NIU-BGSU

[K92]

It is certainly better for the MAC financially and image wise to perpetuate the charade. I don't dispute that. But there is a part of me that is tired of watching that silly offense succeed in the MAC. I hope I don't have to watch it for a few years now that Lynch and Tettleton are done.

That offense is great, until it isn't.

[GP1]

BUGS looking strong heading into halftime. If they hold on, the next hurdle might be trying to hold on to Clawson. Any word on this, GP1?

I don't follow off season developments very closely, but he is a name and Ogeron is another name that comes up. Coming from a Mac school he will be a younger version of Grobe. In reality, when your two greatest coaches are Jim Grobe and Peahead Walker, howcould you go wrong?

[GP1]

This game was evidence that bcs movement isn't over until all games are played. All conference championships have two good teams. Auburn and tosu had better come ready to play today.

[Dave in Green]

I don't believe I ever said that NIU wasn't worthy of a BCS bowl. Someone was on here spouting about NIU getting no respect in the National Championship conversation, if you will recall.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I must have passed right over any comment like that as not being worthy of attention.

As weak as NIU's offense looked last nice, their defense was worse and had them playing from behind all night. Somewhere there's a BCS bowl selection committee rejoicing that they're not going to get stuck with having NIU blown out even worse in their bowl.

[Dr Z]

...their defense was worse and had them playing from behind all night.

Agreed. I really thought they were going to get beat by BSU because of it. Congratulations to BG.

PS The Zips beat the MAC champs for a half of a football game.

[GoZips88]

I could care less whether NIU got blown out again in a BCS bowl. $375,000 from the BCS snobs would have been a nice shot in the arm for Akron and the rest of the MAC schools who constantly have to subsidize athletics out of non-athletic funds. Congrats to BGSU football but a terribly expen$ive win.

[Dave in Green]

In retrospect, I wasn't paying close enough attention to BGSU. They really evolved over the season into the best overall combination of offense and defense in the MAC. Their early blowout loss to Indiana was their only bad loss of the season. The mid-season 1-point loss to Mississippi State and 3-point loss to Toledo showed good improvement, and they ran up a cumulative 176-17 score over their final 4 MAC regular season opponents. I had overlooked Matt Johnson as a QB, but it turns out he had a QB rating of 162.4 on the season. RB Travis Greene rushed for over 1,500 yards to complement the passing game. BGSU ended the season as the best balanced team in the MAC in all aspects of the game. I'd like to see the Zips develop into the same kind of well-balanced team.

[skip-zip]

I could care less whether NIU got blown out again in a BCS bowl. $375,000 from the BCS snobs would have been a nice shot in the arm for Akron and the rest of the MAC schools who constantly have to subsidize athletics out of non-athletic funds.

That's what I'm thinking.

That kind of money doesn't come flowing through the door every day.

Besides that, It's just a wasted opportunity to let MAC recruits know that they can get to a major bowl game from the MAC. And that hurts.

[zippy5]

That's what I'm thinking.

That kind of money doesn't come flowing through the door every day.

Besides that, It's just a wasted opportunity to let MAC recruits know that they can get to a major bowl game from the MAC. And that hurts.

Meh, after seeing them in the Orange Bowl last year and (this) close to a BCS bowl this year, recruits know a MAC school has a chance now.

[Spin]

Good. Maybe the MAC can quit playing favorites and go back to being a fair, balanced league again instead of propping up their darlings in hopes someone will think they are BS BSC quality.

For what? Another ass kicking for a payday on national TV? I thought that was what the non-con was for.

Here's a thought. Lower your budgets so you don't have to whore yourself out like that, (and whore out your weaker schools to get slaughtered every week by the favorites) and do what you do best.

[Buckzip]

Good. Maybe the MAC can quit playing favorites and go back to being a fair, balanced league again instead of propping up their darlings in hopes someone will think they are BS BSC quality.

For what? Another ass kicking for a payday on national TV? I thought that was what the non-con was for.

Here's a thought. Lower your budgets so you don't have to whore yourself out like that, (and whore out your weaker schools to get slaughtered every week by the favorites) and do what you do best.

How does the MAC play favorites?

[Balsy]

The very fact that we have to have a conversation about lost money because of our "darling" ranked team getting "upset" in the championship game, just about sums up all the problems with college athletics.

It's not supposed to be about money. Pure and simple. No wonder everything is so screwed up in the NCAA.

[Spin]

How does the MAC play favorites?

Scheduling.

[LZIp]

Scheduling.

Here we go again....Let me guess..the MAC had it planned all along to make Buffalo come out of nowhere this season lol.

[Spin]

The very fact that we have to have a conversation about lost money because of our "darling" ranked team getting "upset" in the championship game, just about sums up all the problems with college athletics.

It's not supposed to be about money. Pure and simple. No wonder everything is so screwed up in the NCAA.

Exactly, that's what it's all about now for some people.

It's not about fighting hard to make and win the conference championship, and play in a bowl game against another program with a similar resources. You know. Have an exciting game.

It's not even about pretending you can play among the Alabamas and Texas' with a small fraction of their budget.

It's all about how much money the conference suits and AD's can put in their pocket.

[Spin]

Here we go again....Let me guess..the MAC had it planned all along to make Buffalo come out of nowhere this season lol.

So you're claiming the MAC plays a balanced schedule.

That's why our strength-of-schedule was one of the toughest in the country.

I gotta a car I'll sell you. Cheap. A real cream puff, driven to church by a little old lady. You'll love it.

[Dave in Green]

... It's all about how much money the conference suits and AD's can put in their pocket.

Do you really believe that UA's share would have gone into someone's pocket as opposed to being used to fund Zips athletics?

[Spin]

Do you really believe that UA's share would have gone into someone's pocket as opposed to being used to fund Zips athletics?

Not all of it, of course.

But this is the perfect illustration of how mid-major college football is not sustainable. When you NEED to go to a big school to play for a seven figure payout, when you NEED to put your top teams up against the conference cupcakes to get them into a higher bowl, something is wrong. It is not sustainable. You can't keep up with the 80 scholarships and million dollar coaches and big recruiting budgets without prostituting yourself out. We are not Texas.

One reason is what happens if that gravy train derails?

The Doylestown Chipps won a playoff game this year. That was the most excited I have been at a football game in a very long time. They weren't playing out of their league, they can't play with the big Catholic schools and the Mentors. Who cares. It was a great time. There's a lesson in there somewhere for anyone who will listen. GP1 would understand.

[legendofzippy]

Not all of it, of course.

But this is the perfect illustration of how mid-major college football is not sustainable. When you NEED to go to a big school to play for a seven figure payout, when you NEED to put your top teams up against the conference cupcakes to get them into a higher bowl, something is wrong. It is not sustainable. You can't keep up with the 80 scholarships and million dollar coaches and big recruiting budgets without prostituting yourself out. We are not Texas.

One reason is what happens if that gravy train derails?

The Doylestown Chipps won a playoff game this year. That was the most excited I have been at a football game in a very long time. They weren't playing out of their league, they can't play with the big Catholic schools and the Mentors. Who cares. It was a great time. There's a lesson in there somewhere for anyone who will listen. GP1 would understand.

Great point. When the gravy train derails, we start to cut sports, cut salaries, and the program as a whole suffers.

I would guess we still get those games, but against lesser opponents and smaller payouts.

[Dave in Green]

It's very simple. You don't plan on getting the BCS bonus. You celebrate it as a windfall in the rare instances when it happens. Of course you're disappointed when you fall just short of getting it. But you don't build your budget around it. You accept who you are and try to be the best you can be within the limits of your resources. This works well for individuals in life as well as colleges in football.

[Spin]

Great point. When the gravy train derails, we start to cut sports, cut salaries, and the program as a whole suffers.

I would guess we still get those games, but against lesser opponents and smaller payouts.

I don'think we cut sports, we just learn to live within our means. You know, like the university teaches us in those classes we need to get our degrees. And then doesn't follow that edict in the athletic dept. College sports are sustainable at many different levels. The secret is finding the level you can sustain. If you depend on hand-outs from the legacy schools and big-time bowls, that is a warning sign to me that we are in over our heads. Not just Akron but the whole conference, probably anybody in D1 who is not in a BCS conference.

IMO the "outer" conferences should be looking at ways to cut the cost of participating in them, instead of scheming ways to get a fat payday from the big schools. And then realign the lesser bowl games to spotlight themselves, have division and conference champions play each other instead of, say, the 8th best SEC team. Not a demotion to Division III like some fear, just rationalization.

[GP1]

The Doylestown Chipps won a playoff game this year. That was the most excited I have been at a football game in a very long time. They weren't playing out of their league, they can't play with the big Catholic schools and the Mentors. Who cares. It was a great time. There's a lesson in there somewhere for anyone who will listen. GP1 would understand.

The lesson for me and the mac right now is the quality of football is very good. I don't care to watch football at a level below the nonBCS D1A teams. High school football does nothing for me, but that's just my opinion. I understand the kids are playing hard, but it just doesn't interest me.

What I saw in Akron two Fridays ago was quality football played and coached at a level similar to the tosu/michigan and Auburn/Alabama game. Entertaining for anyone watching.

[LZIp]

What I saw in Akron two Fridays ago was quality football played and coached at a level similar to the Auburn/Alabama game.

Please elaborate.

[Dave in Green]

The lesson for me and the mac right now is the quality of football is very good. I don't care to watch football at a level below the nonBCS D1A teams. High school football does nothing for me, but that's just my opinion. I understand the kids are playing hard, but it just doesn't interest me.

What I saw in Akron two Fridays ago was quality football played and coached at a level similar to the tosu/michigan and Auburn/Alabama game. Entertaining for anyone watching.

I can agree with all of this since it doesn't contain any references to spring football. But seriously, anyone who enjoys watching lower division college football, high school football or peewee football should go have themselves a ball. FBS level football is the minimum level that interests me, and it doesn't need to be SEC or other major BCS conference football. MACtion football among the better teams in the conference is at a high enough level to be entertaining and interesting to me. The Zips were not at this level a couple of years ago, but they're starting to get there. As a Zips supporter, I've been attending games over the past few years, but not getting a lot of enjoyment out of them. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the Zips' win over Toledo. The Zips are about to achieve the minimum level of football that I find interesting and entertaining.

[GP1]

Please elaborate.

Dave saves me a lot of time above. With the exception of the talking about spring football.