The MAC gets seven bowl bids

[MDZip]

In addition to NIU getting a BCS bid, Can't State, Ohio, BGSU, Toledo, Ball State and CMU got bowl bids. Wow.

Famous Idaho Potato

Toledo vs. Utah State

Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg

UCF vs. Ball State

Little Caesars Pizza

Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan

Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman

San Jose State vs. Bowling Green

AdvoCare V100 Independence

Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe

Discover Orange

Northern Illinois vs. Florida State

GoDaddy.com

Can't State vs. Arkansas State

[LZIp]

most ever?

I think the MAC will go 4-3.

[johnnyzip84]

Stewart Mandel of CNNSI picks the MAC to go 4-3, including an NIU upset of Florida St in the Orange Bowl.

[akzipper]

Nothing better than watching Toledo get destroyed right now! Not very likely, but I wish for the same outcome for OhioU and Can't.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

I watched quite a bit of that Toledo game yesterday and not because I thought that it was riveting football. I saw a MAC team getting crushed, on a blue field, with the stands about 1/3rd full, and thought that athletics, especially college football, has lost me completely. Fat, bloated, worthless, boring. 70 teams out of 119 make it to a "bowl." So, say Akron turns it around and becomes Toledo in football. Yesterday is what it is? Really? That's what fans of UA and the MAC are clamoring for? Count me out if that's what "it" is. That sad, little, pathetic game represented the flushing of millions of dollars right down the drain. I don't get it anymore.

[LZIp]

I watched quite a bit of that Toledo game yesterday and not because I thought that it was riveting football. I saw a MAC team getting crushed, on a blue field, with the stands about 1/3rd full, and thought that athletics, especially college football, has lost me completely. Fat, bloated, worthless, boring. 70 teams out of 119 make it to a "bowl." So, say Akron turns it around and becomes Toledo in football. Yesterday is what it is? Really? That's what fans of UA and the MAC are clamoring for? Count me out if that's what "it" is. That sad, little, pathetic game represented the flushing of millions of dollars right down the drain. I don't get it anymore.

Your agenda is so damn overplayed and annoying. You watched quite a bit of the game? If you REALLY did, you would know it was a one score game midway through the 4th quarter. If you really did, you would know that the 11th ranked rusher in the nation missed basically the whole game. You also might know that one of the top tacklers in the country was out basically the whole game as well!

Maybe you know those things, or maybe your dont. However, it is clear you will push your weak agenda any chance you get. I dont want people like you rooting for the Zips. Go root for YSU if you are that infatuated with D1-AA

[GP1]

I watched quite a bit of that Toledo game yesterday and not because I thought that it was riveting football.

Riveting it was not. The Butler vs. IU game was riveting and one of the best college basketball games I've watched in a long time. It had everything you could ever want in a game. Anyhow, I don't want to digress.

Is it a huge flush of money down the toilet? Probably, but as long as they are having them, we my as well try to get to one. I like the bowls because between Christmas and New Years, I find them more entertaining than reruns of Mike and Molly.

Actually, if you like college football, the Sam Houston State vs. Eastern Washington game was freaking awesome. Personally, I'd rather be in our own division with an opportunity to play in a meaningful game for a national championship than some half ass bowl game in Idaho. With the exception of about 40 schools, most every other school in D1A is spinning their wheels.

[johnnyzip84]

.

[you am i]

I follow Toledo as well as Akron, and I was very disappointed for the MAC and for the Rockets with yesterday's bowl game.

Toledo went into the game with serious ankle injuries to the QB Terrance Owens (2012 QB rating 139) and running back David Fluellen (ranked 8th in the country in rushing in 2012) which significantly limited their playing time. And then linebacker Dan Molls (who is leading the country in tackles 2012) gets knocked out of the game with a concussion on the opening kick-off. If you watched the game, it is worth noting that Utah State busted off three long touchdown plays right through the area where Dan Moll should have been. Somehow it was 13-9 with nine minutes left in the 4th and still anyone's game. With Owens, Fluellen, and Moll at 100%, this is a different team.

Not a good start for the MAC. The interesting thing is that all seven MAC teams are underdogs in their bowl games.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

Your agenda is so damn overplayed and annoying. You watched quite a bit of the game? If you REALLY did, you would know it was a one score game midway through the 4th quarter. If you really did, you would know that the 11th ranked rusher in the nation missed basically the whole game. You also might know that one of the top tacklers in the country was out basically the whole game as well!

Maybe you know those things, or maybe your dont. However, it is clear you will push your weak agenda any chance you get. I dont want people like you rooting for the Zips. Go root for YSU if you are that infatuated with D1-AA

Damned statistics. I don't care how good one or two of the Toledo players are. You obviously missed the entire point of my post. Yes, I did watch much of the game, and it was not exciting, and the entire atmosphere was about as exciting and "big time" as FCS or D-II. The game was so riveting that the stands were about 1/3rd full. It would interesting to know how anyone makes money on bowl games like that one. Why would an advertiser want to pay for commercial time for a game like that? How does anyone make money on these crappy games?

And next time you tell someone else to root for another team, first of all, screw you. Second, at least be a little creative and use the Phil Savage line next time.

[K92]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/...us-idaho-potato

http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/201...face-tough-sell

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/commenta...-games-are-sham

Here are 3 recent bowl articles. The attendance for a bowl in Boise the week before Christmas would suck if Georgia and Oklahoma were playing in it. It is not necessarily due to a MAC team being invited. Bash the level of play if you wish, but the atmosphere is no fault of the participants' mid-major status. Only the blue-bloods travel well and even they struggle to sell tickets at times.

[johnnyzip84]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/...us-idaho-potato

http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/201...face-tough-sell

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/commenta...-games-are-sham

Here are 3 recent bowl articles. The attendance for a bowl in Boise the week before Christmas would suck if Georgia and Oklahoma were playing in it. It is not necessarily due to a MAC team being invited. Bash the level of play if you wish, but the atmosphere is no fault of the participants' mid-major status. Only the blue-bloods travel well and even they struggle to sell tickets at times.

Obviously everyone's entitled to their own opinion as to whether they wish UA football to stay in the FBS/D1-A or transfer down (in a unprecedented move by the way) to FCS/1-AA. I assume this is at the core of STZ's MAC/Bowl bashing. But I think you should consider the following before you spend (read waste) too much time commenting on his curiously bitter rants against Zip football, the MAC, Coach Bowden or the bowl system.

My guess ( )is STZ didn't attend either the 2005 MAC Championship game victory over NIU or the 2005 Motor City Bowl versus Memphis. If he had, he would vividly recall how 30,000 UA fans invaded Detroit for one fantastic and unforgetable moment of UA gridiron relevance. It was truly surreal to have all of those gold pom-pom adorned Zip fans enjoying a brief instance in the spotlight.

STZ and others will counter that nobody outside of Akron cares 2 cents about that season. But as a longtime, fervent supporter of ALL Zip athletics, that championship season and bowl game remain the high point for me personally. That's what a bowl game is all about for a college football junkie like me.

[Spin]

Personally, I'd rather be in our own division with an opportunity to play in a meaningful game for a national championship than some half ass bowl game in Idaho. With the exception of about 40 schools, most every other school in D1A is spinning their wheels.

Agree 100%.

[Spin]

Obviously everyone's entitled to their own opinion as to whether they wish UA football to stay in the FBS/D1-A or transfer down (in a unprecedented move by the way) to FCS/1-AA. I assume this is at the core of STZ's MAC/Bowl bashing. But I think you should consider the following before you spend (read waste) too much time commenting on his curiously bitter rants against Zip football, the MAC, Coach Bowden or the bowl system.

My guess ( )is STZ didn't attend either the 2005 MAC Championship game victory over NIU or the 2005 Motor City Bowl versus Memphis. If he had, he would vividly recall how 30,000 UA fans invaded Detroit for one fantastic and unforgetable moment of UA gridiron relevance. It was truly surreal to have all of those gold pom-pom adorned Zip fans enjoying a brief instance in the spotlight.

You don't think those same people would be equally as excited for an FCS National Championship game? Let's ask Mount Union (D3) fans about that. I watched fans in this area react to NPSL championships in Canton and Cleveland, to the Gladiators runs in the AFL. We're not talking Premier League and NFL, they/we didn't give a shit. We had a great time, and the loudest most energtic crowds I have seen in NE Ohio.

You would rather play for a spot in the GoDaddy.com bowl in Mobile, AL?

I was raised on college football and the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl, Fiesta Bowl. Romantic, historic, the best of the best. But everything else is junk, the NIT of college football.

And about the whole cash grab, how much money do you think NIU will even make at the Orange Bowl? Last I heard they were going to eat shit on all the tickets they had to buy and couldn't resell. And the MAC was going to assist them with a higher payout.

I'd much rather be contenders than pretenders, which is what we will be with the current budget and legacy against the 10-20 schools eligible for a D1-A title and Heisman Trophy.

[Dave in Green]

This is evolving into the classic small fish in a big pond vs. big fish in a small pond discussion. It's basically a what if UA could become a big fish in a big pond vs. it's more likely that UA would continue to be a small fish in a big pond but could realistically become a big fish in a small pond. We know that the occasional small fish in a big pond defies the odds and becomes a big fish in the big pond. We just don't know the exact odds of that being able to happen at UA, and it's slowly driving some Zips fans to madness.

[K92]

You don't think those same people would be equally as excited for an FCS National Championship game?

How can you possibly think that Akron can step down a level and even make FCS playoffs, never mind contend for the title? That is just another pipe dream. If Akron took the current team to FCS along with the extra schollys they would get SMOKED by the playoff teams. Or do you think Akron would recruit better as an FCS program?

There is no magic bullet for improving football performance. Not joining a better FBS conference. Not dropping down to FCS. The Zips need to succeed in the MAC. If you can't succeed in the MAC, I have my doubts that you can succeed anywhere.

[LZIp]

Hate to break it to you boys, but we didnt just build a 60 million dollar stadium to drop down to FCS. Will not happen. We dont have a plan of getting enrollment to 40000, while also raising admission requirements by making our sports programs more irrelevant than they already are. UA is trying to grow, not become Mount Union or YSU.

[Spin]

How can you possibly think that Akron can step down a level and even make FCS playoffs, never mind contend for the title? That is just another pipe dream. If Akron took the current team to FCS along with the extra schollys they would get SMOKED by the playoff teams. Or do you think Akron would recruit better as an FCS program?

There is no magic bullet for improving football performance. Not joining a better FBS conference. Not dropping down to FCS. The Zips need to succeed in the MAC. If you can't succeed in the MAC, I have my doubts that you can succeed anywhere.

The pipe dream is big time college football fans thinking the 10-15 big time college football programs are ever going to let ANYONE ELSE in their club. Ask Boise State and Texas Christian. If you're not a legacy program, you're fucked. It doesn't matter how good you become. You guys heard the bitching and crying over NIU going to the Orange Bowl, it made me sick. The fricken Orange Bowl, that couldn't sell out if they were paying people to go.

So playing UMess, Buffalo, EMU, and CMU is soooooooooooo much more glamorous than playing AA schools.

You guys have delusions of grandeur.

[Spin]

Hate to break it to you boys, but we didnt just build a 60 million dollar stadium to drop down to FCS. Will not happen. We dont have a plan of getting enrollment to 40000, while also raising admission requirements by making our sports programs more irrelevant than they already are. UA is trying to grow, not become Mount Union or YSU.

We didn't build it to average less than 10,000 for one win teams either.

About a mile down Exchange St., Canal Park was built for a team playing in their own league, and set minor league attendance records. Cleveland set MISL/NPSL and AFL attendance records. YOU JUST GOTTA WIN. Not everyone is wrapped up in playing against FBS fodder and getting an ass kicking by a top program every year.

[johnnyzip84]

The pipe dream is big time college football fans thinking the 10-15 big time college football programs are ever going to let ANYONE ELSE in their club. Ask Boise State and Texas Christian. If you're not a legacy program, you're f'ed. It doesn't matter how good you become.

So playing UMess, Buffalo, EMU, and CMU is soooooooooooo much more glamorous than playing AA schools.

You guys have delusions of grandeur.

I've got a couple questions for you, Spin:

1) How many teams in NCAA history have gone from FBS/1-A down to FCS/1-AA?

2) What do you think the Zips' record would have been as a member of the football MVC any of these past 3 years?

[Spin]

I've got a couple questions for you, Spin:

1) How many teams in NCAA history have gone from FBS/1-A down to FCS/1-AA?

2) What do you think the Zips' record would have been as a member of the football MVC any of these past 3 years?

1) What the hell difference does that make?

2) What would their record be in the SWAC? Pioneer? Ivy League? Since you're dealing with hypotheticals. Think they could run the table in the Pioneer?

What if the NCAA actually enforced their FBS minimum standards on attendance and dropped 5 or 6 MAC teams to FCS. Add in Dayton, YSU, Indiana State. Duquesne. I doubt anyone would miss the Ohio's and the Northern Iowa's.

But hey if you're satisfied with 1-11, and working and praying for a berth in the Little Seizures Bowl, knock yourself out. Chances are you have nothing to worry about. Nothing says "major bowl game" like getting toasted by Western Kentucky in front of 25,000 souls. Pre-inflation.

[LZIp]

1) What the hell difference does that make?

2) What would their record be in the SWAC? Pioneer? Ivy League? Since you're dealing with hypotheticals. Think they could run the table in the Pioneer?

What if the NCAA actually enforced their FBS minimum standards on attendance and dropped 5 or 6 MAC teams to FCS. Add in Dayton, YSU, Indiana State. Duquesne. I doubt anyone would miss the Ohio's and the Northern Iowa's.

But hey if you're satisfied with 1-11, and working and praying for a berth in the Little Seizures Bowl, knock yourself out. Chances are you have nothing to worry about. Nothing says "major bowl game" like getting toasted by Western Kentucky in front of 25,000 souls. Pre-inflation.

QQ. Just like I told STZ, go root for YSU. I dont root for quitters. YSU doesnt give a shit how they do in 1-AA. They would jump to join the MAC the first chance they got. Our University has a goal overall. Goals that do not totally have to deal with athletics, but athletics play an important part of them. WHEN, yes I said WHEN we get there, please dont jump on the bandwagon. Dont need "fans" like you.

[K92]

THINKsmaller®

[Spin]

QQ. Just like I told STZ, go root for YSU. I dont root for quitters. YSU doesnt give a shit how they do in 1-AA. They would jump to join the MAC the first chance they got. Our University has a goal overall. Goals that do not totally have to deal with athletics, but athletics play an important part of them. WHEN, yes I said WHEN we get there, please dont jump on the bandwagon. Dont need "fans" like you.

Who the hell are you to tell me what I can watch and what I have to think? Get over yourself.

Playing in your league isn't quitting. Failing to build a program that competes at the level it's in IS quitting. We've been in FBS for 25 years, it's time to compete, or go somewhere we can compete with what we are given. You guys want to be Ohio State, while the sincerity of the university to compete in football is closer to Stark State.

I couldn't care less what the goals are of the university that don't deal with football when we are talking about football. Just as I couldn't care less what the volleyball program's goals are when we're talking about academic programs.

I guarantee a 10-2 FCS school would put more asses in the Info, generate more positive news, and give the university a much better image than the mess we've had...

If you're not going to be serious about FBS football, just don't.

[Zipgrad01]

Who the hell are you to tell me what I can watch and what I have to think? Get over yourself.

Playing in your league isn't quitting. Failing to build a program that competes at the level it's in IS quitting. We've been in FBS for 25 years, it's time to compete, or go somewhere we can compete with what we are given. You guys want to be Ohio State, while the sincerity of the university to compete in football is closer to Stark State.

I couldn't care less what the goals are of the university that don't deal with football when we are talking about football. Just as I couldn't care less what the volleyball program's goals are when we're talking about academic programs.

I guarantee a 10-2 FCS school would put more asses in the Info, generate more positive news, and give the university a much better image than the mess we've had...

If you're not going to be serious about FBS football, just don't.

I think the indoor facility, the new stadium and the hiring of Terry Bowden, Chuck Amato and Terrell Buckley are all pretty good indications that the university is serious about FBS football.

Terry needs more than a year to fix the disaster that was Rob Ianello. The pieces were in place for us to be an NIU, but the horrendous decision to hire Rob Ianello the year after building the stadium set this program back to D2 level. Things will get better. I, much like the majority of the fans here know that we can compete in the MAC and competeting in the MAC means far more to me than D-1AA meaningless football.

I know...I know...the MAC is meaningless you say. Tell that to NIU playing in the Orange Bowl. That is far greater than any D1-AA national championship game.