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Talk about letting a prime opportunity go to waste. QB: I think we all knew this offense would go as Finley went, and unfortunately he picked a bad night to have one of his worst games. I honestly expected a lot more from both teams and came away disappointed. Granted, it’s Week 1 and there’s plenty of time to improve, but the offense won’t get much better if Finley doesn’t take a big step forward. He consistently missed throws that we saw him make with ease last year. The most concerning part is Wyoming isn’t a good team and probably won’t win many more games this season. RB: Patrick was as dynamic as expected. I don’t have the stats to back it up, but I’m almost certain our yards after contact dropped significantly after he went down. He’s a true playmaker, and we need him on the field. Gant looked dinged up to me. His vision and elusiveness were there, but he didn’t show much burst or explosiveness. M. Williams did fine with the opportunities he got, though he’s not on the same level as the first two backs. WR: The one good deep ball Finley threw was dropped by Adams, and that pretty much set the tone for the passing game. I don’t recall Adams getting many, if any, targets after that drop. I was also left wondering why Mason didn’t see many targets earlier—he made a few catches late, and it’s clear he brings something the other receivers don’t. There’s definitely talent in this group, and they’ll need to come down with some tough catches, but there weren’t many quality balls to work with. TE: Outside of some decent blocks in the run game, we got very little from this position. Newell did not suit up and our other tight ends did not make much of an impact. OL: Coming into the season I felt good about the IOL and had more concerns with the OTs. As it turned out, the tackles held up fine while the interior had issues in pass protection. There were also several times when the pocket was there for Finley to step into, but he bailed and scrambled into trouble—very reminiscent of early 2024. Overall, the OL was serviceable in the run game and created some holes. I’m not calling this a top-half MAC unit by any stretch, but they did enough to give the offense a chance. I think our two OTs (Johnson and King) played the entire game. DL: JUCO transfer DT Julien Laventure was a terror against Wyoming’s All-MWC linemen. Defensive ends Dall and Durham had their moments too. The rest of the DL may not have stood out individually, but they did a solid job holding their ground and making life tough on the OL. Credit to our new defensive line coach for landing Laventure. Now the focus has to be on developing some depth for when he comes off the field. LB: I’ll be honest, I didn’t see any drop-off in our linebacker play from last year. Multiple guys rotated in, and from what I could tell, they were rarely out of position or missing tackles. Summers and Cooper took the majority of snaps. True freshman Markus Boswell managed to come up with an interception in limited play. CB: I thought our cornerbacks were excellent in both coverage and run support. Granted, Wyoming really only had one true playmaker at receiver, but as a group the corners held up well. DeWalt, White (before injury), and Reed especially stood out. NB: I could be wrong here, but I’m fairly confident saying I counted several missed tackles that turned into big plays in the run game, plus a key reception in the 4th quarter by a receiver who wasn’t anything special. We definitely missed Darrian Lewis. Hopefully play at this spot improves quickly. S: Anderson picked up right where he left off last year, and his running mate was mostly DiMarco Johnson. Both stepped up at different times and looked well prepared. ST: Outside of a long missed 49(?) yard field goal, special teams were excellent. The lone kickoff was deep, punting and coverage were fantastic—no major mistakes in any area. Coaching: Offensively, I thought the game plan was fine, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I liked how often we ran the ball in the first half and tried to get it our best playmaker, Patrick. Normally, that’s a formula for success. But throwing the ball in the end zone after punishing Wyoming’s defense with the run on that drive was inexcusable. The sad part? I even said out loud, “we better not throw the ball here,” and sure enough… In no universe should this team be getting shut out by a not-so-good (to be polite) Wyoming team. Defensively, we gave up too many yards, but the unit made big stops repeatedly. Can’t fault the defense for this loss. Rotation: QB: Finley Johnson RB: Patrick Gant M. Williams WR: Adams Polk Louis Mason Grear Walker Monterio TE: Cravaack Whisner LT D. Johnson LG McManus A. Jones C Lyons Morris RG Davis Archer RT King DE: Durham D. Frazier Dall Cheatom Duncan DT: Laventure Mixon Hull Murphy LB: Cooper Boswell Summers Spriggs CB: White DeWalt Reed Kamara NB: Al. Branch Thomas Aa. Branch S: Johnson Al. Branch Anderson Al. Branch ST: KO - Wiley K - Wiley P - Castle Johnson I checked PFF against what I thought I saw and they have some players listed that I don’t remember seeing: Hunter Madden Vega Benenge J. Frazier Top Rated on Offense (At least 20 snaps): (RB) Patrick (RT) King (LG) A. Jones (LT) D. Johnson (RB) Gant Top Rated on Defense (At least 20 snaps): (LB) Summers (LB) Cooper (DT) Laventure (CB) DeWalt (S) J. Anderson

For me, Caleb Borneo was MOM. Scoring twice is (obviously) huge, but Borneo was also instrumental in the linking play through our midfield. What a comeback story for this guy! Hopefully, he continues his current trajectory. Remi Agunbiade completely changed the match when he entered late in the 1st half. Buckeyes could not contain him. Toward the end, OSU Defense began to look fearful. As previously mentioned, Jose Pedro was fantastic in both defending the flank and contributing passing into Offense. He needs to keep shooting, as unlikely as that sounds when referring to a Fullback. Judging from the room they afford him, opposing Defenses evidently do not believe Jose can score. He should prove them wrong. Ashton Kamdem was a monster on our left flank. Somebody check me on this, but I think Kamdem drew 3 OSU yellow cards. He is probably really sore today. Side note: Kamdem is the only truly ambidextrous field player we have. Mitch Budler also appears to be ambidextrous. What can I say that has not already been said? Five matches; Zer0 goals allowed. None will be surprised when Budler's name goes up on Stu Parry's wall.

I want to thank the Zip fans for their hospitality and kindness during our game. We found parking across from the stadium on a dirt field. The Akron fans there assured us it was OK and subjected us to some friendly ribbing about the game. I apologize for not getting over to the tailgates as we were late getting to the stadium and made it to our seats as the Zips kicked off. I was amused by comments of the Zips fans about their team's performance because the Wyoming fans were saying essentially the same things about the Cowboy's performance on their board. To me, it was a contest between two closely matched teams and the Pokes were lucky to pull it out. Eliminate the one interception, make the missed field goal and a couple more made plays and Akron would have won. So thanks again for your hospitality and here's hoping the Zipx win the rest of their games.

I got hired in the IT department at Akron and since then the men’s soccer team is 2-0. I bought season tickets for football soccer and basketball. Hope I can keep the streak live tomorrow 🙏. Gotta love week 1 optimism

great exposure for Zips soccer

The information above is too good to fade away to page 2. I will try to make the @catdaddyp season predictions and previews the official game day threads from here-on-out.

Thanks for the kind words. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere regardless of Moorhead’s status. Sure, Moorhead coming to Akron and my family’s move to Ohio may have sparked my initial interest, but now I’m in it for the long haul. My kids look forward to going to an Akron game with me every year, and I’d be thrilled if any of them ended up attending Akron someday. It’s also been a pleasure meeting some of the posters here in person. I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here with my disappointment on how things have gone since Moorhead took over. Like I’ve said before, there are certain turnarounds in college football I really enjoy following. The two other programs I’ve kept an eye on are South Carolina and Illinois. Forget for a moment that they’re P4 and Akron is G5—the similarities are still there. All three were sitting in the bottom third of their conferences when their current head coaches took over. None of them are near the top of their conferences in NIL money. And the general consensus from the media and most college football fans was that it was impossible to win at those schools. Fast forward a few years, and two of the three are sitting in the top 11 nationally, depending on which poll you look at. All three schools have also assembled excellent staffs. Just the other day I was talking with a colleague who played at Bowling Green and later coached at Syracuse. We got on the topic of MAC football, and unprompted he mentioned what a great staff Moorhead has put together at Akron with limited funds. I had to agree. The flip side is recruiting. Because without great players, it really doesn’t matter how good the coaching is—wins will always be hard to come by. I’ve coached for well over a decade and also worked on the recruiting services side of things. From my perspective, Moorhead has brought in a lot of talent, but it just hasn’t translated into wins yet. Recruiting services will disagree, but here’s some context: most analysts have little to no football background—they’re writers. They put too much stock into measurables and camp performances without pads. On top of that, programs with long track records of success almost always get the benefit of the doubt with rankings. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a kid commit to South Carolina as a two- or three-star, only to decommit, flip to Georgia or Alabama, and suddenly get bumped to four stars. Same story with Illinois versus Michigan or Ohio State. I say all this because Akron football seemingly has what it needs in place to win right now—and just isn’t. I can’t explain why the offense looked like year one with a brand-new staff when this is year four with a returning starting quarterback who has the physical tools to make just about every throw at this level. I don’t have an issue with Moorhead being open about what the program is lacking financially. What I do have an issue with is the lack of wins despite a dramatically upgraded roster compared to when he took over and a really strong staff in place. All that said, I’m still hoping this week is the spark that finally gets the long-awaited wins rolling—and that I look foolish for even posting this. It’s past time.

(Pretend this is a zero)

Mitch Budler had a little hiccup at the start of the game but he was All American level for the last 87 minutes. Very happy that he is the Zips GK.... Wishing a speedy health recovery for Daragh Reilly.... That being said, Matthew Paiva had an outstanding first game ever for the zips. Ashton Kamdem and Matt Dreas are leaders for this team in the run of play. Good veteran presence on the Field Great Hustle play by Farrell....that resulted in the Morck goal. Farrell Ngongang was my man of the match. Always good to start the season 1-0.

Very sorry to learn of Stu Parry's passing. Tribute to Stu Parry It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of Stu Parry — a man who meant so much to all of us. Stu wasn't just a great coach; he was a deeply kind and generous soul, a loving father and grandfather, and a true role model whose impact reached far beyond the soccer field. His unwavering dedication helped bring varsity soccer to the University of Akron, and his vision laid the foundation for one of the most storied programs in college soccer. The legacy he built continues to grow through the efforts of former players and coaches who carry his spirit forward. Even at 92, Stu remained a vibrant part of our community. He was always eager to meet for breakfast, send an email, or make a call - just to talk Akron soccer. He loved hearing about the incredible young men in our program and was genuinely excited about what each new season could bring. Through the highs and lows, Stu was a constant source of encouragement and support. His love for the game and for this program never wavered. He was a Zip in every sense of the word. To honor Stu's memory, our team will wear a patch on our home jerseys that simply says "Stu." It's a small gesture to recognize a man whose influence was anything but small. We now carry the torch - for Stu and for Akron Soccer - and we will continue to share our passion and pride for one of the premier college soccer programs in the country. . Sincerely, Jared Embick Head Men's Soccer Coach University of Akron

Here's how the Big East Conference is doing through the first 5 games for most (https://www.bigeast.com/standings.aspx?path=msoc) ...

Ball lives are being recuperated at the women’s game as well. It seems the survival of soccer balls is a point of emphasis for both men and women’s soccer this season. There has to be one student that played HS soccer and aspires to be a TV announcer that’s better that this kid. He is painful to listen to.

Asking around, here is the general consensus of the Zips status as we roll into Game #1 - The Zips will be "alright" this year. The offense should be in the top 1/3 of the MAC. This should be the best Zips OL in Joe's tenure. There are 7 or 8 guys playing really well right now. Last season there might have been 3 or 4. Finley is a top 3 MAC QB. His accuracy has improved. He's bulked up a bit. He's a team captain. Gant and Gee are dinged up. Redshirt Freshman Sean Patrick is a quick kid with good running instincts and will see a lot of PT on Thursday. The WR group is thought to be better and deeper than last year, even with the loss of Norton. Mason may turn out to be the best of the bunch. Marcel Williams (Marshall) has fit in very well. Alex Adams, Polk, Walker, Monteiro (Pitt) and Grear (Fresno State) will all see appreciable PT. If fully healthy, Grear could be a big addition. Ruggow has also been dinged up. He'll be the 2nd or 3rd QB depending upon the situation. Johnson has good legs and size, and a little better arm than the now-departed Bullock. He'll probably be slotted for a similar role as Tahj this season. Cibastion Broughton could show up anywhere, at any time. Ronald Hull stands out as the most capable DL. There are a slew of other big bodies that really haven't distinguished themselves. They'll rotate until there's some separation. LB is a similar situation. We have a lot of bodies, but no one is really standing out. PT is there for the taking to whomever shows well. Markus Boswell could turn out to be a surprise impact player as the season progresses. The secondary is the strength of the defense. White, Reed (Kentucky), Anderson (Washington State), Branch (Sr. and former Kent team captain) all had excellent camps. Not sure who will be the kicker on Thursday. It's a positional battle that remains up for grabs. The Zips were able to get their training table returned, but at the expense of some recruiting tools. Our budget is what it is... Wyoming has won 5 of their last 6 games against MAC opponents for a reason. They've played in a slightly better conference and had slightly better players. Deeper budgets, bigger staff, etc. On paper they should beat the Zips. Are they a little jet lagged from the long trip from Laramie? Are they overconfident in facing a Zips team that's been a regular in the Bottom 10 for seemingly forever? Or, can Finley light it up...the Zips secondary generate a few turnovers...and the Zips start the season 1-0? Gimme a 41-40 Zips victory. Finley gets the Gatorade bath. Can we get a Wallenda to tightrope from high above the Infocision faithful at halftime?

What a great day at First Energy Stadium! First trip back North in a while, and we timed it so we could see the women/men double-header. Not sure why the two matches couldn't have been scheduled closer so more people might have come early to watch the women, but at least gave us time to hit our Fave Swenson's - and WOW! Who knew? There's a Swensons now by the funeral home on Exchange!! Anyway, a pretty sizeable crowd for the women's game, and we got to meet some of the players at the autograph session afterwards. A nice bunch of women, and so many are YOUNG! lots of freshmen and sophs. As for the match itself, pretty good action! Adison Hall, a freshman scored first on a very solid goal. The second goal was a PK, and it was warranted, by another freshman Fineen Creegan, and she didn't mess around. Emma King's goal was a slow roller past a charging GK out of position, but it was still a heads up play by King. The defense was a little porous, but the women didn't quit or hang their heads when the opponent scored. Nice tempo, nice pace, some spacing needs to be addressed, and a little worried about the GK position, but a win is a win and Coach Kuhns was into it the entire match. I'm sure she knows she's being judged, but I found her approach and management refreshing. I'll leave the men's game analysis to the others to discuss.

FYI only - there were some recent instances where the behavior of a couple members didn't meet the standards of ZipsNation. When this happens it drives good people away, and puts a damper on quality conversation. I apologize. I tend to give people a really long leash, and I probably need to nip this stuff in the bud quicker.

I've been researching the roster limits and I believe the players who were walk-ons are grandfathered in - so Groce and Halligan wouldn't count toward the 15 player limit. They apparently did this so existing walk-ons weren't forced out of programs.

Happy Birthday Coach Groce.

Only one game into the season & we're already so cranky 🤣😭😭😭

In any country outside North America they don’t have college-associated sports. Talented kids play in professional leagues. Yeah, some would come here for a free education, but it made more financial sense to stay in Germany, Israel, Serbia, etc. Now that there’s serious money being doled out by colleges you will see an onslaught of foreign kids crossing the pond to play basketball.

Let me guess... the over under is also 34.5?

The soccer Zips have a pretty consistent tradition of success for a pretty long time. The football Zips have been at best not good for a while. Also, ties in soccer are considered ok. Go back and look at the posts when the soccer Zips were 1-3-3after losses to IU Indy and Temple last year….. I don’t think we need to canabalize Zips fandom.

I get it. He's underfunded. How about giving the school and the Akron sports fans some reason to provide you with more funding? Awful football and making zero effort to engage the community, while alienating donors, won't bring you more money. John Groce is 53 years old. Joe Morehead is 51. I see a hell of a lot more energy and efforts at engagement out of Groce. As a result, his program gets my money, not the losing program that acts like it couldn't care less about my fandom.

The Beacon Journal has done an outstanding job of honoring the incomparable Stu Parry. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2025/08/22/akron-zips-soccer-caleb-porter-stu-parry-mls-new-england-revolution-portland-timbers-columbus-crew/85745054007/ "Stu Parry is the godfather of the Akron men's soccer program," Caleb Porter told the Akron Beacon Journal on Aug. 19 regarding Parry, who died Aug. 15 at the age of 92. "He is the founder. I had a great relationship with him. I had a close relationship with him. He was one of the first people that called me when I got the job [at the age of 31] and we were having lunch maybe two days later. "He was a mentor to me," Porter said. "I really made a point every season to have him talk to the team because I wanted the current players to understand the founder and who he was. It is very important when you have a tradition of excellence that the current players understand they are a part of something a lot bigger than themselves. I felt it was important that they understood the man that started the program because Akron soccer didn't just fall out of the sky and become a national contender. He is the one that started it and paved the way.

My first year as a Zip was 1962. We played Baldwin-Wallace with 36,000 Acme Zip fans in attendance. Since our marching band needed to form their A single file, I think it was Alliquipa(?) HS band that was brought in to perform. When we came out to warm up, we had to wait for the soccer match to end. They were not playing B-W. I don't think B-W even had a soccer team then. I think soccer played Michigan State (College cup semi-finalist in '62). I looked back , but I couldn't find season results that old. I do remember soccer playing at the highest level with all of the rest of us playing at the college division. A great tradition was started that has been carried on!

Highlights

I found a code. If you use GAMEON at checkout you get a month of BIG+ free. Just gotta remember to cancel

I get that this is a paycheck game and a somewhat necessary thing to happen for the coffers, but I would love to see the contract deal sweetened a bit where we also ink a basketball game with whomever we play in these “paycheck” football games. Nebraska and Akron on the hardwood could be interesting.

The game is free, see everyone there!! There's parking contiguous to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, I think a small fee to park.

Keep in mind, all of this was done in the preseason. I’m also not sure how much we actually learned in a loss to a G5 team compared to what UAB did against an FCS. If we’re looking at Week 1 in a vacuum and treating Alabama State and Wyoming as equals, then give UAB the edge in all the offensive spots and Akron the edge in the defensive ones. Special teams would go Akron’s way too. Teams rarely look the same in Week 2, but unfortunately for us, we’ll probably still be staring at an ugly score against a team with superior resources and talent. Week 3 against UAB will be a better barometer for this team.

That would be cool if the Akron players could have found the end zone

Believe it or not the over under is 47/5 or 48 depending.... Maybe the Zips offense will break out... Honestly, I hope that something positive can come out of the game for them to build on. If the Zips can go 2-2 the first four games then I would still consider that a success heading into conference play.

Wyoming is not a "name" school, they are a g5 team that was 3-9 last season and fans are not freaking out after one game, they are freaking out after well over a decade of pure futility from a program that is funneling money into a pit. Please do not be disingenuous in your comments. If the football team had put up a tying effort against a ranked team, this whole board would be doing cartwheels of joy.

Great question. I'm guessing the answer is yes. I didn't think this until I read Captain Kangaroo's report of the event held in west Akron before the season. When a coach openly bellyaches at a public event about all the things he doesn't have, he's finished. If you give a crap about how the program is viewed publicly, you don't do that.

In today's age of the "haves and have nots" and the continued misery brought on by this program, I think I've heard enough of the "we can't be in the MAC if we don't play FBS football" explanation. Maybe it's time to just blow this damn thing up and figure it out, with an emphasis on concentrating what we're good at (basketball; soccer).

Should’ve built a new basketball arena in 2009 instead.

The last time I've seen 11 guys struggle this badly to score was back in college when I took my fraternity brothers to 69 Taps

Of all the things to bitch about with streaming, Akron being on ESPN+ is the most unworthy. ESPN+ houses most Akron football, men's soccer, and men's & women's basketball games. $12 per month gets you all that plus more. If you have kids or grandkids, the Disney+ bundle is one of the best deals in streaming. Now, in 2-3 years, I fully expect these services to be $80+ per month like YouTubeTV and other top streaming services have become, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We have a party of 5 going to the game tonight. It'll be both my daughters' first night game at the Info, and my first night game in quite some time. Hopefully once the rain ends, it's done for the night, because this has the chance to be a very fun season opener for the Zips. This game will be won in the trenches. Does our OLine give Finley time to get the ball in the hands of our plethora of playmakers and open holes for our stable of RBs? Does our DLine get pressure on Wyoming's QB? Do we see a continuation of pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball that have hindered this program under JoeMo? Looking forward to this one. Go Zips!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone AT the game tomorrow.

Usually around 20,000 give or take a couple of thousand either way. When Wyoming hosted Texas and Nebraska a few years back they added 10,00 temporary seats to handle the Longhorn and Cornhusker faithful. War Memorial Stadium's capacity has been reduced to 25,000 something, down from 29,000 with the recent renovations. "The War", as we call it, had a peak of 32,000 seats 20 years ago or so, but the number has steadily been reduced with each renovation. Given that the State of Wyoming's population is listed at 576,851 according to the 2020 Census, I think they've right sized the War. UW is the only 4-year institution of higher education in the state so it's facilities are top notch because they don''t have to compete with another state sponsored university. The latest renovations to the "War"

Did she trip over a green dildo?

https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/sidearm.nextgen.sites/akron.sidearmsports.com/stats/msoc/2025/pdf/20250824084656-akr-nku-msoc-8-24-25.pdf PDF box score....shows tonight's attendance at 1,487 Shots in the 2nd half were 8-0 for Akron. Caleb Borneo and Jack Sullivan and Remi Agunbiade , to me, were the bright spots in tonight's game. Borneo always seemed to be around the ball in the 2nd half.

"What did he do to encourage attendance?" is another valid question.

Sloppy start to the first game / road game of the season but nice turn around since Stefan scored the PK. looking forward to NKU at home Sunday. GO ZIPS!!!

short update on Emil https://www.stlcitysc.com/news/match-report-st-louis-city2-defeats-north-texas-sc-3-1-to-earn-fifteenth-win-of-the-season Emil Jääskeläinen tallied his team-leading seventh assist of the season and has now recorded assists in back-to-back matches Five players have scored six or more goals for CITY2 this season: Miguel Perez, Emil Jääskeläinen, Matteo Kidd, Brendan McSorley, and Mykhi Joyner Interim head coach John Hackworth now holds an 11-match unbeaten streak since taking over CITY2 on June 4

https://www.summitcountyshof.org/1974 Stu Parry Coach 1974 The man generally regarded as bringing the sport of soccer to Akron U, Parry went on to compile a record of 118 victories and only 43 losses and 4 ties. His teams defeated some of the best in the country, winning nine Ohio College Soccer Association titles and four times entered the NCAA Playoffs. He learned the sport at Western Reserve Academy where he captained the soccer team. Later he gained further honors by being named President of the National Soccer Coaches Association. When he came to Akron U there were only six recognized college teams playing soccer in Ohio. Twice he was chosen Ohio Coach of the Year, in 1966 and '68 and eight of his players made All-America a total of 13 times!

A great man has passed. Everyone who is reading this has been touched by Stu Parry, whether directly or indirectly.

Signed 2010 Akron NCAA tournament championship ball.