2009 schedule

[zipboy]

Per Penn State's website, we are playing at Penn State Sept 5th. We are at Syracuse which looks like it will be after Sept 19th. Hopefully our 4th game is at least a 1-AA team. We need 6 home games. Open up the 5th, get a bye week then get Indiana at the Info? Or do we schedule a 1-AA team the 12th and that becomes the opener?

[ZippyRulz]

My guess is they'll keep IU as the Info opener for the marquee effect. Maybe there will be a FCS game later in the season. The 2008 schedule was released in March so we probably won't know for a while yet. Plus I'll bet they will still be doing finishing touches up until the 19th.

[Lee Adams]

Per Penn State's website, we are playing at Penn State Sept 5th. We are at Syracuse which looks like it will be after Sept 19th. Hopefully our 4th game is at least a 1-AA team. We need 6 home games. Open up the 5th, get a bye week then get Indiana at the Info? Or do we schedule a 1-AA team the 12th and that becomes the opener?

:blink: god no I-AA teams please!!!

[GJGood]

Per Penn State's website, we are playing at Penn State Sept 5th. We are at Syracuse which looks like it will be after Sept 19th. Hopefully our 4th game is at least a 1-AA team. We need 6 home games. Open up the 5th, get a bye week then get Indiana at the Info? Or do we schedule a 1-AA team the 12th and that becomes the opener?

:blink: god no I-AA teams please!!!

I agree. No FCS (or 1-AA) teams! I like the fact while everybody else has been watering down many of their non-conference games that the Zips have not. In addition, it is something that I have been able to hold over the fans of that school down here in Central Ohio the last couple of years and they all say they wish they didn't play 1-AA schools.If playing an FCS school is the only way to get a home game then maybe you have to, BUT I don't think it is the only way to get a home game. I remember schools like North Texas and Middle Tennessee State playing in Akron not that long ago and they all at least carry the same number of scholarship players as the Zips do. The way to get home games is home-and-home contracts with FBS (1-A) schools. I'd like to see some from BCS conferences if possible, but FBS is a necessity for respect reasons.

[Zipmeister]

My guess is they'll keep IU as the Info opener for the marquee effect. Maybe there will be a FCS game later in the season. The 2008 schedule was released in March so we probably won't know for a while yet. Plus I'll bet they will still be doing finishing touches up until the 19th.

19th of which month?

[GP1]

Per Penn State's website, we are playing at Penn State Sept 5th. We are at Syracuse which looks like it will be after Sept 19th. Hopefully our 4th game is at least a 1-AA team. We need 6 home games. Open up the 5th, get a bye week then get Indiana at the Info? Or do we schedule a 1-AA team the 12th and that becomes the opener?

:blink: god no I-AA teams please!!!

I agree. No FCS (or 1-AA) teams! I like the fact while everybody else has been watering down many of their non-conference games that the Zips have not. In addition, it is something that I have been able to hold over the fans of that school down here in Central Ohio the last couple of years and they all say they wish they didn't play 1-AA schools.If playing an FCS school is the only way to get a home game then maybe you have to, BUT I don't think it is the only way to get a home game. I remember schools like North Texas and Middle Tennessee State playing in Akron not that long ago and they all at least carry the same number of scholarship players as the Zips do. The way to get home games is home-and-home contracts with FBS (1-A) schools. I'd like to see some from BCS conferences if possible, but FBS is a necessity for respect reasons.

I don't like it either, but there is a reason everyone is doing it now. 6 wins = bowl game. I-AA teams count now toward the total of 6. Everyone else is doing so we need to do it to keep pace with everyone else. It seems as if it is necessary now to schedule at least one guarantee win with a I-AA team.

[ZachTheZip]

Per Penn State's website, we are playing at Penn State Sept 5th. We are at Syracuse which looks like it will be after Sept 19th. Hopefully our 4th game is at least a 1-AA team. We need 6 home games. Open up the 5th, get a bye week then get Indiana at the Info? Or do we schedule a 1-AA team the 12th and that becomes the opener?

:blink: god no I-AA teams please!!!

I agree. No FCS (or 1-AA) teams! I like the fact while everybody else has been watering down many of their non-conference games that the Zips have not. In addition, it is something that I have been able to hold over the fans of that school down here in Central Ohio the last couple of years and they all say they wish they didn't play 1-AA schools.If playing an FCS school is the only way to get a home game then maybe you have to, BUT I don't think it is the only way to get a home game. I remember schools like North Texas and Middle Tennessee State playing in Akron not that long ago and they all at least carry the same number of scholarship players as the Zips do. The way to get home games is home-and-home contracts with FBS (1-A) schools. I'd like to see some from BCS conferences if possible, but FBS is a necessity for respect reasons.

I don't like it either, but there is a reason everyone is doing it now. 6 wins = bowl game. I-AA teams count now toward the total of 6. Everyone else is doing so we need to do it to keep pace with everyone else. It seems as if it is necessary now to schedule at least one guarantee win with a I-AA team.

It is necessary to schedule at least one guaranteed win per year. It would also do some good to stop playing top 10 teams to open the season. Getting bashed by Penn State is not the wat to get people excitedfor your home opener. Replace those with a mid-level BCS team that we can at least hang with through half time. It's not like that game was some contract made 10 years ago. It was formed only a few months ago.Akron schedules too strong for their own good. Indiana, Syracuse, and Penn State is overkill. I really wish we would play two non-BCS teams a year, like C-USA teams or Sunbelt teams.

[RowdyZip]

Penn State? Maybe. Syracuse and Indiana, definitely not. Those are perfectly winnable games. The Zips continue to schedule the North Texas' and Middle Tennessee's of the world and they'll go unnoticed, win or lose.Hell, I like playing the Suckeyes two or three times a decade. Look how close OU was to knocking them off in the horseshoe. It's only a matter of time before it happens. There is no team the Zips should be afraid to schedule, but I agree that opening against Penn State next year was not a good choice to hype up ICS. Barring an upset (a pretty large one too) the 0-1 Zips will be opening ICS vs Indiana.

[ZippyRulz]

My guess is they'll keep IU as the Info opener for the marquee effect. Maybe there will be a FCS game later in the season. The 2008 schedule was released in March so we probably won't know for a while yet. Plus I'll bet they will still be doing finishing touches up until the 19th.

19th of which month?

It will probably be like the Honors dorm...they were still working on it even after the students moved in. There's a lot left to do and progress will be slow thru the winter months.

[RowdyZip]

The Stadium opens September 19th, 2009. I don't think there's any way that that date is changing. Perhaps you'll see a bye, perhaps you'll see another away game (I hope not), but UA wants a "name" team to open the stadium. It will sell out regardless.

[ZachTheZip]

Penn State? Maybe. Syracuse and Indiana, definitely not. Those are perfectly winnable games. The Zips continue to schedule the North Texas' and Middle Tennessee's of the world and they'll go unnoticed, win or lose.

It's not about getting noticed, it's about winning games and getting to a bowl. That's the ultimate goal for a MAC team: to go bowling.

[RowdyZip]

Penn State? Maybe. Syracuse and Indiana, definitely not. Those are perfectly winnable games. The Zips continue to schedule the North Texas' and Middle Tennessee's of the world and they'll go unnoticed, win or lose.

It's not about getting noticed, it's about winning games and getting to a bowl. That's the ultimate goal for a MAC team: to go bowling.

I think we'll have to have a respectful disagreement. Beating up on teams no one knows about or would care to see won't impress the current fan base nor will it grow a larger one. Winning 5-6 games in the conference yearly and 1 or 2 more out of the conference REGULARLY will allow the team to go bowling. Wins like those over NC State and Syracuse (no matter how bad those teams are) are more impressive to the casual fan than going 3-0 vs. Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas and Middle Tennessee. If we schedule cupcakes, it will hurt recruiting as well. Kids come to Akron to prove they deserved to play for the "big boys." They live to win these underdog games. They don't come to Akron to play other MAC teams. You drop the major opponents and see how many 3 or 4 star recruits you get coming in, no matter how shiny the new stadium is.

[Zipmeister]

The Stadium opens September 19th, 2009. I don't think there's any way that that date is changing. Perhaps you'll see a bye, perhaps you'll see another away game (I hope not), but UA wants a "name" team to open the stadium. It will sell out regardless.

I know they are playing a game there in September. My question was on the 19th of which month do you think construction will be complete. October will be pushing it.

[Roo]

Penn State? Maybe. Syracuse and Indiana, definitely not. Those are perfectly winnable games. The Zips continue to schedule the North Texas' and Middle Tennessee's of the world and they'll go unnoticed, win or lose.

It's not about getting noticed, it's about winning games and getting to a bowl. That's the ultimate goal for a MAC team: to go bowling.

I think we'll have to have a respectful disagreement. Beating up on teams no one knows about or would care to see won't impress the current fan base nor will it grow a larger one. Winning 5-6 games in the conference yearly and 1 or 2 more out of the conference REGULARLY will allow the team to go bowling. Wins like those over NC State and Syracuse (no matter how bad those teams are) are more impressive to the casual fan than going 3-0 vs. Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas and Middle Tennessee. If we schedule cupcakes, it will hurt recruiting as well. Kids come to Akron to prove they deserved to play for the "big boys." They live to win these underdog games. They don't come to Akron to play other MAC teams. You drop the major opponents and see how many 3 or 4 star recruits you get coming in, no matter how shiny the new stadium is.

I gotta disagree with you. Any athlete goes to school to win, they could care less who is on the schedule. They don't make up who they play week in and week out. They want to win and spend December practicing for a bowl game, not getting ready for exams only.I don't see anything wrong with one money game, as Akron needs those funds to help support the team and maybe one day we will produce a victory. But there should be one lesser game to offset that money game for our win column. Akron isn't ready to compete with mid-level Big Ten teams yet, what makes you believe that? They need to get as many wins as possible to get confidence in the program. Nobody cares who the win is against, when we went to the bowl game vs Memphis a couple years ago, I highly doubt anybody can remember each team we beat. All they remember is they had enough wins to goto a bowl game. That should be the goal, schedule to get wins.