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Realistically, none of those teams are so good that we can't beat them.

Lots of good points made in this thread. Bottom line is this: Until Akron students are proud to be Zips, attendance will always be a problem. Just winning is not going to fill a 30,000 seat stadium. Winning will help to foster UA pride with the student body, which is a good thing but traditions aren't built in a day. The decades of irrelevance cannot be erased by a new stadium and the hope that Bowden is turning the program around. If you are a Zips fan now, enjoy whatever successes the team has in the moment because it could be fleeting. If you are on this forum, you obviously have love for the Zips. If you are like me, a lot of times you wonder why others don't share the same passion & pride. I work with an engineer alum who you couldn't hog tie to come to a game. Akron is just the place where he got his degree. No school pride whatsoever. This is a huge well documented problem for all the MAC schools and until guys like my engineer colleague become the exception instead of the rule, we are always going to be in the same boat. I agree with GP1 that focusing on the things you can control yourself is the way to go and I will take it a step further. If you come to the game and enjoy yourself, make it a point to bring a friend along and try to show them the best time possible. If everyone would do this the attendance for Marshall would be at least 18,000. Some people, when exposed to the atmosphere, will come back on their own.

I spoke to someone at UA today. They say they are lobbying for an afternoon game, but it will be up to ESPN. I told the guy I was hoping for a night game, and he acted somewhat shocked. I said: "Those late evening Marshall games 8 to 12 years ago were awesome sporting environments. Beyond that, people can take care of their business during the day...do whatever family/kids/house stuff you need to take care of...and then focus on the Zips in the evening. There's too much competition for the Zips attention on a Saturday afternoon. Unless you have no kids." In Columbus, community kids stuff is scheduled around Ohio State games. And if 30,000 families can't attend the OSU games, there's another 30,000 waiting to take their place. Not so in Akron. In 5 years, when my kid's in college, I won't care. But for now I love Saturday evening Zips games.

This was a good game for the Zips and they should have won by much more, but not because they let off the gas. Akron was up 21-0 and the next time they got the ball, they went on a 12 play drive and got to the Howard 3 before not scoring and turning it over on downs. It was more of a missed opportunity than letting off the gas. Letting off the gas is a three and out, not 12 play drives. My guess is they knew there was no way Howard could beat them and the fourth down play was more of a chance to practice some goal line offense. Not a bad move by the coaches. If you turn it over on downs, you get the ball back and in good field position ready to go on another scoring drive, which they did. The next time they got the ball, they went on another scoring drive and did something that absolutely drives me nuts. They didn't execute on a 25 yard field goad. This is D1A college football. 25 yard field goals should be a guarantee. There is much room for improvement here. MAC teams rarely get beat by another MAC school...they normally beat themselves and not executing 25 yard field goals is a great way to beat yourself in conference play. After five drives, the Zips should have been up at least 27-0. That's a pretty good beating of another team through a quarter and a half. My guess is they could have beat them 60-0 had they wanted to and called off the dogs. This is why you bring a team like Howard in...so you can have a guaranteed win and get some practice in against someone other than your scout team before the real games start. Last night could be the game that gets the Zips into a bowl at the end of the year because they have that extra win. If it's good enough for the BCS schools, it should be good enough for us. Good job Zips!

Good tailgating. Perfect weather. Short beer lines. Short restroom lines. Easy to get to your seat. Easy to walk around the beautiful stadium and take in the sites. No traffic. Zips look good on offense and defense. Win. Cover. How could you not have a great time last night? I understand a-zip's frustration when you try to host, and the atmosphere is less than stellar. It is embarrassing. Winning big games will change the attendance, and Zip fans will stop trying to find reasons why the stands aren't full. Then we can start complaining about standing in long lines, and traffic. Go Zips!