GP1

The Premiere League thing will never work because there is no advantage in having the likes of Duke, Indiana, Minnesota, etc. bounce up and down out of a division. Actually, the only advantage I see is if a team like Tulsa gets bumped up and we can all bet on the over/under of their return to the lower league. As far as the basketball tournament, let's be clear. We shouldn't talk about the ncaa as if it is something separate from the schools. It is a member organization. If it wants to exist, it needs to play ball with the BCS level teams or they really go on their own. The ncaa basketball tournament is a fundraising endeavor for the ncaa and the BCS schools would be better off to leave the ncaa and have their own tournament; thus, keeping the money for themselves. The BCS schools would be in a better position to fund Title IX if they left the ncaa. I could see schools like Akron really struggling to keep up with Title IX and having to make cuts. In fact, I could see an Athletic Department with only Football, MBB, WBB, Volleyball and Track & Field. Not certain how that would be a bad thing either.

I agree completely and this is whey I so badly want MAClike conference away from the BCS mess. If we stay at the level we are now, it is a pretense to believe we can compete at that level. It has been an ongoing wheel-spinning endeavor for us and for just about every school in a MAClike conference. We need to get away from it asap and let those schools (Kansas, Indiana, Purdue, Duke, etc) kill themselves for money. I for one am sick of trying to do it without any results. The issue JZ84 brings up is interesting. The top schools staying in the ncaa is the last method in which those schools can suck the non-BCS schools dry. They stay in the ncaa, establish their own set of rules for themselves and mooch money from the non BCS schools to run their governing organization. Knowing this, does anyone really want them around the ncaa if they break free?

I don't think I would credit the coach at California PA for Smart's success.

Article I told you guys years ago this was going to happen. The BCS schools have used up the non-BCS schools. They don't need them for a football league or a basketball tournament or anything else for that matter. Everyone can stop pretending now. One would have thought Staples cut and pasted from my posts on this board. The BCS schools have opened up the doors for one major mistake...although they haven't made it yet. The pollution of their league with CUSA and whatever the Big East is called now (You know your league is bad when a guy posting on a MAC board calls it "whatever the Big East is called now") would be a huge idea. Any thoughts from those who thought this would never happen?

There were two schools between VCU and Akron. According to this logic, the coach at California PA could claim credit as well.

One?

As a former sales manager, regional sales manager who managed sales managers and now a business owner, there is an interesting point to be made here about selling a product and capturing money. If any of us were selling beer, would we rather be the Budweiser brands sales representative or the sales rep for Miller brands (this isn't a discussion on what tastes good)? With 40% market share in the US, Budweiser brands are pretty easy sale and that's where the game is easy for a rep to play. Lots of people drink Budweiser brands so bars stock lots of it because it moves. Because they stock it, they need to move it in order to not tie up cash so they push it. Basically, the more you sell, the more you sell because the momentum is so great. If you take a Budweiser sales rep and make him a Miller sales rep, will he have the ability to get the Miller market share up to 40%? The answer is....Hell no. He can make a small dent for a short period of time, but one person can't change a market by himself. What does any of this have to do with Tressel? While at OSU, he was the Budweiser sales rep. Raising money was easy when you are wearing a uniform people respond to. Take Tressel and put him at Akron selling Miller, he doesn't have quite the pull he once did. A lot of forces start to work against you. There should have been a short term, measurable impact and we aren't seeing it in terms of dollars. Americans are funny...we forget very quickly.

Please, please, please stop making sense. We are talking about the "building process" here and there is no room for that.

Good article and thanks for posting. The ncaa will no longer allow their name to be used. However, member institutions will still continue to be allowed to sign contracts with game companies. Conclusion, the ncaa will still continue to make a ton of money off of these games because the ncaa is a member organization and the members will still be making money. One can only put lipstick on a pig for so long.

Article It's one thing for former player to enter into a lawsuit against the ncaa. It's a whole different game when current players do. Current players give a better face to the inequities between who is making money from college athletics and who isn't. The problem for the ncaa and their lead pimps...athletic directors and head coaches...is there can now be a PR campaign showing how someone like Nick Saban or Urban Meyer lives vs. the players they coach. Or, the executives at the game companies that sell the video games and the abject poverty that some of the guys playing college athletics come from. It puts a better face on this case than Ed Obannon (sp?) does because he is well into his adulthood and has done well in life. If the members of the ncaa lose this lawsuit and take a bath paying former and current players for past revenue, it's their own damn fault. They could have done something about this years ago. Instead, they passed regulations about whether or not a school can supply salmon for bagels.

Interesting to me that the Ohio Attorney General is as involved as he is. I stand by what I said a couple of years ago. This is a short sighted move. In addition, the involvement of the Attorney General may make it a short sighted move for every Ohio public university hiring a coach. Unless, all the other coaches are on to this game and watching for it in contracts with schools.

Getting dumped on home portion of a 2 for 1 deal with a bcs team is common for non-BCS D1 teams. Since it happens to so many of us, we can fill those spots, and future spots, with non-BCS D1 teams. I'm still looking forward to the day when the BCS schools go on their merry way so we can have discussions about football and not scheduling.

Two things here. First, fans don't care about the money. They care about winning. 99% of the fans who attend games have no idea what the annual operating budget of their Athletic Department is. I'm OK with an ATM game as long as it is one game a year and early in the season so fans forget after a couple of wins. The reason for scheduling ATM games is the Big Dialer can't produce $1 million in revenue for a single game. The Athletic Department couldn't support itself without outside help from these types of games, student fees, the taxpayers, etc. They are a necessary evil.

I don't know if I would use the word "behind". I would use the words, "in the same category as". LAL is exactly the type of team we should be playing because they are in a league that is MAClike and they play quality football. I'm not sure what NIU, Toledo, Can't and Ball State did last year that puts them above LAL. NIU beat Army and Kansas (horrid programs)....lost to a 4-8 Iowa then were humbled in a BCS game they could have easily lost by 50 proving every pundit right who said they didn't belong in the game. Since this topic is about scheduling, I'll get back to that. I can't control what other people like. If someone is impressed by bottom dwelling Big Ten teams and they want to see those bad teams play because of tradition or all of the things that don't really matter, then so be it. I prefer to watch Zips teams schedule relevant teams in conferences similar to ours. It's better for the program in the long run because it establishes winning as a priority. Lastly, how on Earth would a IAA team like James Madison beat a LAL team that almost beat Florida. Your bunghole is going to hurt for days from pulling that leap of logic out of it....

Options could be, but not limited to: 1. Money 2. Easy win 3. Each had an open date that needed filled and playing each other was the only option Teams play for all sorts of reasons. Caring doesn't have to be one of them.

I have a request for GoZips.com. Please establish hyperlinks over the opponents names on your website that will allow a fan, if they want, to jump to that team's website. Thank you.

LA Lafayette isn't interesting? I would assume that anyone who doesn't think they are interesting doesn't know anything about good college football and they are more interested in the idea of playing a BCS team than watching good football. LAL is the most interesting team on the schedule. It's the one game I have circled on my calendar that I might make a trip back to Ohio to watch a game. When the Zips get things turned around, this is exactly the team that will give fans wet dreams when they think about watching the Zips win against good teams. How many nine win, conference champions and bowl champions are coming to the Big Dialer next year? LAL 2012 Schedule and Results

I agree completely. I don't see how Iowa State brings anything more than a Tulsa, East Carolina, Fresno State, San Jose State, etc. Pitt on the other hand is in close proximity so it may make sense for them, but they aren't going to schedule us every year. Fans at MAClike conferences have to give up on the idea that a few scattered wins against BCS bottom feeder teams like Duke, Indiana, Iowa State, etc. are signs that MAClike schools are on the cusp of something great. Something great meaning if they just build a bigger stadium, new practice facility, better scheduling, etc. they will be just like those teams/conferences. The sooner we stop that line of thinking, the sooner we can get our programs moving in a successful direction away from the BCS insanity we can't keep up with. BCS schools are nothing but an anchor around the necks of non BCS teams. We can do so much better if we would just let ourselves break the chains.

I don't know exactly what he means, but I think 1-1 means non BCS team. If that is the case, many of them would make the 1-1 trade. Our current schedule has an example of that.

Nice post. Are you saying going to a BCS game doesn't automatically boost your recruiting? I'm shocked to hear that because when I read MAC boards, I'm told that going to a BCS game makes your recruiting better. I'm shocked (not really) to find out the opposite is true.

Instead of scheduling gimmicks, wouldn't it be much better to create a climate where people come to games because the team is good and WINNING? Game day buzz is fun, but there has to be something after game day. It won't be long until the possibility of bringing in BCS teams will be gone because they will have their own division. Because of that, we need to start scheduling in a manner that creates a winning program for whatever comes next.

Thanks for posting Keener92. A few years ago, everyone bashed me for saying there would be a split in college football between BCS and non BCS. Here we are. The ncaa basketball tournament? People who worry about that being a hurdle worry too much. It is a fundraising event for the ncaa to operate itself. Why would those schools continue to have a basketball tournament to support a bureaucracy they all hate (90+% of the revenue from the ncaa tournament goes to run the ncaa) when they could have their own basketball tournament to line their own pockets? ESPN televises spring football practices because people watch it and they have to televise something. It is the most popular product to put on the TV available. ESPN is a business and they know what will sell. In 1986, ABC offered the USFL in excess of $150 million to televise games in the spring. There was a market for it then, and there is an even bigger market for an entertaining spring football league now. MAClike conferences are entertaining and people would watch. It's the only way these conferences can now support their bloated "building process". Playing in the spring might be the one good idea MAClike conferences have had in years.

The AAC will not be a BCS conference for long. Besides, any victory over someone in that league wouldn't be seen as a BCS victory. People aren't that stupid. The question you ask is based upon the idea that in a few years, college football is going to look like it does right now. It won't. I don't find it to be a serious question, but I'll play along. Should we schedule based upon something that almost never happens? No we shouldn't. If we have a scheduling problem, it has nothing to do with 1 for 2 or anything like that. There is a lack of vision for making programs better through good competition and increased probability of winning without scheduling all 1AA teams. BCS schools have it right. They play one 1AA team, two non BCS teams and one decent BCS team. It's a vision for winning, not some grasp at recognition that will be here today and gone tomorrow. Under Brookhart, we beat more than one BCS level team. How did that end up? Where is the recognition that bolstered recruiting? I'll give you a better scenario. What is the one thing that could catapult a team to national recognition with all that means in revenue and recruiting? Also, this scenario falls within the world of reality for a school like UofA. Answer - A National Championship during an undefeated season playing in a division outside of the BCS level in the spring. The TV networks are so ripe to pick right now it isn't even funny. ESPN's ratings are down and they had cut employees. FOX is coming out with a competitor to ESPN called FOX 1. FOX knows how to get ratings. NBC has their own all sports network now. These networks are going to need to televise something in the spring. Americans love football and would watch, in mass, a spring college football league that is entertaining. MAClike conferences are entertaining and they could sell TV rights/make money. Instead, we sit around and talk about scheduling in a way that we would benefit from in a one in a ten thousand chance. It's why we remain where we are.

I agree some of these are winnable games. Not at the percent some non BCS teams give us. Those include Memphis, Navy and Army and they aren't BCS teams. Throw in Colorado right now as well..they are the only BCS team on the list we could beat. My problem with the above is, if we are going to play a BCS team, let's play one a year where we break the bank...An ATM game. I don't see the above teams as the types of schools that we could break the bank with. Michigan, OSU, PSU (before Sandusky), Tennessee, etc. are bank breaking games. I hate ATM games, but until non BCS schools figure out how to make money to support their now completed "building process" (Who are we kidding, it never ends.) we are stuck with them. HINT: Playing in the spring would bring in TV revenue that would support the "building process".

My opinion is we should not do this, because our OOC schedule should look as follows, in any order: 1. BCS team on the road to break the bank but guarantees a loss. 2. D1A non BCS team at home 50/50 chance of winning 3. D1A non BCS team on the road 50/50 chance of winning 4. Cupcake 1AA team at home guaranteeing a win. My schedule guarantees one loss, one win and 50/50 shot at two other games. Replacing a non BCS D1A team at home with a BCS team increases the chances of losing and gets us little in return. No thanks. We need to play as many games as possible at our level and increase our chances of winning. This isn't shying away from teams, but an effort to compete against teams more like us. We also don't need to heap more misery upon ourselves. When we get this team turned around, we should start every year at 2-2. I'm sick of setting ourselves up for failure by starting every year out 1-3.