FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[skunks_sidekick]

Skunk & I will be at Pancho's in our usual spot around 10 AM if anyone wants to stop by.  I was able to order my tickets last night, so that was a GOOD thing considering I am not quite old enough yet to think calling to order something is better than ordering online.   

Will they sell out??  SF has to talk to his better half tonight about making the trip up solo very early on Saturday morning.

No...they will at least do standing room if they did.  For the week #10 game we went over and got our tickets Saturday morning, and still had decent seats.

[SaintsFAN]

No...they will at least do standing room if they did.  For the week #10 game we went over and got our tickets Saturday morning, and still had decent seats.

OK, I'll hit you up in the next day or so to let you know if you'll see me at Pancho's on Saturday morning.

[Raiderplaybyplay]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

Interesting thought and one that I'm sure a lot of people are tossing around half-jokingly or not.  My guess is that there aren't a lot of players there that would excel in the MAC.  Kumerow?  Sure.  He could ball in the MAC.  Past that, FBS ball is a completely different game, even for the UWWs and UMUs of the world.

As a long-time MAC football watcher, I feel you may be giving the MAC a little too much credit. I've seen some horrible Kent and Akron teams that would probably get blown out by Youngstown State (In fact YSU's conference ranked better than the MAC according to USA today this year, but that's beside the point)

Yes, overall better teams, but I would think players from an elite d3 program (especially skill players) could certainly compete and excel at that level. 

[edward de vere]

Speaking of D3 coaches who have moved on, here's an interesting K. C. Keeler connection.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/when-dyslexia-blocked-his-path-to-college-football-maryland-high-school-player-took-unusual-route/2014/12/01/f06c60aa-73f7-11e4-95a8-fe0b46e8751a_story.html

[mr_mom]

Spreads for the third round of the OAC Post-Season Pick-Em have been posted.

This week I used a little less dependence on raw numbers, a little more thought, and a helpful bounce off my old master.  I hope you find the spreads more challenging.

Picks are due by Noon Saturday.  Enjoy!   

[HScoach]

Oh sure, blame the crazy numbers on me......

[Toph]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

Interesting thought and one that I'm sure a lot of people are tossing around half-jokingly or not.  My guess is that there aren't a lot of players there that would excel in the MAC.  Kumerow?  Sure.  He could ball in the MAC.  Past that, FBS ball is a completely different game, even for the UWWs and UMUs of the world.

As a long-time MAC football watcher, I feel you may be giving the MAC a little too much credit. I've seen some horrible Kent and Akron teams that would probably get blown out by Youngstown State (In fact YSU's conference ranked better than the MAC according to USA today this year, but that's beside the point)

Yes, overall better teams, but I would think players from an elite d3 program (especially skill players) could certainly compete and excel at that level.

If they could "compete and excel" they would. They're playing D1 football for a reason. Those "horrible" teams from Kent State and Akron would blow the doors off division III teams.

That's not meant as a slight to D3 players. The difference in size, speed, and strength is immense. Division I athletes have Division I facilities and resources. Division III players get a bus trip with a stop at Subway.

[Pat Coleman]

Speaking of D3 coaches who have moved on, here's an interesting K. C. Keeler connection.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/when-dyslexia-blocked-his-path-to-college-football-maryland-high-school-player-took-unusual-route/2014/12/01/f06c60aa-73f7-11e4-95a8-fe0b46e8751a_story.html

Interesting back story. Jarryn Avery was indeed a D3football.com All-American in 1999.
http://www.d3football.com/awards/all-americans/1999

I also didn't have any record of him with the Chiefs, but it was our first season and we weren't covering it the way we do now.

[Mr. Ypsi]

With a particular emphasis on strength - d3 just doesn't have the strength coaches of d1.  We'll see a good test case in basketball next season.  Duncan Robinson (Williams) transferred to Michigan, where he sits out a year.  I honestly think he can be a star at the d1 level ONCE he has a year with the UM strength coach (right now he would be destroyed at the d1 level).  And Big Ten basketball is a whole different level than MAC football!

I was in Salem last March.  Duncan definitely has d1 skills, but he is downright wispy by d1 standards.

[ExTartanPlayer]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

Interesting thought and one that I'm sure a lot of people are tossing around half-jokingly or not.  My guess is that there aren't a lot of players there that would excel in the MAC.  Kumerow?  Sure.  He could ball in the MAC.  Past that, FBS ball is a completely different game, even for the UWWs and UMUs of the world.

As a long-time MAC football watcher, I feel you may be giving the MAC a little too much credit. I've seen some horrible Kent and Akron teams that would probably get blown out by Youngstown State (In fact YSU's conference ranked better than the MAC according to USA today this year, but that's beside the point)

Yes, overall better teams, but I would think players from an elite d3 program (especially skill players) could certainly compete and excel at that level.

If they could "compete and excel" they would. They're playing D1 football for a reason. Those "horrible" teams from Kent State and Akron would blow the doors off division III teams.

That's not meant as a slight to D3 players. The difference in size, speed, and strength is immense. Division I athletes have Division I facilities and resources. Division III players get a bus trip with a stop at Subway.

Seconded.

[Gregory Sager]

To put some numbers on this, Leipold was making $100,000 at UWW (as of 2013...who knows if he got any sort of bump for 2014).  Buffalo's last coach made $325,000, but I have to imagine that Leipold will get more.  The economics of FBS football basically say that $325k is nothing.  By contrast, Chris Creighton gets a base salary of $400k at EMU.  I'm sure you guys can guess that I love me some Chris Creighton, but in that market Leipold kind of has to be worth more that CC.  So it's a massive amount of money that we're talking about here.  And if he's getting a four or five year deal for $500k (I would think the number has to be right around there), then he's got security forever.  I'm sure contract details will leak eventually.  That stuff can't be kept secret anymore. 

Particularly since UB is a state school, which means that he'll be a public-sector employee, just as he was in l'etat de fromage as the UWW head coach.

[mr_mom]

Oh sure, blame the crazy numbers on me......

You always had the option of waiting to see how bad they sucked before outing yourself ... 

[Raiderplaybyplay]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

Interesting thought and one that I'm sure a lot of people are tossing around half-jokingly or not.  My guess is that there aren't a lot of players there that would excel in the MAC.  Kumerow?  Sure.  He could ball in the MAC.  Past that, FBS ball is a completely different game, even for the UWWs and UMUs of the world.

As a long-time MAC football watcher, I feel you may be giving the MAC a little too much credit. I've seen some horrible Kent and Akron teams that would probably get blown out by Youngstown State (In fact YSU's conference ranked better than the MAC according to USA today this year, but that's beside the point)

Yes, overall better teams, but I would think players from an elite d3 program (especially skill players) could certainly compete and excel at that level.

If they could "compete and excel" they would. They're playing D1 football for a reason. Those "horrible" teams from Kent State and Akron would blow the doors off division III teams.

That's not meant as a slight to D3 players. The difference in size, speed, and strength is immense. Division I athletes have Division I facilities and resources. Division III players get a bus trip with a stop at Subway.

Wesley played a dI opponent this year and were able to play with them (only losing by 5).
Yes. A weaker FCS team but still with the scholarship and weight program advantages etc

The Idea that if they were good enough to compete at dI than they would be playing dI just isn't true, plenty of guys get overlooked and end up at d3 schools, (see Cecil shorts, Pierre Garçon, London Fletcher) yes, they are the exception, not the rule, but I'm just saying that great d3 guys should have no trouble playing well  in the MAC.

Kevin Burke didn't get any dI offers and I'd be very surprised if he couldn't compete at that level.
He's faster than Johnny manziel and throws a nice ball, I feel like that would translate.

Mount Union had more guys invited to pro camps than Kent did in 2012.

All I'm saying is that level of play is not a perfect indicator of football ability. Well that and that the MAC is a disaster of a conference.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I think we all believe that the best D3 programs might be able to compete with a MAC team for ONE game if they had a great day and the MAC team didn't take it seriously enough.

Certainly, we're all aware of London Fletcher, Pierre G, Cecil Shorts, Fred Jackson, Jerrell Freeman.

And, sure, we know that level of play isn't the only reason to choose a school an that there's probably at least one guy on most D3 rosters (not just the Purple Powers) who got an odd scholarship offer or two.  I know two guys that had small time offers who played with me at CMU.

The point germane to the original conversation, though, is that even UWW and Mount have MAYBE a handful of guys for whom "transferring up" - even to the MAC - is a legitimate possibility. It's not like the whole starting lineup can come with Coach Leipold, or even necessarily his most prized freshmen.

And a comment on the MAC as a whole: it's easy to dump on the MAC as a "bad" league because, well, they occupy an odd space in the college football landscape. They (along with the Sun Belt) exist largely because they provide cannon fodder for big time schools - recruiting is tough because they'll never land true "top recruits" and even keeping a good coach is hard because three or four good years at a MAC school seems to be the ticket to a bigger offer that's often hard to turn down. IMO, the MAC teams compete admirably given what they're working with - many of them push (and occasionally beat) the B1G schools ripping them checks for guarantee games.

[Toph]

Wesley played a dI opponent this year and were able to play with them (only losing by 5).
Yes. A weaker FCS team but still with the scholarship and weight program advantages etc

The Idea that if they were good enough to compete at dI than they would be playing dI just isn't true, plenty of guys get overlooked and end up at d3 schools, (see Cecil shorts, Pierre Garçon, London Fletcher) yes, they are the exception, not the rule, but I'm just saying that great d3 guys should have no trouble playing well  in the MAC.

Kevin Burke didn't get any dI offers and I'd be very surprised if he couldn't compete at that level.
He's faster than Johnny manziel and throws a nice ball, I feel like that would translate.

Mount Union had more guys invited to pro camps than Kent did in 2012.

All I'm saying is that level of play is not a perfect indicator of football ability. Well that and that the MAC is a disaster of a conference.

You're not seeing the forest for the trees. Sure. Mount might have had more guys invited to pro camps than Kent, but that's only a couple players. Again...the difference in size, speed, and strength across the board would be overwhelming.

Wesley played a bad D1-FCS school (by your own admission).  Let's not act like they were playing Auburn.

Finally, if you think Kevin Burke is faster than Johnny Manziel, give me your keys. You're drunk. Kevin Burke is a great player, and I say this as no disrespect to him or his opponents. Burke is outrunning John Carroll. Manziel is outrunning the SEC and the Buffalo Bills.

I'm a D3 guy, but let's not get crazy here.