I'm the one that questioned Phil Steele and where he came up with Ohio winning by 12. I thought that point spread, given what had happened the year before, was rather large. Even with my green-colored glasses I didn't think Ohio was 12 points better than WMU.

That said, I still think Ohio bounces back this week, and probably big-time. But its not Buffalo I'm particularly worried about.

There is only one way to beat the top five teams in the Mac. Recruit more and better players! Many of you still think we will win with NR, 2-star, and under the radar guys. That ain't gonna cut it. Problem is the staff doesn't want or can't get enough of those 3-star guys onto the field. My only suggestion is get 8-10 3-star guys every year. That is the WMU script. Three years in and they are seeing results. We are 10 years in and going nowhere.

I do hope I am wrong but it is the pattern we are in.

I think you're right.

But...

You can't change Athens into a major metropolitan area.

Some kids long for the spotlight, and frankly, there isn't one to be had at OU, no matter how much we want that to change.

There's no local TV station covering the team on a day-to-day basis.

This, I believe is the single largest problem with our program; it's not the program or the coaches, per se, but the geographic area we find ourselves in.

Our campus is beautiful; there is no doubt about that, but Uptown is lacking for someone more used to a larger Metro environment.

-john

You surely are not suggesting that Western Michigan, Marshall are not around larger cities? And BG's location is much more appealing to certain athletes than Athens.

The BG WR Lewis. Ohio worked very hard for him. Why is he at BG, academic standards, high school teammates at BG, why? There have been others ....?

Paul your comments are spot on. The doughnut hole in Solich's program is a pedestrian offense. Twenty years ago the MAC had no exposure and Ohio had no facilities putting a limit on recruiting. The facilities and exposure has built up to the point where plenty of speed on defense can and has been recruited. The tipping point is when the offense starts to put up 40 or 50 points per game and Solich has failed in that category. When Ohio the last 3-4 years is smoked by a MAC school the team responds by letting themselves get torched a few more times. I don't think it would surprise anyone if there is only 1 or 2 wins left in this team this season. What is it going to take for Frank to get extended? MAC East title? A bowl win? The team could finish 6-6 and be a handful in a bowl game with the defensive players back.

Huntington while it is bigger than Athens doesn't seem that big with a small Marshall campus. Both Athens and Huntington seem like small cities with Athens playing bigger than it should with the highway, dense uptown and sprawled development. Regardless the campus is in Appalachia, not the Midwest and different than what MAC recruits are used to.

Speaking of towns....

Just got back from Kent this evening, listening to some jazz in the Water Street Tavern by several OU trained musicians.

I'll call Kent the Ann Arbor of the MAC....just fantastic what Kent has done with the downtown. Restaurants/eateries--cheap to expensive, live music, ice cream and popcorn shops and of course Ray's is still there. Just a pleasure to walk around and see the old and the new on a pleasant fall evening.

I wonder if the improvements will become a recruiting edge? Nah, who would want to play in out of the way Dix while being watched by a high school sized crowd...

There is little doubt that Solich has done a good job of marketing his players to the NFL, meaning that a fair number get drafted, and a lot get free agent contracts. Only two players, however, have actually stuck, those being Carrie and Mitchell. A lot of others hung around the edges for awhile, on/off the practice squads.

I wondered in another thread how many players from the MAC are actually playing in the NFL. That would give a better answer to the question of which teams had players with the talent to be in the NFL. My gut tells me that a lot of MAC schools have more active players in the NFL than Ohio.

Huntington is in a SMSA of over 300,000. Definitely a more urban feel there than in Athens.

Kalamazoo a lot bigger than Athens.

Jeff they are counting a 6 county area in that SMSA for Huntington. Its a good sized town. If you combined Parkersburg-Marietta, Athens and Hocking County you wouldn't be far off that population total. Furthermore the poverty in Huntington makes it unappealing for anyone. I live in a metro area of 9.5 million people so from my perspective you are overstating the population difference. I found a few numbers that show just how much Huntington looks more like a small city than a big one in its region.

Cleveland (CSA) 3,487,851
Columbus (CSA) 2,398,297
Cincinnati (CSA) 2,208,405
Louisville (CSA) 1,498,593
Huntington (MSA) 365,419
Kalamazoo (MSA) 326,989
Lima (CSA) 220,174
Mansfield (CSA) 217,457
Parkersburg (CSA) 153,295
Findlay (CSA) 131,036
Athens (uSA) 64,713

Louisville is about as small as you can go and be a true urban area. It has a lot more to offer than Athens including an International Airport a few miles from campus. That's a real recruiting advantage. The only reason Huntington metro lists any bigger than Lima or Mansfield is because of Ohio/Kentucky Counties included. Counting just West Virginia Counties Huntington only has 216,599. If you added Athens County into the Parkersburg metro the population is 218,008. Huntington itself only has 49,138. Mansfield 47,821. Findlay 41,526. Lima 38,771. Herd fans like to tout the Huntington TV market but it only has stations because its out in the middle of nowhere. Huntington is bigger than Athens but its not appreciably better.