Game Four (UNLV) Thoughts - 2026

[AkronAlumnus]

Does anyone know Akron's football NIL budget?  I've heard as low as 50k and as high as 1M.  Would be curious how that stacks up. 

[exit322]

1 hour ago, MangoZip said:

The financial support from Akron for football is obviously minimal but most MAC teams are in a similar situation.  Here is a list of MAC teams that have been to a bowl in the last five years - seems only one team is missing… 

 

Miami

Toledo

Ohio

Western Michigan 

Central Michigan
Nothern Illinois 

Ball State 

Buffalo 

Bowling Green

Eastern Michigan 

Kent State 

 

 

 

UMass is also missing, but they're going to fix that this year.

 

Just need more time to build the program.

[clarkwgriswold]

2 hours ago, MangoZip said:

The financial support from Akron for football is obviously minimal but most MAC teams are in a similar situation.  Here is a list of MAC teams that have been to a bowl in the last five years - seems only one team is missing… 

 

Miami

Toledo

Ohio

Western Michigan 

Central Michigan
Nothern Illinois 

Ball State 

Buffalo 

Bowling Green

Eastern Michigan 

Kent State 

 

What Could The 2026 MAC Football Budgets Look Like? - HERO Sports https://share.google/oDej3CFy0Tdub6ZJq

 

13th of 13.

Edited Sunday at 04:39 PM by clarkwgriswold

[Zippy87]

4 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

The greatest deficiency in Joe's program is a lack of financial support.  The university is in no position to provide it and he doesn't have the ability to rally the financial support the program needs.

 

This is true. Our NIL budget is very, very low. I believe lowest in D1, actually.

 

What I also think is apparent, though, is that Moorhead's staff isn't going to be able to overcome that lack of budget. They are what they are IMO. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

13 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

What I also think is apparent, though, is that Moorhead's staff isn't going to be able to overcome that lack of budget. They are what they are IMO. 

Jesus’ 12-man staff would likely go 6-6 with our NIL coffers. Our training table would be endless bread, but at least the guys could eat. 
 

Could Coach Jesus turn water into a d-line? If so, 7-5 is the absolute best case. And he’d leave us for Notre Dame before our bowl game anyway.
 

[kreed5120]

28 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Jesus’ 12-man staff would likely go 6-6 with our NIL coffers. Our training table would be endless bread, but at least the guys could eat. 
 

Could Coach Jesus turn water into a d-line? If so, 7-5 is the absolute best case. And he’d leave us for Notre Dame before our bowl game anyway.
 

I'm laughing because this post is pretty spot on. 

[GP1]

41 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Jesus’ 12-man staff would likely go 6-6 with our NIL coffers. Our training table would be endless bread, but at least the guys could eat. 
 

Could Coach Jesus turn water into a d-line? If so, 7-5 is the absolute best case. And he’d leave us for Notre Dame before our bowl game anyway.
 

We'd lose a lot of game because the only hydration the players had was wine. 

[ZippyRulz]

The only consideration in hiring the next coach should be how much money he or she could inject into the budget. No football IQ or experience needed. 

[GP1]

Just now, ZippyRulz said:

The only consideration in hiring the next coach should be how much money he or she could inject into the budget. No football IQ or experience needed. 

Imagine if Joe left on his own after a bowl season and the best we could do was to promote an assistant. It's not out of the world of reality. It happened to another Zips program anyone of their best coaches ever left for another school. 

[exit322]

16 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Imagine if Joe left on his own after a bowl season and the best we could do was to promote an assistant. It's not out of the world of reality. It happened to another Zips program anyone of their best coaches ever left for another school. 

 

Imagine if our rivals had that happen, only they were replacing a guy that made Ianello and Arth look good, and that "all we can afford assistant" coach matched Joe's best 5-7 season in his first year and is 2-2 in his second.

[GP1]

36 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Imagine if our rivals had that happen, only they were replacing a guy that made Ianello and Arth look good, and that "all we can afford assistant" coach matched Joe's best 5-7 season in his first year and is 2-2 in his second.

Would that coach make a distant fan say, "who" or would he be a known commodity that would have no trouble getting a higher paying job somewhere else?

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Jesus’ 12-man staff would likely go 6-6 with our NIL coffers. Our training table would be endless bread, but at least the guys could eat. 
 

Could Coach Jesus turn water into a d-line? If so, 7-5 is the absolute best case. And he’d leave us for Notre Dame before our bowl game anyway.
 

 

I get your point and I agree with it, but I also don't know that Moorhead's team maximizes what little they do have. I can only imagine what percentage of the NIL budget they locked into Poffenbarger. 

[kreed5120]

1 minute ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I get your point and I agree with it, but I also don't know that Moorhead's team maximizes what little they do have. I can only imagine what percentage of the NIL budget they locked into Poffenbarger. 

 

Probably not as much as you would think. He was unproven at the FBS level. We were probably one of the few, perhaps only, school that gave him a chance to start.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of our NIL went to keeping our skilled position players. That's where the majority of our returning talent resides.

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Probably not as much as you would think. He was unproven at the FBS level. We were probably one of the few, perhaps only, school that gave him a chance to start.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of our NIL went to keeping our skilled position players. That's where the majority of our returning talent resides.

Hopefully we’re able to rollover whatever was promised to him to next year considering he isn’t even eligible.

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Probably not as much as you would think. He was unproven at the FBS level. We were probably one of the few, perhaps only, school that gave him a chance to start.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of our NIL went to keeping our skilled position players. That's where the majority of our returning talent resides.

 

I respectfully disagree. We started the season with a redshirt freshman backup QB making his first career start then moved to our 3rd sting QB last week, also making his first career start. While Poffenbarger's experience does come in FCS, it's still experience - he's still started 26 college football games and played well in those games. His floor would have been higher than both of our current QBs, and ceiling much higher IMO. 

[kreed5120]

52 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I respectfully disagree. We started the season with a redshirt freshman backup QB making his first career start then moved to our 3rd sting QB last week, also making his first career start. While Poffenbarger's experience does come in FCS, it's still experience - he's still started 26 college football games and played well in those games. His floor would have been higher than both of our current QBs, and ceiling much higher IMO. 

 

I'm not exactly sure what you're disputing here. I simply stated I don't think he was a highly coveted transfer, especially since his eligibility was a bit murky as it relied on an approved 5th year that had to make it through the courts, so I don't feel we spent a ton to acquire him. We're not in a position to win bidding wars against anyone. Especially at a premium position like QB. The other 2 QBs you mention also probably make little to no money. Maybe a small token stipend.

 

I'm not really in a position to argue how much better he is or isn't than the players we have playing QB currently. The opinion I shared is irrelevant to whatever this point is.

Edited Monday at 12:06 AM by kreed5120

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

Hopefully we’re able to rollover whatever was promised to him to next year considering he isn’t even eligible.

 

No disagreement there. Generally these deals I believe include a signing bonus and then a monthly stipend so hopefully Akron is able to recoup a large chunk of it.

[Zippy87]

34 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I'm not exactly sure what you're disputing here. I simply stated I don't think he was a highly coveted transfer, especially since his eligibility was a bit murky as it relied on an approved 5th year that had to make it through the courts, so I don't feel we spent a ton to acquire him. We're not in a position to win bidding wars against anyone. Especially at a premium position like QB. The other 2 QBs you mention also probably make little to no money. Maybe a small token stipend.

 

I'm not really in a position to argue how much better he is or isn't than the players we have playing QB currently. The opinion I shared is irrelevant to whatever this point is.

 

My point is that unless his eligibility was always going to be a huge question mark, I doubt we were his only offer. If it was always going to be a longshot for him to be eligible, you're probably right, though. 

[exit322]

5 hours ago, GP1 said:

Would that coach make a distant fan say, "who" or would he be a known commodity that would have no trouble getting a higher paying job somewhere else?

 

I dunno, he was coaching under Kenni Burns.  Doesn't seem he was a particularly popular commodity.

[72 Roo]

7 hours ago, exit322 said:

 

Imagine if our rivals had that happen, only they were replacing a guy that made Ianello and Arth look good, and that "all we can afford assistant" coach matched Joe's best 5-7 season in his first year and is 2-2 in his second.

Some posters are a broken record that bore the hell out of me. Say something new and intelligent rather than bitching about the obvious.

[Lee Adams]

On 9/27/2026 at 8:02 AM, MangoZip said:

This game hurt the worst. We pretty much knew that Wake and Minnesota would be bad losses. We also knew we should beat Robert Morris. This game was going to be a good test of where we are. We knew UNLV was a good team, but not P4 and we should be able to be competitive- we were for a half.  Then we showed our true colors again - so disappointing. Being outscored 38-3 after going up 7-0 is flat out embarrassing. Same old, same old - turnovers, bad penalties, blown coverages and the bottom line is that we only scored 10 points and gave up 38. It just feels like the Joe era is missing the intangibles. Intensity? Grit? Discipline? Attitude? All of the above? 

Wanted to see acouple of games before posting again. To start hoppe Broughgton isn't out long or the offense is going to be ugly,aside from Gant running. Don't see Roggow is any better than the mediocre QBs here the last several years. Can't run effectivley,holds the ball too long at times, not real good arm strength. Of course with an O-line that is erratic at best not gonna sustain much offensively. And, UNLV didn't have a great defense. Should have put up more.

Defensively these guys aern't any better. WRs running wide open in the secondary. Who the heck was playing on the right side of Akron's defensive backfield? Once UNLV decided to let their QB run it was really game over. No containment,no pass rush. D-line was gouged.

So far not much different than last few seasons.

Again, if Broughton is out long it might get real ugly. I don't think there is going to be much relief in the MAC.

 

[exit322]

8 minutes ago, Lee Adams said:

Wanted to see acouple of games before posting again. To start hoppe Broughgton isn't out long or the offense is going to be ugly,aside from Gant running. Don't see Roggow is any better than the mediocre QBs here the last several years. Can't run effectivley,holds the ball too long at times, not real good arm strength. Of course with an O-line that is erratic at best not gonna sustain much offensively. And, UNLV didn't have a great defense. Should have put up more.

Defensively these guys aern't any better. WRs running wide open in the secondary. Who the heck was playing on the right side of Akron's defensive backfield? Once UNLV decided to let their QB run it was really game over. No containment,no pass rush. D-line was gouged.

So far not much different than last few seasons.

Again, if Broughton is out long it might get real ugly. I don't think there is going to be much relief in the MAC.

 

 

I don't think the line's been all that bad, really.  Sure, struggled a bit against the P4 teams a bit, but even then wasn't that bad.  Roggow has proven, though, that CB is QB1 here (though I'd argue Roggow hasn't been awful).  CB's going to have to learn how to slide, though, or we'll get 3-4 more games of Roggow throughout the rest of the season.

[kreed5120]

Reggow is a fine backup QB for the MAC. The problem is the pass defense is so atrocious that fine just doesn't cut it. We need a QB that can put up points in bunches. Not one that can be a game manager.

[phil]

I thought Reggow got noticably worse after he took a hard shot on a safety blitz.  Nobody picked him up at that was a 10 yard sprint right into the QB.  After that hit I would be getting rid of the ball a little faster.

[clarkwgriswold]

I've heard (and it is no stronger than that) that Broughton could have played against UNLV if absolutely necessary but that they didn't want to risk it and wanted him back to health by the start of the MAC schedule and that he should be ready for this week.

Edited yesterday at 01:25 AM by clarkwgriswold