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YSU Penguin Athletics => YSU Penguin Athletics => Topic started by: Penguin Nation on June 29, 2015, 08:28:45 PM
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Whatever tiny piece of me that wanted YSU to join the MAC and play in the FBS is now gone after reading about the money UA is hemorrhaging due to FB. The University is actually buying tickets to avoid being kicked out of the FBS.
The article mentions YSU:
"Even Youngstown State University, which plays in the lower Football Championship Subdivision, reported drawing 84,669 fans for seven games — an average of 12,096."
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/university-of-akron-football-attendance-lowest-in-nation-1.603992
How long can they sustain these losses? I don't see how they can add FCOA schollies to an already unaffordable program. I wonder what the future is for their program, and for Terry Bowden. Maybe drop to FCS? They should swallow their undeserved pride and get YSU on their schedule ASAP to improve attendance, which it would do.
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Interesting read, it is a joke that the ncaa allows schools to buy their own tickets every two years so schools can "pretend" to be "bigtime"
akron is a joke, good for them
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Thats insane! YSU averaged better attendance when the last two home games must have really lowered YSU's average too! I remember hardly a couple thousand people if that at the last two games. If we had that few and still had an average over Akron... man thats unbelievable! Especially their student numbers. They have 10k more students than we did and gave free tuition away for the spring for 3 lucky students who attended a game. If you did that at YSU, and made the drawing at the end of the game, out of 15k students, you'd get at least 10k butts in the seats.
Frankly, Akron should just agree to a home and home series with YSU and drop to the FCS. What can they argue against a home and home series now that they won't be able to say "oh you won't have enough attendance"?
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University of Akron football is a joke. Always has been.
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If they had any brains they'd join the MVFC for FB and Horizon for all other sports. They lose Kent but pick up YSU and CSU as regional rivals. The MVFC could pick up UND to keep even numbers.
When I used to go to the Rubber Bowl, we used to joke that it was a home game. Nothing but red and white filling the stands cheering loudly for the Penguins.
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When I used to go to the Rubber Bowl, we used to joke that it was a home game. Nothing but red and white filling the stands cheering loudly for the Penguins.
Yep I agree
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Those of us who have followed northeastern Ohio college football for many years are not surprised by any revelations in that article. We knew that the attendance numbers at Akron and Kent were fraudulent. We now know the exact expensive procedure that Akron concocts in their misguided quest to be considered big time.
Akron might be the most distressed public university in America. Driven by their delusions of grandeur, they borrowed millions upon millions to construct a campus for 30,000 students. The result: the iron law of northeastern Ohio demographics caught up with them as their enrollment declined by 5,000 within a few years. Don't you just love that one figure in the article? Akron pays 4.3 million in debt service each year on their stadium that sits virtually empty. And that is just the tip of their financial iceberg. Could not happen to a more deserving bunch of snobs.
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The University of Akron just announced as part of major budget cuts, they are cutting their baseball program.
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Yes, Akron baseball is finished. Worse, the school is cutting 215 positions and reducing their budget by $40 million. Meanwhile, under Tressel, YSU has reduced its total deficit from $10 million to $3 million in a single year. For perspective, the total deficit at YSU is now LESS than the yearly debt service that Akron is paying on their empty new football stadium.
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The University of Akron just announced as part of major budget cuts, they are cutting their baseball program.
Why am I not feeling sorry for them ;D
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The University of Akron just announced as part of major budget cuts, they are cutting their baseball program.
Why am I not feeling sorry for them ;D
Because you're a Guin
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Funny tweet from an Akron fan:
"This would not have happened under President Tressel (or Mayor Zac Jackson)"
http://www.cleveland.com/akron/index.ssf/2015/07/university_of_akron_students_f.html
I wonder how this affects Akron's relationship with the MAC. I believe they will be the only MAC school w/o a baseball program.
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The University of Akron just announced as part of major budget cuts, they are cutting their baseball program.
Why am I not feeling sorry for them ;D
Because you're a Guin
And the Zits suck
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Funny tweet from an Akron fan:
"This would not have happened under President Tressel (or Mayor Zac Jackson)"
http://www.cleveland.com/akron/index.ssf/2015/07/university_of_akron_students_f.html
I wonder how this affects Akron's relationship with the MAC. I believe they will be the only MAC school w/o a baseball program.
If that is the case, then the answer is "no". The MAC will still qualify for the NCAA post-season. With the success of Kent, baseball in the MAC has become very expensive. I see several other teams dropping baseball as well.
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Problem is, Akron spent all that money to build that football stadium because the rubber bowl was falling apart, and now they are one of the worst D-1 football programs in the nation lol. That program makes no revenue whatsoever and that stadium never hosts any other events besides football games. It's a shame.
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exactly, the football world cup that is canton this and next week should have been in akron instead
on side note looking forward to the USA vs Japan game sunday night
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A humble and dispirited fan base:
http://zipsnation.org/forums/topic/33680-where-does-the-axe-fall-next/
Dropping a division is even suggested....and IMO is a good idea for Akron.
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Well well well, seems likely they drop to the fcs! Bring back the steel tire!
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/faculty-senate-chair-recommends-university-of-akron-drop-level-in-football-1.608039
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Well well well, seems likely they drop to the fcs! Bring back the steel tire!
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/faculty-senate-chair-recommends-university-of-akron-drop-level-in-football-1.608039
They'll have a ton of brused egos in the administration, but this is/was always the right way to go. Same for Kent. Truth is what is needed is another division in football. The "power 5 conferences + ND and BYU" "everybody else in 1-A now" then "1-AA" and div 2 & 3.
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Akron FB joining the FCS is the only sensible decision. The G5 is much closer in terms of $$ and talent to the FCS than the P5. Joing the MVFC would actually be an upgrade in SOS and conference strength. I'm not sure they wouldn't be wiser to join the OVC where they would immediately be a top 3 team and likely be selected for the post-season. If they joined the 2015 MVFC they'd likely finish ~4-4 in league play.
Staying in the MAC is lunacy. The 2014 MAC champ couldn't even crack the FBS top 25 at the end of the season. Marshall, the C-USA champ, only lost one game and barely cracked the top 25. Akron could (and should) have a strong OOC schedule if joining the FCS. With all of the savings, they could host Oregon at the Info and still save $$. With all of the $$ saved, they could reinstate baseball. I suspect after the August NCAA D1 meetings, the distance between P5 and G5 will grow and the distance between G5 and FCS will diminish. Akron may be the first of many lower tier G5 schools to make the prudent choice to join the FCS.
I think they'll make decisions after this season, which they are expecting to be a winning season. If not, I think they'll let Terry Bowden go (he'll prolly just leave) and move to FCS. I think the negative publicity lately will only hurt attendance further, and even more wins won't save them. Last season they beat Pitt and were 4-2 halfway through the season....had free-tuition gimmicks....and still couldn't draw fans to their new stadium.
I think the inevitable will be announced this December....and may possibly even include a complete divorce from the MAC.
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It only makes sense. Stinks because Akron actually has a very good basketball and soccer program. Even won a national championship in soccer and have been to the NCAA Tournament multiple times in the last 10 years. Football is just dragging that school down.... Shame.
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They better bring back baseball if they want the Horizon. We do not need another Cleveland State. I do not approve of accepting schools that do not fit our sports base. I also think the MVC would baulk at them, as we all know that Kent will soon follow. The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC.
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1-AA "The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC."
Truer words were never spoken (posted). Akron and Kent would set MVC for "East" and "West" divisions and cut down some Dakota travel at least every other year. Pluse add a couple "drive to" away games. Would be great to see!
Hope you are right 1-AA!
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Folks, keep in mind that you are reacting to the opinions of an Akron faculty member. Administrations and trustees typically ignore faculty on every topic not directly related to course work. Akron will continue to muddle on in the MAC and will continue to waste tons of money. There is no time limit on being perpetually stupid.
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I highly doubt this happens, if it does I don't see it happening for awhile. Would be intriguing though.
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Akron has a new President who has said he wouldn't have built the InfoCision Stadium, and has raised student fees, fired faculty, and just cut baseball. It is certainly true that anything could happen, but it seems almost implausible that they'd raise student fees $50/credit hour but still bonfire $8M/year to simply remain in the FBS. It would be epic insanity. I wonder if the statement from the faculty member was a planned trial balloon to gauge public/fan reaction.
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It would be great to see a renewed rivalry between YSU and Akron in FB, but this probably will not happen.
Akron will continue in the MAC in the foreseeable future. They will try new attempts to bring fans to the new stadium. Most likely they will continue to throw money into the FB program and thus more heads will laid off in the future.
If Kent and Akron would schedule home games every other year with YSU, it would probably guarantee a crowd over 14,000. That would be double their average fan attendance.
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If you want to see what a meltdown looks like, look here:
http://zipsnation.org/forums/topic/33696-faculty-recommends-i-aa/page-2
Amongst the angst and delusions of FBS viability, one fan offers a nugget of sanity:
"Let's be honest here about revenues, in the MAC there is no big television contract that pays big bucks, far from it. There are also no big bowl game payouts, as back in 2005 Akron lost money on the bowl game as has every MAC team save for Northern Illinois' bowl trips over the past 3 years. The MAC television package with ESPN is a giant trade deal where the MAC plays a lot of mid week games in exchange for bowl slots that no other conference wants. The schools rarely sell their tickets to the bowl games and end up on the hook for travel, hotels, meals, etc... No one in the MAC will ever play in the College Football Playoff, so the only real source of revenue for Akron or any other MAC team is from playing the Oklahoma type games. Even the home and home series with Pitt will not yield what it should as no tickets are being sold for this game other than to Pitt fans who will outnumber Akron fans 3:1 at that game. Akron ticket sales are not going to make some mad jump and when the team starts 0-2 to begin the 2015 season people are not going to jump on board. Akron has only SIX WINNING SEASONS since 1987: which were Faust 1992, Owens 1999, 2000, 2003, Brookhart 2004, 2005. It's been a decade since Akron Football had a winning season. The largest crowds in Akron Football history came when the program played winning football at the 1AA or FCS level. These are all facts along with the reality that Akron spends 8m of a 25m total athletics budget on football, which sells so few tickets on an annual basis (season and single game) that the total gross sales cannot cover the salary of the head football coach. That's just not good business."
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If Kent and Akron would schedule home games every other year with YSU, it would probably guarantee a crowd over 14,000. That would be double their average fan attendance.
I completely agree. 100%. But.....the fiscal hole for Akron has grown too deep for these half measures.
As ridiculous as it may sound...only beating OK and shocking the FBS world prolly could save them now.
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Folks, keep in mind that you are reacting to the opinions of an Akron faculty member. Administrations and trustees typically ignore faculty on every topic not directly related to course work. Akron will continue to muddle on in the MAC and will continue to waste tons of money. There is no time limit on being perpetually stupid.
If Akron's academic senate and YSU's academic senate are similar, it has virtually little or no impact on the administration decisions.
As a member of the YSU's academic senate, the university administration paid very little weight on the recommendations/resolutions from the academic senate on academic matters, let alone athletic issues.
IMO, if Akron decides to move down to IAA, it will be the administration's decision to save money and not because of the recommendations of their academic senate. In this case, the opinion was only expressed by the Chairperson of the academic senate. That was not even a recommendations from their academic senate. Therefore, it does not carry any weight at all.
Personally, unless NCAA combines G5 and FCS, I do not see Akron dropping down to join FCS.
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1-AA "The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC."
Truer words were never spoken (posted). Akron and Kent would set MVC for "East" and "West" divisions and cut down some Dakota travel at least every other year. Pluse add a couple "drive to" away games. Would be great to see!
Hope you are right 1-AA!
I think the MVC will want Kent, because of baseball and obvious men's basketball strength. Akron needs to try and capitalize on the soccer title before it is too late to get into another conference, but I do not see the MVC accepting them on that measure alone. Kent could negotiate acceptance of Akron into the MVC. I do not see the MVFC wanting either school.
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1-AA "The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC."
Truer words were never spoken (posted). Akron and Kent would set MVC for "East" and "West" divisions and cut down some Dakota travel at least every other year. Pluse add a couple "drive to" away games. Would be great to see!
Hope you are right 1-AA!
I think the MVC will want Kent, because of baseball and obvious men's basketball strength. Akron needs to try and capitalize on the soccer title before it is too late to get into another conference, but I do not see the MVC accepting them on that measure alone. Kent could negotiate acceptance of Akron into the MVC. I do not see the MVFC wanting either school.
1-AA I have a ton of respect for your opinions, but this post has be completely lost. You think a conference that has the likes of Indiana State, Missouri State and Western Illinios would turn there nose up at two MAC schools? Especially when is raises the home and home rivalies that Kent Akron and YSU would add? (And seriously, do you think soccer would help any school get in any conference in the US? This is the US, we don't give a damn for soccer!)
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1-AA "The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC."
Truer words were never spoken (posted). Akron and Kent would set MVC for "East" and "West" divisions and cut down some Dakota travel at least every other year. Pluse add a couple "drive to" away games. Would be great to see!
Hope you are right 1-AA!
I think the MVC will want Kent, because of baseball and obvious men's basketball strength. Akron needs to try and capitalize on the soccer title before it is too late to get into another conference, but I do not see the MVC accepting them on that measure alone. Kent could negotiate acceptance of Akron into the MVC. I do not see the MVFC wanting either school.
Is Kent is better shape financially than Akron since Kent did not build a new stadium? If Kent is in better financial shape, I do not see them going 1AA since Kent has a much larger enrollment size than most MAC schools and is not a commuter school. Financially speaking. if Kent cannot make it in MAC, how could Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan stay in?
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I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about how these schools are doing financially. The Kent endowment is 109+ Million and Akron, despite the stadium is about the same as YSU at 206 Million. YSU spends about 6% on athletics and I assume the others are similar, so although "not nothing" it is manageable within the system. More important is being completive at the level they chose to compete nationally. You can’t recruit for 3-10 every year. Look at the problems recruiting YSU basketball has, building on what can best be described as marginal success.
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From all these talks, might as well just destroy the MAC lol. Ball state and Eastern Michigan are laughing stocks in football as well. Everybody move down, yay!
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1-AA "The MVC will announce the acceptance of Kent two seconds after they announce they are leaving the MAC."
Truer words were never spoken (posted). Akron and Kent would set MVC for "East" and "West" divisions and cut down some Dakota travel at least every other year. Pluse add a couple "drive to" away games. Would be great to see!
Hope you are right 1-AA!
I think the MVC will want Kent, because of baseball and obvious men's basketball strength. Akron needs to try and capitalize on the soccer title before it is too late to get into another conference, but I do not see the MVC accepting them on that measure alone. Kent could negotiate acceptance of Akron into the MVC. I do not see the MVFC wanting either school.
1-AA I have a ton of respect for your opinions, but this post has be completely lost. You think a conference that has the likes of Indiana State, Missouri State and Western Illinios would turn there nose up at two MAC schools? Especially when is raises the home and home rivalies that Kent Akron and YSU would add? (And seriously, do you think soccer would help any school get in any conference in the US? This is the US, we don't give a damn for soccer!)
I think you are confusing my "MVC", with my "MVFC" comments. The MVFC does not care about YSU, so why would they care about adding any rivalry team such as Akron. The MVC is driven by basketball ...as I said they would take Kent in 2-seconds & Akron only if Kent negotiates it. I do not see either team leaving the MAC any time soon.
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First a little gloating, he he ha ha I love it could not happen to a more deserving bunch.
Kind of ironic that the zits were one of the reasons that YSU was not accepted into the mac and had YSU been in the mac there would have been a sizable increase of butts in the seats at least once every two years. Maybe not enough to save their butts but it sure would have helped.
I have been saying for years that it was only a matter of time until many of the mac schools would leave the fbs. Not sure if they will come to fcs or if a new division made up of top tier fcs and lower tier fbs. Their pride will dictate that it may not happen soon but make no mistake it will happen.
If it is just akron then maybe they could end up in our two leagues, but I think they have soccer so that may affect things. If Kent is smart they would do the same, it would make it possible to create a two division football league and save us from some of those crazy trips.
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Just read a thread about the akron fb program over on csnbbs, let's just say that their fans are in denial.
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Maybe the MAC someday will just drop down to our division.
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1AA, I just read your two excellent posts on AGS. Problem is that you were talking over most of their heads. The buffalo's all think that they are the second coming, and from the way the purple panthers talk you would think that they had won numerous NC instead of just ......, wait they have not won any.
They both play in barns, what else can you say
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From the Vindy:
http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/jul/18/colleges-akrons-loss-may-result-in-gains/
Glad to see YSU baseball seizing the opportunity that Akron presented.
Regarding FB, I understand Akron spends $8M annually, and YSU half that....so the cost savings of Akron dropping to the FCS are huge and obvious......but is the $4M annual debt service from building the InfoCision included in that? I doubt it, but if so....they would see no budget cuts dropping to FCS....and may as well continue to languish in the money pit known as G5 football.
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1AA, I just read your two excellent posts on AGS. Problem is that you were talking over most of their heads. The buffalo's all think that they are the second coming, and from the way the purple panthers talk you would think that they had won numerous NC instead of just ......, wait they have not won any.
They both play in barns, what else can you say
Those purple panthers probably have a lot of rags flying in their tent--they've made the playoffs 18 times in what is now FCS but have never won a title--but sure act like they did. ;D
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I was going to ding them again for having a stadium roof made by "Whamo" ...but since it is no longer inflatable; I let it slide. :)
Anybody else remember the 1992 play-off game when the roof came down? Good game & a real good UNI team.
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1AA, I just read your two excellent posts on AGS. Problem is that you were talking over most of their heads. The buffalo's all think that they are the second coming, and from the way the purple panthers talk you would think that they had won numerous NC instead of just ......, wait they have not won any.
They both play in barns, what else can you say
Those purple panthers probably have a lot of rags flying in their tent--they've made the playoffs 18 times in what is now FCS but have never won a title--but sure act like they did. ;D
I almost, but not quite, feel bad for them. They have had a decent program over the years, but they are the biggest choke in 1AA history. They have an odd obsession with YSU but I guess that the closest thing they think they have is a good record against someone that has won the big game.
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Well, they remind me of YSU in a way. Like, they beat NDSU and Illinois State last year and went 7-5. Reminds me of YSU under Wolford, win a big game but not be consistent enough.
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I will never forget that 2001 game against UNI. UNI broke a huge play and got the ball inside the YSU 5 ...1st and goal. We held them & I mean they got nothing. On the FG attempt (UNI down by 1) Heacock set up this beautiful play. We put an extra man out our left and actually rushed 2 from the right. They were practically untouched. I remember yelling "slow down" from my seat as I was afraid we would get there too soon. It was a classic block.
Suddenly the flag went up after some conversation. The officials ruled that first blocker did block the ball, but since he never touched the kicker (which was crap as he got the foot and ankle) the second player was not eligible to touch the leg of the kicker. The first person to touch the ball has to be the first-person to touch the kicker. Heacock was screaming and the poor player was in tears. We might not have ever won against UNI in the coach H years ...but those games were, for the most part, all classics.
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I will never forget that 2001 game against UNI. UNI broke a huge play and got the ball inside the YSU 5 ...1st and goal. We held them & I mean they got nothing. On the FG attempt (UNI down by 1) Heacock set up this beautiful play. We put an extra man out our left and actually rushed 2 from the right. They were practically untouched. I remember yelling "slow down" from my seat as I was afraid we would get there too soon. It was a classic block.
Suddenly the flag went up after some conversation. The officials ruled that first blocker did block the ball, but since he never touched the kicker (which was crap as he got the foot and ankle) the second player was not eligible to touch the leg of the kicker. The first person to touch the ball has to be the first-person to touch the kicker. Heacock was screaming and the poor player was in tears. We not have ever won against UNI in the coach H years ...but those games were, for the most part, all classics.
Thanks a lot 1AA, I have spent years trying to get that game out of my mind!
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Update on the woes of Akron Football:
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/despite-winning-football-team-university-of-akron-still-struggled-to-fill-stadium-last-season-1.662353
Akron is still purchasing well over half of its tickets just to remain FBS eligible, and was cited in the Wall Street Journal as an example of irresponsible financing of an athletic program. I'm not sure how long President Scarborough will tolerate this, especially considering he has shown a willingness to make big changes by eliminating baseball. The Akron FB team has improved on the field, but if that doesn't translate into improved paid attendance in 2016, then more difficult decisions may be necessary.
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The Rubber bowl was once home to YSU's only true rival. Interesting to see what it looks like now:
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/akron-sees-no-future-for-rubber-bowl-would-like-it-torn-down-1.676518
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Heck that is pretty much what it looked like the last YSU/Zit game I was at.