Johnny Utah Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 The MAC is well represented in the ESPN preseason bottom 10! In at #3 Temple, #4 Buffalo, #6 Eastern Michigan and on the waiting list is Miami. Nice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Wow we have more teams on that list than the Sun Belt...that's just disgraceful!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-mann17 Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Well when you are doing a story on bottom dwellers you have to go with the teams with the worst records. I am a little shocked with the over all hate on the MAC but then when you have 4 teams with 2 losses or worse it's all you can really expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 If we really do turn the corner in the next few years, we need to get out of the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 If you get good enough to dominate the other teams in the conference consistently, those teams will be the first see you to the door. It's not our fault the MAC gets no respect, but it IS our fault if we can't stand out above the them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 If you get good enough to dominate the other teams in the conference consistently, those teams will be the first see you to the door. It's not our fault the MAC gets no respect, but it IS our fault if we can't stand out above the them. Sorry, but I disagree. I think it is every teams fault in the MAC that they get no respect.Akron is one of the reasons that the MAC gets no respect. Last year when UA beat NCSU, it made the sports shows. Of course then we followed that up with garbage. Imagine if we would have kept winning.If 1 team started knocking off the majors and finished in the top1 0 regularly that would bring a little respect to the entire conference.I don't feel you have to be elite top to bottom for the conference to be respected. Look at the B10. For the longest time they were knwon as the Big 2 and Little 8.The conference was respected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 It's partially our fault the MAC gets no respect, because besides NC State we have never given anyone a reason to respect us. A few of the teams that have some national respect (Toledo, Miami and NIU) have that respect because they have stepped out of conference on multiple occasions and have beaten worthy opponents. We, along with the remaining vast majority of the MAC have not consistently competed well outside our conference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 well we are gonna see which theory is right real soon because Marshall left the MAC for Conference USA, (which i feel is equal to the MAC) but is vastly viewed as a better conference. Lets see where that gets them. For us no matter how well we do the B10 is out our only hope would be Big East or Conference USA. IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 The Big East would be nice at this point. I am not a big fan of C-USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziptrumpet87 Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 the Big East has some potential rivalries build in also (Pitt, Cinci...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 C-USA is better than the MAC. Tulsa, Houston, East Carolina, Marshall, UCF and Southern Miss would all be a top 2 or 3 team at the worst in the MAC. UCF has stepped it up A LOT since they left the MAC and I am sure Marshall's recruiting hasn't gone down by the switch.We have no shot at the Big Ten. If they add another team it will be in an unserviced market to get more tv exposure, etc... That is why they have talked about adding schools such as Missouri and even Rutgers. Rutgers has the largest market in the country in NY, and being a member of the Big Ten would surely help their recruiting.I think the Big East is our only real shot at moving out of the MAC unless a team or 2 such as UCF moves out of C-USA to join the Big East. I could see us moving up to C-USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 C-USA is better than the MAC. Tulsa, Houston, East Carolina, Marshall, UCF and Southern Miss would all be a top 2 or 3 team at the worst in the MAC. UCF has stepped it up A LOT since they left the MAC and I am sure Marshall's recruiting hasn't gone down by the switch.We have no shot at the Big Ten. If they add another team it will be in an unserviced market to get more tv exposure, etc... That is why they have talked about adding schools such as Missouri and even Rutgers. Rutgers has the largest market in the country in NY, and being a member of the Big Ten would surely help their recruiting.I think the Big East is our only real shot at moving out of the MAC unless a team or 2 such as UCF moves out of C-USA to join the Big East. I could see us moving up to C-USA. I disagree with Conference USA being better than the MAC...East Carolina, Tulsa and Houston are "normally" bottom 100 teams. Central Florida I think is on the rise with their new stadium and lying George O'Leary as a coach but Central and Marshall in my opinion didn't dominate the MAC when they were here. Southern Miss is the only one I can see being a consistent top finisher. Even Memphis has fallen way off since the bowl game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaglet1 Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I disagree with Conference USA being better than the MAC...East Carolina, Tulsa and Houston are "normally" bottom 100 teams. Central Florida I think is on the rise with their new stadium and lying George O'Leary as a coach but Central and Marshall in my opinion didn't dominate the MAC when they were here. Southern Miss is the only one I can see being a consistent top finisher. Even Memphis has fallen way off since the bowl game. I disagree on Marshall not dominating the MAC. Most recently, Marshall was in the MAC from 1997 (When they came up from 1-AA) until 2003. During that 7 year span, they went 48-8 (.857) in the MAC, and 73-13 overall. They also won the MACC in 97, 98, 99, 00, 02 and were runners up in 01.It would be very tough for anyone in the MAC to match that run. And those numbers only got them into CUSA... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I disagree with Conference USA being better than the MAC...East Carolina, Tulsa and Houston are "normally" bottom 100 teams. Central Florida I think is on the rise with their new stadium and lying George O'Leary as a coach but Central and Marshall in my opinion didn't dominate the MAC when they were here. Southern Miss is the only one I can see being a consistent top finisher. Even Memphis has fallen way off since the bowl game.I disagree on Marshall not dominating the MAC. Most recently, Marshall was in the MAC from 1997 (When they came up from 1-AA) until 2003. During that 7 year span, they went 48-8 (.857) in the MAC, and 73-13 overall. They also won the MACC in 97, 98, 99, 00, 02 and were runners up in 01.It would be very tough for anyone in the MAC to match that run. And those numbers only got them into CUSA... I agree. I don't know if I would use the word "dominate", but they certainly were the class of the MAC for most of the time they were here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I disagree with Conference USA being better than the MAC...East Carolina, Tulsa and Houston are "normally" bottom 100 teams. Central Florida I think is on the rise with their new stadium and lying George O'Leary as a coach but Central and Marshall in my opinion didn't dominate the MAC when they were here. Southern Miss is the only one I can see being a consistent top finisher. Even Memphis has fallen way off since the bowl game.I disagree on Marshall not dominating the MAC. Most recently, Marshall was in the MAC from 1997 (When they came up from 1-AA) until 2003. During that 7 year span, they went 48-8 (.857) in the MAC, and 73-13 overall. They also won the MACC in 97, 98, 99, 00, 02 and were runners up in 01.It would be very tough for anyone in the MAC to match that run. And those numbers only got them into CUSA... I stand corrected...damn they won that many?!!...I mean they were good but I didn't think they were any better than BGSU, Toledo, or Miami Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I think some of you underestimate how solid some of those C-USA teams are. For example...Tulsa - has been to a bowl 3 out of the last 4 years, which saw a win against Fresno State. They were good enough through that stretch that their coach just got hired this off season to replace Bobby Petrino at Louisville. Tulsa was also ranked #25 in the BCS standings this past season.Houston - Has had over a .500 record during the last 4 seasons including last seasons 10-4 record that included a 44-36 loss to South Carolina in the Liberty Bowl. They only lost to Miama (Fl) 14-13 and they beat Oklahoma State.Marshall we all know dominated the conference and they have yet to make any noise in C-USA. They finished 3rd in the division last season with a .500 conference record.East Carolina is usually solid. They ended up second in their division behind Southern Miss last year. Southern Miss is always tough. They are the Fresno State of the southeast.UCF has built new basketball and football facilities and the jump to C-USA has really helped their recruiting.Saying all this, jumping to C-USA would be a great jump for us to make. I would rather be in the Big East, but I feel a jump to C-USA would be a huge improvement over the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 Sure, it would be nice to get into another conference. But to attract a bigger conference, we need to win the MAC consistently in Marshall-like fashion, and increase our attendance SIGNIFICANTLY. Those are tall tasks.I agree that you can get more conference respect by having just a couple of good teams. However, because there are so many bad programs in our conference, it hurts every team's ability to recruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-mann17 Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 Marshall we all know dominated the conference and they have yet to make any noise in C-USA. They finished 3rd in the division last season with a .500 conference record.UCF has built new basketball and football facilities and the jump to C-USA has really helped their recruiting.Saying all this, jumping to C-USA would be a great jump for us to make. I would rather be in the Big East, but I feel a jump to C-USA would be a huge improvement over the MAC. I agree with your assessment, and it might even be a more realistic jump. To add, Marshall was down when they left the MAC (kind of limped out of the conference the last season they were here) and UCF was sent packing with their tails between their legs (0-12 their final season if a I recall). But look how quickly UCF was able to become incredibly competetive in C-USA. That is amazing and you can attribute that the recruiting power they have because of the conference change. Marshall is probably close to breaking through in that conference too. Also if the Big East does add teams it will likely pull from C-USA again, which creates openings for the Sun Belt and MAC to fill in spots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 You are right. For one, UCF is in a great recruiting area. Secondly, C-USA is perceived as being a better conference than the MAC, so that is 2 huge pluses UCF had in recruiting. Thirdly is their new facilites.I think Akron can follow that trend just like UCF has done. 1. New Stadium (check), 2. Good recruiting base of Ohio and Western PA (check), the 3rd is the conference. However, we won't change that unless we dominate the MAC for a solid 8-10 years in a row bare minimum. I think the new field house and stadium is a great start. If we produce consistently on the field it should all come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 ZipGrad. I'm with you. It will take a good 8-10 years until we are at the point where a larger conference will show an interest in Akron. We have much to accomplish, and it's a tall task, but it can happen if the pieces continue to fall into place. The big one will be CONSISTENTLY HIGH ATTENDANCE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I agree. Other conferences only want to add money generating programs, which means you need to have good home attendance and travel fairly well. Traveling is the one area where we get hurt the most because geographically we don't fit in that well with any conference except the Big Ten and MAC. Granted, we need to start winning consistently, so our home attendance is respectable. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 The attendance will be OK once the stadium is built. String together a few bowl appearences over the next 5 years and you have yourself a money-making program. Our other sports can help the cause by consistantly beating teams from BCS conferences (soccer, volleyball, track, ect.) Basketball needs a few NCAA tourney runs as well. In short, winning is the biggest challenge we need to overcome, not attendance, facilities, or location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Actually you need all of the above. Show me a major program that doesn't have great facilities, good attendance or a decent recruiting location. Winning is just assumed. You can't build a program without winning. If you win 75% of your games and nobody cares enough to show up does your program grow? Nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootforRoo44 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 yeah i dont see Conf-USA being better than the MAC...i think in a few years as we continue to grow, it will be more evident. Especially UA in general with all of our new facilities...big recruits will start to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 I think this may be the only board in the country where people feel the MAC is on par with C-USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.