UA releases 2007 schedule

Football

Here it is folks. It's pretty much what I've been saying...

• Sept. 1 - vs. Army (Patriot Bowl at Cleveland Browns Stadium)


• Sept. 8 - @ Ohio State


• Sept. 15 - @ Indiana


• Sept. 22 - vs. Kent State


• Sept. 29 - @ Connecticut


• Oct. 6 - @ Western Michigan


• Oct. 13 - vs. Temple


• Oct. 20 - Bye


• Oct. 27 - @ Buffalo


• Nov. 2 - @ Bowling Green (ESPNU)


• Nov. 7 - vs. Ohio (ESPN2)


• Nov. 14 - @ Miami (Ohio) (ESPN2)


• Nov. 23 - vs. Central Michigan (ESPNU)

Some thoughts...

• I really like the midseason bye week. J.D. Brookhart should be excited about the chance to rest his players during week eight.


• As far as the MAC schedule goes, it's always nice to play the toughest teams at home and the weaker ones at their place. That works in the Zips' favor for the CMU and Ohio games.


• I think this solidifies that Indiana will visit the new stadium in 2009. Akron originally had a deal for the Hoosiers to come to Akron this year. They swapped it.


• You may be wondering, "Four games at the Rubber Bowl? Are you kidding?" The university correctly realizes the bowl can't handle more than about 10 games before the thing completely crumbles. They might as well set up favorable schedules in the future and make some money to turn lemons into lemonade. Ew. Sorry for that cliche.


• You see the two ESPNU games. I think there's a chance that network will have a lot more cable operators by next fall, making it not so worthless as it once was. UA's cable network picked it up a while back.


• This is a little bit of a tangent, but picture this... The bar in the Student Union begins to sell beer -- as being discussed by UA administration. UA throws a watch party in the Student Union with a giant projection screen. There's a big money-maker. UA can make its checks out to Mike Rasor.


• With this schedule, I think the Zips are looking at two sure wins (Army and Temple), four probable wins (Kent State, Ohio, Buffalo and Bowling Green), three toss-ups (Indiana, Connecticut and Central Michigan), two probable losses (Miami and Western Michigan) and one certain loss (Ohio State).


• If you put a gun to my head (and please don't), I'll give the Zips seven wins. Of course, that's without taking a close look at any of these teams.


• After the spring games, the picture will be much clearer.


• The ABJ's David Lee Morgan wrote about how Brookhart is using a sports psychologist to help with team chemistry.