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a-zip

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Not that I'm defending A-Zip, or that I'm against UA athletics...but it is a lot to do about something. $800 a year going to athletics is absurd. It's even more absurd when the main product of your college (education...or at least it should be education) is being taught by instructors whom are not contingent-faculty (meaning that they are part-time, non tenure track, and don't have a personal investment in the university, or frankly the students). I graduated from UA only a couple of years ago, and had to deal a lot with the part-timers. The quality between them and full-time faculty was huge. The classes I had with run by part-time non-contingent faculty weren't even in the same league as the others. Not to mention with fewer full-time faculty, there's fewer mentors avialable to students to find in departments.

All this talk about "cost savings for students" and demands from legislatures to reduce cost savings for students, impacts the educational quality of the students; by cutting full-time faculty and incorporating online classes.

And all Universities adhere to the same concept as University of Akron. Hire more adjunct then tenure. Why? Because it is easier to remove a poorly performing adjunct then a poorly performing tenured. At let's not forget, that even with a ton of tenured staff, who typically teaches the majority of classes? Grad assistants, now personally I would rather have people with real world experience teaching a class then a life time student. But that is just me.

http://agb.org/trusteeship/2013/5/changing-academic-workforce

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's why I think it's difficult for people to care.

Let's say the Zips have a magical year. Beyond magical even - let's say they go undefeated. They beat Oklahoma, they beat Pitt again, they dominate the MAC, and they go 13-0.

As MAC Champions, they would look to stay undefeated in a Bowl Game. They could potentially find themselves in a major bowl game, but more than likely they'd be headed to the Bahamas Bowl. They would not be considered for the College Football Playoff.

Let me repeat that - the ultimate prize if literally everything goes right and they have the best season in program history is the Bahamas Bowl.

That, my fellow Zips fans, is why it's difficult for the average fan in Akron to get excited about the football team. Nobody cares about the Bahamas Bowl.

Like all but 20-25 D1 teams, the Akron Zips football team has been eliminated from contention for the 2015-2016 National Championship before the season has even started.

In comparison, a great season by Zips soccer will place them in the NCAA Tournament. Same goes for men's basketball. While they'd have to fight (likely) crappy seeding and might have odds stacked against them (mostly in basketball), they'd have a chance to win a National Championship.

That's why I'm not opposed to Division II. Playing to have a shot at the D2 National Title is better than the Bahamas Bowl. It might even add a little excitement along the way.

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The moment a team finishes undefeated and is left out of the playoffs, the playoffs will expand.

I don't agree at all. Do you think the Power 5 give a crap about fairness to a mid-major program? They've gone out of their way to make sure a mid-major doesn't get in. Marshall went 13-1 last year and was 11-0 at one point before losing in overtime to Western Kentucky. Do you really think they would have been considered for the Playoff, or that the Power 5 would have been so worried about it (or worried about it at all) to immediately expand the Playoffs? It'd be thrown out as an anomaly, a product of a weak schedule, or something else.

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... That's why I'm not opposed to Division II. Playing to have a shot at the D2 National Title is better than the Bahamas Bowl. It might even add a little excitement along the way.

Who knew that Colorado State-Pueblo beat Minnesota State-Mankato for last season's D-II national championship? Imagine the news coverage of the Zips in the midst of those playoffs being mentioned in the same breath with the likes of Slippery Rock and Lenoir-Rhyne. Nostalgic fans could always watch reruns of the Zips win over Pitt last season and remember what it was like to pull the occasional upset over a big-name team.

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In the fantasy season of the Zips beating Oklahoma and Pitt and convincingly winning every other regular season and MAC championship game, they would be highly ranked and a candidate for any bowl game outside of the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl or any bowl game that isn't locked into non-MAC conference opponents. Just glancing at the list of next season's bowl games, I'd say the top possibility would be the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl (At-Large vs. At-Large).

Reality check: Fiesta Bowl representatives would look at the average attendance at Zips games, politely excuse themselves and quickly choose the top two opponents who would likely bring large numbers of fans to Glendale, AZ, as would all the other top bowl game reps.

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In the fantasy season of the Zips beating Oklahoma and Pitt and convincingly winning every other regular season and MAC championship game, they would be highly ranked and a candidate for any bowl game outside of the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl or any bowl game that isn't locked into non-MAC conference opponents. Just glancing at the list of next season's bowl games, I'd say the top possibility would be the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl (At-Large vs. At-Large).

Reality check: Fiesta Bowl representatives would look at the average attendance at Zips games, politely excuse themselves and quickly choose the top two opponents who would likely bring large numbers of fans to Glendale, AZ, as would all the other top bowl game reps.

I'll take that scenario all day :D

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Reality check: Fiesta Bowl representatives would look at the average attendance at Zips games, politely excuse themselves and quickly choose the top two opponents who would likely bring large numbers of fans to Glendale, AZ, as would all the other top bowl game reps.

Once again, incorrect. Maybe not the Fiesta Bowl, but if the Zips were to go undefeated, which would include a win over top 25 ranked Oklahoma and bowl bound Pitt as well as "everything else going their way", they would be a lock to be selected to a CFP (fomerly known as BCS) bowl game by being the highest ranked non-P5 team and there isn't anything any bowl rep can do to keep them from getting into one of them.

You all are forgetting our friends in Portage County were some dumb TE reverse away from going to the Orange Bowl themselves a few seasons ago.

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Once again, incorrect. Maybe not the Fiesta Bowl, but if the Zips were to go undefeated, which would include a win over top 25 ranked Oklahoma and bowl bound Pitt as well as "everything else going their way", they would be a lock to be selected to a CFP (fomerly known as BCS) bowl game by being the highest ranked non-P5 team and there isn't anything any bowl rep can do to keep them from getting into one of them.

You all are forgetting our friends in Portage County were some dumb TE reverse away from going to the Orange Bowl themselves a few seasons ago.

Incorrect.

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Once again, incorrect. Maybe not the Fiesta Bowl, but if the Zips were to go undefeated, which would include a win over top 25 ranked Oklahoma and bowl bound Pitt as well as "everything else going their way", they would be a lock to be selected to a CFP (fomerly known as BCS) bowl game by being the highest ranked non-P5 team and there isn't anything any bowl rep can do to keep them from getting into one of them. ...

Ah, I missed the guaranteed berth for the best of the Group of Five. But your scenario above is also incorrect. The Zips could have their miracle season and still not be the highest-ranked, non-P5 team if another non-P5 team had a similar miracle season and ended up higher in the polls. The Zips would have a chance but it wouldn't be guaranteed. It would all come down to voters in the polls, who would likely remember what happened the last time a MAC team went to a major bowl.

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Ah, I missed the guaranteed berth for the best of the Group of Five. But your scenario above is also incorrect. The Zips could have their miracle season and still not be the highest-ranked, non-P5 team if another non-P5 team had a similar miracle season and ended up higher in the polls. The Zips would have a chance but it wouldn't be guaranteed. It would all come down to voters in the polls, who would likely remember what happened the last time a MAC team went to a major bowl.

I believe the stipulation was the ceiling "if everything went Akron's way", which i assume is synonymous with them being the highest ranked G5 team. To put it in perspective, Boise got the automatic bid last year being ranked 20th with two losses and not a single win over a P5 opponent.

Marshall went undefeated and missed out due to a creampuff schedule. If we won @ Oklahoma and beat Pitt again I couldn't see another non group of five topping that.

Marshall actually lost a barn-burner to WKU, but would have made it even with the weakest schedule in probably D-1 history. They somehow managed to avoid playing a single P5 opponent.

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