(12-01-2014 10:14 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Akron was supposed to be good! People had em 2nd in the East, and a few had them winning it! You know? On the up and up after their big win to end the season vs. Toledo last season!

my point is that preseason expectations for Akron were unrealistically high, as you note, so not meeting unrealistic expectations is not a disappointment.

(12-01-2014 10:34 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:14 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Akron was supposed to be good! People had em 2nd in the East, and a few had them winning it! You know? On the up and up after their big win to end the season vs. Toledo last season!

my point is that preseason expectations for Akron were unrealistically high, as you note, so not meeting unrealistic expectations is not a disappointment.

What? In hindsight they were unrealistic... Basing off the way Akron ended and with their returning players it wasn't unrealistic they could win a MAC where most teams lost significant players (Oliver, Fluellen, Lynch, Wenning etc.).

Picking Purdue to win the Big10 next year would be an unrealistic expectation. Picking a rising Penn State would not be. If Hackenburg led PSU to another 6 win season next year that could be very dissapointing. I'm not actually sure who the Big10 graduates, but that's the best example I could think of.

You may not have thought Akron wasn't going to be very good, but more people thought they would be contenders than implode and beat one fair team (Pitt)

(12-01-2014 10:47 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:34 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:14 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Akron was supposed to be good! People had em 2nd in the East, and a few had them winning it! You know? On the up and up after their big win to end the season vs. Toledo last season!

my point is that preseason expectations for Akron were unrealistically high, as you note, so not meeting unrealistic expectations is not a disappointment.

What? In hindsight they were unrealistic... Basing off the way Akron ended and with their returning players it wasn't unrealistic they could win a MAC where most teams lost significant players (Oliver, Fluellen, Lynch, Wenning etc.).

Picking Purdue to win the Big10 next year would be an unrealistic expectation. Picking a rising Penn State would not be. If Hackenburg led PSU to another 6 win season next year that could be very dissapointing. I'm not actually sure who the Big10 graduates, but that's the best example I could think of.

You may not have thought Akron wasn't going to be very good, but more people thought they would be contenders than implode and beat one fair team (Pitt)

It wasn't hindsight for me, I called it as hype from the beginning, that's why I'm saying its not a disappointment to me now. Akron's winning streak at the end of last year that got everyone excited included 1 surprise- Toledo on black friday, and 3 of the usual suspects- Miami(0-12), UMass(1-11) and Kent St(4-8). Their other win was an FCS team. Just like this year.

There's no earthly reason to think that a program that had just gone 1-11 for three years in a row before finally beating a few bottom of the barrel teams and a sleeping Toledo is suddenly going to win 8 or 9 games, unless they have a an amazing recruiting class coming in like WMU. Akron's 2014 class was ranked #111 in FBS. The optimism was unfounded, therefore the disappointment was unwarranted.

(12-02-2014 12:03 AM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:47 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:34 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(12-01-2014 10:14 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Akron was supposed to be good! People had em 2nd in the East, and a few had them winning it! You know? On the up and up after their big win to end the season vs. Toledo last season!

my point is that preseason expectations for Akron were unrealistically high, as you note, so not meeting unrealistic expectations is not a disappointment.

What? In hindsight they were unrealistic... Basing off the way Akron ended and with their returning players it wasn't unrealistic they could win a MAC where most teams lost significant players (Oliver, Fluellen, Lynch, Wenning etc.).

Picking Purdue to win the Big10 next year would be an unrealistic expectation. Picking a rising Penn State would not be. If Hackenburg led PSU to another 6 win season next year that could be very dissapointing. I'm not actually sure who the Big10 graduates, but that's the best example I could think of.

You may not have thought Akron wasn't going to be very good, but more people thought they would be contenders than implode and beat one fair team (Pitt)

It wasn't hindsight for me, I called it as hype from the beginning, that's why I'm saying its not a disappointment to me now. Akron's winning streak at the end of last year that got everyone excited included 1 surprise- Toledo on black friday, and 3 of the usual suspects- Miami(0-12), UMass(1-11) and Kent St(4-8). Their other win was an FCS team. Just like this year.

There's no earthly reason to think that a program that had just gone 1-11 for three years in a row before finally beating a few bottom of the barrel teams and a sleeping Toledo is suddenly going to win 8 or 9 games, unless they have a an amazing recruiting class coming in like WMU. Akron's 2014 class was ranked #111 in FBS. The optimism was unfounded, therefore the disappointment was unwarranted.

This is one factor that tells us nothing, knowing the accuracy of recruiting rankings at the MAC level.

Also, Akron almost beat Michigan, almost beat NIU (who was pretty good last year) and did beat Toledo. That would not have happened a couple years ago. They were inconsistent, but showed a lot of flashes of being really good, especially defensively.

What it says it that people are disappointed in their ability to assess how good teams will be, so they blame the team and coaches for not living up to their incorrect assessment.

NIU007: Very cruel to use "flashes" in a sentence describing Akron.

(12-02-2014 07:31 AM)axeme Wrote:  What it says it that people are disappointed in their ability to assess how good teams will be, so they blame the team and coaches for not living up to their incorrect assessment.

True.

(12-02-2014 07:31 AM)axeme Wrote:  What it says it that people are disappointed in their ability to assess how good teams will be, so they blame the team and coaches for not living up to their incorrect assessment.

This is also applicable in life, and in business.

Disappointed UMass couldn't win a few of those five one score loses that they had. Season could have easily been better for UMass. Great progress though.

Frohnapfel has to stay healthy next year. The last two games made it obvious that without him at QB UMass is a totally different team.

Frohnapfel is easily the Most Valuable Player in the MAC in the true sense of the term.