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Game 4: Troy Trojans @ Akron – 3 pm (ESPN+)


Captain Kangaroo

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ABJ/GT: Lack of consistency continues to plague Zips

 

"UA coach Tom Arth will likely be the first to offer no excuses for the dismal stats that revealed themselves once again in the Zips' running game. The Zips rushed for 39 yards on 18 carries for 2.2 yards per attempt."

 

"For the game, [the Zips] managed 3-of-12 third-down conversions."

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15 hours ago, bigjim said:

The thing that is bothering me the most is the apathetic feeling at the tail gates and at the games.  The lots are no where near full for tailgating, and these lots are in prime locations.  Also, the responses on this forum are sparse.  If there was a lot of interest, there would be many comments, even if they were thoughtless and negative.  Also, I counted less than 100 students in the student section during the first half.  Many left at half time.  We used to go to the Rubber Bowl for every game.  How much fun would it have been to have football on campus.  We could tap the keg, drink, go to the first half, go back to the dorm, finish the keg, and come back for the second half.  There is no interest for Zips football.  If you are a student or an alum, I do not understand it.  OK, go ahead and rip me but we need to get interest in the University of Akron Zips.

 

Hey there!  Welcome to the Forum!  This is a topic that has been discussed to death on this forum (student attendance).  It hasn't improved since I was on campus back in 2013...but times have also changed.  College sports on campus are no longer the draw they once were to young people because there is so much other stuff you can do.  Especially when the team sucks so bad, for as long as it had.  The most attended (student wise) game we've ever had was the one when they were offering free tuition for a year...and it was a downpour...weekday game.  Losing badly doesn't help.  I used to be an absolute diehard Zips fan...still am, but I no longer plan my weekends around watching Zips football like I did years ago.  Because...as you picked up on...apathy.  I've gotten excited so many times to then be let down, I don't see the point in getting excited about Zips athletics.

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Not that it matters when you're only attracting 5k-7k fans, but Infocision was probably built a little too big. Everyone being so spread out just kills any sort of game day excitement. Maybe they should start tarping off sections to make fans sit nearer to one another. The program has been pretty irrelevant for the last 30 years. It would multiple years of 9-10+ win seasons to restore any sort of excitement into the program.

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I've been a quiet observer here, but a longtime Zips fan. What stands out to me by attending games, is the lackluster fan base. Our team ran out of the locker room to fans sitting in their seats, hardly cheering. Down seasons are down for everyone - the fans, the players, and the coaches. I can't fathom the players and coaches like losing. The only way to encourage and lift your team is up by showing up and cheering them on...no matter what. Perhaps the energy shown here in dragging the team through the mud should be placed into standing up on your feet, cheering them onto the field at the start, and continuing to cheer them on through the game would put a little bit of excitement into the team. And by cheering, I don't mean ripping them a new one when they mess up. Road games are hard without the backing of your fans, home games shouldn't be the same way. 

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2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

Not that it matters when you're only attracting 5k-7k fans, but Infocision was probably built a little too big. Everyone being so spread out just kills any sort of game day excitement. Maybe they should start tarping off sections to make fans sit nearer to one another. The program has been pretty irrelevant for the last 30 years. It would multiple years of 9-10+ win seasons to restore any sort of excitement into the program.

 

I've lived through the PJ Fleck era at WMU and Urban Meyer at BGSU and I can tell you having a ranked team can infuse excitement into a program pretty quickly.

 

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1 hour ago, AnnieBee said:

The only way to encourage and lift your team is up by showing up and cheering them on...no matter what. Perhaps the energy shown here in dragging the team through the mud should be placed into standing up on your feet, cheering them onto the field at the start, and continuing to cheer them on through the game

Welcome to ZNO AnnieBee!  Glad you are paying attention to the board.  We understand your frustration, reading the posts, but quite honestly this board doesn't rip the team as much as you think.  I mean, we point out some glaring issues, but they're nothing that isn't obvious, even to the most ardent Zips fan, or even a parent or family member of a player.  Coaches maybe take a hit more here than anything.  You've got to remember, for most of us, this is the only place we get information on the teams, due to the lackluster press we've lived with for over 30+ seasons.  The posters here DO stand up and cheer at the games we attend, with energy.  That's why we come  here to post afterwards, to blow off the steam of disappointment, unfortunately.  But even if you took every poster and lurker and occasional troll from this board and sat us in the same section and gave us all pom-poms and beer, it would only be a little louder than the band playing the alma mater.  We do care, I'm not so sure we drag the team through the mud, maybe over it, but it's still nice to have you here. 

Edited by ZipsVoice
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My cooldown period has ended! Here are my thoughts from Troy and looking ahead to UMass

 

Troy is a good team, they've got some massive bodies out there and they've won a lot in the past. I'd like to see more series' scheduled against programs like that. After the first drive, I thought "here we go with this sh*t again," but the Zips showed a lot of fight and resilience despite being overmatched just about everywhere on the field. I think most of the rest of the first half you could see that everywhere on the field. And man, that first quarter was fun. It's good to see that stuff earlier in the game as opposed to midway through the third quarter. Also, did everyone see how the team reacted when Featherstone got that pick? I got chills. That was cool. 

 

But the rest of the game was pretty much just going through the motions. I think at this point Kato has convinced me that he can be the starter all the way through his senior year or until the freshman they brought in passes him up. His leadership and attitude has come a long way. A few drops here and there were frustrating as well.

 

The defense created a lot of havoc, or I should say a lot more than they have all year. If we had quicker and smarter players, there would've been a few coverage sacks. But that QB was smart and the Zips didn't have a chance when he scrambled, not sure if there's supposed to be a spy or not.

 

Not pointing fingers but at this point in your football career, there should never be a snap that bad.

 

If you watched how Arth handled the Hicks incident, you'd know what I mean when I talk about improving culture. He wasn't going nuclear, but he was making Hicks aware that his actions hurt the TEAM and he was being selfish.

 

My biggest issue was first and goal on the goal line, the playcalling was horrendous. That situation should never result in zero points. That one bothered me big time and I was actually mad at the staff for not coming up with some kind of power formation and pounding the ball. Then the penalties, not only on that sequence but the whole game. Just shooting ourselves in the foot all day.

 

If Akron loses to UMass, my concern level will jump significantly, but I will try to maintain a level head. I've known for a long time this year would include a lot of losing, so I've been fine so far. But UMass is a whole different kind of bad. 

 

It was another beautiful Saturday at Infocision Stadium, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. GO ZIPS!!!!!!

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On 9/22/2019 at 9:37 AM, UA1987 said:

Corne had a difficult day against UAB's Garrett Marino, I'll give you that, but at 6'4" 300 lbs he has the physical attributes to play the OL in FBS football (actually had an offer from Troy). Corne was also an All State selection in Florida and is an experienced red shirt sophomore that started all 12 games last year at LG. I think, and two different coaching staffs have thought, he's good enough to play, but what do WE know. OL game grades would paint a clearer picture, but they are not available to us. No thank you though for the obvious height and weight metrics needed to play the OL in the top level of college football. The focus on the right side of the OL is correct IMO, but that focus should be at RT.                      

No disrespect meant to any of our players.  I am sure they are all working their butts off and doing their best.  I never said Corne did not have the physical attributes to play OL.  I do not know where that came from.   I just do not think he is performing as well as he should be given all those accolades and experience that you mentioned.  That, coupled with our RT also struggling makes running the ball and protecting our QB very difficult to accomplish.  As far as the obviousness of my comment about height and weight, maybe its obvious to a football guru like yourself but others on this forum may find it informational especially when we are currently undersized at RT and with some of our 2's waiting in the wings.   At the end of the day, we all want the same thing.  How we get there is up for debate.  Have a good day.  Go Zips!!

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On 9/22/2019 at 12:23 PM, Balsy said:

 

Hey there!  Welcome to the Forum!  This is a topic that has been discussed to death on this forum (student attendance).  It hasn't improved since I was on campus back in 2013...but times have also changed.  College sports on campus are no longer the draw they once were to young people because there is so much other stuff you can do.  Especially when the team sucks so bad, for as long as it had.  The most attended (student wise) game we've ever had was the one when they were offering free tuition for a year...and it was a downpour...weekday game.  Losing badly doesn't help.  I used to be an absolute diehard Zips fan...still am, but I no longer plan my weekends around watching Zips football like I did years ago.  Because...as you picked up on...apathy.  I've gotten excited so many times to then be let down, I don't see the point in getting excited about Zips athletics.

I made a random trip there back in late august after attending the Browns Preseason opener. Stopping in Akron Friday morning I literally could not find a place to park on campus near the student union or Bierce library as I was looking for somewhere to work remotely for the day.  Empty student permit only parking garages and roped off metered parking. 

To make matters more irritating I paid a visit to the team store at InfoCision Stadium only to find out it was basically closed for the Summer. As I was walking back to my car I noticed someone else being turned away by the Closed Sign at the store. So I walk down the street to the Campus Supply store where I have bought Akron gear for years from only to discover they have now went full Greek only selling Greek gear. So I ended up going downtown to Akron's Wonderful Public Library where i searched for 10 minutes for a working outlet to plug my laptop in but thats a whole other story.  The point I am making is that UA does a pee poor job marketing athletics and making that campus friendly to fans/alums. Why is it so hard to purchase an Akron football jersey along with other gear? We should not have to resort to going to Ebay to find Akron gear from student athletes and staff who anonymously sell their gear on there.  

The last successful ad marketing campaign UA Athletics did was Charlie Frye for Heisman and im not bullshittin.

Hoban played St. Vincent-St. Mary tonight at  InfoCision Stadium and I bet they there more people at that game than Any Akron home game and thats the problem. The disconnect between the Football program and Community is beyond embarrassing and it goes back to what I been saying on here all along. You have a powerhouse dynasty program up the road (Hoban) and don't take advantage. End Rant 

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8 hours ago, dre22era said:

I made a random trip there back in late august after attending the Browns Preseason opener. Stopping in Akron Friday morning I literally could not find a place to park on campus near the student union or Bierce library as I was looking for somewhere to work remotely for the day.  Empty student permit only parking garages and roped off metered parking. 

To make matters more irritating I paid a visit to the team store at InfoCision Stadium only to find out it was basically closed for the Summer. As I was walking back to my car I noticed someone else being turned away by the Closed Sign at the store. So I walk down the street to the Campus Supply store where I have bought Akron gear for years from only to discover they have now went full Greek only selling Greek gear. So I ended up going downtown to Akron's Wonderful Public Library where i searched for 10 minutes for a working outlet to plug my laptop in but thats a whole other story.  The point I am making is that UA does a pee poor job marketing athletics and making that campus friendly to fans/alums. Why is it so hard to purchase an Akron football jersey along with other gear? We should not have to resort to going to Ebay to find Akron gear from student athletes and staff who anonymously sell their gear on there.  

The last successful ad marketing campaign UA Athletics did was Charlie Frye for Heisman and im not bullshittin.

Hoban played St. Vincent-St. Mary tonight at  InfoCision Stadium and I bet they there more people at that game than Any Akron home game and thats the problem. The disconnect between the Football program and Community is beyond embarrassing and it goes back to what I been saying on here all along. You have a powerhouse dynasty program up the road (Hoban) and don't take advantage. End Rant 

 

It's been that way since I was on campus in 2008.  I remember I used to try to drum up support for going to athletic games to all my incoming students when I worked in New Student Orientation; I'd hand out the sports schedules and give out posters for them to hang in their dorms and stuff...but I've never seen a campus-wide effort to drum up attending stuff other than the 2-/3-ish year stint of "Roo-Wards" which sorta worked it's first year and then fizzled out quickly because the guy who created it moved on to greener pastures because Akron never attempts to keep it's own.  

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4 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

All you had to do was go to the student union center. The bookstore carries the complete line of Zips gear. The are plenty of power outlets available and free wifi too. 

 

They aren't open on the weekends, and have strange summer schedules.  

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1 hour ago, Hilltopper said:

He said he was there in late August on a Friday. School started on August 26th I believe. Students were already arriving on campus the week prior. The bookstore was open.

I also said parking "near" the student center was damn near impossible that day as my original intention was to work remotely from the student center that morning. 

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1 hour ago, dre22era said:

I also said parking "near" the student center was damn near impossible that day as my original intention was to work remotely from the student center that morning. 

Next time you visit don't worry about not having a parking permit. Odds are you won't get a ticket to begin with and if you do a quick call to parking services will result in the ticket being rescinded. Just tell them you are an alumni making a visit. Also there is no parking enforcement during the first 3 weeks of each semester and as long as the ticket you receive is your first there is no penalty anyways. Just a warning that the next ticket will result in a fine.

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1 hour ago, Hilltopper said:

Next time you visit don't worry about not having a parking permit. Odds are you won't get a ticket to begin with and if you do a quick call to parking services will result in the ticket being rescinded. Just tell them you are an alumni making a visit. Also there is no parking enforcement during the first 3 weeks of each semester and as long as the ticket you receive is your first there is no penalty anyways. Just a warning that the next ticket will result in a fine.

Thanks for the Info 

Will definitely have that in mind next time 

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