Bowl Still Possible

[K-Roo]

http://www.ohio.com/sports/34793019.html"What it means for UAUA Athletic Director Mack Rhoades is well aware of the scenarios.''If we can take care of business — and we don't want to put the cart before horse — if we can beat Ohio and Temple, then we put ourselves in position for an open bowl spot,'' Rhoades said.The MAC has three bowl commitments — the International, the GMAC and the Motor City Bowl. Ball State, the East winner (Buffalo or Bowling Green or even UA) and either Central or Western Michigan will take those three spots.If WMU doesn't get an automatic bid, it will certainly get an at-large bid.But if UA is 7-5, and there aren't enough teams to fill the other spots, the Zips might have forced the issue.One other factor to consider: If there aren't enough bowl-eligible teams, MAC teams could jump to other bowls and other MAC schools could fill in the three bowls that are committed to the conference."

[GoZips88]

I'm in full 'take one game at a time' mode now. Bowl season? What bowl season? Time to take the long drive down to Athens and beat a very beatable 2-8 team. Get cleaned up, drive back home and start preparing for very beatable Temple. I lost my desire/chance to bowl 'window shop' when Akron lost to Cincy, BGSU, and/or Buffalo ... all at home and all there for the taking. I'm until at least the other side of the Temple game on 11/28. Will re-evaluate my emotions then.

[bigham78]

http://www.ohio.com/sports/34793019.html"What it means for UAUA Athletic Director Mack Rhoades is well aware of the scenarios.''If we can take care of business — and we don't want to put the cart before horse — if we can beat Ohio and Temple, then we put ourselves in position for an open bowl spot,'' Rhoades said.The MAC has three bowl commitments — the International, the GMAC and the Motor City Bowl. Ball State, the East winner (Buffalo or Bowling Green or even UA) and either Central or Western Michigan will take those three spots.If WMU doesn't get an automatic bid, it will certainly get an at-large bid.But if UA is 7-5, and there aren't enough teams to fill the other spots, the Zips might have forced the issue.One other factor to consider: If there aren't enough bowl-eligible teams, MAC teams could jump to other bowls and other MAC schools could fill in the three bowls that are committed to the conference."

First things first. Let win out after blowing winnable games to this point.If, UOFA does that. There will be slots available as some conferences will come up short. Here's one projection that's been floating around.Independence Dec. 28 Shreveport, La. ESPN 8 p.m. Big 12 vs. SEC Akron* vs. La.-Lafayette* The Big 12 and SEC are coming up short and the SBC will only be able to field a couple of those slots.

[skip-zip]

If everyone remembers, we were the only bowl eligible team back in 2004 to not get a bowl bid. But, we didn't have 7 wins that time either. I still believe that 7 wins has to get you in somewhere.

[bobbyake]

If 7-5 gets you into a bowl game, wouldn't it make sense to schedule 4 cup cakes for the out-of-conference games? Wouldn't the bowl money be more attracting than going to Happy Valley? Just some thoughts.

[tbozeglav]

If 7-5 gets you into a bowl game, wouldn't it make sense to schedule 4 cup cakes for the out-of-conference games? Wouldn't the bowl money be more attracting than going to Happy Valley? Just some thoughts.

If we were a larger-market team with a lot more funding and were a hell of a lot better, then yes. That kind of formula for getting to a bowl really only works with those BCS conference teams. There's really no way we can get to a bowl if we play the weakest schedule in the nation...**edit**On second thought... it could work. However, I like the way we are going about things right now because we need to start playing those bigger name teams so we can start making a splash in the world outside of Akron. Look at what Toledo did. Beat Michigan. In the big house. Got NATIONAL tv time for that win. Seriously though, you gotta beat the best before you can become the best. If we did all cupcake games, what do you think people would think of us? They'd think "Akron is just a weak mid-major team who doesn't beat anybody thats worth anything". Granted thats how many people think now, but by getting more wins vs BCS teams, it makes us look that much better.

[johnnyzip84]

If 7-5 gets you into a bowl game, wouldn't it make sense to schedule 4 cup cakes for the out-of-conference games? Wouldn't the bowl money be more attracting than going to Happy Valley? Just some thoughts.

There are SOME limitations to the "cupcake" theory of scheduling as it regards to bowl eligibility. For instance, only one win over a FCS (formerly 1-AA) can count towards bowl eligibility.

[bobbyake]

We could schedule the BAD BCS or non-bcs teams for cup cake wins. I would rather schedule these teams than D1 AA teams. Here is a list of some really bad teams that are BCS schools, and that a good Akron team should beat 95% of the time without a problem.ACC - Duke, NCState, Clemson, Virginia.Big East - Syracuse, Small Ten - Illinios, Indiana, PurdueBig 12 - Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&MSEC - Mississippi StatePAC 10 - Washington, Washington State, Non BCS School bad teams list.WAC - Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico StateSun Belt - North Texas, Lous. Monroe, Con USA - Southern Methodist, Tulane, UAB, UCFMountain West - San Diego StateAfter saying all this, the only problem is we need a good coach. The one we have now can't even win more than 50% of the time against MAC schools.

[Captain Kangaroo]

If 7-5 gets you into a bowl game, wouldn't it make sense to schedule 4 cup cakes for the out-of-conference games? Wouldn't the bowl money be more attracting than going to Happy Valley? Just some thoughts.

Dude - We play in the MAC East. We play the dregs of D1 in Ken.t, OU, Temple, EMU, etc. every year. And BG and Buffalo aren't exactly "Florida" and "Texas." How many more cupcakes do you want? What decent D1 recruit wants to play his entire career against total garbage?At some point, if you are a Division 1 school, you need to compete against decent D1 teams. BTW - $750k for a days work in Happy Vally is a sweet deal. Especially considering the Big 10 is becoming more and more beatable every season (the days of losing 70-24 in such games is long gone).

[bobbyake]

If 7-5 gets you into a bowl game, wouldn't it make sense to schedule 4 cup cakes for the out-of-conference games? Wouldn't the bowl money be more attracting than going to Happy Valley? Just some thoughts.

Dude - We play in the MAC East. We play the dregs of D1 in Ken.t, OU, Temple, EMU, etc. every year. And BG and Buffalo aren't exactly "Florida" and "Texas." How many more cupcakes do you want? What decent D1 recruit wants to play his entire career against total garbage?At some point, if you are a Division 1 school, you need to compete against decent D1 teams. BTW - $750k for a days work in Happy Vally is a sweet deal. Especially considering the Big 10 is becoming more and more beatable every season (the days of losing 70-24 in such games is long gone).

I never said D1 AA schools. When I say cup cakes, i mean the bad D 1 schools. Whether they're BCS schools or not doesn't matter, we should be able to beat both.

[bobbyake]

I understand 750k is a BIG deal for the program. It is needed to pay the bills.Let's just look at a couple things first.- Playing Penn State gives us a very high chance at a Lose/Lose situation. We take a loss, and all the local high school stars can justify why they should pick PSU over Akron.- Our program is still building, we need a winning strategy to attract better talent and improve the fan base.I would love to play teams like Penn State in the future, but I think it's better for this program to start establishing a winning tradition. This will help build the fan base and bring in higher quality talent.I think there are better strategies for us that will benefit us better in the long run than the one we have now like playing hard to win games in Happy Valley.I hope Akron wins next year and think it would be a huge boost to the program. But I think the risk is too high if you are looking for Wins.To create a winning tradition, we need to first lower the risk of losing.

[GJGood]

We'd beat Illinois, Clemson, Kansas State, and Baylor 95% of the time? Man, we need to get them on the schedule.Illinois was in the Rose Bowl last year. Clemson is a program very capable of being in the top 25, if not top 10 most years. If the Big XII wasn't so strong this year maybe Kansas State would be up there too. Baylor, I predict, will be next years big surprise team. I personally think their QB has more upside than that guy playing down here in Columbus.

[johnnyzip84]

We'd beat Illinois, Clemson, Kansas State, and Baylor 95% of the time? Man, we need to get them on the schedule.Illinois was in the Rose Bowl last year. Clemson is a program very capable of being in the top 25, if not top 10 most years. If the Big XII wasn't so strong this year maybe Kansas State would be up there too. Baylor, I predict, will be next years big surprise team. I personally think their QB has more upside than that guy playing down here in Columbus.

I agree with a couple of things you said, GJGood. 1st, Baylor FR QB Robert Griffin IS going to be a household name before too long. He was amazing in the little action I saw of him this year while flipping through channels. I think he's the fastest QB I've ever seen period, AND he showed a pretty decent understanding of how to play QB to boot (relatively strong arm too). 2nd, I don't think even the 2008 edition of Ball St. (who I think is perhaps one of the best MAC teams ever) would defeat those 4 teams 95% of the time.Two other points come to mind with regards to scheduling "beatable" FBS teams. Probably half of the list can be excluded due to travel costs, including the Mountain West (IF we could even schedule a 1 for 1 deal with any of them), the WAC, parts of C-USA and parts of the Sunbelt. Another issue is the "shifting target" nature of a cupcake, due to non-conference games often being scheduled years in advance of the game. True, there are programs that seem to always hover in the lower half of their BCS conference, but it's still difficult to predict just how well a team like Vandy (for instance) might be playing by the time you actually see them on the field. Perhaps, when the game was scheduled a few years ago, the Miami Redhawks thought they were getting a "cupcake" when they scheduled Vandy to open 2008 in Oxford.