Another Opinion on Saturday

[72 Roo]

I promise myself that I would not post after the game as I would probably say something I would regret. So here's a lame effort to give more thoughts on the game.1) We were not prepared for this one. I know the D did good but as a team we were playing like we had no belief we could compete.2) J.D. got outcoached. His staff got outcoached. Akron is terrible at making any meaningful halftime adjustments.3) Can the offense try something new? How about the old adage that you take what they give? We never threw to the TE in the entire game. How about throwing to a back coming out of the backfield? How about after an entire half of running up the middle we try something else.4) QB is a problem. CJ can not win the game for us, but he can lose it. I'll take Rodgers footspeed over CJ's throwing any day. Rodgers can learn to throw but CJ will never get faster. If we had used Rodgers more PSU would have had to watch for the run more thereby putting some receivers one on one. Rodgers has never had the investment in playing time that CJ has had. Give him a chance. In 2010 Nicely will be the next Lefleur anyway. BTW, CJ is in his third year of starting and he still locks onto one receiver and ignores his progressions. If this is our best then we have been taken for a ride by the coaching staff.5) We have little to be proud of because we didn't play good football. We were not going to win, but we needed to earn respect. That didn't happen.6) Why did we continue to play Jake Anderson? He drew three penalties for offsides and one for delay of game when he was late reporting in on a fourth down punt. We have heard so much about the depth of the O-line. Well give someone else a chance to go in and get their butt whipped also. That's better than drawing penalties.7) 7-5 or better is the only performance that can save JD's job. That will be a challenge with CMU and BGSU looking strong; 'Cuse, NIU and Buffalo being no easy marks; and an upset somewhere along the line. Granted we will probably upset someone too. Outside CMU, there is the possibility we can run the rest of the schedule. Do you really believe we can with this kind of offensive leadership from the O-line, QB and coaching staff? I hope so, but Saturday did not inspire anyone. I don't want J.D. to be fired. I just want to see proof he can build a team that can dominate the MAC and be competitive in any game. Over this game and the last two years I have yet to see performance that says he can. He's got 10 more games to show it. 8) I feel sorry for Bain. I heard from the non-coaching staff that he was not responding to therapy for his back. W/o him and Tonga and Henderson our D-line is not the strength we thought we would have. It is much improved, but not enough to make a top team worry. Against PSU we still slipped into the 3-3-5 too much. With no pressure, Clark eventually found open receivers. To win the MAC we must bring pressure.9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5. There was so much hope for this season that perhaps we lost our perspective. One game doesn't destroy the season, so let's get back on track and take 'em one at a time. I'll be screaming my head off for the boys to take it out on Morgan State. See you in the SRO Info.

[GJGood]

I promise myself that I would not post after the game as I would probably say something I would regret. So here's a lame effort to give more thoughts on the game.1) We were not prepared for this one. I know the D did good but as a team we were playing like we had no belief we could compete.2) J.D. got outcoached. His staff got outcoached. Akron is terrible at making any meaningful halftime adjustments.3) Can the offense try something new? How about the old adage that you take what they give? We never threw to the TE in the entire game. How about throwing to a back coming out of the backfield? How about after an entire half of running up the middle we try something else.4) QB is a problem. CJ can not win the game for us, but he can lose it. I'll take Rodgers footspeed over CJ's throwing any day. Rodgers can learn to throw but CJ will never get faster. If we had used Rodgers more PSU would have had to watch for the run more thereby putting some receivers one on one. Rodgers has never had the investment in playing time that CJ has had. Give him a chance. In 2010 Nicely will be the next Lefleur anyway. BTW, CJ is in his third year of starting and he still locks onto one receiver and ignores his progressions. If this is our best then we have been taken for a ride by the coaching staff.5) We have little to be proud of because we didn't play good football. We were not going to win, but we needed to earn respect. That didn't happen.6) Why did we continue to play Jake Anderson? He drew three penalties for offsides and one for delay of game when he was late reporting in on a fourth down punt. We have heard so much about the depth of the O-line. Well give someone else a chance to go in and get their butt whipped also. That's better than drawing penalties.7) 7-5 or better is the only performance that can save JD's job. That will be a challenge with CMU and BGSU looking strong; 'Cuse, NIU and Buffalo being no easy marks; and an upset somewhere along the line. Granted we will probably upset someone too. Outside CMU, there is the possibility we can run the rest of the schedule. Do you really believe we can with this kind of offensive leadership from the O-line, QB and coaching staff? I hope so, but Saturday did not inspire anyone. I don't want J.D. to be fired. I just want to see proof he can build a team that can dominate the MAC and be competitive in any game. Over this game and the last two years I have yet to see performance that says he can. He's got 10 more games to show it. 8) I feel sorry for Bain. I heard from the non-coaching staff that he was not responding to therapy for his back. W/o him and Tonga and Henderson our D-line is not the strength we thought we would have. It is much improved, but not enough to make a top team worry. Against PSU we still slipped into the 3-3-5 too much. With no pressure, Clark eventually found open receivers. To win the MAC we must bring pressure.9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5. There was so much hope for this season that perhaps we lost our perspective. One game doesn't destroy the season, so let's get back on track and take 'em one at a time. I'll be screaming my head off for the boys to take it out on Morgan State. See you in the SRO Info.

I thought some halftime adjustments were made that worked quite well. Penn State was never really able to gets its running game going. While Akron never had any success running either, in the second half the QB had more time to throw and it showed with some good completions and a TD. Obviously something was adjusted, be it blocking schemes or whatever. To me it seemed like the second half was an even match. I just wish field position could have been better and the adjustments could have been made sooner in the first half.

[zippy_ua_00]

I promise myself that I would not post after the game as I would probably say something I would regret. So here's a lame effort to give more thoughts on the game.1) We were not prepared for this one. I know the D did good but as a team we were playing like we had no belief we could compete.2) J.D. got outcoached. His staff got outcoached. Akron is terrible at making any meaningful halftime adjustments.3) Can the offense try something new? How about the old adage that you take what they give? We never threw to the TE in the entire game. How about throwing to a back coming out of the backfield? How about after an entire half of running up the middle we try something else.4) QB is a problem. CJ can not win the game for us, but he can lose it. I'll take Rodgers footspeed over CJ's throwing any day. Rodgers can learn to throw but CJ will never get faster. If we had used Rodgers more PSU would have had to watch for the run more thereby putting some receivers one on one. Rodgers has never had the investment in playing time that CJ has had. Give him a chance. In 2010 Nicely will be the next Lefleur anyway. BTW, CJ is in his third year of starting and he still locks onto one receiver and ignores his progressions. If this is our best then we have been taken for a ride by the coaching staff.5) We have little to be proud of because we didn't play good football. We were not going to win, but we needed to earn respect. That didn't happen.6) Why did we continue to play Jake Anderson? He drew three penalties for offsides and one for delay of game when he was late reporting in on a fourth down punt. We have heard so much about the depth of the O-line. Well give someone else a chance to go in and get their butt whipped also. That's better than drawing penalties.7) 7-5 or better is the only performance that can save JD's job. That will be a challenge with CMU and BGSU looking strong; 'Cuse, NIU and Buffalo being no easy marks; and an upset somewhere along the line. Granted we will probably upset someone too. Outside CMU, there is the possibility we can run the rest of the schedule. Do you really believe we can with this kind of offensive leadership from the O-line, QB and coaching staff? I hope so, but Saturday did not inspire anyone. I don't want J.D. to be fired. I just want to see proof he can build a team that can dominate the MAC and be competitive in any game. Over this game and the last two years I have yet to see performance that says he can. He's got 10 more games to show it. 8) I feel sorry for Bain. I heard from the non-coaching staff that he was not responding to therapy for his back. W/o him and Tonga and Henderson our D-line is not the strength we thought we would have. It is much improved, but not enough to make a top team worry. Against PSU we still slipped into the 3-3-5 too much. With no pressure, Clark eventually found open receivers. To win the MAC we must bring pressure.9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5. There was so much hope for this season that perhaps we lost our perspective. One game doesn't destroy the season, so let's get back on track and take 'em one at a time. I'll be screaming my head off for the boys to take it out on Morgan State. See you in the SRO Info.

I thought some halftime adjustments were made that worked quite well. Penn State was never really able to gets its running game going. While Akron never had any success running either, in the second half the QB had more time to throw and it showed with some good completions and a TD. Obviously something was adjusted, be it blocking schemes or whatever. To me it seemed like the second half was an even match. I just wish field position could have been better and the adjustments could have been made sooner in the first half.

As for throwing out of the backfield to a RB we did on the third play of our first offensive possesion. CJ over threw him by 10 yards. the ball went out of bounds. 2nd, we got out coached because their head coach has been coaching longer than ours has been alive. im pretty sure he probably knows how to coach a game better. They are in a Power/BCS conferance, which in turn means they have the funds to provide better coaching. we built a 61 million dollar football stadium, which is beautiful, but these conferances laugh at 61 mil and build 250 mil facilities. I cant understand why everyone is being so hard on this team. for some reason everyone thinks we should have actually beaten this team. PSU is a top 10 and a national championship contender. We arent and odds are we never will be. thats the reality.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Our basketball team got waxed by Pitt and still won a MAC Championship. The football team can do the same.I agree with the prevailing sentiment of the thread -- our offense really needs to tighten things up. As good as Penn State is...we looked flat-out horrible. Unprepared. Overmatched. All that stuff. Indiana has a very good defensive line. A bad team, but a very good D-line. We have two weeks to prove that we can strike fear into a decent team. We have the talent. I eagerly await the unleashing of an aggressive scheme that will keep an opposing defense on it's heels rather than allow it to pin its ears back.This week is a party 69 years in the making. Let's enjoy it.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

72Roo, good post, and I don't understand why so many posters are essentially shrugging their shoulders about this loss. You're right about the game planning on the offensive side of the ball, the pathetic and numerous runs right into the middle of the PSU D, Jacq's QBing and the O-line play. I don't care if you're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, you can at least try some different looks, can't you? If a running QB gives you a better shot in a game like this, sit Jacq and see what Rodgers' legs can do for you on more than a handful of plays. The thrust of the negative posts about this game have been ignored by other posters who seem to simply accept that it's OK to completely suck ass when you're playing a really, really good team. That's bullshit. Of course UA was going to lose this game, short of some crazy miracle. But it was NOT too much to expect adjustments, smart and creative playcalling, inspired and physical play. I saw none of that. It was just boring, and that's about the worst thing you can see in a loss. Remember too that much of the offseason was sent cheering on the arrivals of Shane Montgomery and Walt Harris, genuine major college football coaches in their own right. What did they each do in this game to earn their keep? During most seasons this kind of boring, uninspired play would simply signify the first "money date" of the season, a woeful but predictable start to every MAC team's year. But this is the year of Infocision, and middling mid-major college football is not going to cut it anymore. Locals here will never buy into that kind of football. I believe that the administration has plans to use football and the rest of the sporting programs to grow the university. These programs, IF THEY ARE WINNERS, build prestige and bring $$$ toward the university. Infocision is a premier facility and it is likely that it was built NOT thinking about Akron's status in the shitty MAC, but with an eye toward bigger and better things. That's why Saturday was such a bummer for me, and ought to be for all of us. The old paradigm of "aw shucks we were murdered by Penn State but we got out with some $$ and we can now focus on the rest of the shitty MAC" doesn't work anymore. That approach will lead to failure. It will fail to fill seats at the Info, it will fail to generate any momentum or excitement in the community, and all of these things ultimately mean that the university will not be able to cash in on the hoped for prestige and revenue that successful sports programs generate. Proenza very likely doesn't care about football for football's sake. He backed this program for reasons of growth and prestige for the university. Why would anyone here assume that such an approach would accept middling football going forward, or even accept the idea of staying in the MAC, a conference in which only two or three other schools seem to want to grow their programs and facilities. College football has been packed for years now with upstarts that have built exciting and entertaining programs. Why would any Akron fan assume that we're not about to push in that direction? Why hire an AD who is clearly a glorified marketing guy if not looking to build something better? I expect more, and I'm not going to sit by patiently. GO ZIPS!STZ

I promise myself that I would not post after the game as I would probably say something I would regret. So here's a lame effort to give more thoughts on the game.1) We were not prepared for this one. I know the D did good but as a team we were playing like we had no belief we could compete.2) J.D. got outcoached. His staff got outcoached. Akron is terrible at making any meaningful halftime adjustments.3) Can the offense try something new? How about the old adage that you take what they give? We never threw to the TE in the entire game. How about throwing to a back coming out of the backfield? How about after an entire half of running up the middle we try something else.4) QB is a problem. CJ can not win the game for us, but he can lose it. I'll take Rodgers footspeed over CJ's throwing any day. Rodgers can learn to throw but CJ will never get faster. If we had used Rodgers more PSU would have had to watch for the run more thereby putting some receivers one on one. Rodgers has never had the investment in playing time that CJ has had. Give him a chance. In 2010 Nicely will be the next Lefleur anyway. BTW, CJ is in his third year of starting and he still locks onto one receiver and ignores his progressions. If this is our best then we have been taken for a ride by the coaching staff.5) We have little to be proud of because we didn't play good football. We were not going to win, but we needed to earn respect. That didn't happen.6) Why did we continue to play Jake Anderson? He drew three penalties for offsides and one for delay of game when he was late reporting in on a fourth down punt. We have heard so much about the depth of the O-line. Well give someone else a chance to go in and get their butt whipped also. That's better than drawing penalties.7) 7-5 or better is the only performance that can save JD's job. That will be a challenge with CMU and BGSU looking strong; 'Cuse, NIU and Buffalo being no easy marks; and an upset somewhere along the line. Granted we will probably upset someone too. Outside CMU, there is the possibility we can run the rest of the schedule. Do you really believe we can with this kind of offensive leadership from the O-line, QB and coaching staff? I hope so, but Saturday did not inspire anyone. I don't want J.D. to be fired. I just want to see proof he can build a team that can dominate the MAC and be competitive in any game. Over this game and the last two years I have yet to see performance that says he can. He's got 10 more games to show it. 8) I feel sorry for Bain. I heard from the non-coaching staff that he was not responding to therapy for his back. W/o him and Tonga and Henderson our D-line is not the strength we thought we would have. It is much improved, but not enough to make a top team worry. Against PSU we still slipped into the 3-3-5 too much. With no pressure, Clark eventually found open receivers. To win the MAC we must bring pressure.9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5. There was so much hope for this season that perhaps we lost our perspective. One game doesn't destroy the season, so let's get back on track and take 'em one at a time. I'll be screaming my head off for the boys to take it out on Morgan State. See you in the SRO Info.

[72 Roo]

Zippy ... I have not seen one post that expected us to win against Penn State. I think you are taking the desire to play competitive, respectable football with a statement that we must win. It is not. Everyone knows PSU is one hell of a team this year. But we still want to compete. We didn't come close to reaching our potential and that's what is so disappointing.GT .... Adjustments should always be measured against results. Those adjustments should put us in the position where we have the opponent scared we can turn it around. That never happened. For all the adjusting we did it took us halfway into the 3rd quarter before we got our first 1st down. PSU coasted the second half and why not. They were up 31 points and only gave up 7 the entire second half. They got more minutes for additional players while never having to worry. Let's judge adjustments by production AKA points.I'm not down on you or Zippy. You guys share the passion and are the good guys. I'm just offering why I posted what I did. Come Saturday it's a new game and the past is forgotten. I hope that we are a machine against Morgan State. Let's defend our house and start a Boise State-like tradition for playing at the Info.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

Zippy ... I have not seen one post that expected us to win against Penn State. I think you are taking the desire to play competitive, respectable football with a statement that we must win. It is not. Everyone knows PSU is one hell of a team this year. But we still want to compete. We didn't come close to reaching our potential and that's what is so disappointing.GT .... Adjustments should always be measured against results. Those adjustments should put us in the position where we have the opponent scared we can turn it around. That never happened. For all the adjusting we did it took us halfway into the 3rd quarter before we got our first 1st down. PSU coasted the second half and why not. They were up 31 points and only gave up 7 the entire second half. They got more minutes for additional players while never having to worry. Let's judge adjustments by production AKA points.I'm not down on you or Zippy. You guys share the passion and are the good guys. I'm just offering why I posted what I did. Come Saturday it's a new game and the past is forgotten. I hope that we are a machine against Morgan State. Let's defend our house and start a Boise State-like tradition for playing at the Info.

I love the Boise State tradition reference. I'm with you as long as it never includes horrible electric-blue turf! GO ZIPS!STZ

[jupitertoo]

72Roo, good post, and I don't understand why so many posters are essentially shrugging their shoulders about this loss. You're right about the game planning on the offensive side of the ball, the pathetic and numerous runs right into the middle of the PSU D, Jacq's QBing and the O-line play. I don't care if you're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, you can at least try some different looks, can't you? If a running QB gives you a better shot in a game like this, sit Jacq and see what Rodgers' legs can do for you on more than a handful of plays. The thrust of the negative posts about this game have been ignored by other posters who seem to simply accept that it's OK to completely suck ass when you're playing a really, really good team. That's bullshit. Of course UA was going to lose this game, short of some crazy miracle. But it was NOT too much to expect adjustments, smart and creative playcalling, inspired and physical play. I saw none of that. It was just boring, and that's about the worst thing you can see in a loss. Remember too that much of the offseason was sent cheering on the arrivals of Shane Montgomery and Walt Harris, genuine major college football coaches in their own right. What did they each do in this game to earn their keep? During most seasons this kind of boring, uninspired play would simply signify the first "money date" of the season, a woeful but predictable start to every MAC team's year. But this is the year of Infocision, and middling mid-major college football is not going to cut it anymore. Locals here will never buy into that kind of football. I believe that the administration has plans to use football and the rest of the sporting programs to grow the university. These programs, IF THEY ARE WINNERS, build prestige and bring $$$ toward the university. Infocision is a premier facility and it is likely that it was built NOT thinking about Akron's status in the shitty MAC, but with an eye toward bigger and better things. That's why Saturday was such a bummer for me, and ought to be for all of us. The old paradigm of "aw shucks we were murdered by Penn State but we got out with some $$ and we can now focus on the rest of the shitty MAC" doesn't work anymore. That approach will lead to failure. It will fail to fill seats at the Info, it will fail to generate any momentum or excitement in the community, and all of these things ultimately mean that the university will not be able to cash in on the hoped for prestige and revenue that successful sports programs generate. Proenza very likely doesn't care about football for football's sake. He backed this program for reasons of growth and prestige for the university. Why would anyone here assume that such an approach would accept middling football going forward, or even accept the idea of staying in the MAC, a conference in which only two or three other schools seem to want to grow their programs and facilities. College football has been packed for years now with upstarts that have built exciting and entertaining programs. Why would any Akron fan assume that we're not about to push in that direction? Why hire an AD who is clearly a glorified marketing guy if not looking to build something better? I expect more, and I'm not going to sit by patiently. GO ZIPS!STZ

I promise myself that I would not post after the game as I would probably say something I would regret. So here's a lame effort to give more thoughts on the game.1) We were not prepared for this one. I know the D did good but as a team we were playing like we had no belief we could compete.2) J.D. got outcoached. His staff got outcoached. Akron is terrible at making any meaningful halftime adjustments.3) Can the offense try something new? How about the old adage that you take what they give? We never threw to the TE in the entire game. How about throwing to a back coming out of the backfield? How about after an entire half of running up the middle we try something else.4) QB is a problem. CJ can not win the game for us, but he can lose it. I'll take Rodgers footspeed over CJ's throwing any day. Rodgers can learn to throw but CJ will never get faster. If we had used Rodgers more PSU would have had to watch for the run more thereby putting some receivers one on one. Rodgers has never had the investment in playing time that CJ has had. Give him a chance. In 2010 Nicely will be the next Lefleur anyway. BTW, CJ is in his third year of starting and he still locks onto one receiver and ignores his progressions. If this is our best then we have been taken for a ride by the coaching staff.5) We have little to be proud of because we didn't play good football. We were not going to win, but we needed to earn respect. That didn't happen.6) Why did we continue to play Jake Anderson? He drew three penalties for offsides and one for delay of game when he was late reporting in on a fourth down punt. We have heard so much about the depth of the O-line. Well give someone else a chance to go in and get their butt whipped also. That's better than drawing penalties.7) 7-5 or better is the only performance that can save JD's job. That will be a challenge with CMU and BGSU looking strong; 'Cuse, NIU and Buffalo being no easy marks; and an upset somewhere along the line. Granted we will probably upset someone too. Outside CMU, there is the possibility we can run the rest of the schedule. Do you really believe we can with this kind of offensive leadership from the O-line, QB and coaching staff? I hope so, but Saturday did not inspire anyone. I don't want J.D. to be fired. I just want to see proof he can build a team that can dominate the MAC and be competitive in any game. Over this game and the last two years I have yet to see performance that says he can. He's got 10 more games to show it. 8) I feel sorry for Bain. I heard from the non-coaching staff that he was not responding to therapy for his back. W/o him and Tonga and Henderson our D-line is not the strength we thought we would have. It is much improved, but not enough to make a top team worry. Against PSU we still slipped into the 3-3-5 too much. With no pressure, Clark eventually found open receivers. To win the MAC we must bring pressure.9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5. There was so much hope for this season that perhaps we lost our perspective. One game doesn't destroy the season, so let's get back on track and take 'em one at a time. I'll be screaming my head off for the boys to take it out on Morgan State. See you in the SRO Info.

This is the thing that is most obnoxious about Akron fans. You have a sub-500 record in the MAC in football, yet you call it a "shitty" conference. You decry all of these other MAC schools that "don't" invest in their programs/facilities, yet in fact most of these schools spend more on athletics than you do. Akron is not in the top 5 MAC schools in terms of athletics budget or football budget. Yes, you have a beautiful new stadium, but most other MAC schools have had very nice on-campus facilities for YEARS. And these schools continue to invest in their programs -- BGSU has had an indoor facility for more than a decade. Can't State equally as long. Can't State, BSU, EMU, OU, Miami, and WMU have poured MILLIONS into continued updates of their facilities, including football stadiums. Many of these schools also have much, much nicer b-ball facilities than you, but, since you finally have an on-campus stadium, you feel it fair to accuse other schools of not investing in their programs. It's total BS and the facts prove it. Please remember these visions of grandeur when you are playing in front of your typical 15,050 crowd come late October.

[zipsbandman]

Coming from the fan of a school that could not even afford to send its band to Cleveland for the MAC tourney.

[uafan]

The thrust of the negative posts about this game have been ignored by other posters who seem to simply accept that it's OK to completely suck a$$ when you're playing a really, really good team. That's bs. During most seasons this kind of boring, uninspired play would simply signify the first "money date" of the season, a woeful but predictable start to every MAC team's year. But this is the year of Infocision, and middling mid-major college football is not going to cut it anymore. Locals here will never buy into that kind of football. I believe that the administration has plans to use football and the rest of the sporting programs to grow the university. These programs, IF THEY ARE WINNERS, build prestige and bring $$$ toward the university. Infocision is a premier facility and it is likely that it was built NOT thinking about Akron's status in the shitty MAC, but with an eye toward bigger and better things. That's why Saturday was such a bummer for me, and ought to be for all of us. The old paradigm of "aw shucks we were murdered by Penn State but we got out with some $$ and we can now focus on the rest of the shitty MAC" doesn't work anymore. That approach will lead to failure. It will fail to fill seats at the Info, it will fail to generate any momentum or excitement in the community, and all of these things ultimately mean that the university will not be able to cash in on the hoped for prestige and revenue that successful sports programs generate. SeeTeeZipm thank you for saying what I have been saying for a couple of years. Unfortunately, many posters on this sight feel threatened and will not respond. Don't want to rock the "We love JD" boat! Saying that, stay tuned and watch the bashers come after me!

[Dr Z]

9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5.

IMO, part of coaching is about putting your best talent in an advantageous situation to succeed...your example is NOT an example of that.

[uafan]

9) Our LB's are only OK. They are still too small, especially when they blitz out of the 3-3-5.

IMO, part of coaching is about putting your best talent in an advantageous situation to succeed...your example is NOT an example of that.

Excellent point!

[GP1]

You have a sub-500 record in the MAC in football, yet you call it a "shitty" conference. You decry all of these other MAC schools that "don't" invest in their programs/facilities, yet in fact most of these schools spend more on athletics than you do. Akron is not in the top 5 MAC schools in terms of athletics budget or football budget. Yes, you have a beautiful new stadium, but most other MAC schools have had very nice on-campus facilities for YEARS. And these schools continue to invest in their programs -- BGSU has had an indoor facility for more than a decade. Can't State equally as long. Can't State, BSU, EMU, OU, Miami, and WMU have poured MILLIONS into continued updates of their facilities, including football stadiums.

Why can't we be a sub 500 team in a shitty conference?The rest isn't all that bad of a point and I am still considering working on a post discussing the importance of facilities over the long term. I'm watching, right now, Cincinnai wax Rutgers. Rutgers has new facilities. Why arent' they good? Is it facilities or a history of losing that will take them back to the dark ages.I watched, and have been watching Wake Forest, over the past three seasons continue to lose ground on their ACC Championship from three years ago. They improved their facilities over the past few years. Why are the losing more? Whey are they losing to teams like Baylor? Are they losing more or are they just what they are....a midling to poor ACC program over the past 50 years and they will be that again soon.Is a new stadium just a lifeless object or does it somehow make teams better that have traditionally lost? Does a stadium make a kid accustomed to losing a winner?When I was in school, Can't State built their indoor practice field. Why do they still suck? The suck because the have a history of sucking.Why are the Pittsburgh Pirates working on their 14th straight losing season? The public built them a stadium under the disguise it would make them more competetive. Same losers as far as I can see and I punish myself with their box score every day.Why are schools like Illinois, Minnesota, NC State, Arizona State, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Virginia, Kansas State, Oregon State and various other programs always average? I know periodically they find lightning in a bottle and have a good season here or there, but they are almost always average. Most of these schools have had significant improvements in facilities over the years and they still are what they are. Facilities improvements do not happen in a vacuum. They take place within the body of the NCAA. We're not the only team building. We are just now at a point where we caught up to the others. The new stadium is as new as it is ever going to be right now. Eventually, another MAC school will build a stadium under the disguise that they will be good if they build a new stadium. Temple plays in a freaking NFL stadium. How come Temple still stinks?The movie "Field of Dreams" is on right now as well. They say in the movie, "if you build it they will come". It doesn't say, "if you build it you will win". I'm convinced that you can build and build and build, but if the same losing attitude remains in the players then the losing will continue. If you think back to our MAC Championship year, the best player on that team was Brett Biggs. Biggs did not come to Akron as a freshman so he did not have his mind corrupted by losing. The minute they stuck him in the MTSU game the year before, the team improved dramatically and rolled off a bunch of wins as the year went on. Year two with him, they win the league.Others will say new facilities attract better players. Let's look at it another way. Do they attract kids who want to win or do they attract kids who want to play in a new stadium? We have one of the worst BB arenas in the league and we won the MAC. I don't want to make it seem like I'm filating KD, I'll leave that up to Zip Watcher, but KD attracts kid who want to win. If they cared about facilities, UofA would be the last place they would look.This football program has had loser after loser after loser for the better part of it's D-1A past. Only the players can change the attitude. A new stadium isn't going to do it.If JD doesn't get seven wins this year, it isn't because he does not have the talent. The overall talent level on this team may be the best ever. The problem isn't nonsense like kids flunking out or not qualifying or whatever side reason people want to believe. The problem is we have a losing program and it is more easy to lose than win. Losing is easy to do. The question would become whether or not a new coach could turn a historical loser into a winner.

[MDZip]

Why are schools like Illinois, Minnesota, NC State, Arizona State, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Virginia, Kansas State, Oregon State and various other programs always average? I know periodically they find lightning in a bottle and have a good season here or there, but they are almost always average. Most of these schools have had significant improvements in facilities over the years and they still are what they are. Facilities improvements do not happen in a vacuum. They take place within the body of the NCAA. We're not the only team building. We are just now at a point where we caught up to the others. The new stadium is as new as it is ever going to be right now. Eventually, another MAC school will build a stadium under the disguise that they will be good if they build a new stadium. Temple plays in a freaking NFL stadium. How come Temple still stinks?The movie "Field of Dreams" is on right now as well. They say in the movie, "if you build it they will come". It doesn't say, "if you build it you will win". I'm convinced that you can build and build and build, but if the same losing attitude remains in the players then the losing will continue. If you think back to our MAC Championship year, the best player on that team was Brett Biggs. Biggs did not come to Akron as a freshman so he did not have his mind corrupted by losing. The minute they stuck him in the MTSU game the year before, the team improved dramatically and rolled off a bunch of wins as the year went on. Year two with him, they win the league.Others will say new facilities attract better players. Let's look at it another way. Do they attract kids who want to win or do they attract kids who want to play in a new stadium? We have one of the worst BB arenas in the league and we won the MAC. I don't want to make it seem like I'm filating KD, I'll leave that up to Zip Watcher, but KD attracts kid who want to win. If they cared about facilities, UofA would be the last place they would look.This football program has had loser after loser after loser for the better part of it's D-1A past. Only the players can change the attitude. A new stadium isn't going to do it.If JD doesn't get seven wins this year, it isn't because he does not have the talent. The overall talent level on this team may be the best ever. The problem isn't nonsense like kids flunking out or not qualifying or whatever side reason people want to believe. The problem is we have a losing program and it is more easy to lose than win. Losing is easy to do. The question would become whether or not a new coach could turn a historical loser into a winner.

GP1, I agree that facilities alone do not bring an athlete (especially to a program with a history of losing), however poor facilities almost certainly keep them away. We've had the worst facilities in the MAC up to the last few years and yet still managed to be a middle of the pack MAC team. Your point with Wake is a good one, they don't have the firepower to keep up year after year in the ACC, but occasionally can rise to the top. All we're looking for is a team that can compete in the MAC now and we ought to be able to do that. The facilities help some for sure, but without them we were dead in the water. We do seem to be getting better and earlier commits and now we should. There is a ton of talent in NEO and kids who are not up to BCS standards may elect to stay near home as long as the playing field is at least percieved as fairly even. If we can actually start fielding some winners, then the whole equation starts to change. But at least we're now competing with the other programs at our level. Work on where you are, but always look ahead.

[scottditzen]

Hey Jupiter, why heck do you care if fans on this forum want to leave the MAC? Is our school even wanted in this conference?

This is the thing that is most obnoxious about Akron fans. You have a sub-500 record in the MAC in football, yet you call it a "shitty" conference. You decry all of these other MAC schools that "don't" invest in their programs/facilities, yet in fact most of these schools spend more on athletics than you do. Akron is not in the top 5 MAC schools in terms of athletics budget or football budget. Yes, you have a beautiful new stadium, but most other MAC schools have had very nice on-campus facilities for YEARS. And these schools continue to invest in their programs -- BGSU has had an indoor facility for more than a decade. Can't State equally as long. Can't State, BSU, EMU, OU, Miami, and WMU have poured MILLIONS into continued updates of their facilities, including football stadiums. Many of these schools also have much, much nicer b-ball facilities than you, but, since you finally have an on-campus stadium, you feel it fair to accuse other schools of not investing in their programs. It's total BS and the facts prove it. Please remember these visions of grandeur when you are playing in front of your typical 15,050 crowd come late October.