^Exact same thoughts^

WMU should have won in regulation. Going for it on 4th-and-3 and under a minute. Great playcalling, faking Bellamy up the middle with QB running wide right with open field for the first down and possibly another 10-20 yards. . . but falls down untouched behind the line of scrimmage. . . game goes to OT where WKU wins.

Even then, they should not have lost in regulation. With WKU out of time, and out of FG range, the defensive combo of a 3 man rush, a single linebacker, and 8 defensive backs didn't work out well for WMU. That gave WKU 15 yards and an un-timed down.

I didn't see the game, but it's hard to blame Lester for going for it on fourth down. Including the bowl game, Kapps was only 12 of 17 kicking FGs this season and his longest was 45 yds. A try from there would be at the edge of his range.

At least the MAC won't have worst record among conferences this bowl season. The B12 gets that honor. B12 finished 1-5 this season. Texas won but the rest (Okla, OklaSt, IowaSt, K-State and Baylor) all lost. The worst the MAC can be is 2-5.

Players were suspended, sorry for my lack of semantics, however, Billy is correct on this one as well, 4 players suspended, that is what really matters, or does Nevada lose 2 points for the MWC suspending the players?

As much as I dislike Miami I do hope they win their bowl game tonight. After some rough bowl seasons the MAC can finally have a winning one again if they do so (4-3). The conference has also lost seven straight bowl games to the Sunbelt.

Parity ... yes, by definition.

It's also putrid. 10-34 vs. FBS opponents (and that includes the bowls) ... throw out the bowl games and it's 7-30.

1-21 vs. P5 schools (Illinois)

I don't have time to go thru previous years .... but this seems like a pretty bad year for the league (even with the 3-4 bowl record)

Against leagues that MAC likes to say they're comparable too (CUSA, SBC) ... 3-7. Yes, they did go 3-1 vs. MWC ... but three of those games (2-1) were bowl games and I never like to use those as a litmus test because you can never really tell the motivation of a team during a bowl game (i.e. SD State last year vs. Ohio .... BC this year vs. UC)


Bottom line ... I think this was a pretty down year for the league as a whole when you consider they didn't have any BIG wins and no, even, semi-dominant team in or out of the league ... yet you still had two of the worst in FBS in BG and Akron.

The only thing I will say, they didn't have as many downtrodden programs as they've had in the past. For instance, CUSA had five teams in the Bottom 20 of the Massey Ratings compared to only two from the MAC.

So I guess as a whole ... the league is getting "better" .... but they're collectively still very mediocre at best this year (worst in the Massey Ratings). Case in point, your title game was CMU vs. Miami. C'mon.

You are correct LC as in 2018 Eastern beat Purdue, Akron knocked off Northwestern and Buffalo beat Rutgers for at least three P5 wins for the MAC. As for someone guessing what type of motivation San Diego St. had in the bowl game last season, I have no idea. However, I wouldn't be so quick to say that they weren't motivated to win that game. The Bobcats played well and shut them out winning 27-0. That same Aztec team beat Arizona St and won at Boise St earlier in the season. The Aztecs won 39 football games from 2015-18, so they weren't a cupcake. The Frisco bowl win was a good win, just as beating UNC in Chapel Hill in basketball in 2002 was a nice win. Matt Doherty had a terrible team that season and won only 8 games, but the Bobcats got the job done in Chapel Hill that season.

+1

"SDSU at one point was 6-1 and in the driver's seat to win the MWC then proceeded to lose 4 of their last 5 regular season games to finish a wildly disappointing 7-5.

MWC title game hopes ... gone. Top 25 ranking ... gone. 10-win season ... gone. Big bowl game ... gone. Instead they get to play a MAC team that I'm guessing the majority of the team had never heard of (considering they had one player from the Eastern Time Zone and that was Tampa)

This was a postgame quote: “Obviously, we didn’t come ready to play,” SDSU safety Parker Baldwin said. “Maybe the off the field things that happened (three players were suspended Monday for a violation of team rules) before the game distracted us. That might have put us out of our zone. We were definitely not ourselves today.”


It is easy for a player to say the team didn't come prepared after a 27-0 thumping! Anyone can say that after they get beat bad. The fact is the Bobcats won the game that was scheduled and they beat the Aztecs by a great margin. Do you ever give this program credit for anything? You are constantly nitpicking a lack of a league title and downgrading this football team. The majority of people who log on to this website realize Ohio hasn't won a conference championship since Cleve Bryant played. We all want a MAC title, but we do not constantly post negative remarks after a game. Put up the cash to buy Frank out! It is evident you are tired of supporting him and this team. I'm certain the new AD and the president will be happy to listen to your constant negative complaints. Maybe you should shift your posts to other college websites like TOSU or an SEC school that will not tolerate losing one game. Give it a rest as one day Frank will retire on his own terms and then you will be able to jump up and down celebrating.

First off ... learn to properly use the quote button. It's much easier than scrolling thru something with quotation marks around it to find where you're trying to comment.

Secondly ... c'mon. You lack of originality is tiresome. Just like most responses to my posts. I understand that most know Ohio hasn't won a league title in a long time ... so I'm just supposed to ignore the MASSIVE elephant in the room? I'm never allowed to bring it up when comparing a bowl win against winning a league title? And I most certainly do not post negative remarks after every game. It's just a lazy statement to make ... the easy way out.

You. Are. Absurd.

I encourage you to go back and re-read the hundreds of posts I've made about Frank Solich and how he should NOT be fired and how I have nothing but respect for what he's done for Ohio's football program. But no ... be lazy and just jump to the ridiculous "Put up the cash to buy him out" line. SMFH.

I've carried the flag saying Frank will retire on his own terms. But you would have to actually read past comments to see that. Much easier to just spout out nonsense about my views ...

J. O. K. E. R.

Not tolerate losing one game? HAHAHAHAHA! That is so laughable. Get a clue ... do your research. Quit making lazy blanket statements because you disagree with what I say.

Does Frank Solich have more wins than any coach in MAC history? Yep.

Does Frank Solich have more losses than any coach in MAC history? Damn close. He'll pass Ohio's own Bill Hess next year most likely ... unless he can do something he's only done once in 15 years at Ohio ... win 10 games in a season.

Frank has been an absolute godsend for Ohio football ... and has done an incredible job turning what was a downtrodden, forgotten, bumbling program into a consistent above-average program. That is NOT a slight. That is just the truth.

He's won 58% of his games at Ohio ... no championships ... and has appeared in the league title game 4 out of 15 years. All of that is above average. And I am thankful for it. It's why I fully support a statue in front of Peden Stadium and them renaming it to Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium at some point.

I'm also just ready for the next guy to come in and see where he can take it because I think it's been proven that Ohio has flown as high as they can under Solich. If it hasn't happened in 15 years, it's probably not in the cards.

I'm also ready to stop reading this ridiculous comments of how I HATE Frank and don't appreciate what he's done ... and that I have no feel for where Ohio football was before. And that 7-6 is GREAT compared to where they were before Frank when they went 1-11.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Just stop. Don't be lazy. Don't come at me with false rhetoric.

If you can not watch a football game tell if a team is engaged, I'm sorry.

Ohio was more than engaged in their last three bowl games. I give Solich and his staff all kinds of credit.

The only year I can remember Ohio not looking fully engaged was the dreadful Beef O'Brady Bowl loss to ECU.

Other than that, Ohio's bowl efforts have always been strong under Frank. Even the year where it appeared they threw in the towel on the season in 2012 with how the regular season ended ... they rallied for an emphatic win in the Independence Bowl vs. ULM.

I cannot say the same for SDSU's effort in that game last year. Once they hit the field, you could tell they were not playing with the same energy as Ohio. It was readily apparent.

We almost got to that point vs. Nevada in the 2H ... and I fully think the Pack would've packed it in had Ohio scored in the 3Q to go up 28. Instead Ohio fumbles, Nevada scores two quick TDs and suddenly they had life.

Down 28 ... and Ohio just strolls to a blowout win.

After a couple years of (I'm trying to think of a kind word for quitting) what appeared to be not 100% effort in late season games in 2012 and 2013 ... that problems seems to have disappeared at Ohio. I'm not sure what happened in those years ... but you don't see Ohio get drubbed by 30+ multiple weeks in a row anymore (or ever for that matter)

The program fights hard every game ... and I think a lot of that is Nathan Rourke and the way he battles. It's why I LOVE Rourke so much more that Tettleton. I, sadly, can't say with conviction that Tettleton was "all-in" every game. I never had that thought about Rourke. And I think the team feeds off that from their leader.

Ohio may have come up short three straight years in November in games that mattered ... but it wasn't for a lack of effort. It's wildly disappointing and frustrating that Ohio somehow never played for a MAC title with Rourke at QB ... but it's the truth. And I'm sorry if that bothers me and I occasionally comment my frustrations. It doesn't make me any less of a diehard fan than you. You digest the losses differently than me. So what.

I'm not telling you how you should feel about this program ... but you have no problem with projecting on me how I should be reacting. Again ... get your facts straight before you drop generalizations on my position on Ohio football. Don't be lazy.

I totally believe it. As frustrating as the November losses have been the last three years ... it wasn't because of effort. They just couldn't figure out how to get over the proverbial hump.

But those meltdowns in 12 & 13 were infuriating. You could tell something was off ... the effort, the lack of disgust with their play. It was all around ugly.

So I totally agree with you ... there were definitely problems.