GP1

Some of what we don't know based upon the above is how many of those points during the PSP years were scored with back-up players in the game. BCS level teams use these games to play a lot of different players and they typically can score some points with the back-up players. What is clear from the scores is that tOSU has strangled the offenses of MAC schools during the PSP years. At the end of the day, PSP is the only guy on the team who can't be replaced at the same level based upon available or incoming back-up players. Even though most of us hate tOSU, it would not be reasonable to believe most of the positions they field are not replaceable. The overall trend is in these seven years, tOSU beat the MAC 220-70. In PSP's years, they averaged over their points per game average (31.5) both years. In 2005 and 2006 (I have no idea who the QB was then), they also averaged over their seven year PPG average. The two PSP years only averaged six points more per game than the 2005-2006 time period. Overall, yes, the PSP years are better if you look at points, but it also shows without him they have been able to score points (and a lot of them) over the years and in a two consecutive year time period. The most points the MAC scored against them was 21 in 2004 when Marshall was still a somewhat good program. tOSU only scored under that total once in 2007 against UofA. The MAC has averaged 10 points per game during this seven year period.

I remember when The Ripper was singing with this band. It was a great band with him and they remained good even after he played with JP. Sometimes The Ripper will even come up on That Metal Show. If you like metal, That Metal Show is a must see.

I clicked on this link to read the story, but I was too distracted by the pop culture links to the right to read. Whether or not Pawn Shop Pryor (psp) plays is not important in a game like this for tOSU. They are going to come out and try to run their base offense for four quarters like they do during the MAC portion of their schedule to try and get everyone ready for the season. They can do that with a back-up.

I agree. Recent history also tells us a MAC coach can win a championship in his second year even when there are teams perceived to be better than his. Miamioh did it this year against NIU. Akron did it in JDs second year against NIU as well. There are other examples. My expectations are for the Zips to be .500 next year and compete for the MAC East. Everyone else does it, why not us? Coaching?....Miamioh fans were ready to run Haywood out of town after his first year.

Ball State lost a bunch of seniors. Specifically, they lost a Nate Davis. Miamioh's key players are all frosh and sophs. They will not lose 10 next year.

I only have one thought about the game. Looking at the score before going to bed made me sleep easy. Great job Zips.

My following of the Zips WBB program involves looking at their season record and how they have done in the past couple of games. They took two beat downs and then won their next game. In the past, they would have lost every game for the remainder of the season. Much better.

I'll go out on a limb as well and say that Newton is the key and Auburn will win. I don't even think the game will be close. Newton is the best college football player I've seen in quite a while. Asking for only $180K was under-selling his ability. He is worth far more.

I was just on GoZips.com looking to see if the Zips were on television tonight. A lot of the remaining games are on Sports Time Ohio with at least one on ESPNU. I'm glad to see that. The MAC is a regional conference that should be on a regional television network. I'd like to know the ratings (number of viewers) STO produces for the MAC in comparison to when the games are on an ESPN network. Specifically, what is the viewer count in Ohio. My guess it is very similar. Naturally, ESPN provides more potential viewers, but I think it doesn't matter for the Zips if some guy in New Mexico watches them on TV or not. There is a guy in South Carolina who wouldn't mind watching the game at a sports bar while taking in the NFL playoffs. Is STO available nationally in any manner?

If not Texas Colt, then who? There isn't a good free agent anywhere who would want to go to Cleveland and they run every young QB they get out of town as soon as they can. That's the problem the Browns have. They need to spend at least the next 2-3 years developing the little guy and getting some better players around him. It was fun watching the destruction of the Browns last weekend and a fantastic way to finish up a holiday weekend. They were finished after the interception in the first quarter. God knows I wouldn't want to have to stand in the pocket down that much against the Steelers defense.

I've been pretty hard on the MAC the past few years, and rightly so. It was a horrible conference and in almost every way that counts is still a horrible conference. It was a much better conference this season and, with the exception of OU, did not make fools of themselves in bowl games. A word of caution to the "builders". There is a better chance that this season was abnormally good and not normal. Miamioh looked good last night. MTSU did look horrible though, but that's the way it goes. Haywood really changed the complection of the program at Miamioh and it paid off in a short period. They are going to continue to be good. The next coach is going to walk into a good situation. We are better than Miamioh in all things that are secondary to having a winning attitude and kids who want to win/willing to pay whatever price necessary to win. We have a great stadium and all the facilities to go along with it. They had a winning attitude and a desire to win. They won...go figure.

By reading the article it appears as if JD did have a long term plan that involved doing anything until a job in Colorado opened. JD doesn't want to run a foundation. JD doesn't need money because his family has tons of it already. That's the difference between JD and most others in coaching. Most would take a job in a crappy situation just to have a job. JD had the ability to sit back and wait for the right position.

I do. As little as the ABJ pays attention to UofA sports, it would never get uncovered. Interesting thought. What if we were SMU? Would you take 10 great years for a pile of crap to follow knowing you could get good again? I'd welcome the 10 great years. Would the 20 years of sucking to follow be worth the 10 great years? Some on this board love the sucking and 20 more years of it wouldn't hurt them...they would just throw their hairshirts on and attend every game like they always do. They don't mind the losing to BCS teams...it gives them something to go with their hairshirt.

Good post. Just a couple of things. In terms of political scandal, the SMU case had all of that as well. At the time, the sitting Governor of Texas was involved in the SMU scandal. In terms of casinos, people getting killed, etc., it is interesting this is going on in the south. If this went on in the north, nothing would happen and people wouldn't pay attention. But why GP1? In the south, the mafia is a new thing. Southerners belive the "good old boy network" is the mafia. It isn't. The good old boy network is when 5 or 6 guys get together and decide to do business with only one another and then they spend the rest of their lives trying to screw one another over. Nobody gets killed by the good old boy network. The mafia is organized crime that is frequently violent. As the mafia moves south, southerners don't know what to do and don't even recognize it. I've had to have talks with a couple of customers about some of the new general contractors around the Carolinas who are owned by Russians. I'm not saying all Russians are in the mob, but there sure are more of them and crime follows where they go. I'm just saying. Ever notice the Russian strippers came over to visit their Uncle Vladimir before going to graduate school? I'm just saying, there sure are a lot of Uncle Vladimirs out there? Uncle Vladimir must have 500 siblings because every one of them has an Uncle Vladimir who is taking care of them. I'm sure those nice Russian girls dancing in Myrtle Beach are only strippers and not hookers....girls in graduate school just dance to make money to pay tuition....ya, that's it...they aren't hookers. I'd be very careful when linking Newton to gaming crime. Just because Newton took money from a guy who bribed a politician doesn't make him involved in bribery because the guy was bribing a politician.

Even though I didn't see these games in person, here is what I learned. 1. He is much faster than future D-III players. 2. He is really good at throwing the ball to wide open players on a bubble screen. 3. The one thing that I like to see he did. A couple of time he throws the ball towards his receivers and has confidence they will catch the ball. Doesn't try to win the game on his own evern though he probably could.

A&M bought Dickerson the car thinking it would be enough to get him to sign with A&M. It wasn't. He signed with SMU and took the car A&M bough him to Dallas.

That's kind of the attitude Modell took to the whole city of Cleveland. (Not that Mr Cox Esquire didn't deserve it) Modell produced the only winner in Cleveland for generations and the City built the two biggest losers in the City stadiums before him. Modell didn't just deserve a new stadium, he earned it. The City got what it deserved.

I used to think the ACC would be a good fit for Temple, but with the resurgence of Florida State, VA Tech still being good and UNC coming along, I don't see why they would want to bring down the quality of their league while it is on the upswing. The Big East needs to decide what to do and soon. Temple might fall back there by accident. At the end of the day, Temple has a pretty good set up in the MAC. They have everything they need to be a top program in the league and they are in a solid basketball conference. There doesn't seem to be a reason for them to change right now.

Not sure I get this thread... I'm not sure either. One point may be that after 12 games, both teams have the same record (unless I counted wrong). I've been interested in the WBB program since Kest took over. I think she was and still is the right person for the job. We'll know a lot more about the program, obviously, after the season, but when is the last time the WBB program had a winning record after 12 games going into the conference schedule.

I tend to get the credit for calling the MAC the Dollar General of conferences, but it is actually the luckiest woman in the world, Mrs. GP1 who said, "Being commissioner of the MAC would be like being VP of Marketing for Dollar General. You could convince people to come to your store once to shop, but once they see the crap you are selling they won't come back." She said that a couple of years ago after the UofA vs. Miami football game that ended in something like a 3-0 score on national tv so all of America could see it. In the current economic situation, it appears Dollar General is doing well....at least better than the MAC. When things turn around though, straight to Target. In pure economic terms, there has always been a market for bad stores like Dollar General. In my home town 30+ years ago, we had a store call Ben Franklin that was the Dollar General of the day. I'm not sure there ever has been or will there be a market for bad D-1A football. In fact, when Mrs. GP1 compared the MAC to Dollar General, it was probably an insult to Dollar General.

Before our society went insane, letters like this could be sent from NFL teams to idiots.

You should have flushed the money you gave to Can't down the toilet. I cannot think of a single program Can't has that is as good as what UofA offers. I cannot think of a single program at Can't that comes close to our Polymer Science School. UofA has a much better engineering school. UofA has a much better business school. My brother is a doctor and he says the best nurses around are UofA graduates. UofA has the nationally known Ray C. Bliss Institute. UofA yearly produces the highest percentage of first time bar sitters that pass the exam on the first try. I will give it to Can't that they have a first rate fashion museum . Let me say again. The only thing Can't is known for is the unfortunate matter that happened in the 1970s. That's pathetic. I have no respect for the president of Can't. I have no respect for the students at Can't. I have no respect for the sports programs at Can't. I have no respect for the faculty at Can't. I have no respect for the janitors who clean the buildings at Can't. They could bulldoze the whole place as far as I'm concerned. If Portage County went back to being a swamp, nobody would miss it.

Because he is the majority shareholder in a company, in an industry, he is not familiar with and needs help from someone who has been around the block at extremely large building products companies. He also needs an HONEST opinion. I think we all know on this board I'm an honest opinion type of a guy. At this point, he needs to decide whether his investment is toy or a business. If it is a toy, he should dump the company and sell it to someone who wants to turn it into a business. If it is a business, he needs to put more of the $35 million he got on the way out the door at his company to really get it going. My guess is it is a toy for him and he wants to protect his fortune. He owns a large part of an oil exploration company in Houston and that is really his passion. No matter how old you get, always do something you are passionate about. He loves the oil business. If you find oil 10% of the time, you are considered great at what you do....his record was 13% over 35 years....He was in Dubai years ago when there were no roads and they had to land equipment on the beach and then make the roads to the oil fields....Very interesting guy.

I see the same thing. The last time gas prices got real high was right before the recession. You can't take that much money out of the economy and expect anything good to happen. 2011 is going to be a tough year for this country. The price of gas is nothing more than a tax...the more you pay, the less money there is for the real economy. Oil companies will do well....how many of you work for oil comanies? I do some consulting work for a guy who ran a major oil company. He worked in the oil industry for 35 years and has a Masters Degree from MIT in Geophysics (BS from Texas A&M). He is convinced the world is quickly running out of cheap oil. There is plenty of oil out there...if you want to pay $6.00/gal. for it. Everything has a cost and just saying drill baby drill is a childish way of avoiding a real problem. The solution isn't urban rail systems either. We need electric cars and quickly. In order to keep them running, we need a lot of nuclear power plants built asap. Americans like to drive and the electric cars do that with little polution. Right now, we just need the power plants.

I always heard Meyer's dream job was Notre Dame. Actually, I think Meyer just left his dream job in Florida. He isn't going to win two national championships at tOSU or ND.