, and the old Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, and I sat in my dorm room with the radio on listening to old Akron play-by-play announcer Don Ursetti and color commentator Whitey Wall announce a game against a top-20 Pitt team featuring future NBA player Charles Smith at Center, and future NBA player Jerome Lane at Forward (yes, the other star to come out of Akron St. V. St. M before Lebron). Our Huggins led team took advantage of the new 3-point line behind Marcel Boyce and Eric McLaughlin to get this game to the point where a 3-pointer by us at the buzzer would have forces the game into overtime. An unbelievable game.2) The next year Pitt gave us the home game, and brought the #2 or #3 team in the nation (I can't remember now) into the Richfield Coliseum to play us in front of a big crowd. By that time, Pitt had added Jason Matthews to their arsenal (yes, the current coach at Xavier), who became a great point guard and 3-point marksman...and yet another additional weapon to the already-potent Pitt arsenal, which still had Smith and Lane. Improbably, we took these guys to the wire again in an unbelievably exciting game, even though Boyce had graduated, behind the excellent play of McLaughlin, and a soon-to-be-well-known-freshman named Anthony Buford (the guard who eventually transferred to play for Huggins again at Cincinnati, and played guard next to Nick Van Exel on their Final-Four team). Great memories.....how about a repeat Friday night???

I have no doubt some of the cockiness, or just flat out ignoring us, has something to do with the 30-point pounding they laid on the Miami Sweaters on Monday. They probably look at this game as a practice workout.I personally find the Pitt campus area to be pretty crummy.

Captain....Nate's lower FT shooting pct. often happens with college players who've had a career like his. He's a much more active part of the offense now, is being counted on to do many things he has not done in the past, plus can subsequently be a little more tired, or may have just gotten hammered under the basket when he arrives at the FT line. We even often see it with high school kids as their careers progress, and their roles change.