Villanova Game Week!!!

[guinpen]

An opening game at home for the sixth-ranked team in FBS attracting only 5,400 is embarrassing.

But we keep being told the FCS is where we belong instead of the MAC.... LOLOLOL

I do not think that some MAC schools get that many butts in the seat.

[Cimo7]

An opening game at home for the sixth-ranked team in FBS attracting only 5,400 is embarrassing.

But we keep being told the FCS is where we belong instead of the MAC.... LOLOLOL

I do not think that some MAC schools get that many butts in the seat.

Western Ill (lowest of the low in FCS) @ NIU: 10,828
Lafeyette @ Buffalo: 16,400
Fordham @ BGSU: 12,786
CCSU @ CMU: 18,055
Duqense @ Toledo: 23,515

i would say at least twice as many people care about the MAC more then the super irrelevant FCS

A top 25 matchup in the FCS cant even compete with Fordham at Bowling Green.

[IronGuin14]

definitely made me feel better regarding our attendance when I saw Novas! Bigger program, bigger city, same results.

[Wick250]

Villanova is a basketball school that has never had any significant football following. In 1991, they were top rated but never even bothered to bid for the home field when we matched up with them in the playoffs. The result was Herbie Williams' miraculous catch in Stambaugh stadium that propelled us to our first championship.

In 1997 Villanova was again top rated, and by then home field was automatically awarded to the higher seed. For those of you who are old enough to have traveled to Philadelphia or watched the game on tv, you know that we had as many or perhaps more fans in attendance. Bottom line is that using Villanova as a benchmark for FCS football attendance is pointless.

Toledo is the one MAC school that has significant community support. If 5,400 fans actually showed up for a football game at Akron or Kent, they would hold a celebration.

[YSUGO]

CIMO is right FCS is irrelevant.  The problem is all the old school fans think we are still in 90’s.  Plus us being in the prairie dog conference destroyed any momentum this program had from those ancient championships.  Kids want exposure and want to be D1 athletes. The MAC may be a bottom D1 but for exposure they have way more than 95% of FCS.  Now with NIL  teams like YSU will lose talent more then they can develop or acquire.  I have heard for 20 years how you all said the MAC was done.  Lol they are still kicking.  Strollo is alot to blame on this. He is a great bean counter but no vision on where of what direction our football team should be.  We can’t afford top assistants which was never addressed as long as I can remember.  If Phillips doesn’t last you would have to be an idiot to come here without the dollars to get good assistants.  Our program is dying a slow death year by year. But hey we are u. FCS and in the MCFC  as 4K are. I the stands and we are everyone’s homecoming game.  It just pisses me off what could have been and achieved with a different thought process at the top.
 

[ysubigred]

CIMO is right FCS is irrelevant.  The problem is all the old school fans think we are still in 90’s.  Plus us being in the prairie dog conference destroyed any momentum this program had from those ancient championships.  Kids want exposure and want to be D1 athletes. The MAC may be a bottom D1 but for exposure they have way more than 95% of FCS.  Now with NIL  teams like YSU will lose talent more then they can develop or acquire.  I have heard for 20 years how you all said the MAC was done.  Lol they are still kicking.  Strollo is alot to blame on this. He is a great bean counter but no vision on where of what direction our football team should be.  We can’t afford top assistants which was never addressed as long as I can remember.  If Phillips doesn’t last you would have to be an idiot to come here without the dollars to get good assistants.  Our program is dying a slow death year by year. But hey we are u. FCS and in the MCFC  as 4K are. I the stands and we are everyone’s homecoming game.  It just pisses me off what could have been and achieved with a different thought process at the top.

I agree Go. I wonder why Coach/Ad/President Tressel let it die. With his political power and influence in Ohio you'd think he save what he created. NIL, and Transfer portal will kill all right with kids wanting to compete in a college Saturday stadium with no aspirations of moving on to the next level.

[guinpen]

Sorry to say but a nice post GO, sorry because it is too true. I have not hidden my distain for the mac, ever since they passed over us for membership. But my distain aside I really am surprised that they have been able to survive this long, it seems that they had YSU figured out better than we would have guessed.

The FCS is getting more irrelevant every year and NIL will only expedite the decline. Being a low end 1A school is better than being a 1AA school. Program wise we were in such a great position to move up but our leadership could or would not take advantage of the moment. So frustrating to see all the schools that made the move up to 1A and that includes some old D2 schools.

I hate being in a league with no natural rivels, do not care how good the league is. Our AD has done a pretty good job in several areas, but football is not one of them, kind of ironic.

[goodnews]

Its dead they just don't know it!  Not sure the current coach is the right fit for the program with the current conditions.  He may have made sense 5 years ago but we need to win and now! No worries though the visionary at the top has him locked up through 2028.  The lack of a big sponsor for Stambaugh is on Strollo.   

[33Y0]

For all of you who are complaining about DP, realistically, who do you think could come in and do a better job right now? We have a lot of complainers here with no real solutions, just complaints.

[Penquin68]

Disappointing game for me. It shows how our defense was gutted by NIL and the transfer rules. I think the end result is going to be the big schools with more money in NIL will mine players from those under them in NIL money and exposure for the NFL draft. Although as many have said, it is better exposure for the NFL to play at our level rather than be a backup at a higher level program. I hope the NCAA or some governing body slows down this crazy system or the gap between the haves and have nots will get much larger. Under the current system we will not be able to marginally compete even with the Pitt's of the world.

I think teams at our level need to find a method to recruit and retain reasonable talent since all the old rules are out. Our current system seems to be to not give full scholarships to high school recruits which will lower our talent level with this group. But in our defense, if we do get a good high school recruit, develop him, and then lose him in the portal doesn't work either. Unfortunately it seems we need to use the portal primarily to get a good on the field talent level much like basketball did in recent years. I think the portal players mostly get full scholarships and some NIL money. This entire process is evolving at our level and we have not mastered it as yet in football.

Think Alex Howard and some others that should be here.