I will admit that I thought this year was going to be different. But like looking at the Hocking River, the flow hasn't changed significantly in 14 years.

Can we rally for a bowl? Maybe. But so far I have not been impressed and the MAC is going to be a load, including Miami.

I'm asking myself these two questions this morning:

1. Right now, all things considered regarding funding, academics, facilities and coaching availability, what is Ohio's ceiling?

2. Is Ohio one of the toughest D1 jobs in the country?

Number One can be answered easier than the second. Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan have shown what you can be as a football program in the MAC. NIU and WMU went to lucrative bowl games. NIU and Toledo have proved you can have sustainable success for a number of years that are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Ohio is on that cusp and is a consistent threat in the weaker East Division, but a league title and 10+ win regular reason have been unattainable for whatever reason (notice I said regular season).

I would say being NIU for 5-7 years is the ceiling. Making a run at an NY6 bowl and winning multiple MAC titles in a short time frame. Let's not get this confused thinking Ohio can ever be a Boise State or UCF. At least not right now in the present day of our Lord, 2018.

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The more I think about Number Two, the more it might be true. Are there tougher jobs? Absolutely. But how many?

-Ohio is located in the poorest region of a state whose inhabitants bleed scarlet and grey for a school some 75 minutes give or take up the highway. Pulling a fanbase from that, when most of your living alumni don't live in the area, is a tough hill to climb to say the least.

-Ohio is located in a state that currently houses seven other FBS level programs, an FCS program which has won national titles (YSU) and a Division III powerhouse (Mount Union). Based off my cloudy memory, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Texas, California and maybe Florida are the only states that have that high a number of competition for fans and recruits. But I can't think of any other state which is dominated by ONE Power Five school...other than Wisconsin and Minnesota I guess?

-The surrounding states which also have FBS or FCS level programs, so really you're not fighting seven or eight. You're actually fighting 20+ in the immediate vicinity and definitely more given the state's fertile recruiting ground.

-Ohio spends the highest amount of any other MAC school (I think, or at least top 3) on basketball, a sport which they have had arguably better success (depending on what you believe) and more passionate fans (historically). We all know how hard it is to be good at both sports equally given the current landscape of college athletics at the Group of Five level.

-The academic community at Ohio which (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) fights athletics tooth and nail on just about everything. I'm sure other schools have this problem as well, but it doesn't help that one of Ohio's own professors is quoted seemingly every time a national issue arises between athletic spending and academic integrity.

-Ohio has a so-so history of success. The past century or so has been a roller coaster. Peden and Hess had success, then decades of futility until Grobe and Solich brought it back from the dead. Solich is laying a foundation for the future (NFL draft picks, facility improvements, winning culture), hopefully which is kept up the way some fans see it and if someone else with a vision takes it to another level.

-An old stadium which needs constant improvements. The addition of Sook, new turf, new scoreboard and improvements to the Tower are nice, but how much longer can keep trying to make it look nice? We've all heard the gripes on the concessions/restrooms recently.

-A limited pool of high net worth boosters willing to make donations. This is not uncommon for any school. There is no T. Boone Pickens type of guy that is willing to go all-in for this program to take it to the next level. At least not yet. And that's what it would take. Other than that, there are only so many to go around and as Buckeye to Bobcat has mentioned, it's harder to keep going back to that well.

-I'm drawing blanks at the moment, feel free to add others if you want that adds to the difficulties this program faces.

I agree and think it's not unattainable either. I think the question then is what does it take to get to that level? It's not like it's so far you can't see it. Ohio has been SO close. Painfully close a few times. Maybe a few tweaks here and there, a few extra dollars and some good old fashioned luck.

I think the best chance they had at back-to-back division titles, a MAC title, and arguably the best chance to do significant things was 2009-2013.

2009 - Won the MAC East, could have played better in the MAC title and bowl games to win, but overall great season coming off the 2008 (4-8) step back.

2010 - Started out 1-3 then went on an absolute tear with seven straight wins. What happens? Ohio blows it in the finale against Kent State, 28-6. That team finished 5-7. All they had to do was win that game and they had the tiebreaker by blasting Miami in Oxford earlier that year. They then get slaughtered in the bowl by Troy.

2011 - MAC title loss to NIU that they should have won. Ended the year on a high note getting the first ever bowl win for the program and momentum built for next season.

2012 - Start out on fire, beating Penn State and going 7-0 to get to #23 in the country. Sports Illustrated article comes out and Ohio wets the bed against Miami, a team which finished 4-8. Injuries and three straight MAC losses crush the season. Finished the year with another bowl win though.

2013 - Lots to be excited about going into the year, even after getting blown out by a really good Louisville team in the opener. TT was back at QB and the defense was led by Johnson and Carrie. Won four straight then lost to 6-6 CMU at home. Bounced back, but then the debacle happened. Three blowout losses, combined score 123-16.

Just too many missed opportunities, like last Saturday at Cincinnati.

A state of the art stadium with a dome would catapult the program to the forefront of the MAC in terms of recruiting. Leave the Sook attached right where it is, of course. But if you want to think about the future, if you want students to come to games and not leave when it is too cold or too hot...if you want everyone to come from surrounding areas and do it for EVERY game... BUILD IT. You could also get some major concert acts to Athens if you had a bowl. The Browns realize they were lame not to build a dome. Do it in Athens and become the dream of the MAC and all mid major colleges. For those of you who say I'm crazy... keep practicing status quo.

[/QUOTE]A state of the art stadium with a dome would catapult the program to the forefront of the MAC in terms of recruiting. Leave the Sook attached right where it is, of course. But if you want to think about the future, if you want students to come to games and not leave when it is too cold or too hot...if you want everyone to come from surrounding areas and do it for EVERY game... BUILD IT. You could also get some major concert acts to Athens if you had a bowl. The Browns realize they were lame not to build a dome. Do it in Athens and become the dream of the MAC and all mid major colleges. For those of you who say I'm crazy... keep practicing status quo.

[/QUOTE]Just out of curiosity, what color is the sky in your world?

Probably filled with some of that Meigs County Gold.

It has. To varying degrees of success.

Carrier Dome - Syracuse
Kibbie Dome - Idaho
Fargo Dome - North Dakota State

Are any of these schools the dream of mid-major colleges?

I guess I’ve been under the mistaken impression that the university is an academic, not athletic, enterprise.

But you apparently were endorsing the hiring of NDSU’s prez solely on basis of athletics. NDSU’s academic ranking is far below ours. You really are a Buckeye, huh?

P.S...we spend 7mm more per year on ICA than your model school.

Neil Young was Feb. ‘83.

Fall of ‘79 was Styx, as I recall. Perhaps also MSB.

And yet they win at the FCS level and have more FBS Power 5 wins than us in the last 10 years.....you tell me who's getting more for the money they spend.....go look it up I dare you and you tell me if we're getting our money's worth.....and oh yeah, they bring over 10K down for a postseason game, we're lucky to sell 1K so you tell me how good they are at supporting their teams.....

And what Uncle Wes said is spot on, get a coach who can recruit locally you're in the ballgame a heckuva lot quicker in the MAC.