2014 MAC Football Thread

[brian]

How did this thread not get created yet?

The big news is yesterday the MAC and ESPN extended their broadcast deal for 13 years and a reported $90-$100 million. Put another way, that's about the same amount that ESPN pays the American. The previous deal only paid the MAC about $1.5 million a year so this should be a nice bump for the athletic departments.

[brian]

Sad news as word came out that Kent State's center Jason Bitsko died this morning.

[brian]

I don't know who the fuck Josiah Yazdani is but I want to hug that kid because I had two units on Ohio +2 vs Kent State.

[Sabo]

I don't know who the fuck Josiah Yazdani is but I want to hug that kid because I had two units on Ohio +2 vs Kent State.

He's on the Lou Groza watch list this season. I think he went 23/25 in FGs last year and didn't miss until he had more than 20.

I didn't have a chance to watch the game other than the GW FG. I had plans to go but I was too tired to go.

[brian]

Man I'd love to be so spoiled to miss CMU if they were an hour away (and I'm not criticizing because I did when they were in Ypsi and Toledo when I lived in Detroit.) Anyway congrats on the win. Ohio was the only MAC team to beat an FBS team this weekend. Yay.

[Sabo]

BGSU's starting QB Matt Johnson is out for the season with a hip injury. That's a huge blow for the Falcons, since BGSU was the clear favorite for the MAC East title.

[brian]

That hurts. That kid is good. Arguably two of the best 5 players in the conference could be out for the season if Titus Davis' injury is as bad as it looks. CMU is saying he's "day to day" but the way his teammates were consoling him on the bench didn't look like no sprain. If he's out, I wish they'd just admit it.

[brian]

This is the most Eastern Michigan story ever.
Basically, three of their football players were charged with assaulting a family member of the guy who killed an EMU player last year.

[rass]

More like Purdone, right?

[brian]

Not gonna say it didn't feel good to win but I would honestly be more impressed/excited about beating Northern Illinois or Toledo.

[GoodKarma]

Thought today was the day Miami ended the 17 game losing streak. O-line decided not to let that happen. At home. Unbelievable. Out gained an FCS team by over 200 yards and still lost.

[brian]

CMU Sports Information just straight up trolling Sabo now.



I fully expect that to be a 6 after Saturday.

[Sabo]

Looks like Brian finally gets his wish.

CMU coach Dan Enos leaves to join coaching staff at Arkansas.

[brian]

Yeah, the dumb fuck. I can't even be that happy about him leaving because he probably totally fucked this year's recruiting class leaving 10 days before signing day. Classic Enos. What a fucktard. It'll be good in the long run though. They were never going to win shit with him at coach. Short term hit in recruiting and results for a long-term gain if they can get the right guy as coach. They should have some good options since they pay better than most MAC schools and it's a historical winner. Not like you're trying to win at EMU or Kent or something.

[Brontoburglar]

Yeah, the dumb fuck. I can't even be that happy about him leaving because he probably totally fucked this year's recruiting class leaving 10 days before signing day. Classic Enos. What a fucktard. It'll be good in the long run though. They were never going to win shit with him at coach. Short term hit in recruiting and results for a long-term gain if they can get the right guy as coach. They should have some good options since they pay better than most MAC schools and it's a historical winner. Not like you're trying to win at EMU or Kent or something.

Enos was the lowest-paid coach in the MAC according to this link.

[Brontoburglar]

Tennessee's OC has reportedly resigned and he's a former CMU OC and QB coach.

[brian]

Was talking to a guy I know in the athletic department and apparently this wasn't as out of left field as it seems -- more of a mutual decision. I don't know all of the details yet, but Enos' salary has been stagnant the last few years and he asked for and received permission to interview with Arkansas as a strategy to try and get a new deal/raise, even though the AD has been kind of upset with some of the off-field issues the program has had lately and was holding the line on his contract. More or less, Enos' bluff got called and here we are. (that's mostly joint speculation, but it makes sense.)

So the good news (for me) is the assistants have been working to shore up the recruiting class in the last few days and the athletic department has already gotten a head start on IDing some possible coaching candidates. (One name I'm told to keep an eye on is new Tampa QB coach Mike Bajakian, who was OC for Butch Jones at Tennessee. He apparently is still well thought of in Mount Pleasant and was a great recruiter who still has ties in Michigan).

(Would also be ironic that both Western's and Central's most recent head coaches prior job was Tampa QB coach.)

ETA: Also didn't realize that Bajakian was literally just hired at Tampa today, so not sure if that helps or hurts that possibility.

[brian]

Apparently Bajakian's deal was actually held up all day while he talked to CMU, but he didn't want to take a chance on missing out on a sure thing and officially took the Tampa QB job.

Most likely candidate now is Tennessee WR coach Zach Azzanni, a 1999 CMU grad. (Don't remember who it was, but at one point there was a Swamper who told a story about meeting Azzanni on a flight back when he was an assistant at CMU -- it was one of the Philly guys, but not someone who posts any more I think).

Don't know if I'm ready for a head coach who graduated from Central after me.

[brian]

Presser today to introduce John Bonamego as CMU head coach was pretty good. I'll be honest and say I was a little underwhelmed at first, but I think an underrated positive is that he's a Central alum, the first time since Bill Kelly (for whom our stadium is named in part) in 1951.

Compared to Enos, who was a fucking robot, it's nice that he's passionate about being at Central. Maybe he'll actually take the Western rivalry seriously unlike former Coach Dipshit.

[brian]

Central sweeps Ohio in hoops for the first time since 1988-89. Damn, we've sucked in basketball for a long time.