The majority of Bobcat fans don't care about the non conference season. A MAC championship is what Bobcat Attackers emphasize and desire. If Ohio is going to be successful in league play, they must stop the run and be able to run the football consistently. If they show improvement and are able to do that, they will have a chance to win the rest of the regular season games.
I disagree. The vast majority of students and alumni care about decent showings against "national" teams. The MAC is secondary - very little respect, especially among students, for teams like EMU, NIU, EMU, BG, Kent, Ball State and Akron. Frank in recent years has not had us ready to compete in games against better know programs.
Well said. I think the “ only the MAC counts” are small time thinkers and don’t see the big picture. Maybe I feel so strongly about this because I’m not a local. I’d like Ohio to get respect out where I live and they don’t get it winning 6 games against MAC teams.
I tend to agree with Wes on this one. To first gain consistent national attention, win league championships first and win them fairly often, or at least every couple years or so. Then couple that with winning bowl games. Then couple that with a strong national type of OOC. That gets the nation's attention and the interest of the casual Ohio fan.
I'm in the minority on this, but from a national perspective, I don't think Ohio's OOC this year is particularly strong. I think if Ohio went 14-0 this year, it still would never be ranked. This year's schedule is just not that strong, again from a national perspective. The only halfway prominent P5 team was Pitt, and even they weren't in the Top 50 when the year started. That's it. Beating Marshall and Louisiana would be great, but isn't going to get you on College Gameday. Schedule an OOC with 3 mid to good P5 teams with name recognition, teams like oh, Arizona State, Maryland and UCF/Boise, or others, beat those kind of teams, that gets you national attention and respect. Marshall and Louisiana, not so much.
But also see the tea leaves out there, Colobobcat 66 and others who want to see Ohio on the national stage. Read the threads about declining student enrollment. Unfortunately that's real. That decline is in turn leading to declining revenue and $ for athletics. The current demographics don't point to an increase in spending for athletics, it's pointing to a decrease.