GP1

Again, you are thinking in the extreme. Morgan State is I-AA. One Morgan State is fine. Two probably not. Three, no way. One PSU is fine, two probably not, three, no thanks. Is it exciting for me to watch UofA take a beat down three of four ooc games against BCS teams? No. In fact, it is a comlete waste of time. Would I be more excited against Colorado State or New Mexico State or MTSU or Marshall? Hell yes! I want to watch the Zips play good competition against teams they have a realistic shot at beating and the other team has a realistic shot at beating the Zips. That's good competition. They are guaranteed to beat Morgan State. They are guaranteed to lose to PSU. They could beat a non-BCS team. I'll take the excitement of the unknown in a game matching two well equal teams rather than a certain loss or certain win. My Bad. Botom line for me is: Good Competition begets better competition, a stronger/better team, more wins against teams that actually mean something, puts UA on the map, begets national TV exposure where we don't embarrass ourselves, but instead leave an indelible "ZIPS are the real deal" mark on the psyche of NCAA football. GO ZIPS!! Then why is the mac getting worse after a few years of success? The mac gets more TV exposure than ever and it gets worse. The problem is you have to win more than one game against BCS teams for people to take note. In the mean time, we just continue to lose game after game ooc. It makes not sense whatsoever.

Isn't that what the Zips are doing this season? It is the dream come true about to become a nightmare. UofA plays an even more difficult schedule than UB does. We play a I-AA team, they play a I-AA team. We play IU and KY on the road, they play two BCS teams on the road. We play Syracuse at home, they play UCONN at home (both Big East teams). We will go 1-3 with our ooc and they will go 1-3. I can't believe some of you who think UofA should schedule up would also complain about the schedule we play and actually think UB is better scheduling than us.

Why, people watched the Browns in droves (3 times as many as we need to fill the stadium)? The Browns over the last decade could hardly be called "entertaining football". Unless everyone in the upper deck of Cleveland Browns Stadium is showing up dressed as an empty orange chair, many have stopped attending Browns games and I don't blame them. There is no entertainment in watching them. My as well work in your yard or go for a walk on a nice day with the family. If the Browns were somewhat entertaining, more would go to games. The mac just needs to be more entertaining and I'm convinced people will go to games.

1. Why would you want your brand on TV getting its ass kicked by the competition? The last thing we want is the Zips on TV getting a beat down. This is like watching Kyle Petty race a car. You know he isn't going to win and you know he is a bad driver. Nobody goes to watch Kyle Petty. 2. They may fill the coffers, but when Joe Akron sees they are 1-3, they aren't going to fill any seats at The Big Dialer. 3. Give the players what they want? Why? They are the same guys who got the last coach fired. Why would we listen to them? Why would we have an AD? Just let the players run the program.

Again, you are thinking in the extreme. Morgan State is I-AA. One Morgan State is fine. Two probably not. Three, no way. One PSU is fine, two probably not, three, no thanks. Is it exciting for me to watch UofA take a beat down three of four ooc games against BCS teams? No. In fact, it is a comlete waste of time. Would I be more excited against Colorado State or New Mexico State or MTSU or Marshall? Hell yes! I want to watch the Zips play good competition against teams they have a realistic shot at beating and the other team has a realistic shot at beating the Zips. That's good competition. They are guaranteed to beat Morgan State. They are guaranteed to lose to PSU. They could beat a non-BCS team. I'll take the excitement of the unknown in a game matching two well equal teams rather than a certain loss or certain win.

It is an opportunity, but I would be interested to see how big of one. You have to be a pretty big football fan to go to an NFL game because of the cost. Maybe that person would need to get their "football fix" somewhere. UofA might be that place for some if we can play an entertaining brand of football. Make the football entertaining and it won't matter if there is an NFL strike or not because people will come to the games for the entertainment value of good football. We need good football, not clowns, fireworks, etc.

That's fine, give it to them once a year.

Army is good scheduling for UB for the reasons you mentioned above. Non BCS school that has struggled as of late. Good shot at winning. MAC Champs from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 (Lost 1 BCS and to Army), 2004 all lost to at least 2 BCS teams to start out the season. The 2003 Miami Championship team lost to Iowa on the way to a #13 ranked season. They beat Northwestern, Colorado, Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Louisville. The 2009 CMU Champ team lost to Arizona away and beat MSU in East Lansing. Losing to BCS teams early apparently has nothing to do with MAC success or momentum. Once again, the exception and not the rule. Miami had the best QB to come out of his draft class that year. They are an exception. You are thinking in the extreme. Losing to one BCS team is fine. Two maybe you can be OK. Three is a disaster waiting to happen. I think you guys are nuts if you think we should continue to schedule 3 BCS teams per year. There is no evidence it is helping the program in any way but financially. Let's keep pointing to the exceptions to the rules though and that one time out of 20 we beat one BCS team we can all feel good. Man, I can't wait to see how we stacked up in the other 19 games.

Army is good scheduling for UB for the reasons you mentioned above. Non BCS school that has struggled as of late. Good shot at winning.

There is no way UB or UofA are going to get three BCS teams to come to their stadium in one year. The only thing they boost is their loss total against BCS teams. I don't believe Joe Akron or Joe Buffalo sits around and says, "Hey, let's go see UB play this week. I see they got their asses kicked by 50 by PSU last week. I want to see that team play." Is Wake in a good conference? Yes, but they are also a middle to bottom of the pack team in their league. Wake struggles to make .500 each season which would get them to a bowl. They stand a better shot at a bowl by playing Stanford, Navy, Presby and Vandy than they do Presby, Alabama, Florida and Texas. Want to impress a bowl selectoin committe? Don't go 1-3 ooc and 0-3 against BCS teams, go 2-2 or 3-1 in ooc play then finish 5-3 in the mac and you are more impressive. The mac schedule should not be the crutch for teams to get to .500 and a bowl....it should be part of a strategy combining quality conference play with quality ooc scheduling.

5-3 in conference is better than average. It is still very difficult to argue with numbers. I think that momentum is important, but facing good competition is better. That Penn State trip was fun. Sucks we lost. Cool to see where we stacked up. Do we really need to get our ass kicked three times a year by BCS schools to know the MAC is at or extremely close to the bottom of D-1A conferences? I have a real problem with the thought that it is fun to go somewhere and watch your team get killed for three hours three times a year. I'll stand by a 5-3 MAC record as average. The league is terrible and one game over .500 in a bad league is average. If you want good competition, why wouldn't the schedule I posted prevously of MTSU, Troy, BCS and I-AA constitute "good competition". It is good competition for both schools. When we play PSU, it is good overwhelming competition for us and scrimmage for them. We should be playing I-A teams from conferences that are on par with the MAC. I'll break out another Wake Forest analogy. I know how much you guys like them. Wake's scheduling philosophy is not to load up on Florida, Texas and Alabama to see where they stack up. Their philosophy is to schedule teams at the same academic level they are at. Wake is an EXTREMELY good academic school. Translation, good academic schools can not attract the type of "athlete" lesser academic schools can attract so they play within their competition level. Next year, Wake plays an ooc schedule of at Stanford, Navy, at Vandy and Presbyterian (promotional item for the Presby game is free admission to a post game book burning of books that use the word "breast" in them). Anyhow, all of the D-I ooc games are against schools that have very high academic standards giving Wake a chance to compete in a realistic way. Our ooc schedule does not take realistic competition into account...it takes money into account. If they AD is going to destroy the football program, like Miami's has, with one BCS school after another in order to make money, he should just admit to it. It will save me the energy of worrying about the first four games of the season. We should play one BCS school per year, one I-AA and two non-BCS teams we could actually beat.

You do realize they were only an FBS starting in 2000 right? so your points wan an FCS team that moved up was a doormat from 2000-2006? 2007 5-3 conference 2008 5-3 conference 2009 3-5 conference Now UB may fall back to six years of doormat status but I really doubt it... And if they do it will have nothing to do with the fact our non-conf is hard.. It is hard to argue with numbers. I thought I was the only one having trouble understanding that. The non-conf schedule has nothing to do with MAC record. It may or it may not. Football is a game of momentum. Extremely difficult ooc schedules make it difficult for a team to gain early season momentum. Other things that impact are the number of back to back road games teams play. The Zips play back to back road games three times this coming season. That's no good. 5-3 is actually an average to below average MAC record. The league is terrible and if you have a pulse you should be able to win five games. Lastly, 5-3 is one thing, but if you go 1-3 ooc, the final record is 6-6. Nobody gets excited about a 6-6 team that gets their ass kick by BCS teams three times a year.

UB will go 1-3 against these teams in each of the seasons they play them. I'm not sure why this is such a good schedule for them. You are right...they should schedule Malone, Prairie View and SW Texas State instead. If you really think MAC teams should not strive for schedules such as this, why do you even bother paying attention to Akron games? Your small potato schedules will keep the program dormant for years. I would rather lose to a BCS than beat a garbage team nobody has heard of. It at least draws somewhat of an interest from the community as opposed to NONE. I don't know why your thinking has to be so extreme. How about this instead? Game 1: Troy Game 2: Morgan State Game 3: Middle Tennessee Game 4: Pitt, UCONN or BC That is a sane schedule for a MAC school.

What makes you so sure they can beat Morgan State?

UB will go 1-3 against these teams in each of the seasons they play them. I'm not sure why this is such a good schedule for them.

I notice the one guy who really created the problem has not issued a statement. I was thinking the same thing. What kind of message are you sending to your players (no pun intended) when you force Lemon to issue a statement like this but you're the guy who caused the whole thing because you were trying to send a text message behind the guy's back of something you didn't have the cajonas to say to his face? If you're gonna make Lemon eat his shit and do this then you should at least issue a public apology yourself. If I'm a recruit looking at what kind of man I want to play for, Ianello looks like a little weasel. Well said. Lemon not only has to eat his own shit, but they are forcing him to eat Ianello's shit too. This is just unfair. There has been a lot of discussion on this board about character issues of late. I think we have a character issue as well and it ain't all Lemon or even Lemon. I think the character issue goes beyond the head coach as well. Let me be even more clear about the last sentence...I think our AD is a weasel and allows this kind of crap to go on....wait, no....he doesn't just allow it to go on, he promotes it. Something just doesn't smell right. Who will be the next person TW throws under the bus? First it was Reno, now a player....who will be next? For the first time since JD was fired, I'm not as bullish about the future of this program as I once was. I think we have Charlie Weis Jr. coaching our team and a complete incompetent running the Athletic Department. I'm feeling very concerned. Still trying to keep an open mind, but it is becoming more and more difficult. Well, I'm heading up to uptown Charlotte to take in the NRA Convention. I'm in the market for a used Howitzer and I figure if I can't buy it there, it can't be bought.

I notice the one guy who really created the problem has not issued a statement.

It's like the Monica Lewenski (sp?) story in the National Enquirer. A president cheating in the Oval Office with an intern who held onto a blue dress with a gizz stain on it sound out of this world....until you find out it is all true. This story is so stupid, it might just be true.

Deadspin has an interesting story partially explaining the Cavs collapse beyond there not being enough talent and good coaching around Lebron. Whether or not this is true, I could care less. If two people enjoy the company of one another, then so be it. There is really only one question that needs to be asked and it is the most important question of all........How long did Delonte have to stand in line?

It would be very cool if we can have the scoreboard broadcast someone reading through and commenting on the scores. Maybe have a media student or invite guest local personalities to do the read. I'm all for that. A nice thing about Infocision is the WIFI, I can bring my ipod and actually follow other games. I love it. This board has to have the oldest posters in the world.

Let's not sugar coat it...we get enough of that on this portion of the board. Saying he is "moving on" is like saying someone who gets fired is "let go" as if it is voluntary. This guy got KDs boot and is out the door. I don't have a problem with that, but let's call it what it is.

Interesting take. You say "willing to make the needed changes to make the team better", I say being a prick. Four players isn't just being a prick, it is being a huge prick (put your dirty thoughts away you bunch of perverts). Either way, it gets the Zips moving in the right direction as far as talent and I'm glad KD is a prick. "indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals". Who made the final decision on handing out the scholarships? Maybe the case could be as follows....As I was one of the first to say, KD brings a lot of talented scorers into UofA and after a couple of years in his system, they can't seem to throw the ball into the ocean. Maybe they are good scorers when they get here, but the system destroys their ability. Will this kid be the next victim of the Mike Fratello of college basketball?

Early season OOC schedule will cripple a young team and they will have no confidence going into the mac schedule or the following year for that matter. Our ooc schedule is designed to teach a team how to lose. We will see the results of it next year. 3-9

I have to respectfully disagree. The last thing the Zips need to do when the basketball team plays Malone or St. Francis or whatever cupcake the parade into the JAR is get a lot of people to the game. If a person's first experience with Zips basketball is watching them roll over a pile of crap, they will believe that is the way Zips games are. Most people don't understand it is part of the "building process" . If my choice was to watch the basketball team play Malone for $1 or pay the amount of a full price ticket to not have to go watch the game, I would probably pay full price to sit at home and do something interesting. When fans don't go to games, they are making a rationale choice to not spend not only their money, but also their time on a bad product. Nobody is talking about the giant elephant in the room and this isn't just a problem isolated to UofA. The elephant is the quality of play in the MAC in recent years has been terrible. A fan doesn't have to go to a game in person to see the MAC is terrible. MAC schools are on TV a lot and fans get exposure to the league much more than in the past. Fans are not stupid....they know crap when they see it and that's why MAC games are so poorly attended. You can have dollar hotdogs all day long, you can have counter productive discounted tickets all day long, you can have Zippy going around making farting sounds with his armpits all day long, but as long as the quality of product remains low, people will not turn out. The question shouldn't be...How do you market the Zips? It should be....How do you market a bad product and get repeat customers while generating enough income to support an entire athletic department? There are bad products marketed and sold every day that support companies. It can be done, so how do we do it is the real question.

I agree with some of what you said, but below is my disagreement. Why does everything have to be about "the children"? Either we are a big time program or we are not. Stops in play should be filled with awards to student athletes, winter and spring sport athletes being introduced on the field, recognition to large donors, recognition of alumni success, etc. I understand a funny skit with Zippy every once in a while, but college football is adult entertainment. I don't need to go to a football game to be entertained by cartoons during timeouts. Advertise football, not a "family event". We have been giving away tickets for years and it doesn't expand the ticket base. In fact, if I still bought tickets, I would be pissed as Hell that they gave away tickets. Promoting local talent has also not worked....they my as well go back to "band day".