LoyalZIP

Akron, Ohio, Miami, and Bowling Green are a combined 0-9 heading into the third Saturday of the season. Kent's route to a MAC East title will never be easier than it is this year. Meanwhile, there are more winnable games on the schedule for the Zips, but I have a bad feeling not only about Saturday, but the first couple of MAC games.

This is tremendous!!! Well done!! 😂

Tough loss.

It appears the Zips are on the attack in 2H, just haven't found the net yet.

1-0 OSU

Agreed. Kicking game is great! What's not great? The Kick Off Specialist had to make 2 tackles last week. That guy is a Zip all-timer, but he shouldn't have to be making tackles, especially when his kicks are so good.

A must win. And a must win by a lot. And a must win by a lot and never have any doubts. I just want to celebrate a damn win again.

I've heard this as well. I have heard that he expects them to be bowl eligible, this year. As a fan, before the season I came up with the pathway to bowl eligibility, with an emphasis on the Temple game, assuming Bryant is a win, that would make Akron 2-2 heading into the conference season. While Akron did get a very difficult MAC west draw, they still open MAC play with Ohio and BG, who appear to be in the MAC East basement with Akron. If all goes well there, you're 4-2. And I'd be lying if I said that picture wasn't playing in my head after it was 14-0 this week. 4-2 with 6 to play, I think every Zips fan would take that. And it doesn't always mean bowl eligibility (as we're too familiar with), but now it seems we may be lucky to be 2-4 with 6 to play. After the first two MAC games, it's hard to see another game where this team can truly have a chance to win. Maybe they compete in more games this year than the previous two. But Akron is fortunate to play in what is possibly the weakest division in the FBS, and it has been for a long time now. I don't even want to think about what might happen on November 20. This division is terrible, and even in Akron's state, they should at the very least still be in the running for a division title by the time mid/late October comes around. But I fear Temple was a preview of what we'll see in winnable games. Perhaps not to that catastrophic extreme, but as Arth said in his presser, it seemed like everyone knew what was happening during that sequence. What has plagued Akron football since 2014 is coach stubbornness. I am looking to Guthrie to address this situation carefully as the season goes on and we get into the offseason. Perhaps it's too early to have this discussion, but I find it interesting. You don't necessarily want a meddling AD that doesn't respect his/her coaches, but I think we can all agree that an AD can become a valuable mediator in a situation where he can step into Arth's office at the end of the season and tell him that it's not good enough and he needs to make serious changes, even if it means hurting a buddy's feelings. It would be even better if Arth could do what the previous staff refused to do in cutting off dead weight, that would at least prove to me that he cares about this job and cares about Akron. If this trend continues and Matt Feeney is leading this defense going into 2022, that is a massive failure.

I love that analogy, LZip. Feeney is Milwee. The head coach's boy who is under qualified and isn't making any progress after a few seasons. I have a hard time believing that our defensive personnel are actually as bad as they seem. There are some great athletes out there. However, they aren't put in any position to be successful. I've never seen a zone defense that allows for so many pass catchers to be open underneath with nobody within 5-10 yards. I feel like I'm watching Rob Senderoff basketball of trying to stick a square peg in a round hole. It's not working. Make some changes. Own that you were wrong and admit it. At this point, that may be the only way to keep a shred of respect from the fan base. Akron dominated that first half outside of 3-4 plays, which just goes to show you the difference between being good and bad in this sport. Catastrophic sequences like that have plagued this program for a long time, and unfortunately much like previous coaching staffs, they lack the ability to lead and motivate. The Irons pick 6 was pathetic, why is that play in the playbook and why would you run it at that point in the game? And I get he's young, but why is he trying to make that throw? That was when I knew right there. I might as well have left. One other thing. In the second half before the game was completely out of reach, Akron was driving somewhat deep into Temple territory. On third down, Irons got rushed and took a bad sack that knocked Akron out of field goal range. I believe a TD would have made it a one-score game. After the play, Temple received a taunting penalty. Great! First and ten at the 20, right?!?! NOPE!!!!! Joey Marousek, Akron's 9th string QB with a headset, said something and ran out onto the field, making the fouls offset, giving Akron a 4th and a mile out of field goal range, leading to a turnover-on-downs. P A T H E T I C. With that said, for my own good and sanity, I'm looking forward to the win next week, as meaningless as it will be. And then we open MAC play with two seemingly similarly bad conference opponents, so I look forward to talking myself into a couple of wins there haha.

Fearless/Hopeful Forecast: Kato starts and gets pulled after 2 drives. Edit: Hopeful that he plays really well and doesn't need to get pulled/Hopeful the leash is short.

All in all, Kato has only had a handful of good halves as an Akron QB and we're 6 years into this experience. That 1st half against Ohio in 2017 influenced so much of my view of him and the potential he had as a RS-Fr. But here we are 4 years later and I don't think he looks much different. From what I can see, he's grown as a teammate and a leader--he was a disaster in this area back then. But maybe he needs to be a Josh McCown/Case Keenum type role on this team.

DJ Irons looks as much "the part" as any Akron QB has in 15 years. Small sample, sure, but as other posters have mentioned, 100% completion rate at that volume is hard to do against any opponent. He seems to make quicker decisions and his younger and more athletic frame could remedy the unreasonably poor offensive line play we will most likely see. I also really like the skill positions on this team. Norrils runs hard and with his head down so even though he was getting stopped at the line, he was at least falling forward a couple of yards. That will help big time against smaller and weaker lines in the MAC. Mike Mathison is a solid MAC receiver and Qualls looks like a decent option as well. Without a doubt, the biggest flaw on this team for yet another season is the defense. They are horrible and I really can't fathom how they've remained so bad. There have been so many games now where the opponent gains nearly every single possible yard and scores a touchdown on nearly every drive. There aren't even a couple of turnovers being forced here or there, something to get their offense off the field. Every time Akron's defense takes the field, you know what the result is going to be, it's just a matter of how long it takes to get there. Every single time Bo Nix dropped back to pass, I thought the ball would end up in the end zone. And shame on me for at the very end of the game thinking there's no way they can allow another touchdown to make it 60-10 with the amount of time left. Arth needs to step the hell up and pressure Feeney to do something to fix that mess, or show him the door. The defense is keeping this team, and will keep this team, from even having a chance in many games this season that in the past were unwinnable due to the talent gap, but are no longer so. I've been saying it for years now and it sill holds true, I'm sure Akron would have had a decent chance to end this streak had last year gone as scheduled but it still holds true. Akron has never beaten an FBS nonconference opponent at Infocision Stadium. They have the chance to do it this weekend against a program in a similar place. Hopefully the boys are motivated by how they moved the ball last week. I'm going to go into this game either hoping that DJ Irons runs out there with the 1's or that Kato simply looked like the old Kato because of rust and it being Auburn. This is a huge game for the program. A must-win if you ask me, joining 2019 @UMass and 2020 vs. BGSU in the Arth era. Even if Akron doesn't win, there's no reason it shouldn't be a one or two score game with a chance to win in the second half. If it's ugly like so many have been, you might find me over on the basketball thread coming up with lineups for the upcoming season. Now is the time, coach. Go Zips!!!

It seems like if we see Dollard at all this year, it may not be for a few weeks. Maybe this will turn into a Quincy Diggs situation. Either way, it's a shame. I'm looking forward to see what this RB corp will look like now. Norrils is a good prospect and Williams brings experience and a good frame.

Stay healthy and answer any questions about personnel. That Temple game could be a huge opportunity.