GP1

Marshall has been floundering badly since leaving the MAC. They went 6-6 last season with their only significant wins against Memphis and SMU. They beat a horrible MAC school in the MCB and had seven wins.They lost to ECU. They would have beaten ECU when they were good in the MAC. They lost to a lot of teams they would have beaten when in the MAC.They have grown so much since joining CUSA, they fired their coach.What Marshall had going for it in the MAC was the illusion of greatness, and some really good players who were used to winning. It kept good players coming to Marshall. They don't have that now. They are a mid level team in a low level conference and could easily finish below .500 next year. Huntington is the armpit of the United States and the idea of going there to go 6-6 doesn't sound as good to a player as going there to go 9-3 and win the conference.Can we really say these "accomplishments" are a sign that Marshall is better off? Marshall used to say something like, "We play for championships." What is the motto now, "We play for .500 seasons."

These positions will be fine. What we will need are WRs that can get open and catch the ball down field. Does anyone know who that will be?I'd like to see the TE in the offense more. For example, they need to block well if the Zips can get the ball down by the endzone.

I'm not all that interested in the wbb program, but I like Coach Kest and always have because I think she knows what to do to turn this program into a winning program. Staying with her the past couple of years looks to be paying off.They are 8-8 and 2-1 in the MAC. When is the last time the wbb program had this good of a record?The new football coach and KD had some talent when they came in as coaches. JK had nothing but a big pile of crap. She cleaned out the barn and brought in players who want to win. Just because they haven't won the MAC doesn't mean that her accomplishments are not significant. JK has had the hardest job of any coach that I can ever remember at UofA.

Good post.I think there is a big difference between high school and college football. High school kids have trouble focusing for many reasons and a good yelling at does them good.My high school football coach is in the Ohio HS Coaches Hall of Fame. In my three years in HS, I only lost in five games. Our coach was a yeller, but I never once saw him strike a player. We had really good teams. When things were going well, he yelled even more. When things weren't going well, he was calm. He always figured we had enough people patting us on the back when things were going well that we didn't need that from him.My college coach was an excellent coach on the field and in the film room. Maybe that's why he is in the NFL. Anyhow, he was not a yeller. It was very simple. He did a good job of coaching everyone. The best person won the starting job until someone was better. His saying was, "You're only as good as your last performance." If someone was better, they played. It made his life very simple and everyone knew where they stood with him. The next thing to happen is this. A coach will hit a player during practice or a game. The player will blast the coach in the face and claim self-defense. The coach will be fired. I don't have a problem with any of that. When an adult hits another adult, one should defend their honor and self. What makes Adam James such a sissy is he never stood up to the coach or approached the coach in a manly way to discuss playing time, etc. Leach hated James because he was "soft and lazy", not because he was hurt. Rumors are the coaches evaluation was correct and James knew what the coach thought of him. Instead of playing harder or asking the coach how he could get better, he would call his daddy and complain. The next coach at Texas Tech should quietly move James out of the program.I just hope that claiming coach abuse doesn't become witch hunting.

I can't help you with the canopy, but welcome aboard 'Keener! It's great to see ZN continuing to build the fanbase. GP1, I hope you're OK with the B-word (build) in this particular case No objection here. In fact, I can't find the word build in the original post. I wonder how many canopies could have been built in the same amount of time the MAC has been "building" the conference. Even if someone built one canopy per day since 1948, you could have built in excess of 22,000 canopies...or a bridge to China.I was merely referring to MY use of the term build. But I was hoping to get a 1948 reference (actually 1946) anyway In that case, we are talking 23,360 (not counting leap year days).

I can't help you with the canopy, but welcome aboard 'Keener! It's great to see ZN continuing to build the fanbase. GP1, I hope you're OK with the B-word (build) in this particular case No objection here. In fact, I can't find the word build in the original post. I wonder how many canopies could have been built in the same amount of time the MAC has been "building" the conference. Even if someone built one canopy per day since 1948, you could have built in excess of 22,000 canopies...or a bridge to China.

Interesting original post on this topic. I always like to read posts written late Friday and Saturday nights. Now we know Kellen "The Soldier" Winslow is ITZ.The feminization of the American male is a huge problem in this country. I agree totally.I still get a kick out of the fact that Adam James calls his father to complain about things. He is a college football player and an adult for crying out loud. He would have been laughed off the team in the Faust Era.Maybe you were scarred by your high school coach. After all, you think football and war are nearly the same thing. Perhaps it left a mental scar. Football has nothing to do with war. Football is a game where everyone gets to go home after the game and bang their girlfriends. War is not a game and people get killed doing it. War is a game where young men come home at the age of 20 and are so mentally harmed from the horrors they can no longer function in normal socitey. Any Drill Instructor that would put a hand on a new recruit would get fired. The following things are more like war than football.1. A police officer working east Cleveland.2. A good high school kid walking home from school in east Cleveland.3. A pizza deliveryman in east Cleveland delivering a pizza.4. Tiger Woods being struck by a 9-iron after admitting to his absolutely hot wife that he was banging every Las Vegas skank he could stick his pecker into.

Isn't Xavier kind of the Gonzaga of the East right now?

He only rides the pine because it stops at every fast food restaurant in northern California.

Just to add to this. I don't think the upper level teams would object. The Big 12 for instance. I don't think OK, TX, NE or a couple of other higher level Big 12 teams would complain. The bottom teams like Baylor, Colorado, Can't State, A&M, etc. would.

SneadSnead is a good player. He is just one of those guys who makes me nervous. Maybe it's playing at an underachiever like Mississippi, but something is missing for me. That's unfair. Mississippi isn't an underachiever, they do the best they can in a state like that.There was a great book written around 10 years ago called Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer. Part of it describes going to a Mississippi game and it sounds like a blast. One of their game day mottos is, "We may not be able to beat you, but we can out party you."

Alabama plays in the toughest conference in college football. They go undefeated beating many ranked opponents along the way. They smoke the number 1 team in the country in their conference championship game. They beat the number 2 team in the country by double digits and you think Boise State is #1? I really don't get it?I didn't realize Bama had transferred to the Big 12.I would agree. Although I'm hesitant to put much stock in bowl performance, the SEC actually struggled in bowl games this year.The Big 12 passes the "eye test". They play both fast and physical. They also show good composure in close games. Texas didn't fold their tent up and go home after McCoy was hurt. There are excellent players that are both big and fast. The defenses play well against all of the spread offenses they see (which is probably why they are good at it).When I look at conferences, I always look at who the QBs are and who has a shot at the NFL. Bradford and McCoy have NFL shots. Mallet at Arkansas is the only NFL QB I see in the SEC.I just heard it on ESPN. They are starting up the tOSU/Big 10 publicity machine right now and Herbstreit is driving it. Herbstreit has laid low the past few season waiting for his chance. Now the door is cracked and he is busting it down. Get your barf bags ready for next year, it is going to be a long season. The Big Ten has one good bowl season in I don't know how many years and tOSU actually wins a BCS game and they are ranked #2 in Herbstreit's mind and people are actually interested in that league. You guys need to get used to something right now. tOSU is going to be in the National Championship game next year. They play their usual cast of MAC characters at home, Miami (FL) at home and then the rest of the Big 10. I think the Pryor Rose Bowl performance was atypical, but he is still good enough to beat the pile of junk they play the first 12 games. Herbstreit will be pushing him hard for the Heisman next year.Speaking of Miami (FL), did anyone else see the 30 for 30 on them. I had forgotten what a great program they once were. I saw them play this year at Wake and they are a shell of what they used to be. ACC football does no team any favors. As good of a basketball league as it is, it is that bad with football. I wonder if a tOSU safety will take a cheap shot at their best running back's knee like the last time they played. My guess is no because they won't have to.

This guy has gone from offensive coordinator at Miami, to head coach at Miami, to offensive ccoordinator at UofA, to interviewing for a position at YSU.Can he really not get a better job or is he working the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System? He is sort of a minor legend in the ACC so I don't understand why he wouldn't look to being an assistant somewhere in the ACC or ECU or something like that.

ESPN is reporting the USF coach was fired for mistreating a player. This is a much more interesting case than the Texas Tech case because it seems to be cut and dry. The only time I ever saw a coach grab a player in college was when Faust grabbed the facemask of a steroid filled offensive lineman in practice while yelling at him. The lineman took off his helmet while Faust was holding it and threw it at him. I've never heard the Rubber Bowl so silent. I never saw another college coach grab another player. With that said, I can't imagine anyone reporting the case to the University or their daddy as in the case of the Texas Tech player.In the USF case, it seems as if the coach had lost his mind. The player should have actually taken a swing at him. If the guy is that close to the edge, getting out of college coaching would be the best thing for him.The Texas Tech case is more complicated. Leach got what he deserved for putting James in a shed and he is a little crazy. Some time away from coaching would do him some good as well. In reality, the James kid and his father are a complete pain in the ass and Leach probably couldn't take it anymore. Adam James is a spoiled brat and his father is a jack-ass who used his position at ESPN to pressure coaches to play his son more. ESPN won't report it as that because they always protect their own and don't want to look bad. It doesn't excuse what Leach did, but he probably literally couldn't stand the sight of the kid any longer. In a big boys and girls world, parents don't call colege coaches to lobby for more playing time. In reality, Leach should have had a talk with Craig James long ago to put an end to it.Are coaches going crazy or do players now have enough self confidence to stand up to bullies? Should players put up with some level of physical contact from coaches? How does yelling and hitting an adult football player improve his performance?

Good game last night. Texas had Bama on the ropes and then the QB gets hurt. Texas loses all momentum and Alabama gets their offense rolling against a deflated Texas team. Good leadership shown by Texas veterans helping the freshman QB in the second half, but not enough.Alabama is a very beatable team. That is a totally different game with McCoy, but who knows....

Great One,I always expect an interesting read, and often am not disappointed by your analyses of collegiate sports -- American football in particular. But I always end up asking myself: ("Self...") why does GP-1 continuously refer to the Mid American Conference, and those leagues near it in ability, as essentially second, or third-rate crap -- and yet he continues to watch and extemporaneously opine on the continuing crappiness of these less-than-mediocre schools and teams? I wonder if the Great GP-1 has some sort of self-hatred complex that requires him watch that which is truly excruciating for him to observe. Concur?Somewhat. Loyalty also makes people act irrationally.Reality is difficult to hide from. Even the players playing at MAC schools know it is a second rate league if not third rate. That doesn't make them stupid, it actually makes them obervant and smart. Nobody says it publically, but deep down inside they know it and talk about it to themselves. Players can't walk into a home game at The Big Phone Booth and see 15,000 and not connect the dots that there is a difference between that and what they see at BCS level schools. I read this week that Texas has a $90 million budget for athletics and we have something like $14.....the dots don't connect. Even if you read the posts on this board, most posters know deep down inside that the league is below the ability of other leagues. Heck, I think Captain Kangaroo sees the league the same way I do, but he expresses his displeasure and disgust differently.I also don't think there is anything wrong with making fun of the league. The league does some pretty stupid things and if you don't laugh at it, you will cry. For crying out loud, it has been around since the 1940s and it still stinks, which is both sad and funny. Things are what they are. Who is more insane, the person calling a cat a dog or the person calling a cat a cat then laughs at the cat dressed up as a dog? You can dress the cat up as a dog, but it is still a funny looking cat. You can dress the MAC up as a D-IA league and call it a D-IA league, but once you look closely at it, it is a I-AA league. I think the league (and a lot of other leagues and schools) would be better off if they went I-AA. The structure of the NCAA is such that the rewards for BCS level teams are too great for the lesser conferences to overcome. The BCS is also starting to make it so many of the same teams show up in the BCS yearly which needs to change as well. The NCAA really needs to move to another level of college football and treat it as a professional league....it's that anyhow...the cat is the cat.There is an old saying that if you took all of the money in the US and distributed it equally, within five years the rich would become righ again, the middle would remain about the same and the poor would be poor. The rich know how to get rich. If you split the BCS money among all schools, the BCS schools would still remain at the top because they know what it takes to get there and they have the support to get there. What good would it do to distribute the money if the non-BCS schools would just pour it into their operating budget since most operate at a loss? They have lesser ability to improve their programs. The bigger schools are evolving at a faster rate than the smaller schools because they know how to. 100,000 seat stadiums didn't just pop up all fo the sudden. It took decades of hard work and investment for those schools to get to that point. Why punish the bigger schools for their success. Let them evolve into something separate from the pack and have their own league. The evolution might be good for everyone.The key you fail to realize is that their success (Big schools all 16 of them) have been on the backs of the other 104 Division 1-A schools. Their success comes from kicking the crap out of the other 104 schools.But then you also say that low budget schools have no chance, yet BYU, TCU, Utah, and Boise State have made a name for themselves starting off with what? Incredibly small budgets. But to say that the MAC is a 1-AA conference is to say that Michigan is a 1-AA school. Michigan has one of the largest budgets and biggest backings in the country and they have lost to Appalachian State, Toledo (a very bad Toledo by the way) in back to back seasons. Nobody is holding a gun to the heads of the non-BCS teams to play BCS teams. They know they are going to get their asses kicked and they do it willingly. If they NCAA wanted true reform, they would require a 40 team, top tier league, that only is allowed to play within itself. If it is really about competition (it isn't because it is about the BCS...so take the BCS out of it), the NCAA would increase competition by promoting teams of the same ability to play one another only. What is the divisional ranking system for anyhow? The BCS schools would make even more money and they could pay the players. Would someone pay more to see tOSU play OU or Texas? tOSU charges something like $65 to the OU game and they could charge $250 for the Texas game....probably more.In a meaningful game, BYU, TCU, Utah and Boise State would get burried by a top level BCS school. "But GP1, Oklahoma lost to one of these schools." I know, the game was meaningless. UF kicked the crap out of Cincy because it meant something to the school because of their coach and Tebow's last game. Cincy had no business being on the field with them. In a game for all the marbles, teams come more than prepared to play and they don't treat it as a bowl game full of amusement park rides, alumni pep rallies and trips to the beach. Does anyone notice how out of shape some of the players look in meaningless bowl games. Of course they are? They have been getting drunk everyday since the last game, the coaches leash is longer because they aren't around as much, overeating and having sex as often as possible.I understand the thinking. "Someone put up a brick wall so we have to run through it in order to 'grow' our program." This person runs into the wall and dislocates shoulder. Wouldn't it be better to just go around the wall? Why do we have to keep running into the wall? One big victory every 10 years? Is that really worth the losing?My father was a really smart country doctor. In a small town, doctors have an interesting insight into human behavior because they spend a lot more time with their patients and get to know them better. He probably saw all of my high school girlfriends naked before I did because he delivered them. He used to say about people when they made the same mistake over and over again, "If a human and a cat run into a glass door, the cat will never run into it again. At some point, the human will walk into it again. We never learn our lesson." I'm tired of running into brick walls and glass doors with the MAC.

Great One,I always expect an interesting read, and often am not disappointed by your analyses of collegiate sports -- American football in particular. But I always end up asking myself: ("Self...") why does GP-1 continuously refer to the Mid American Conference, and those leagues near it in ability, as essentially second, or third-rate crap -- and yet he continues to watch and extemporaneously opine on the continuing crappiness of these less-than-mediocre schools and teams? I wonder if the Great GP-1 has some sort of self-hatred complex that requires him watch that which is truly excruciating for him to observe. Concur?Somewhat. Loyalty also makes people act irrationally.Reality is difficult to hide from. Even the players playing at MAC schools know it is a second rate league if not third rate. That doesn't make them stupid, it actually makes them obervant and smart. Nobody says it publically, but deep down inside they know it and talk about it to themselves. Players can't walk into a home game at The Big Phone Booth and see 15,000 and not connect the dots that there is a difference between that and what they see at BCS level schools. I read this week that Texas has a $90 million budget for athletics and we have something like $14.....the dots don't connect. Even if you read the posts on this board, most posters know deep down inside that the league is below the ability of other leagues. Heck, I think Captain Kangaroo sees the league the same way I do, but he expresses his displeasure and disgust differently.I also don't think there is anything wrong with making fun of the league. The league does some pretty stupid things and if you don't laugh at it, you will cry. For crying out loud, it has been around since the 1940s and it still stinks, which is both sad and funny. Things are what they are. Who is more insane, the person calling a cat a dog or the person calling a cat a cat then laughs at the cat dressed up as a dog? You can dress the cat up as a dog, but it is still a funny looking cat. You can dress the MAC up as a D-IA league and call it a D-IA league, but once you look closely at it, it is a I-AA league. I think the league (and a lot of other leagues and schools) would be better off if they went I-AA. The structure of the NCAA is such that the rewards for BCS level teams are too great for the lesser conferences to overcome. The BCS is also starting to make it so many of the same teams show up in the BCS yearly which needs to change as well. The NCAA really needs to move to another level of college football and treat it as a professional league....it's that anyhow...the cat is the cat.There is an old saying that if you took all of the money in the US and distributed it equally, within five years the rich would become righ again, the middle would remain about the same and the poor would be poor. The rich know how to get rich. If you split the BCS money among all schools, the BCS schools would still remain at the top because they know what it takes to get there and they have the support to get there. What good would it do to distribute the money if the non-BCS schools would just pour it into their operating budget since most operate at a loss? They have lesser ability to improve their programs. The bigger schools are evolving at a faster rate than the smaller schools because they know how to. 100,000 seat stadiums didn't just pop up all fo the sudden. It took decades of hard work and investment for those schools to get to that point. Why punish the bigger schools for their success. Let them evolve into something separate from the pack and have their own league. The evolution might be good for everyone.

The MAC's top program needed double OT to beat Troy. What do you mean? Troy is in a top notch bottom of the barrel conference. The MAC is a bottom of the barrel, bottom of the barrel conference.

The big game is tonight.Can the SEC really win another national championship?Does Texas even have a chance?The SEC is a league where the best thing you can say about their academic standards for football would be that they are Can't Statelike, so they can get a better group of players. It is hard to pick against a top level SEC team in any big game. It is hard to pick against Alabama. My knock on Alabama is they have a "game manager" at QB. Show me a "game manager" and I'll show you a guy who could easily fall apart. The QB needs to come through in a big way in big games.On the other hand, I like the QB at Texas. Texas has a better offense than what was on display in the Big 12 Championship. I think if they can get an early lead and get some points, Alabama will not be able to keep up with their points scoring and the pressure will get to them. If you can get a lead on an SEC team, they will fall apart. If Texas falls behind early, they will get killed.I have no idea why, but I'm going with Texas in this one in an upset the same way Texas beat USC in an avalanche of points scoring. Texas scores early and often.Texas 31Alabama 24

CMU wins 44-41.One of the best QBs in league history goes 33-55 for 395 yards in a come from behind victory.Congratulations and thank you to CMU for not making the MAC look like complete fools.

It's because it is a I-AA league and nobody is willing to admit it. Akron has the talent to win a I-AA league.

You must be reading a different poster. When have I said any of these things?

Interesting article in Slate about what the statistical problems are with the BCS. My favorite part is the advocation of a top tier of college football populated by a few schools....I've been advocating this for a while on this board now.Enjoy the read.

Guilty.Does anyone watch Mad Men? There was a scene last season when the young red haired girl, Peggy, was trying to explain to Don an Aqua Net commercial she designed. She kept saying, "Then this happens...then this happens.....then this happens." Don looks at her and say, "Everytime you say 'then this happens' you lose me."Maybe the Zips problem is this simple, and I have been saying it for years. They play a defensive game. When you play an offensive game it is very simple. You focus on putting the little orange ball through the little orange ring. Outscore the other team and you win. When you play a defensive game, it sounds like Peggy..."You focus on double teams in the post, then the ball is thrown in, then you double team, then you hope the guy takes a bad shot, then you rebound, then you get the ball down court, then..." This logic assumes all of that is going to happen and then the guy with the ball on the offensive end is actually able to make a shot. In reality, they guy was brought here to focus on defense and not shooting.Defense can win a lot of regular season games when the competition ranges from very good to very bad. With defense, we should be able 100% of the games against the average to bad teams. Beat 50% of the good teams and the next thing you know you have 20 wins. We need teams that can outscore the good teams in critical situations. "But GP1, are you saying defense isn't important?" No, I'm just saying offense is critical in high profile games when things are close. In a close game, points become more important than defense. Points force the other team to match you shot for shot and it puts pressure on them.I disagree. Focusing entirely on offense is a bad way to try and go about winning championships.Please see the last paragraph in my post above.GP1 is saying, develop some scorers not just a stout defense. If you don't have shooters, then you shoot 31% in the second half and lose games.Exactly.Even better yet, who is the closer? Everyone talks about Kobe Bryant being the best "closer" in the NBA. Who plays this role for the Zips? When the Zips need points, who can they turn to?

Guilty.Does anyone watch Mad Men? There was a scene last season when the young red haired girl, Peggy, was trying to explain to Don an Aqua Net commercial she designed. She kept saying, "Then this happens...then this happens.....then this happens." Don looks at her and say, "Everytime you say 'then this happens' you lose me."Maybe the Zips problem is this simple, and I have been saying it for years. They play a defensive game. When you play an offensive game it is very simple. You focus on putting the little orange ball through the little orange ring. Outscore the other team and you win. When you play a defensive game, it sounds like Peggy..."You focus on double teams in the post, then the ball is thrown in, then you double team, then you hope the guy takes a bad shot, then you rebound, then you get the ball down court, then..." This logic assumes all of that is going to happen and then the guy with the ball on the offensive end is actually able to make a shot. In reality, they guy was brought here to focus on defense and not shooting.Defense can win a lot of regular season games when the competition ranges from very good to very bad. With defense, we should be able 100% of the games against the average to bad teams. Beat 50% of the good teams and the next thing you know you have 20 wins. We need teams that can outscore the good teams in critical situations. "But GP1, are you saying defense isn't important?" No, I'm just saying offense is critical in high profile games when things are close. In a close game, points become more important than defense. Points force the other team to match you shot for shot and it puts pressure on them.I disagree. Focusing entirely on offense is a bad way to try and go about winning championships.Please see the last paragraph in my post above.