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We won 5 games combined from 2009 - 12. So to have won 5 games to finish 2015....and win another 5 games between September 3rd 2016 through October 22nd 2016 shows Bowden has made substantial progress. Last year was the best defense I've ever seen at UA. Bowden and Amato get the credit. Bowl win, and 8 total wins - that's ground-braking stuff at UA. This year has been tough. Graduation on the defensive side has hit us hard. And the replacements are either too young, too injured or too limited to remotely approach the level of play we saw last season. The Buffalo game was as bad a defense performance as I've ever seen. The offense has been awesome...when healthy. And when not playing in Buffalo. Bowden's transfer-heavy plan has yielded decent results. I love Jojo, and loved Coe and loved a healthy Jamal Marcus. And many others. But relying heavily on which 1-year players annually come across on the waiver wire comes up snake eyes on occasion too. We rolled a few of those this summer. With Marcus, Moore, Pittman and Boxen all either severely hobbled or completely out, that's just too much to overcome. Other than Gilbert, our LB play has ranged from inconsistent, to flat-out bad. That's been crippling. With a healthy offense, maybe with Ball returning, we can wreak some havoc against Toledo Wednesday. But Kareem Hunt could go for 300 yards. We need to stack the box and take our chances 1-on-1 with the DB's. So getting back to the original question - my opinion is we're WAY better off than we were 5 years ago. Our offense will be great again next season, so I'm not concerned there. But we need a big influx of IMPACT DL's and LB's in 2017 if we're going to become the team we all want the Zips to be. And the one that Larry Williams wants the Zips to be. We'll see how this season ultimately plays out, plus next season. Bowden's not as sexy as Fleck, but he's definitely earned 6 years. He bought in to the Program at a really difficult time, and represents UA football very well today.

Right after I thought I had heard every excuse for why Akron does not draw fans, I see "Mount Union". I had to wipe my eyes several times to make sure I was seeing that correctly.

Nice, constructive discussion so far. Last week's loss was tough for me. One of the toughest I've had up there with the 2014 Kent and Buffalo games to prevent us from being bowl eligible. So tough, that I think I'm going to pass on going down and watching them play Toledo Wednesday night for fear that I'll be wasting my time to watch a blow out. I have no clue what to expect for the rest of the season. The program just isn't in a spot where we beat every team we are supposed to beat. However, just looking at last week's results...CMU had no business losing to Kent State and Toledo had no business losing at home to Ohio. I'd imagine the fans of those programs are pretty damn happy where they are otherwise. crap happens. Some important questions need asked and answered when evaluating Bowden. Are we where we should be after 5 years? Who do we have to compare with? I personally would like to be a little farther along, but I don't think its fair to compare us with WMU. Three straight 1-11 seasons. We were the worst program in the country and it wasn't even debatable. Bowden's first "class" shouldn't be held against him. He was hired...what, a month before signing day? He had nothing to work with and nearly everyone worth anything was already committed somewhere. What are your expectations for the program? I think reasonable expectations for a top MAC program are 8-9 wins annually with the occasional 10-11 win season. That's what I ultimately expect. That would make for some pretty entertaining football. Would you prefer an older established coach who isn't going anywhere or a PJ Fleck? I think I would trade off the 1 "dream" season that WMU has for consistency and a solid program. I put dream in parantheses because college football sucks for G5's because you have no shot at winning a national championship. Fleck will be gone and who knows what WMU will be. There have been some iffy coaching strategies this season, but I think the biggest problem right now is lack of depth. Is depth REALLY expected at this stage in the rebuild though? We are just getting to the point where we have decent to good starters. Expecting depth this soon might be a little much I think, as unfortunate as it is. Injuries have also been an issue this season. Great QB has missed 3 games. All-MAC looking RB has missed every meaningful game. Draftable edge rusher has been injured all season. Various other starters injured on an already green defense. Our offense has some serious talent when healthy. 5 new offensive lineman this season who are doing a GREAT job. I'm not always happy with results, but I am fine with Bowden and Co. as long as there is no regression. Keep up the steady progress and get your ass bowl eligible again this season.

I should have said two of the best teams this year, skip-zip. Thanks for the clarification.

Or, focus on winning just the next TWO games only, and we'll at least get to play for the East title, no matter what anyone else does. We still absolutely control our own destiny.

We still have a crack at the championship. Win out and we're in.

Last week hurt. If we beat Buffalo we'd be bowl eligible with 3 game left and still in line for a crack at the championship game. Obviously that didn't happen , but I don't think one game changes all that much in the grand scheme of things . I'd like to be further along, but I feel the program is steadily moving in the right direction .

Only if the Zips don't play them in the MACC and it encourages "look at me" boy to leave the conference

I'll just say this. I'm always cognizant of the fact that he hasn't had high quality wins (In my opinion, Pitt was the biggest). And others who matter are cognizant of this fact as well. So, it has not been overlooked. On the other hand, I always have to ask the obvious question: Progress has clearly been made. In fact, a huge jump from where we stood a few years ago. So, where exactly do we look to attract someone as experienced and qualified to take us higher? That's always a big risk. Brian Kelly was an incredible find for a MAC school. And is Akron even in a good enough position to attract a top young talent (who would leave when he wins anyway) vs. where we stood during the last 2 coaching searches? In my opinion, we're in as good of a position as we can possibly be in....for right now. And although this season isn't over yet to evaluate it fully, I'm still convinced that if the injury problems with our personnel were not so rampant, we certainly would have been able to play better football for the last month or so.

Love you Keener (and I'm not being sarcastic) missed you posting. I almost came over and introduced myself during one of the pregames in Lot9, but missed the opportunity because I was pulled away to meet the (now) president. I do think it's important to have a real discussion on this issue, as opposed to the normal feces throwing shout matches that go on here. I'm in the Bowden Camp myself, so I will do my best to present a case as to why we're better off with Bowden than a (?). Note I'm coming from the background of not being exposed to the history of Zips football. My fandom is marred with a lackluster final season of Burkhart, and two seasons of iCoach. First I want to outline the history of Zips football since the 2005 MAC Championship, the last time it looked like we were on the cusp of something special in Akron football (to the newer fan of Zips football of course). 2005 7-6 (5-3) *MAC Championship* and got there by being tied with other teams, and having the advantage of the tie breaker. 2006 5-7 (3-5) 2007 4-8 (3-5) 2008 5-7 (3-5) 2009 3-9 (2-6) 2010 1-11 (1-7) Lost to an FCS team. 2011 1-11 (0-8) 2012 1-11 (0-8) 2013 5-7 (4-4) 2014 5-7 (3-5) 2015 8-5 (5-3) First D-1 Bowl Win Ever, First Bowl appearance in a Decade 2016 5-4 (3-2) Still in contention, and in control of their own destiny for MAC Championship BowdenBall Achievements: 2012 Most Yards passing in Akron History, uptempo offense, was in most games unlike the previous 2 years. 2013 First Road win in Years. More than 1 win at home in years. Beat a better Bowl Bound team, Toledo. Competed in most games. Regained the Wagon Wheel. 2014 First P5 victory in years (Pittsburgh). 2015 First Bowl appearance in a Decade, First D-1 Bowl Win ever, First winning record in a Decade. 2016 Broke Kent winning streak at home. (TBD) IMHO the most disappointing year of BowdenBall was 2014, when we should have gone bowling. That year we were marred with lackluster QB play from a Veteran who became injured and a young inexperienced QB. Had we given up on the team, which a lost of people did starting off the 2015 year in similar fashion as to how the 2014 season played out, would we have seen the 7-5 season with a Bowl win the following season? Now in 2016 it seems that a largely young and inexperienced team has become marred with injuries, yet still finds itself at 5-4, with complete control of whether or not they go to Detroit or not. I'm personally in the Camp now that we've got to complete the little things FIRST (Bowl game appearance, Bowl game win, MAC Championship game) BEFORE we realistically think about being a WMU type team. I think it is pretty clear that Bowden is trying to build a progrum, not a resume. How many MAC teams have we seen get a coach, who leads them to quick success, bolts, and then the program falls apart? I'd trade slow progress into creating a year-in-year-out winning record, than a one hit wonder. Objectively, though, I have to agree with you. As it stands currently, looking at the Sagarin scores we have regressed (where as each other season we improved slightly over the previous year), but the season isn't finished yet. If you had measured the Sagarin scores prior to beating Utah State, it might have looked as if the season wasn't all that good. Heck, if you had measured before the final 3 games of the regular season last year, it would have looked like we had regressed and not improved. Even in a 1-11 season, we began (as a fan base) to believe that we could win games. Now we almost expect to every week. That's good. That means our culture is turning around, that means we're making progress IMO. I'm the eteranl optimist though.

I was having difficulty convincing my girlfriend that a Zips football game was a worthy place to spend a Wednesday evening...thanks Zips athletics for winning her over.

I believe the Zips bounce back after a rough game. Last time the Zips beat Toledo they were major underdogs at home, and the Zips will pull it out again. It won't be pretty, but the Zips bounce back. Akron 35 Toledo 31