The Northeast Ohio Curse

[Zip_ME87]

And yet all the hate is shifted towards Ohio State, while the haters cheer for Florida. What sense does that make? Ohio State is a premier school with a football program that will be ranked every year, go to a bowl game every year, and be a National Title contender in a lot of those years as well. THAT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE. Akron is a mid-major school pushing forward in building a top football program. They made strides last year in winning the MAC and making it to the bowl game, but still have never won a bowl game and have never been ranked. They took a step back this season, losing chance after chance to make something of their season. Right now, they are solid football program that lacks consistency to win big games and contend year after year for the league title and Bowl games. THIS CAN CHANGE.The point? Cheering against OSU won't change a thing. They'll still have the most fans in Ohio, they'll still be damn good every year, and they'll still be a premier football program in the nation. Focus on what can change - Akron. Cheer for them...follow them...try to get that "average fan" who cheers for OSU because that's who they were raised on to check out an Akron game. You'll always have your die-hard fans of any school, but there are a lot of "average" fans that could be swayed by a great fan base (with fans who don't antagonize a another fan base that isn't even a rival school) and a winning team. Focus on that...and stop worrying about what the Buckeyes are doing.

SGM, I agree with you. All this OSU bashing does nothing more than make the person doing it look like a whiner. I am an Akron Alum, so I will cheer for the Zips to beat the Buckeyes next season. But, otherwise, I live in Ohio and will cheer for Ohio teams.BTW...if people feel that Akron is slighted in the media, look at the way Northeast Ohio media barely acknowledges Mount Union (9 D-III Championships since 1993). Oh yeah, the day of the Stagg Bowl is when you hear about Mt Union, but that's about it. Why aren't more of their games televised? Why don't they sell out their stadium for every game? In the great Northeast Ohio "hotbed of football", a perennial powerhouse is generally ignored.

[sgm405]

And yet all the hate is shifted towards Ohio State, while the haters cheer for Florida.  What sense does that make?  Ohio State is a premier school with a football program that will be ranked every year, go to a bowl game every year, and be a National Title contender in a lot of those years as well.  THAT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE.  Akron is a mid-major school pushing forward in building a top football program.  They made strides last year in winning the MAC and making it to the bowl game, but still have never won a bowl game and have never been ranked.  They took a step back this season, losing chance after chance to make something of their season.  Right now, they are solid football program that lacks consistency to win big games and contend year after year for the league title and Bowl games.  THIS CAN CHANGE.The point?  Cheering against OSU won't change a thing.  They'll still have the most fans in Ohio, they'll still be damn good every year, and they'll still be a premier football program in the nation.  Focus on what can change - Akron.  Cheer for them...follow them...try to get that "average fan" who cheers for OSU because that's who they were raised on to check out an Akron game.  You'll always have your die-hard fans of any school, but there are a lot of "average" fans that could be swayed by a great fan base (with fans who don't antagonize a another fan base that isn't even a rival school)  and a winning team.  Focus on that...and stop worrying about what the Buckeyes are doing.

SGM, I agree with you. All this OSU bashing does nothing more than make the person doing it look like a whiner. I am an Akron Alum, so I will cheer for the Zips to beat the Buckeyes next season. But, otherwise, I live in Ohio and will cheer for Ohio teams.BTW...if people feel that Akron is slighted in the media, look at the way Northeast Ohio media barely acknowledges Mount Union (9 D-III Championships since 1993). Oh yeah, the day of the Stagg Bowl is when you hear about Mt Union, but that's about it. Why aren't more of their games televised? Why don't they sell out their stadium for every game? In the great Northeast Ohio "hotbed of football", a perennial powerhouse is generally ignored.

Glad to see someone gets what I'm trying to say. The worst part is that Akron would get plenty of media coverage if they won consistently. Everyone seems to overlook that fact.

[zippyrifle32]

As for strength of schedule, OSU was ranked #37 and beat two #2 teams at the time that they played them.  Not bad if you ask me.  Boise State, by comparison, was #83.  Pretty big difference there.

yeah but that's not really fair to say because we all know now that texas didn't deserve it's ranking...i dunnoi said before the game that i wanted osu to lose by at least 4 td's...lo and behold! i was close. this stuff of ohio winning 8/10 or whatever is garbage because florida came out ready to fight and where was troy? wasn't it something like 4 for 18? plus an int and a fumble that both lead to scores. if it was a closer game and not a complete blowout, then maybe i could agree a little. i feel that i don't look like a whiner because i have absolutely nothing to do with osu except direct competition with them. they are the closest school to us and we compete against them every year.on a side note: flying back to akron last night, my flight into cleveland was packed with osu fans. i saw so much red i wanted to puke. anyways there was a lot of "gator fans are white trash hillbillies" jokes going around and THAT made them sound like nothing more than poor losers. i also took great pride (and raised my voice a bit so people could hear) in telling the nice guy next to me about how we stomped osu when he asked about my rifle jacket and akron's program.

[sgm405]

As for strength of schedule, OSU was ranked #37 and beat two #2 teams at the time that they played them.  Not bad if you ask me.  Boise State, by comparison, was #83.  Pretty big difference there.

yeah but that's not really fair to say because we all know now that texas didn't deserve it's ranking...i dunnoi said before the game that i wanted osu to lose by at least 4 td's...lo and behold! i was close. this stuff of ohio winning 8/10 or whatever is garbage because florida came out ready to fight and where was troy? wasn't it something like 4 for 18? plus an int and a fumble that both lead to scores. if it was a closer game and not a complete blowout, then maybe i could agree a little. i feel that i don't look like a whiner because i have absolutely nothing to do with osu except direct competition with them. they are the closest school to us and we compete against them every year.on a side note: flying back to akron last night, my flight into cleveland was packed with osu fans. i saw so much red i wanted to puke. anyways there was a lot of "gator fans are white trash hillbillies" jokes going around and THAT made them sound like nothing more than poor losers. i also took great pride (and raised my voice a bit so people could hear) in telling the nice guy next to me about how we stomped osu when he asked about my rifle jacket and akron's program.

Texas' problems were more because of injuries than anything else if you ask me. Not as good as last year, but still...a damn good team. Troy Ginn proved to be more valuable than we thought. I honestly think the game is a lot closer with him healthy...although I still do think Florida wins. They simply looked like the better team.