GP1

Too little, too late for them.

I don't follow recruiting enough to know, but how many of these transfers are from winning programs?

In the 1980's Robert Lyons was a tall safety like this for the Zips. He was one of the few D1 capable Zips from the Dennison years. Later played for the Browns and Vikings. Let's hope we get the same quality of safety.

I've mentioned before I have a brother who is well connected to a couple of high profile college coaches. The coaches understand the graduate transfer more than you may realize. This is especially the case for a kid who started college early and after three to four spring practices and a degree, they are looking for something different. Think about when you were in college. Most of us were really itching to graduate and get on with something else. I think these players see the world the same way and a chance to go somewhere, pick up a Masters Degree and play couple more years of football seems like a good idea. The QB from OSU is an example. He has zero shot at the NFL and has graduated. What if he wants to go somewhere with nice weather, play some games and get a Masters Degree? It's probably a better idea for him than another freezing winter in Columbus doing the same routine as before. He's also looking at the guys he played with going to the NFL or portal and wonders why he would stick around with a bunch of young guys he has nothing in common with.

Hey easily replaceable.

He's 100% correct. One half of all players in the TP will end up with nothing. I think kids aren't thinking through things clearly. At some point, playing careers end. The options discussed are to stay and try your best or take the risk of the portal. The one rarely discussed is not playing football and just staying and graduating, then getting a job. I'm sure for many guys, the burden of not playing would be a relief. I actually think if a school runs a player off of a team because they want to open up a scholarship for someone who they think is better, the kid run off should still get a full scholarship to that school. If coaches are living up to their word in a family's living room during recruiting, the promise of a chance at graduating should be honored. Maybe acting honorably is too much to ask, but I don't think it is.

There is an available QB right now who went 11-1 with the only loss being to the #1 team on the road by less than 7 points. People say he stinks. I say guys like this don't grow on trees.

The MAC doesn't need more schools to do what the Sun Belt is doing. In fact, what they are doing can be done with 10 teams. Yes.

The thought of playing these schools makes me want to.........., fall asleep.

Maybe short term. Long term the direction of college football is to separate out 30-40 teams for their own division. 12 or 14 schools won't make a difference for Mac schools. We'll be on the second level. Someone needs to explain something to me. How does conference expansion benefit the athletes students alumni fans and general communities around MAC schools? Financially, expansion only divides up the TV money by more schools resulting in less money per school. This doesn't make sense. The expansion in expansion is a trend. What is the evidence it's making a different for athletes students alumni fans and general communities?

No. The Sun Belt success in recent years has been about scheduling and generation of fan interest through smart scheduling leading to winning.

Your request isn't unreasonable or unobtainable.

So, nobody and the recent past wasn't realistic. You're asking me to believe something conjured up by athletic directors was something other than reckless and stupid?

A lack of schools isn't our problem. I guess the question is, who is out there worth adding?

The MAC has 12 schools. That's more than enough. Athletic Directors are some of the most recklessly stupid executives in the USA. They love conference expansion. That tells me it's a recklessly stupid idea and contrary to college athletics benefiting athletes students alumni fans and general communities. Our problem isn't the number of schools. Our problem is we don't do whatever is necessary to make the MAC interesting to outsiders or to insiders at this point. Bringing in the Jacksonville States of the world doesn't make it interesting. Maximizing better competition through better scheduling resulting in the opportunity for more wins and post season games is interesting. It creates meaningful games in November. Is there a conference like ours maximizing opportunities and making themselves interesting? Hell yes! It's called the Sun Belt! By eliminating one money game a year, going to a nine game conference schedule, playing one FCS team and playing one MAC like team, they open up interesting opportunities. 12 of their 14 teams will be going to a bowl game. 7 of 12 teams have 6-6 records. Think eliminating a money game is a bad idea? The Sun Belt is a conference that understand winning and going to the post season benefits the athletes students alumni fans and general communities around their universities. They are an interesting conference doing interesting things. The MAC is the conference that plays on weeknights. I hate the MAC leadership also and it has nothing to do with expansion. There is a complete failure to understand what really matters to schools like ours.

These are important games and we should play them every year. I'd love replacing Buffalo with BG. Only one is a rival.

We already have our rivalry. Schools only get one rivalry. I just think it makes for better competition and that makes the games more entertaining. If played right, which the MAC isn't capable of, it could give each MAC school an additional home game in the nice weather months. I know I'm being delusional about this and the conference leadership will use it to stuff in another week night game, but we can always dream.

I'd love 9 conference games. The Sun Belt and Big 10 both have 9. The MAC is a good league with entertaining games. Have some confidence in the product and play each other.

So, do they play the same pod plus two other pods? Not sure how they figure out the other six mac games.

I saw something about Pods next year. Can someone please explain what is and why it matters?

Excellent hire. He won at a dump like Kent. Imagine what he can do in the most beautiful city in America.

Thanks for the link. It's a good read. Society has changed a lot. OSU is struggling to sell out games. It's not just us or FCS schools. The trendy thing to do years ago was athletic directors boosting their resumes by convincing schools to expand facilities. Now those stadiums are empty. A lesson is to be careful of who you listen to and their motivations. This is a very complex problem and is probably a new normal at this point.

Barely beating Akron is worse than some of the losses.

Good post. Further, if we kick the crap out of them, we learn nothing. If we bring in a Sun Belt team, or something similar, we learn how our team is stacking up against teams from like conferences. We need this more than a gimmick game against YSU.

I don't blame the tarped seats for the tarped seats.