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My wife and two kids. Rushed out to the game. In the cold and rain. We were there over an hour early. No hats. All gone. Very bush league. Season ticket holder. Disappointed again. Way to go UA. Saw more hats on cheerleaders and on the field than in the stands. Pathetic operation.

Well, I'll get this thread started as I'm anxious for this game already. IMHO, this is a huge game if we want to obtain a regular-season Top 25 ranking. If we can crack the Top 25 early in the season maybe we can start to fill the JAR for games other than those against Ohio, Buffalo & Can't. Green Bay is 1-3, with their only win coming against Minnesota-Duluth, an NCAA D-II school. However, the Phoenix gave Stanford all they could handle, in losing to the Cardinal 89-93 in OT. UWGB then got beat by a very tough East Tennessee State, 90-103. ETSU is 3-1 on the year with an impressive 69-68 win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. This while UWGB got demolished by GT 77-107. (ETSU, however, was also beaten by Villanova 86-51, so lost to the Wildcats by 35, whereas we "only" lost to Villanova by 19. But now I'm really daisy-chaining.) If we were at full strength I'd be fully confident about Tuesday's game. But we are far from that. The loss of Pat worries me the most as now we only have 2 true bigs and one (Cheatham) doesn't really like playing down low and the other (Big Dog) might really struggle playing 30+ minutes. Additionally, we've been on the road for a while & might be tired. But... Go Zips, beat the Phoenix! Get through this game and we've got a couple easier games to play at home while we get healthy. After Villanova, I think we should be favored to win every game the rest of the regular season (save, perhaps, CMU) which is pretty crazy to think about. Mission: Top 25!!

Nice pic. Wrong thread.

I would not mind a nice December vacation in the Bahamas!

Prior to 2009, the largest crowds we would get were ~1000, with most < 900. Marketing got better because Caleb Porter pushed for it along with his promise to deliver a National Championship with the support of the Athletic Dept. They became more engaged because they agreed to do so. Once the National Championship was accomplished in 2010, the AD support dropped off. Add that the Rowdies have not had a really engaged leader since Ian graduated and LeBron's return to the Cavs, getting fans attention became more difficult. With LeBron back in Cleveland and folks still committed to the Browns (no matter how dismal the outlook and management), there are no simple answers. I still think that many miss the "gem" that we have in our Mens Soccer program. However, with all of that said, the crowds that we draw are still respectable. Just not what they should/could be.

I finally had a chance to watch the recording of the game to compare it to what we witnessed in person. I wanted to see this before providing any commentary. Here are some random thoughts: It’s been slowly and steadily heading in this direction, but this game highlighted the staff’s focus on using TW13’s strengths – stretching the field with the deep ball and running him just enough to not allow the defense to key on the lone RB. The play that #55 (Brandon Crawford) made to take CH4 out of the game appeared to me as a borderline personal foul call in person, and after watching it on TV I still think it (partial head plant) could have been called. Crawford did impress me with his strength and aggressiveness, though. Hopefully, Conor will be OK soon (looked like a concussion concern to me). If CH4 is out for this week, I hope Woodson and Alexander work some on the read option. While Alexander had a fantastic game in relief, there were a few times when the confusion as to who was going to carry could easily have led to a turnover. There was even one instance when they BOTH held onto the ball (hadn’t realized that in person). It’s good to see some younger players stepping up in the secondary when the game was still on the line. Brown and George both made big contributions. It was also good to see the 2nd and 3rd team D get some reps, especially since UB left Licata in the game until the end. Sure there’s plenty of work to do there, but it was the 1st time I recall seeing guys like Bell playing beyond special teams. Speaking of future LBs, I think Ulysees Gilbert could be the next exceptional one at UA. He’s been great on special teams all year, and I liked what I saw of him at LB on Saturday. He’s got the speed to stay on the field for every down. It’ll be very interesting to see how UB does during the rest of Leipold’s tenure. He was one of the more interesting FBS hires last year, and I imagine Bulls fans are a tad disappointed in the results thus far. I saw a fair amount of talent on the far sideline on Saturday, and I’m not sure they’re getting the most out of it in 2015. After last year’s shellacking in Buffalo, the turnaround on the scoreboard was most pleasing. I enjoy the rivalry that’s brewing between these teams.

Boxen was a gray shirt last year (I believe) ....... true freshman this year And a beast !! IMHO (LOL), I believe he will adequately (I said adequately) fill Rodney Coe's spot, with a better work ethic and great upside !! No disrespect to Coe, just an opinion

The game is on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel 1311

Keep it up Zips! I'm currently leading the bracket challenge over at bigsoccer, and I have the Zips going all the way!! (OK, that pick was based more on fandom than rational analysis, but still!)

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-soccer-newly-blond-sean-sepe-sparks-zips-second-most-goals-in-ncaa-play-rutgers-falls-6-1-1.642604# “They scored five goals in 13 minutes,” Rutgers coach Dan Donigan said. “You can’t do that in this game, especially against an Akron. “They were exceptional in every facet of the game. They bottled us up defensively. They were getting incredible numbers into the attack and their movement off the ball along our back line was something I’ve never really seen before and I’ve been in the game a long, long time.”

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