GP1

I agree. It can be funny when people go off topic.

Frye missed his sister's wedding too.It was also a heart-tugging homecoming. The man missed his sister's wedding here the day before thanks to the Raiders flying in fewer than 24 hours before kickoff, as mandated by NFL rules.Welcome to Charlie Frye's World...I think it takes a lot of nerve for a young lady to schedule her wedding during football season. If there are any unmarried ladies out there reading this, don't schedule your wedding between September 1 and February 28.Did his sister not know it was football season? Did his sister not know her brother was a professional football player and works on the weekends during football season? Smarts must really not run in the family.

Finally, someone has figured out The Great GP1. I sit on this computer thinking about destroying unions, worrying about the weather and fixated on half naked southern girls. Brilliant.In high school debate club, the kids are trained to find one point to counter all other points regardless of how silly it may be. If Boise, Lincoln, Wyoming and KC are the future of the country, I'll eat my computer. Those are out of the way places destined to always be small time American cities away from where many people want to live. I could also throw out that an airplane manufacturer is moving 3,800 jobs from Washington to Charleston, SC which will create a total of around 23,000 jobs in that area alone to support the one industry, but the Great GP1 thinks bigger than that.In reality, I think Ohio is a great place and if someone wants to live there I don't think that makes that person stupid. It has nothing to do with me leaving and everything to do with the vast numbers of people that have left. That's where the demographics come into play. There aren't fewer good football players in Ohio because parents are stupid because they want to live there. That's a silly argument that I actually have never made here. There are fewer good football players in Ohio because there are fewer people. There are increasingly more good players in the south because there are increasingly more people in the south.

Exceptions to the rule and not the rule. They are good teams though.I'd also like to see either of those teams have the success they have had playing in one of the big three conferences. I don't think undefeated seasons would be in order for them.

^^This is a very moot factor at best.What we take for granted or simply do not know is that in the southern states, their Track Seasons start far earlier than up North. Also, State rules are more strict in the north regarding Track & Field than in the south. If you think this has no impact, just check the state records for sprints in northern states vs. the south. It affects the overall speed and muscle-conditioning which may give a slight, but certain advantage to conferences like the SEC.Compounded by the fact that the BigTen's 'game' hasn't evolved as fast as other conferences.It's just like the Auto Industry - The domestics didn't evolve until they were the laughing stock and they lost market-share. They currently - realistically make some of the best cars (i.e. Ford & GM, not Chrysler), but still are perceived as inferior.The Midwest still has some of the best athletes, but we're still behind in evolving our game to match the new benchmarks (i.e. SEC, Big 12 South). This doesn't mean we can't compete. Let's face it, Alabama plays 'Big 10' football and smashed Florida which plays purely 'SEC' football.So it's not like it can't be done.It's all about scheme and strategy. It would go a long way if the OHSAA would lax the rules.Curious what rules are you referring to?My guess is the fact that Ohio does not have spring football practice. They can have it in the south because the fields are not covered with snow. UofA has an indoor arena that helps when there is snow on the ground.

I understand that at one point he considered naming it Obama Stadium, but the architects concluded that the stadium would end up tilted so far to the left that everyone would fall out of their seats. Good point. I had heard they were going to name it Republican Party Stadium in honor of a lot of the fundraising InfoCision does, but then they realized the stadium would still lean to the left. Just not as much as if they named it Obama Stadium.

And now a long snap out the back of the end zone...they came unraveled really quickly.A truely MACtastic finish if there ever was one.

Two questions:1. What is his stated reasoning for not wanting to play UofA?2. How do you know the motives of all major-major coaches?

EA is right, but his reasoning is wrong. The reason UofA needs to play a better schedule is to bring in more money. I could really care less about SOS or RPI, to me all of that stuff is BS. What I am extremely concerned about are the small crowds that show up at the JAR to see them play Malone AND St. Francis, or whatever pile of crap they scheduled. One of those games a year is enough.EA is correct about one thing. UofA should be the odds on favorite to win the MAC this year. It has become a very good program. 25 wins with their schedule should not be an unreasonable expectation. They are good enough that we can stop holding the program's hand through the "building process" they have gone through and treat them like big boys now. I think they can perform well in ATM games and they should start to play them. Screw all the rankings.

I suppose it's a good thing your name neither starts with Tom or end with Wistrcill.Why is everyone so afraid of such a small percent of both ooc games and overall games being played as ATM games? I'm not scared of what the other teams have or how the Zips might perform. It has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with generating revenue for the Athletic Department.

Gary Waters didn't even need to pull back the curtain at the convo last week. Attendance: 5105Thanks ZW. OSU is having trouble filling 50% of the seats at their home arena this season. There is no advantage to Zips for playing games at the Q, except for the MAC tournament. I'm fine with that. Then what we need to do is schedule 2-3 ATM games a year and not worry about the home-home.

To be perfectly honest, I am not nearly the fan of pro football that I used to be. The process has been gradual over the years, but I can remember a time in my life when watching an NFL game was a fun event for me. What it has turned into now is a struggle for me to watch a commercial-fest with sporadic periods of football sprinkled in between.Do you guys realize the name Zips was from a sponsorship of a local rubber producer? We should all be careful to think that sports has not always been about money. It has.

Here is how this statement should read."The Big Ten hasn't officially contacted us at this time, but we're always trying to improve ourprogram. If that means building it through suicide, we are happy to go there."

This is an ATM game for UNCG. The game is being played at Greensboro Coliseum which seats 20,000. My guess is 18,000 of those fans will be rooting for WF. I'm sure UofA could get a home game like this if they were willing to play it in Cleveland.

I don't have a problem with the name of our stadium.As far as it being classy, InfoCision made a large part of their money in religious fundraising scaring little old ladies into giving $25 at a time and pocketing almost all of that money. We gladly took the money from a not so classy business. Let's not kid ourselves about where that money came from.

That's because Roethlisberger is slowed down by the weight of his two Super Bowl rings and his MAC Championship ring.I can't believe my Steelers playoffs hopes partly rest on Charlie actually being able to win a game this week. It's funny how things come around.....and depressing.

Maybe not as a starter, but certainly as a back-up. Charlie is proof of it.Think about it. If you were an NFL General Manager and you were thinking about your back-up situation, what would you want? The two things I want would be ability and experience. Most back-up QBs don't have the ability or they wouldn't be a back-up. Charlie doesn't have the ability. Most rarely get in a game let along start a game. Charlie has at least started a number of games so he does have the experience. I really believe that is worth something and Charlie will be around for five more years because of it.

I agree to an extent. Do you need to play larger schools? yes you do, but you have to avoid "payday games" unless it is an home-home series.You have created a situation where we will never play larger schools because the big boys don't need to play home-home. This reasoning has become the program's "escape hatch" for their bad schedule. There are schools more than willing to travel to the ATM 2-3 times a year and until the MBB team proves it can generate more income with the current schedule, I don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to step up to the ATM 2-3 times a year. This team is good enough not to fall on their face in a game like this. Heck, they might just win one.If by home-home you mean at their place and then at The Gund, I would agree. The truth is big teams don't come to the JAR because they can't rake in the money they can at home.

I didn't see the game, but I don't need to in order to know Charlie is sorry.

Does anyone know if they are planning on a special teams coordinater?I'd love for the Zips to dip into their bottomless pit of money and get one. In reality, there is not bottomless pit of money and they can barely afford to pay competitive salaries to their head coach let alone their assistants. There will be no special team coordinator.

The Great GP1 has been making this point for a few years now and it is on the money. If anyone is sensitive about hearing any criticism about the current state of Ohio high school football, please stop reading this post now.I belive the current population in Ohio is at least not expanding as rapidly as other parts of the country. It's simple demographics. As populations grow, the possibility of generating D-IA players is expanded. The Big 12, PAC 10 and SEC are great conferences because they have a larger population of high school athletes to draw from. In addition, the good teams in those conferences tend to be in warm weather states. I know nobody wants to believe it, but high school boys decisions are influenced in part by girls...I know that's hard to believe. When they can see girls in Florida in January in shorts and t-shirts, it makes for a lot better visual than girls in Columbus in parkas.tOSU is now bringing in what I consider to be "The Best of the Rest". After the tier one conferences get the majority of the best players from around the country, tOSU/Big Ten is left to select the remainder. A lot of those kids are from Ohio. The problem is not many kids from Ohio are "impact players". tOSU gets high rankings in recruiting because of players of secondary importance....linemen. If a kid from Ohio is really good and really wants to compete at the top level of college football most weeks, tOSU is not the place to go. Look no further than the kid who just won the Heisman Trophy. While not from Ohio, he is a midwest kid from Michigan who drove by a lot of Big Ten schools to play in one of the top three conferences and the competition that brings. tOSU isn't in decline because there are NO good players...they are in decline because Ohio simply isn't producing enough good players to make them competitive nationally. The other thing hurting the Big Ten is the style of football. It's just plain borring. No good player with his eyes on the NFL would go to a Big Ten school where they plough into the line time and again. tOSU is the Big Ten champion and they have a QB who throws sidearm and the nicest thing anyone can say about him would be, "He throws the ball in the general direction of the receiver". Why would a kid good enough to play on Sundays go to tOSU and play with that stiff. There is zero opportunity to showcase your talents. I know that type of thinking offends a lot on this board, but it's not 1950 anymore and high school kids do think about going to the NFL if they have the ability.I don't want to make it seem like I'm picking on tOSU too bad, because it is a midwest/Big Ten problem. They serve as a good example of the problem though. Keep in mind, tOSU lost to a 1-5 Purdue, the fifth place PAC 10 team at home in USC and they could have easily lost to NAVY. Freaking Navy for crying out loud. The bottom line is Tressel has the very best of teams in a second tier conference and they are still an average team who wouldn't compete very well in a top tier conference. The lack of talent is killing tOSU, the Big Ten and the MAC. There is no other way to slice it.One more display of the lack of ability in the midwest/Ohio will be on display at the Sugar Bowl this year. Cincy could have lot to Pitt. I saw Pitt play yesterday and they could have lost to UNC. UNC is a joke. Cincy is going to get steamrolled by UF at the Sugar Bowl. The talent level will be overwhelming.

All really good points.As far as Marshall, Leftwich's team his last year at Marshall would have kicked the crap out of that Marshall team yesterday.

I like what I see in this article. Three things stand out to me as a positive sign.1. He likes what he sees on film as far as the talent. So do a lot of us.2. He is planning new schemes with the new coaches. New scheme = good.3. Spring practice is delayed so the schemes can be better thought out and the players have more time in the weight room.Translation. The talent is there....the bodies need development before the scheme can be implemented because he knows size matters and they players aren't big enough yet. This guy expects to win sooner rather than later and sees the exising talent can deliver wins. I think he is right.To the players...get ready for a brutal winter training.To the strength and conditioning coach.....make sure the waste baskets are plenty empty because there is going to be a lot of thowing up.

I'm getting ready to go watch Pitt play UNC later this afternoon and the Marshall vs. ECU bowl game from when Leftwich played is on ESPN Classic. It was one of the all time great bowl games. I can't help but think...What in the heck has happened to the MAC? From the period when Pennington started until Roethlisberger left Miami, the MAC champion would have had a shot of beating either Pitt or UNC in the Car Care Bowl. That is not the case today.One of the worst things to happen to MAC football was the exit of Marshall to CUSA (it has been bad for Marshall also, but that's another topic). The old saying is, "A rising tide lifts all ships". Marshall was a winner before coming to the MAC and they remained a winner in the conference. Being as good as they were, the other MAC schools were forced to improve their programs talent levels to keep up. Miami, Toledo and WMU just to name a few were much better teams than they are today. Heck, Miami had a Top 10 finish Roethlisberger's final season. With the exit of Marshall, the tide was lowered and so has the quality of the MAC. A lot of MAC schools had actually caught up to Marshall in quality and were beating them. If my memory serves me correctly, UofA won 2 of the last 3 outings against Marshall.Another problem I think the MAC has is there is a loss of focus on winning in exchange for a focus on "building" things. Marshall, Miami, WMU and Toledo had worse facilities than they do today and their teams were better then than now. They had better players then than they do today with better facilities. Is the focus on "building" really the key or should be key be focusing on winning and getting winners in your program? When you focus on "building", you can more easily excuse away losing by lumping it into some odd idea that in the long run the losing will pay off because you are "building". Think about it....in 99% of the cases you can't have a child without having sex....you can't have a winner without winning. In this holiday season, I would ask for winning to be the priority of the conference and not an immaculate conception of "building" to transform it into a winner.

The first MAC bowl game is today. If the MAC is going to win one this year, this could be one of the games they pull off. I don't see that happening though. OU only put up 10 on CMU in the MAC Championship and their QB is a joke. Getting an early lead and keeping the game in their style of play, which is a running game, is their only hope. Marshall will win, but isn't impressive in doing so and the game will not be as close as the score indicates.Marshall 24OU 10