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One thing that really caught my attention was how much we were working on passes to both sidelines. When coverage was soft, we went wide with a quick pass. When coverage was tight we lobbed over the top of the CB. It seemed like I was that scenario 50 times yesterday. I wonder if this is an early indication of what we wanted to work on with the WR corp because this is how we might be planning to attack defenses this year?

I'm new to the board, but a long time season ticket holder for football and basketball. I don't think the problem is KD, at least not due to a lack of respect from fellow coaches. He was recently selected as the Chairman of the NCAA Rules Committee for a 3 year term so I think that speaks for itself. After the Villanova game, Jay Wright spoke very highly of KD and Dan Dakich went on about KD during the entire NIT game. These weren't the only times this season others have complimented KD on the job he does at Akron. As for scheduling, why would a P5 school want to schedule us? If they win, big deal we're a MAC school. If they lose, its a big upset. No head coach would want Akron on the schedule when EMU, Miami U, Bowling Green, etc. would be an easier opponent with no real drop off in name recognition. During the CMU Akron pregame, Steve French mentioned that CMU called EVERY DI school to fill their schedule. They ended up having to schedule 4 non-DI schools because nobody wanted to play them. While I don't think Akron is poisonous as was mentioned in an earlier post, being a 20 plus win mid-major program year in and year out makes scheduling very difficult. I think we are a low reward, high risk team for P5 schools looking for out of conference opponents. Lastly, I don't have the insight or first hand knowledge to dig into $60K vs. $95K payouts, but maybe its time to take a smaller pay check for a bigger opponent. Go Zips.

Don't be put off by this. The speed we have with receivers is a little unreal. Good for Bowden taking kids who want to run track, too. Lane just out muscles people. Natson seems to find creases very well. Some catches were fairly well defended. I think the receiving corps is just that good.

Thank you! Being a PWO at WVU he was able to get the one time exception thru NCAA. All cleared and ready to go.

DB help is on the way! My son is transferring in time for summer conditioning from WVU. PWO with 3 to play 3. We're very excited about joining Zips Nation! Check out his highlights:

my bad......and Teal Bunbury with a goal to tie it....let's go, Revs

Both QBS had ample time for the most part, although the second team allowed more pressure on Chapman. The other big change with Chapman was being able to stay in the pocket longer. He was able to be patient and find that second receiver. The panic seems to be gone. He has a very nice touch on his passes and once threw a catchable 45 yard pass off his back foot. He can throw the ball very well. I also thought Brian Homer and Caleb Chapman looked improved, as well.

The total turnaround in the receiver department is mind-blowing. We are very deep in this position. I hope we run a lot of plays where we line up a bunch of them. Lane was a beast, but few touches. Natson was as entertaining as I had hoped. Smith has potential. Means has potential. Even kids I had not heard of were making nice catches. It was great. Chapman played very well, like a different player, altogether. I have to believe Woodson is still the guy, but Chapman made some great plays and played with a lot of presence. I am very happy for him. He seemed to take his benching as well as a kid can and remain positive. Today was what I had hoped from him last year. He had a pass batted down and the second time he had a great pump fake and if I remember right, it led to a score. The defense was fairly solid but I was troubled with the amount of holding I saw in the secondary. Not much else stood out to me on that side of the ball, but Bell saw a lot of snaps with the first team. We have a lot of young talent at LB. Special teams were OK. They were not playing live returns. The punters were OK but we will not be able to use them as part of the D as we did with Zach Paul. I see us having to put up more points as a result. O'Leary wasn't bad kicking. I believe the new kicker/punter is a grey shirt and will join the team in Jan. Edit: the schedule posters had a picture of TB and it said Bowden Ball. I think it is clear that the fast paced, higher scoring offense is back. Not a lot of run game today, but what was shown looked fine.

Welcome. Won't he have to sit out a year due to transfer?

Very impressed by the depth and quality of our receivers. Have just the opposite impression of out DB's, though a couple were decent.

We were about as close to joining the ACC as I was to going on a date with Kate Upton

Dear Gozips, You told us a couple of years ago that we had a sweet 16 team (that ended up not even winning the MAC). And then you told us that Akron is joining the ACC. Next was your theory of "there is no such thing as a cupcake! A couple of weeks ago you were promoting KD as a great fit for the Pitt job. Today you are trying to convince us that everyone is scared to play Akron when the reality is that their best win of the season was Ohio (RPI 80) and they couldn't beat Ohio State (RPI 72) in the NIT. Then to cap it all, you come on the board and call us idiots!!!

Not getting the respect of a call back from your peers tells me that there is a lack of respect or problem. I don't know what it is - maybe you can enlighten us since you're on the staff. My point is to you and always has been, the teams that you mention above that Akron is trying to schedule are playing other MAC schools - other top MAC schools have had no trouble getting games with NC, MSU, Kansas, Michigan, etc. What has Akron done on a national level to make them so "poisonous" to these teams? I am simply not buying it.

Thanks for the info. Very informative as you definitely have more inner knowledge than 95 percent of the people (definitely include myself in that) who post on here. I'm interested in hearing the names of schools that didn't even respond. Was Louisville one? Did Akron reach out to Louisville? If so, I'll never bring that topic up again (since it's something I've brought up several times on here). If Akron hasn't reach out to Louisville, I'm just curious as to why not? I am a bit perplexed that KD wouldn't take $60,000 for a game. It may be demeaning when a low-major is getting $95,000 for the same game, but when you think about it, that is actually a complement. I don't want to claim to know for sure, but I imagine even $60,000 covers the cost of travel, plus partially some of the costs of losing a home game. Even if it doesn't, I'm still sticking to that whatever financial losses are, could be made up just in terms of exposure (on top of the ultimate benefit of actually winning the game). If it's a home game for a major conference team, it's going to be on "national" TV. Would accepting $60,000 to travel to a blue blood (where the game is on national TV, albeit maybe a conference network ... though ESPN seems to like Akron so maybe a chance it gets on one of its two major channels) really be more detrimental than paying whatever amount it is to have North Carolina A&T come to Akron, and the game being on a grainy/lagging video feed, in front of maybe 2,000 people in the stands? I don't doubt that Akron's success has made it somewhat poisonous to the high majors (especially if Akron is demanding the same amount of money as the cupcakes ... and no doubt some schools simply don't want anything to do with them), but IMO, there are still avenues Akron to pursue. Is KD bringing up the exposure aspect Akron brings to these schools in NEO (see my post about the amount of local talent out there in the banquet thread)? KD has a tough job, but he's also getting paid what 700,000 a year? He and Larry Williams (who is also bringing in a fat paycheck), should be pursuing all avenues to make Akron basketball the best it can be. Overall, I think KD has been doing a good job in boosting the OOC schedule. But I think he still is resting too much on the "21 win" card against, solid but not tourney teams, too much, and not enough on the maybe we win 19 (or in a perfect world still 21) and not have to rely solely on Cleveland. It's been 10-plus years now, UA should be beyond resting on that streak as a reason why Akron is "good." It's delicate, but we've seen that the current win 21 (or even 24) and not winning three in Cleveland means going to OSU in the NIT. Maybe try to add a couple of more marquee games (even if it means the 21 streak is in jeopardy), and see what that does? Maybe nothing. But I'm a firm believer in scared money doesn't make money. KD has adjusted his recruiting philosophy into taking more risks. I think now is the time for it to take some more risks in scheduling to boost this program to what everybody who posts on here thinks it could be... And, if nothing else, there is always "three in Cleveland".