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Marty has been coming to the games with me since the nineties. He got season tickets a few years before the Info opened. There are three of us that grew up in Ellet and then went to UA and attended the games. This is so cool!

I don't know if anyone cares or not Malcom is having a great game for the Falcons tonight. I didn't notice him before the fourth quarter playing defense i thought i saw him on special teams though. Start of the fourth quarter he had a tackle and then an interception at the goal line but replay overturned. It was a nice play but his foot game down out of bounds. He was on field goal block and came relatively close to blocking the field goal (at least it looked like it) and the kicker missed it. Then the next series Falcons forced Denver to punt and Malcolm tackled the guy instantly as soon as he got the ball at like the 11 or 12 yard line. He may make the roster for special teams at least but even at that I think it would be great for the program and recruiting MAYBE to be able to say look at Malcom Dewalt straight from the Zips to the NFL ...! Sidenote Nunnally was released by the Falcons in June and was listed as a free agent as of today.

Looks like there's a new marketing director and a new title. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/ryan-koslen/709 There's also now an assistant marketing director. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/josh-smith/706

AKR 0-0 Army FT Army are fit and physical, not to mention large. They are disciplined and organized, as one might suspect. Zips could not unlock such a committed defense. The last pass, and the finishing, went begging. That is all. There is no reason for grave alarm right now. I do think Embick needs to get more players into his rotation, but that is a minor point. This was a hard-fought contest where none had the quality necessary to score. It was entertaining, nonetheless. But I am a football junkie, so... We will know more about this team come Friday.

Zips surprisingly carved up Flyers midfield with only a little trouble. There were several 10-minute stretches of the match where we had our way with the ball and they could not touch us. Are we actually that good? it seems we have adopted a new base formation of a symmetrical 4-1-4-1. This formation was tried in Spring and preseason, along with lots of other things. Now it is here. This formation has recently become very popular globally. At least Embick & Co. are paying attention to the World game. Anybody else seeing this? Matthew Paiva’s sliding tackle in the 2nd half yanked to my feet. It happened directly in front of my seat. Shades of Simon Spelling! (In 1982, not now.) I do not think it was a foul, let alone a yellow card. And it went to VAR for possible red card. Go figure. Keep up the strong work, Matt! That was beautiful!!

I didn't get a call, but my buddy Marty did. We have attended games together since back in 1998 as freshmen at UA.

No patch announcement but we are getting Menchies Brothers burgers. https://www.facebook.com/share/192xWPwc6s/

Facebook post: We recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Bulger-Spanton amenity “connector”, marking the official start of construction on an exciting addition to the ongoing revitalization of campus residence halls. The new connector will create a shared community space designed to strengthen student engagement, connection and community. The space will feature an amenity kitchen, a package center, and extra gathering spaces!

I just saw in an email from coach Nanchoff that after the current store closes on August 17th, a new store will open on August 19 and run through September 2. That new store will have gear featuring the A Star logo, he stated.

Man, I miss Charles Guthrie. Goodrich is just riding his predecessors marketing wave.🙄

They really need to hire Ernst and Young to oversee this contest but my guess is the winner will be someone like Mrs. Mildred Wigglesworth from North Hill who buys season tickets to watch her great grandson Johnny march in the band and wonders why this coordinator person has to be so offensive.

Jon Gruden is entering the sweepstakes. https://x.com/i/status/2086203296415428906

Looks like another football recruit: Jayden Remplet 6-7 310 tackle from Kingston. PA!

Feels really good to have some positive vibes around the program for once. Here’s to hoping we can keep the momentum going.

I shared this earlier for our other commits so I figured I'd share Evan's as well. He's in the 64th percentile of wings in scoring efficiency, but is pretty elite at everything else, which seems to check out based off what we all saw last season.

Correct - they're turning to a redshirt freshman transfer from Kansas. These "influencer" odds are more worthless than a Kent grad reading story time. FanDuel has the Over 4.5 wins at -102 and Under is -120 which is pretty much a toss up. Nobody knows anything in this crazy landscape.

We already do.

To be fair, Army is known for (national) defense.

Dayton is going to be a challenging first game. They are picked to finish 2nd in the Atlantic 10 and 3 of their players were selected to the pre season All League team. https://atlantic10.com/news/2026/8/17/saint-louis-picked-unanimous-mens-soccer-favorite-ahead-of-2026-campaign.aspx

This does two things. 1 - as you note before, absolutely that's a piece of it 2 - for effectively free, the Zips add another piece of the PR cycle and get even more coverage of the event. They're really playing this perfectly.

Can’t believe he didn’t bring up Bivens.

If he lands the jersey sponsorship deal, which would be the first in the MAC to my knowledge, his phone will be ringing pretty quickly IMO. I'm assuming his interest is already picking up with the publicity from this promo, but the jersey sponsorship would be a HUGE resume highlight. No matter what happens, he has been a home run hire and hopefully means we have a recipe for success to find his successor. In the meantime, I'm very curious to see what he has cooked up for soccer & basketball. If this is what he can pull off for a less-than-successful football program, what's in store for the uber-successful soccer & basketball programs?

Article about this in the Athletic One lucky Akron football season-ticket holder will get to call plays for the opening drive of a college football game. Really. Sort of. Which is a nice reminder of why we love this dumb sport. It’s a pure publicity stunt. Old-school, huckster carnival barking. On Aug. 4, the Akron Zips football program announced a promotion in which every season-ticket holder is entered into a raffle; the top prize is the chance to script play calls for the first offensive possession of Akron’s home opener against Robert Morris on Sept. 12. The winner, announced on Aug. 19, will get to spend two days hanging around practice and team meetings ahead of the game and consult head coach Joe Moorhead on the first 10-15 plays. The school dubbed it “Offensive Coordinator of the Game.” Akron’s athletic director hatched the idea. A briefly reluctant Moorhead — once an SEC head coach at Mississippi State and offensive coordinator at Oregon — warmed up to and ultimately encouraged it. Brainstorming ways to generate excitement and ticket sales for a traditionally disappointing football program will turn a Zips fan’s armchair quarterback dreams into reality. Or it might not even be a Zips fan. The promotion’s spawned enough broader interest that the winner could be a Robert Morris troll or podcast host. Either way, it worked. It’s early August, only weeks away from kicking off the season, and college football diehards are talking about Akron. It’s why college football is special. Athletic director Andrew Goodrich had the idea to have a fan script the team's opening offensive plays. It's led to a historic ticket surge. For such a buzzy promotion, it’s pretty low stakes. Robert Morris is an FCS opponent, and Akron itself is a humble Mid-American Conference squad, one most fans only watch in midweek MACtion or blowout losses against the Big Ten. Moorhead promised he won’t “let the circus roll into town” and will retain final say over the actual play calls. Akron is simply selling the experience. The sizzle. But it’s not zero stakes, either. The Zips have one of the smallest annual football budgets in FBS, yet it is still about $8 million. While that may pale in comparison to Ohio State pouring more than $100 million into football this season just two hours down the road, it’s a significant line item for a public university. Plenty of jobs and livelihoods are at stake within the Akron football program, and it’s still electing to pass the sticks to Joe Sports Fan for a few plays. That quirky fanaticism could only exist in this sport. The NFL and its professional counterparts would never allow it. Minor league baseball does it all the time, but no one actually cares about the wins and losses. College football is wonky enough to go for it and prominent enough for it to resonate. The Zips haven’t been to a bowl game in 10 years. They had a winless season more recently than a winning one. It had to try something different to get butts in seats. Still, a week after the Robert Morris game, the same Zips will play at Minnesota, a Big Ten squad with College Football Playoff sleeper potential. The sport really does contain multitudes. “Once the shock value wore away and we discussed some benefits, now you see (the promotion) spoke for itself,” Moorhead told The Athletic. It also comes at a welcome moment in the sport’s trajectory, when a bunch of not-so-fun nonsense is dragging things down. So much attention on college football is fixated off the field, or on an increasingly uncertain future. Congressional legislation and eligibility lawsuits. Transfer portal tampering. A head coach leaving his team in the midst of a Playoff run. Needless CFP expansion debates and Super League chatter. Then suddenly, the very same sport that takes itself too seriously reminds us that the fun, dumb stuff is what we love about it. An anthropomorphic Pop-Tart toasting itself. A winning coach getting dunked with a tub of Duke’s mayo. Pitbull partnering with FIU. Turnover chainsaws in Corvallis, the Sooner Schooner in Norman and Jump Around in Madison. Akron gave us a nice pop of flavor to cut through the glut of court battles. A one-off Akron football promotion won’t solve all of college football’s issues. The sport’s future remains murky. But at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Zips play the Colonials on ESPN+. I’ll be watching.

this is off topic... i never heard of this young man but his story his good and he still promotes a lot of zips football.. i thought some of you may enjoy it jawon chisholm message: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbn-uMpRO2X/?igsh=YzYxMWc3ZnNueGE5

They need to pass out prop gameday headsets or something like the 1st 1,000 fans get an Akron OC Headset sponsored by Turtle Beach, Logitech... something like that.

#8 in Top Drawer Soccer - pre season poll https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men

Too bad @Zipmeister is seemingly on an extended hiatus...this is his chance to force the Zips to throw to the TE on at least 3 successive plays.

Tomorrow is finally here. Meetings today; pads and camp tomorrow. Nothing negative, I know there have been a few minor injuries I just pray these young men have a healthy camp and can start the season pretty much injury free and let the chips fall where they may!!!! Good luck Zips...

Yesterday I was on campus and did my usual rounds. For what it's worth: The renovation of Buchtel Commons is beautiful. The landscaping and pathway create a welcoming space all along the way. The entrance and arch leading to Buchtel Hall are impressive. On the other side Coleman Commons is a sight to behold. With the fountains now working it makes for a scenic place to take a walk. Fall enrollment appears to be up at an impressive double digits. Grad students are flat, but freshmen and transfers are up. Nemer's plan to get all deans and dept heads out to the high schools with our message seem to be working. Last year the football team had 11 of their athletes make their summer strength & conditioning goals. This year 51 have met their goals. Football GPA is at 2.94, the highest it has been in recent times. Those attending the first meeting of the football team described Joe as being the most positive and motivated he has ever been. His enthusiasm was infectious for all in the room. Soccer is loaded. There has been a slight setback with an incoming GK getting injured and possibly losing a season. The defense got the outside backs they needed. Goodrich has gone to bat for the soccer program adding Attila as a full time coach with a focus on operations and Bill as a GM with a focus on development. Andrew has said the soccer program will be the pre-eminent program at UA and he will not let it slip. Goodrich is highly thought of by the faculty. His door is open and he is transparent in all he does. Administrators feel we will go bowling. W's come from RMU, EMU, CMU, KSU, Mass and UB with the possibility of stealing one from WMU or OU. Some coaches feel UNLV is the best OOC team we play. They feel we will not sneak up on Wake or Minn. Crain's Cleveland Business ran an article yesterday citing UA as one of the best schools in the country (9th) for sports' achievement versus dollars spent. Go Zips!

I think Poof the Magic Dragon could be the real deal. UNLV playing a long way from home will take a 1--2 Zip team too lightly. Zips win. There really isn't much separation in the MAC. With 5 conference wins, Zips finish 7-5. In the MAC, injuries play a big role. No body is flush with depth. We all play a tough OOC schedule. Those early conference losses Cat predicts could become very competitive. Of course, those injuries could sting the Zips, but I'm still going with 7 wins!

Hoping we can use this thread throughout the season to list all of the polls and RPI updates. Zips at #12 in the United Soccer Coaches Pre-Season Poll. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

confirmed by Bud that the back of the shirts say "Creating our own luck for 126 seasons". I love that.

I enjoyed the lengthy interview with Dave Skoczen on the G6 podcast. Thank you to whoever sent it on to us. I like Dave. I think he is a big upgrade over Frenchy in calling Zip games. I have talked with him four times, twice before football games and twice before BBall games. Each time I found him to be warm, friendly, knowledgeable and excited to bring Zip games to the public. I will not crucify him for his on the spot answers to a podcaster. Rather I find his overall assessment of the team, whether football or basketball, to be realistic and objective. We are lucky to have he and Joe Dunn bringing games to us.

We really have no idea what to expect in Athens. The international guys sound good on paper but how will they translate on this side of the Atlantic? And to be 100% honest, Boals' track record the past few seasons doesn't inspire the most blind belief that this group will be any different from the last one. It feels like a significant recruiting change from previous years, maybe an attempt to salvage jobs here.

Freshman Austin Thum may well be a beast in the middle.

If Robert Morris was smart they would have countered with a promotion allowing a season ticket holder to serve as honorary defensive coordinator for the first drive. Benefit would include travel and hotel stay with team.

A coach that has never made the tournament in his 24 years as a D1 coach who coaches at a program that hasn't went dancing in 46 years. Loser mentality by a losing coach at a losing program.

@kreed5120.Who cares what GP1 thinks. He is just a Negative Nanny. I'm a former Zip football player. This is really a no brainer. Players will always tell you that they are extra motivated when we play a P4. When the spotlight is on the game, players are motivated. How much excitement do you feel coming from the players when we play on a rainy Tuesday night in front of friends and family?

Doing some napkin math. It was said that Akron sold out it's suites for the first time in program history. The stadium only has 16 suites available for public sale and one has to assume a number of those were already sold. Let's assume this promotion sold 4, which would be conservative. Let's also assume it sold 50 or so Club Seats. Very possible it could have been more as this promotion brought attention to the program. It's obvious the biggest jump is the GA tickets as people are treating this as a closed $75 lottery. I don't think it's unrealistic if 2,000 "entries" were sold. Suites 4 X $15,000 = $60,000 Club Seats 50 X $515 = $25,750 GA 2,000 X 75 = $150,000 All totaled that would be ~$236K in direct additional revenue. That's about half of the $500K the school said they wanted the athletic department to erase from the deficit. That's not even factoring in any increases in merchandise, sponsorships, or donations from alumni who now feel more positive about the school and/or program. Not to mention a chunk of those 2,000 are actually alumni or locals. Some amount of them could be persuaded to renew. Not to mention all the free advertising for the school at a time where seniors are deciding where to send their applications. Not saying anyone would pick Akron based off a promotion, but it might lead a few to give the Akron website a look whereas they didn't consider it before. Then a few of those stumble on a program or something they like.

So what if a Robert Morris fan drops $75 and wins and tries to sabotage the zips?! 😂

The comments replying to him seemed a lot more serious and less jokes about funny play calls. So many of the people were amazed by the $75 for a season ticket when it costs that just for 1 P5 ticket at many schools. A lot of them said if they lived nearby they would attend. Hopefully all this talk builds on itself and people become aware about how cheap tickets really are and the talk surrounding the program gets more students and fans to at least attend the home opening for nothing more than the spectacle. Then just a matter of building off that. A big hurdle for Akron football is just getting people to remember it even exists as it's overshadowed by so much else.

If they're smart, they're using some of the payout for a few season tickets.

It is currently listed under Headlines on ESPN's website.

I would become the most insufferable member on this board if I led an opening touchdown and then they proceeded to get shut out afterwards. The captain would have to hit me with a 30 day ban 😂

I saw several randoms that have no affiliation with the program post ticket receipts on X. I wouldn't be surprised if a few hundred season tickets got purchased between people wanting to share it on social media or in group chat with friends for the memes. The best part though is the free publicity. Edit: Maybe Akron's most successful promotion since the legendary Acme Zips games.

Imagine they actually don’t tell the winner until they are at the game to get people to actually show up. I think this is great and it will help the ticket sales team hit some big goals but I really hope we can get some people out to watch

The University of Akron's endowment has grown from $204.2 million in 2016 to $376.5 million in 2026 per the audited financials. That would indicate to me that they aren't depleting the principle on restricted endowments to cover operational costs. Personally, I feel it's a positive these small private schools are going out of business. There is clearly a student debt crisis ongoing and frankly a Notre Dame College wasn't worth the ~$50K tuition+room and board it was charging. Both Akron and Kent were ranked ahead of them academically in just about everything and you could attend either school for ~$20K less each year. If they were a Case Western caliber school academically this would be different, but they offered a lowered quality product at an inflated price. Schools like them going out of business should help strengthen the ones that remain.

Other than following the Zips, I've lost all interest in college football and basketball because of stuff like this. The extreme capitalization is ruinous to so many things. I'm just tired of it.

The 2026 Roster has been revised on GoZips.com. It appears to include only those players remaining from the Spring but does not yet reflect those incoming this Fall. It also has some uniform number changes, for example ... O'Rourke 7, Morck 8, Roman 10. (https://gozips.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster) I’ve revised the first post in this thread to reflect this roster and our Fall 2026 recruits.