GP1

Thank you GoZips. You are a gentleman and a wordsmith.The average was set against PSU, but the point is Temple has the ability to draw a team like that to their stadium for a home game. Their stadium can be a huge advantage to them.

I don't complain about NE Ohio sucking nearly as much as I used to.NE Ohio isn't losing jobs? The weather is great?Have a nice weekend angry NE Ohio people.

10,000? Temple shattered the single season attendance average for the MAC last year. They drew 69,029 for the PSU game breaking the single game attendance record. With the stadium they have, they could host PSU every other year and Rutgers on off years and draw about that amout for one game each year.If the prevailing line of thinking on this board is correct (new stadiums make teams win), then playing in an NFL stadium would make Temple win. I think it will take more to win, but shattering the league attendance record is a good recruiting advantage. They probably also were able to get a good crowd without having to give away tickets.

Where did I mention OSU?

Every part of the state can say they product BCS talent. The point is that the second level of talent in NE Ohio is not any good. The MAC is getting worse because of that fact.

While my post is short, it is exceedingly easy and quick to write. GP1 is the perpetual pessimist. "We will never be any good, ever, ever, ever!!!!"Then why do you even bother to follow the programs?I prefer cynic to pessimist.The point is not that we will not ever be any good. The question is, What do we want to be good compared to? I think it is completely in the realm of reality for Akron to be a good MAC school. In fact, we were recently good enough to win the MAC Championship. Becoming a consistent contender for the championship should be a realistic goal.Only one program in the history of the MAC was a Boise State type team and that was Marshall. Miami was a team like that for one year with Roethlisberger when they finished in the Top 10. What has happened to Marshall since getting out of the MAC?.....Complete disaster. The teams in our league are simply not designed to be high level mid major programs.With the current condition of the MAC, a 7-8 win season is a success (8 is actually a huge success). That's what we should be shooting for. It guarantees a bowl game and sets us up for a shot at the MACC. Remember, we were only a QB away from beating Miami and one drive from beating Temple. The Zips could have gone 6-6 last year. There is enough talent on the Zips that a 6-7 win season should not be out of the question next year.

Really? I have pictures that prove different.

No.

zipboy picks up onto something interesting. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't ever remember picking up the paper and reading a lot of stories about Zips getting into off field problems with the law, or even one story for that matter. ONE kid gets into a fight in a dorm his freshman year, two years ago, and all of the sudden the team is over run with criminals? I just don't understand this thinking.

What's up with all the old people in jorts?

There are a coupe of holes in the argument:Hole 1...NE Ohio is a fertile recruiting ground. High school football in Ohio is a shell of what it was 20 years ago. Every school is looking outside of Ohio to get players because the players coming out of high school really aren't that good. At this point, Temple has a much better recruiting ground than either UofA, Can't State or Miami.Hole 2...The new stadium will put UofA over the top along with the indoor practice arena. The UCF analogy does not hold with Akron for a couple of reasons. One, UCF stunk when they were in the MAC because kids in Florida did not want to play their games in the north where it is cold and their parents could not go to the games. Two, UCF has made a commitment to having a potential conference winner. Akron is committed to building things. The new stadium is being built out of as much necessity as it is desire to be good.If nice stadiums and recruiting are all it takes to be a good team, Temple will be the best team in the league in a few years. They have everyone in the conference beat by a mile in these two areas.The future of the MAC...The futurre can only be described as bleak. We are less than one month from the last two MAC bowl games and we can not forget what we learned. MAC schools were prison raped in their last two bowl games by teams that are only average in their conference. There is a pretty good chance that the two I-AA finalists would win the MAC. MAC schools will always be where we are for many reasons:1. They have little fan support.2. Little money because they have little fan support and those that do go do not want to pay a lot to see it.3. The BCS is designed to keep them bad (although I think the BCS is a boogey many non-BCS schools use as an excuse for their lack of performance). If money was equal, the BCS schools would rise to the top again because of tradition.4. There are too many MAC schools for a declining northern population to support with good players.5. Since they have no money, they create an unstable coaching atmosphere because they can not pay coaches6. No matter how many stadiums they build or indoor practice arenas, the BCS schools can always build bigger and nicer.7. Athletic Directors are in the same position the coaches are in so there is instability there.8. Athletic Directors are too young and inexperienced to have the know how or maturity to significantly improve the programs. When they do mature, they realize the cause is hopeless and look elsewhere for employment.9. Etc, etc, etc...Lastly, poor product keeps people from going to games and causes the above cycle to continue forever. In the end, the new stadium is not going to matter because we are not the only team in the MAC improving their stadium or practice arena. BGSU now has a new practice arena and Miami will soon have one. Can't has had one for years. The list of teams with new stadiums or practice arenas that stayed bad after the building would be longer than those that improved.While my post was long, it was exceedingly easy and quick to write. It should be for everyone else.

I had to go look at the paper to see how the team did last night. If someone from outer space came down and looked at this thread, they would think the Zips lost. The team won by 15+ points and scored a respectable 68 points. The team is on track for another 20 win season. There is nothing wrong with what KD does.....in general.These guys are adults. If KD tells them to do something and they don't do it, they can have a seat as far as I'm concerned. Guys get a scholarship to at a minimum give 100%, on top of that, they need to follow instructions. If they can't follow instructions, they need to sit. Mental errors will beat a team long before anything else.

I don't like bringing in guys from Massillon. All of the players I knew had big heads and believed they should be playing somewhere other than Akron. They are never as good as they think they are. This guy would be another one of them. We don't need guys who believe their best days are/will ever be behind them.

I think it is a fair discussion to have. Talent is an endless discussion on the football thread. My personal opinion is KD does a good job coaching a group of players with limited athletic ability for the level of basketball they play. 20 wins a year is pretty darn good....the athletic ability is not. Granted, a lot of those wins come against a laughable OOC schedule, but they still win and winning is better than losing any day of the week.For the record, Wood, Travis and Dru came here while Hip was still the HC.

I would actually like to know how much time the average voter spends researching the teams on that poll. My guess is not much.

This is the perfect topic for an Akron web page. For whatever reason, I too have fond memories of losing. Some days, being a Zips fan makes me think I'm mentally ill....most other days, it just makes me want to cry.

Question 1. No. The program is built. We do enough rebuilding. We need to start performing.Question 2. No. What you see is what you get. 20 wins a year is impressive.Question 3. Yes. What you see is what you get.Question 4. No. There is not enough community for any Zips program to become an elite at anything.That was easy enough.

you're wrong, he's a thug...periodHow does one qualify to be a thug?

You can also see thuglike behavior exibited by the Miami University (FLA) football team. Specifically those from the Butch Davis era. Am I right, Ray Lewis?What did he go to jail for?

Drinking in college and then driving? We don't need thugs like you on this board ZipAlumn.... Do you guys realize that just about every kid on the team probably goes out for a drink or two after a game...maybe more than two? The older kids might even buy the beer for the younger kids. Come on guys, this is the just the nature of college kids. If they didn't go out for a drink or two, I would think there was something wrong with them. Boys will be boys...

I'm really starting to get a kick out of how often the word "thug" or some variation of the word is used on this board. If you want to see real thuglike behavior, you all can see it acted out on Sunday nights at 9:00 on The Wire. Breaking team rules does not constitute thuglike behavior. Selling crack on a street corner during the day and killing others at night does. How about some perspective guys?Stay tuned for future comments on how improperly the word "classy" is used to describe athletes.

I thought this exact same thing after I saw the Winthrop game. Winthrop isn't even that good, but they had better athletes at every position than we did."You don't win with X's and O's, you win with Jimmies and Joes."In general, the team seems pretty good from what I see and read. If Coach D wants them to be great and dominate the league, he is going to have to worry less about defense and get a guy (maybe we have one) that can fill the basket up night after night. As few points as the Zips scored today, they were asking to lose. Mike Fratello was a guy who obsessed about defense also. The guy coached forever and didn't win anything. Offense wins games. Don't tell me that they use defense to get the offense started either. Had that been the case, they would have won today. CMU had more turnovers than the Zips and the Zips lose...are you kidding me?....it should have been a sure win based upon the turnover margin alone. Offense, offense, offense........ Put the little orange ball through the little orange ring...a lot.Lastly, it should not be a surprise Akron lost today. It is difficult for any team in any sport to play a second road game in a row and win the game. I'd heard somewhere that NFL teams only win around 30% of the time when they play a second road game in a row. We should be happy that Nate made that prayer against OU, or the team is looking at a pretty bad MAC start. Someone mentioned on this thread that other teams figured out Akron. Probably right, but since every sport in every league has become copy cat, Akron is going to have to fix their problems....and soon. Don't play into the copycats hands.

What happened between the Zips timeout and losing?

What are you so angry about all the time?

The conference has oddly set up Akron to play two home and then two away for a long time. Strange.......