Akron to play Ohio State to open the 2024 season

[72 Roo]

19 minutes ago, ZipCat said:

 

IDK I agree with GP1 on this point. That particular program for next season looks like it's definitely in decline. If we had a better Akron team, that's one I would highlight as a potential upset like the Akron vs. Michigan game a decade ago.

This is insane. OSU has the number one rated recruiting class and number one transfer portal class. Five of the portal transfers are projected to be starters. OSU got outplayed by Michigan in the first quarter and then was even or better in the remaining three quarters. They have hired Bill O'Brien to be their OC. If he does not take the BC job he will improve their O remarkably. The Mizzu game was bad, but the team was not dialed in for a meaningless game. Ryan Day has made the changes needed. Three O coaches have been fired and a new OC hired. I don't like OSU all that well, but I do recognize they are an elite top five program year in year out.

[GP1]

2 hours ago, ZipCat said:

 

IDK I agree with GP1 on this point. That particular program for next season looks like it's definitely in decline. If we had a better Akron team, that's one I would highlight as a potential upset like the Akron vs. Michigan game a decade ago.

OSU just had their brand new OC leave to coach a horrible BC program. That's a bad look for OSU. 

 

If you think it looks bad now, wait until the Alabama transfers who came with O'Brien bail out. 

Edited February 9 by GP1

[UA1996MAENG]

On 11/28/2023 at 9:53 AM, Hilltopper said:

https://570wkbn.iheart.com/content/2022-11-04-the-attendance-at-fcs-football-games-and-ysu/

 

"Did we build FCS stadiums too large? At one time they were right sized for Youngstown State. It was common to see 20 thousand turn out for a Penguin game. In this day and age 12,000 is a good crowd and that has not happened much this year. Saturday 65 and sunny was poorly attended. 

Despite some of the best facilities in division one football, the fans are not turning out. Youngstown has a complete indoor practice facility, convenient athletic quarters, and top-notch competition in the Missouri Valley conference, but the fans want to see Ohio State and Penn State. "

 

Same problems as us. There is no rabid fan base clamoring for a match-up between UA and YSU. 

 

 

It’s quite a problem for UA and the MAC in general. UA-YSU seems like a natural rivalry, but it does not seem that this would move the needle for attendance or money that UA desperately needs. The MAC has always been an afterthought, especially for football. Playing in the shadow of the Big 10 (18) is always going to relegate the conference to the back burner.  Successful Toledo only drew about 19,000 at home in 2023. That's about the upper limit of support. It's more than just the big money of the big conferences.  The populations of Akron and Youngstown are in decline generally, and enrollment is down or stagnant on both campuses and in most of the MAC. OU, Eastern Michigan, Toledo - all losing students.  Sadly, you could fit every active student on all three campuses into their respective stadiums and still have thousands of empty seats. Whether we like it or not, UA and 50-60 current "D-1" programs are going to be "demoted" in the coming years either officially by creation of a new NCAA subdivision or de facto by being exiled further into the wilderness of economic realities. Even the blood  money games (a la Ohio State in 2024) will be harder to schedule as the Power 4 (2) expands and monopolizes TV revenue.  Those paydays are going to be few and far between in a few years.  Then what?  Increase student fees on a campus] with fewer than 12,000 undergraduates? Not a solution.

[GP1]

8 hours ago, UA1996MAENG said:

It’s quite a problem for UA and the MAC in general. UA-YSU seems like a natural rivalry, but it does not seem that this would move the needle for attendance or money that UA desperately needs. The MAC has always been an afterthought, especially for football. Playing in the shadow of the Big 10 (18) is always going to relegate the conference to the back burner.  Successful Toledo only drew about 19,000 at home in 2023. That's about the upper limit of support. It's more than just the big money of the big conferences.  The populations of Akron and Youngstown are in decline generally, and enrollment is down or stagnant on both campuses and in most of the MAC. OU, Eastern Michigan, Toledo - all losing students.  Sadly, you could fit every active student on all three campuses into their respective stadiums and still have thousands of empty seats. Whether we like it or not, UA and 50-60 current "D-1" programs are going to be "demoted" in the coming years either officially by creation of a new NCAA subdivision or de facto by being exiled further into the wilderness of economic realities. Even the blood  money games (a la Ohio State in 2024) will be harder to schedule as the Power 4 (2) expands and monopolizes TV revenue.  Those paydays are going to be few and far between in a few years.  Then what?  Increase student fees on a campus] with fewer than 12,000 undergraduates? Not a solution.

I'm glad you use quotation marks for demotion. I don't see it as a demotion even though some may see it as such. I see it more as a rationalization. 

 

It is true the P5 schools will get more money from TV. It is also true TV networks need to fill game slots, unless they just extend games to five hours....  I wouldn't put that out of the world of reality. Anyhow it's critical for G5 schools to come together and create their own division with a commissioner for football. The numbers will give them leverage to negotiate TV and games against P5 schools. For example, instead of playing three games for three million dollars, the G5 schools could get one game for four million dollars. The P5 schools can and will pay the extra money because they will be raking it in. 

[ZippyRulz]

On 11/21/2023 at 3:37 PM, LZIp said:

I guess this means we are replacing our home game with Kentucky for an ass kicking by OSU. Thats 3 P5's next year (Rutgers and SC as well) and one home OOC game AGAIN...yay. Selling our soul (and chances to turn our program around by getting wins) for money.

 

 

 

I guess we won't learn much from this game. Sep. 7 & 14 should be telling though.

 

4 MAC games at home followed by 4 on the road?! That has to be a first.

 

 

Edited February 19 by ZippyRulz

[Blue & Gold]

9 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

4 MAC games at home followed by 4 on the road?! That has to be a first.

I don't think we know yet when our home games vs. away games are on the schedule.  They've only let us know who our 4 home opponents and who our 4 away opponents are.

Edited February 20 by Blue & Gold

[ZippyRulz]

7 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I don't think we know yet when our home games vs. away games are on the schedule.  They've only let us know who are 4 home opponents and who our 4 away opponents are.

 

ah so, that makes sense... I was looking here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Akron_Zips_football_team?wprov=sfla1

[ClevelandZip]

Well everyone, I talked to the ticket rep at UA and renewed my season tickets. However, I told him that even though he had nothing to do with it, it was my duty as a fan to inform him that I was super disappointed to lose the Kentucky home game and replace it with an OSUcks away game.

 

Surely that will show them. (It won’t).

[ZippyRulz]

it will be the biggest ohio audience for a zips game since probably the last time we played there.

[ClevelandZip]

8 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

it will be the biggest ohio audience for a zips game since probably the last time we played there.

Sad but true. Anyone going to this bloodbath? I’d hate to see the Zips get embarrassed but I’ve also never been to the Shoe before.

[ZippyRulz]

Aug. 31 vs. Akron – Archie Griffin 50th Anniversary Heisman Celebration and Faculty & Staff Appreciation
 

WMU plays there the following Saturday then Marshall is there on 9/21.. We could make it a MACtion/Sunbelt contest to see who loses the least worstly.

 

 

Edited June 6 by ZippyRulz

[GP1]

1 hour ago, ClevelandZip said:

Sad but true. Anyone going to this bloodbath? I’d hate to see the Zips get embarrassed but I’ve also never been to the Shoe before.

It's a giant stadium with a football field in the middle. There are a lot of them. 

[MangoZip]

Current line is Akron +50.5….seriously 

[GP1]

27 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Current line is Akron +50.5….seriously 

Probably accurate. I won't spend 10 minutes watching this hoax. 

[UA1996MAENG]

11 hours ago, GP1 said:

Probably accurate. I won't spend 10 minutes watching this hoax. 

Agreed.  I don't know how UA and most G5 universities would fund athletics, specifically football, without these awful blood-money games, but I long ago refused to attend or watch them for the same reason I thought the Harlem Globetrotter games were obvious bullshit when I was 10. The outcome is predetermined and in some situations it’s potentially dangerous for teams that are simply out-matched physically across the board.

 

What's the payout for this OSU game?  I hope it's more than a million because the risk is simply too high in terms of negative exposure and the potential injury to athletes whom UA needs for there to be any hope of conference wins. Playing a team like Indiana, when possible, makes sense and clearly even a struggling UA can play with and perhaps beat the Hoosiers.  What I find interesting is what happens over the next few years when it’s clear to everyone that the already huge disparity within the Big10 over the last 100 years will increase exponentially.  The public is used to OSU 50 IU 17.  How do the lesser teams in the Big10 come to grips with the future of “OSU 70 - IU 3”? At what point do these universities tire of the beat-downs?  With that kind of media money, I guess never?  

[egregiousbob]

Has anyone ever seen a study on whether the incidence of injury is higher in a game between a P5 and G5 team than any other regular season contest?  I suspect there's not a lot of difference.

 

 

[LZIp]

2 hours ago, UA1996MAENG said:

Agreed.  I don't know how UA and most G5 universities would fund athletics, specifically football, without these awful blood-money games, but I long ago refused to attend or watch them for the same reason I thought the Harlem Globetrotter games were obvious bullshit when I was 10. The outcome is predetermined and in some situations it’s potentially dangerous for teams that are simply out-matched physically across the board.

 

What's the payout for this OSU game?  I hope it's more than a million because the risk is simply too high in terms of negative exposure and the potential injury to athletes whom UA needs for there to be any hope of conference wins. Playing a team like Indiana, when possible, makes sense and clearly even a struggling UA can play with and perhaps beat the Hoosiers.  What I find interesting is what happens over the next few years when it’s clear to everyone that the already huge disparity within the Big10 over the last 100 years will increase exponentially.  The public is used to OSU 50 IU 17.  How do the lesser teams in the Big10 come to grips with the future of “OSU 70 - IU 3”? At what point do these universities tire of the beat-downs?  With that kind of media money, I guess never?  

I hate the game myself, or at the very least only want one of these a year (and not 2-3 depending on how you look at it this year), but I bet we're getting closer to $2mm from OSU, and I believe a pretty sizeable buyout from Kentucky for them not coming here as well. We are making out quite well for this embarrassment. 

[GP1]

This game is degrading. It's degrading for Akron because of it trades money for humiliation. It's degrading for OSU because they are paying a team just to make money and humiliate them. It's gross. College football is just gross anymore. 

 

Think of it like this. Howard Stern used to pay strippers to come in and he would throw balogna slices at their backsides. The women degraded themselves for money. Stern degraded himself by participating in a degrading event. I used to think it was funny. Now I think it's stupid. I used to think games against OSU were good for the program. Now I'm certain they are stupid and a sign the athletic director doesn't know what to do to change the culture of the program. 

[MangoZip]

The G5 - Power 5 gap will only get bigger but the Power 5 needs to establish some sort of “salary/NIL cap” so that the Indianas of the world have a chance to compete against the big boys. Then it will revert back to the good ole days and the big boys can cheat under the table again 😂. 
Did Kentucky cancel on Akron or Akron cancel on Kentucky? 

Edited June 7 by MangoZip

[GP1]

2 hours ago, MangoZip said:

😂
Did Kentucky cancel on Akron or Akron cancel on Kentucky? 

It's more. They paid us a lot to get out of the game. Then we seized defeat from the jaws of victory by scheduling a sure loss on the road. 

[ClevelandZip]

3 hours ago, GP1 said:

It's more. They paid us a lot to get out of the game. Then we seized defeat from the jaws of victory by scheduling a sure loss on the road. 

What’s infuriating is that just from these maneuvers, Akron will make 3-4 times the amount of money as they do from ESPN for the broadcast rights to ALL of their sports teams ALL year, if I am understanding the contract right. Meanwhile they’re paying schools like Vanderbilt over $50MM per year. What kind of bozos are negotiating these contracts for the MAC?

 

Seems like they’d be able to get more money by just broadcasting their own content on their own website or app and keeping all the advertisement revenue for the conference. I can’t exactly blame the AD for taking all this money since it is way more than we usually get for athletics. It sucks, but it also seems his hands are tied because of poor conference leadership.

[GP1]

2 hours ago, ClevelandZip said:

What’s infuriating is that just from these maneuvers, Akron will make 3-4 times the amount of money as they do from ESPN for the broadcast rights to ALL of their sports teams ALL year, if I am understanding the contract right. Meanwhile they’re paying schools like Vanderbilt over $50MM per year. What kind of bozos are negotiating these contracts for the MAC?

 

Seems like they’d be able to get more money by just broadcasting their own content on their own website or app and keeping all the advertisement revenue for the conference. I can’t exactly blame the AD for taking all this money since it is way more than we usually get for athletics. It sucks, but it also seems his hands are tied because of poor conference leadership.

It's not the conference. It's much more complicated and beyond the MAC. 

[ZipCat]

On 6/6/2024 at 3:47 PM, ClevelandZip said:

Sad but true. Anyone going to this bloodbath? I’d hate to see the Zips get embarrassed but I’ve also never been to the Shoe before.

 

I'm probably going to go. I went both in 2011 and 2021. Yeah it's not fun watching the zips get annihlated, but it is kinda cool to see the Zips in the shoe. In 2012 I went to see Akron play Tennessee and that was a wildly exciting game because the Zips played much better than anyone expected.

[Reslife4Life]

2 hours ago, ZipCat said:

 

I'm probably going to go. I went both in 2011 and 2021. Yeah it's not fun watching the zips get annihlated, but it is kinda cool to see the Zips in the shoe. In 2012 I went to see Akron play Tennessee and that was a wildly exciting game because the Zips played much better than anyone expected.

Being in the Akron section in 2021 when we scored first was electric. We got free tickets as students and were sitting 10 rows up from the field. It really was a cool environment, just a little more exciting than Tuesday Night MACtion

[GP1]

1 hour ago, Reslife4Life said:

Being in the Akron section in 2021 when we scored first was electric. We got free tickets as students and were sitting 10 rows up from the field. It really was a cool environment, just a little more exciting than Tuesday Night MACtion

My ideal game is a completely empty stadium, on a Saturday afternoon, with the exception of me and Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world. However, I know that isn't good for the program so I can only dream.