GP1

"Should we go get this guy?" By going to get him, does this mean to ask a former NC State qb if he wants to come to Akron to be a part of a team that went 1-11 last season? Or, does this mean we throw a bag over his head, kidnap him and force him to play football for Akron? My guess is the only way we "get him" is the kidnapping method.

Thanks for the article. If a court forces a playoff, it could be the worst thing to happen to college football. Anyone other than me notice that the other divisions, with playoffs, have the same teams in the playoffs every season? How has a playoff helped the other divisions? It's one thing to force a playoff, it is another to create a system where the same schools are in the playoffs every season. If the court requires a playoff and that's all they rule, look out. The ncaa can then go back and create their own playoff system. Guess who is going to benefit from that system...the current BCS teams. Before the ncaa does anything, they need to create another division so the ongoing screwing of the non-bcs teams can come to an end. I know a lot of you think not being a part of the highest level of college football would be a bad thing. I think it, if done right, it could be one of the best outcomes for the non-bcs schools.

I was thinking about this last night. Most people in Ohio believe Tressel is a great coach. I think the evidence is starting to point the other direction. If a coach of one of the top three SEC teams cheated at the level of Tressel, they would win four or five national championships in the time it took Tressel to win one. All that cheating the guy can only win one national championship. It really says a lot.

National Gypsum is looking for a product developer for their Charlotte HQ lab. If you have a degree in chemistry or mech. engineering, send in a resume to their HR Department. Masters degree helpful, but not necessary. The guy who you would be reporting to has a masters degree in chemistry so a mech engineering degree would be a good because it's one thing to invent a product, it's another thing to make a machine to manufacture the product. Either degree would be fine though. Normally, a person who would take a job like this would be in their late 20s or early 30s. The person you would be reporting to invented one of the most important building products of the past 30 years. People who work for him tend to get much better jobs with other companies after a few years of working with him. If you decide to do this, respond to this note and I'll make sure my friend keeps his eyes open for some UofA resumes.

I don't see any dead unicorns.

Wish in one hand... Isn't the saying, "Make a wish or $#!+ in your hat. See which one fills up first."?

The 'weaker' MAC schools right now would be? Exactly....

Sad story. Some of the comments below the article are sickening. I think curious people would like to know what happened, but there is a time and a place for everything and the information will be provided soon enough.

Well done! Rarely do you get to see one poster so eloquently tell another poster to go "F" himself. For future reference I speak the truth, there are a lot of masochists who post on the basketball portion of the board on a regular basis. They believe their opinion is final because they attend every game and someone who sees the team only a few times a year can't possibly have a good opinion. A good way to analyze the Zips is to watch what the masochists post, and think the opposite. Another good way to see how the Zips are playing is to look for how and if Zip Watcher posts about a game. He's a good poster and a smart basketball observer. Sometimes his man crush on KD causes him to overstate how good the team may be, but everyone has their reasons for what they say. If the Zips are stinking up the JAR, you won't hear a word from him. He lives by the rule that if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. If the Zips are playing well, evidence of the "building process" is evident. In general....well, just click on my signature.....

Thanks for the update Chicken Little. Just so you know Zach...The components of the scoreboard are designed to be OUTSIDE. Movement of the scoreboard may have been designed into the scoreboard. I was in Raleigh yesterday and today. A tarp flapping in the wind has nothing on what has happened around there. The world is not coming to an end.

Wow!! Beano thinks both tosu and tressel have problems. Ya think?!?! Nothing gets by that guy.

Tressel is sort of the perfect coach for the 21st Century.

More trouble for the most dishonest man in college football.

It could be 2....or it could be 6. It's really up to the guys in uniform. Everyone in the mac has the potential to be good and we can be just as good as the next group.

We had a good one here to at UofA. Carried us to a MAC Championship.

This is a good move for umass. Google amherst mass and see where that place is. The closest city is Springfield and the next closes one is Hartford. Nobody is going to drive to amherst to watch Tuesday/Wednesday night mac football. Look at how many people live around UofA and don't go to games. Boston has a large population and if they win, they will draw good crowds if they can win. Can they compete against BC for football fans is the question?

There is one thing that really makes this move interesting. umass is the flagship school of mass...as such, it has access to a lot of money and interest throughout the state. There is not another mac school that is the flagship school of it's respective state so there is not broad support of many, if any, mac schools. Whether or not this matters will remain to be seen, but I suspect umass won't go through many growing pains. Getting 15,000 per game and funding the scholarships should not be a problem. If this move proves to be a mistake for umass, it will because of the lack of available talent throughout new england and an inability to bring in kids from outside of the region. I'm sure BC and uconn get the best players in the region. uconn was the last new england school to make such a jump and it has worked out well for them. uconn is also the flagship school of CT like umass is in MA. The Big East should be the final destination for umass. Boston College has made a huge mistake joining the ACC and should have stayed in the BE. I wonder if there is a plan at umass to get them from the mac to the BE as quickly as possible. It's possible to be good instantly in the MAC so that shouldn't be a problem. Does this move make the mac better?....NO. If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody there, does it make a sound? If umass comes in the league and becomes one of the best teams in the league sooner rather than later, it will make the mac look like a conference that has been in business since the 1940s and can't get it's act together or something really pathetic like that......What?......It what?......Ooops, sorry, the mac is already a league that has been in business since the 1940s and can't get it's act together.

GP1 texted this one to me. Dollar General Division and Family Dollar Division. I only wish I had thought of that.

Because you don't know who is going to be good in 10 years.

There are lots of illegal acts involving the Auburn boosters. Can anyone name the illegal acts by the players at Auburn? Not NCAA violations, but illegal acts? There is at least one illegal act, and unless the NCAA allows players to make money while in school, this illegal activity will continue.

I don't know if it will or not, but I think our defense now gives us a lot better chance to be successful than the 3-3-5. Whether it will or not depends on the guys wearing the uniform.

So now that you have an invite to this party we all should give the Athletic Department a break? I think it smacks of elitisms just as much as kicking “normal” fans out of lot 9 to clear way for the $5,000+ donor stampede. Call me when they do anything for the majority of their fan base. The biggest gesture they could make to convince me would be to win some damn games. You said/typed it yourself…We have been giving the Athletic Department and Football Coaching staff a hard time. Maybe members of this board should be careful they are not being lured into a trap. The best idea to come out of the Marketing Department in years might be to eliminate their main detractors. They may have learned something from a recent vicious murder in Florida. Just a warning. Maybe you are reading too much into a simple letter for a summer social....

I don't think it is a matter of giving them a break. They deserve credit for a good idea. I'm not certain about the elitism angle as I have no idea who is invited. Somehow, if I made the list, I don't think it will be an elite affair. I'm all for winning being the biggest gift to fans, but to say they don't do anything for the majority of fans just isn't true. They do thing everyone can participate in (ie: NCAA watch parties, setting up things for kids to play in before games, etc.), but not enough is the problem. Not enough in the way of doing things during the off season that would attract the average fan to a game. I'd take winning over face painting, blow up tents for kids to play in, golf outings or any other program they want to call marketing. Winning is the ultimate marketing campaign.

I got a nice note in the mail yesterday on Coach I's stationary. It is a save the date card for a summer social at his house. GREAT IDEA!!!!!! Remember a couple of weeks ago I got a nice note from a lady in the Athletic Department and I said there was too much information in the letter and if they spaced it out over time, it would be a better way to reach people because you are reaching out more often? A "save the date" note followed followed by a formal invitation is a great way to do that (the card I got yesterday says, "formal invitation to follow"). This is a different thing for the Department to do. I like different. A lot of us, including the Great GP1, have been hard on the Department. We need to give credit where credit is due. This is a smart thing to do. Well done TW and the entire Athletic Department. Now follow up with your mailing list by phone after the formal invitations go out to make certain you execute well on a good idea.

I've mentioned this before. My brother gets to go to tOSU practices when he wants to. He said he has never seen them look nearly as bad in the spring as they have this year. The 4-3 defense we run now will help. I like a bigger line against a big team like tOSU. The purpose of defense is to stop the other team, so you have to think about what tOSU will try to do. If I was coaching tosu, I would try to run it down our throats with a much larger offensive line. Big plays won't come from that though and you win with big plays. I don't think they will be able to get big plays against out defense running up the middle. They can set up big plays running inside though. When Bettis was in the NFL, he always said, "If you try to run outside, you'll never get there. If you run inside, you'll get outside." If tosu starts to get 5-6 yards a play running inside, they can design some bounce plays and get the ball outside because our defenders will get caught up in the wash. We aren't the best open field tackling team, so their big plays must come from running outside after setting them up running inside. If we give up big plays in the air against tosu, we are in big trouble the entire season. Three things the Zips defense has to do. Well, every defense has to do it, but these are the three most important against tosu: 1. Give up 3 or fewer yards when defending run plays between the tackles. 2. The d-line has to maintain the line to give Wagner et al space to work. 3. The LBs have to play their best game ever. Physical against runs up the middle and fast against the bounce plays. If the LBs are making tackles 6-7 yards behind the line, it doesn't matter that one or another of them is leading the team in tackles. It's were you tackle that matters. If the Zips sit back and try to slug it out with tosu, they'll get killed by the fourth quarter. They have to take some risks. Run blitzing will be important on first downs to force long down and distances on second and third downs. They have to get tosu into a passing game. The question is, who do you blitz? Blitzing is sort of a mindless thing to do if you are a player as all the thinking comes from the coaches. Wagner is a smart player, so I wouldn't blitz him. I would blitz a SS a lot and from different place into a variety of gaps. The Steelers do this a lot with Troy P. This strategy covers points 1 and 2 above. The SS can't be ignored by the o-line so it gives the LBs space to work to give up short gains or maybe make a tackle behind the line. It also covers point 3 because it gives the LBs room to move sideline to sideline to cover bounce plays.