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You won't know until game day. We have an offense that put up 68 points against Marshall last season. But that was with a healthy Tommy Woodson, and two receivers that are presently in NFL camps. Woodson's September 2017 health after a pretty serious shoulder injury is unknown as of June 2017. His rehab is allegedly on-schedule. Our top 2 WR's have been replaced by a converted QB (Sr. Tre Chapman - former Pitt recruit) and a Redshirt Freshman (Stewart...a PA kid). Kwad Smith and Austin Wolf are legit deep threats. Woodson is very accurate, so if these guys can get separation, we'll have a nice air attack. Our OL is the strength of the offense. They were a great pass blocking crew last season. But didn't get much push on running plays. 4-of-5 guys return...we have a new left tackle - true Soph who was considered the 2nd best player in the Zips 2016 recruiting class. OL gained depth, and will be improved in 2017. RB - Warren "Wrecking" Ball is a 6th year Ohio State transfer that was injured in the Wisconsin game last season. He's an absolute beast if healthy. But health has been an issue for him often in his college career, so it is impossible to bank on him. Bowden may also limit his touches in a game like Penn State, saving him for the less-punishing/more-critical MAC games. Van Edwards is a solid back. But not a game-breaker. Manny Morgan is probably 1/2 a notch below Edwards. So if you ask me how the Zips offense stacks up against the PSU LB's, I'd say "ok," if we are healthy. If you have a solid OL, you can be an effective offensive unit. And the Zips OL is, at worst, in the top half of the MAC.

Here is a Land of 10 article that introduces most of the potential receivers: https://www.landof10.com/penn-state/candidates-replace-wide-receiver-chris-godwin-penn-state-2017 It even mentions some of the lesser lights such as Brandon Polk and KJ Hamler (who might see the field as a true freshman returning kicks). There is a great deal of potential here but it is unclear if any of these guys will be a direct replacement for Godwin. We had a similar situation when Allen Robinson (now of the Jags) left, and had us wondering if he could be replaced -- Godwin became the man. I honestly can't give you an informed opinion as to whether any of these guys will fill Godwin's shoes. Johnson was praised by Franklin during spring practices, but seemed to have a meh Blue-White (spring) game. Might not mean much, given the venue, but offering FWIW. Gesicki is not a "true" TE in terms of size (weight) and blocking ability, but he has good hands and a knack for getting open. Not huge top-end speed, but has a long stride that'll eat up some yardage. The true key, imho, is Moorhead's scheming. He seems to find ways to get the most out of the players by exploiting an opponent's defense. Even though I've heard them claim they do not do this, it seems half-time adjustments are HUGE: The guys seem to go through the motions in the first half, then come out with a whole new game plan and mind set in the second. Again, more gray hairs for some of us . . . 84

I just heard back from them and was told she believes she will be able to accommodate my request and should know in the next week or so.

Hopefully not many of you have as many gray hairs as I do, and thus I understand how counting noses since, say, 2000 can influence one's viewpoint. My CFB viewing history is a bit longer -- heck, I remember when Jack Ham PLAYED -- in college! (I was 10 years old in 1968; laid up in the hospital after a car accident in late Sep. Not many games were on TV back then, but the coverage of Penn State's 11-0 season featured Jack Ham and another LB named Denny Onkontz.) Whether Penn State has/deserves the "Linebacker U" title today is almost irrelevant; the fact remains that it appears to be one of the weaker segments of the team this year. Hopefully the other parts of the defense can bolster the overall play, or the offense is dominant enough to win some of the close shoot-outs we lost last year, or the LBs have significantly improved over the summer. (Obviously I want to be greedy and say, "All of the above.") How does Akron's offense stack up against this LB corps?

One of my most fond game day experiences at Infocision was the 41-0 Morgan State game. The packed stadium and packed tailgate lots made it exciting despite the game itself being a snoozer. For 1 game Zips football felt big time. I think what a lot of people lose track of is many of these kids who walk around campus with OSU gear were OSU fans for ~10 years before even deciding to attend Akron. I personally didn't watch an Akron game until I was on campus as a freshman and that's true for 95% of the campus. Over time their fandom will grow if they have enjoyable experiences.

I thought the Rose Bowl was the most entertaining bowl game that I watched last year. Most of the time I watched the game, I kept thinking, "I hope the Zips can limit PSU's possessions, because they have some serious talent on the offensive side of the ball at the skill positions" How can this possibly be at Linebacker U? I'm sure you are correct though. I listened to the Pitt PSU game before the Zips played the Badgers. Jack Ham (color commentator that knows a thing or two about the position) was extremely critical of the linebackers in this game. I can still remember him saying repeatedly "you just can't take that kind of angle on a run play and expect to get good results" Pitt racked up 341 rushing yards on 56 attempts in beating PSU. Seems like a good formula.

Never understood why some Akron fans try to shame fans wearing OSU gear to games. Driving away people who are actually attending games is the last thing we need.

Yeah. It's funny how division/conference title mattered when State Ohio University was on the bubble and needs it to matter, and then suddenly how it doesn't matter when State Ohio University is on the bubble and needs it to not matter. There's a few on this board (me included) that believe that any excuse will be made for several programs in D-I football because of $$$$$$.

Didn't the U do some kind of advertising campaign with the ABJ a few years ago? Can't remember the reason, but I am pretty sure they had some ad insert included with the newspaper. We all debate the reasoning attendance sucks. Probably all of our reasoning play a part. We are all big fans, hence the reason we are on this site. Maybe we aren't in tune with "Joe Akron"? Here is an idea. Send one of those ads out again to ABJ subscribers. Put a survey on there with 5 or so options with space for a write in. Ask Akron residents what it would take for them to want to come to an Akron Zips football game. Make that thing self-addressed and stamped. We have an alumni network. Send out emails, send more paper mail. Ask our alumni what it would take for them to come to a game. Whatever the majority of people say....do your best at doing that! I mean it probably would be a consistently winning program but if that were easy everyone would do it... Mr. Williams - If you are reading this, I am available for hire for the right price.

Thanks, Skip-Zip and Balsy! I was actually a doubter for most of last year. Didn't seem we played a complete game of football the entire season. Obviously a win is a win is a win, but seeing the team struggle in the first half of most games caused this old guy some stress. My only complaint with the selection process is how the committee set aside the value of winning the division/conference title. Think that is a bad precedent that hopefully will not be repeated. I mean, Penn State and Wisconsin had to play the title game, while anOSU got to sit home and enjoy Papa John's pizza. (Over at BlackShoeDiaries.com, guys will post the picture from a few years ago of Urbz sitting on a pizza cart dejectedly chewing on cold Papa John's after a loss.) The ultimate satisfaction was seeing anOSU lay a goose egg in their bowl game -- the ONLY team not to score a point in the 345 bowl games that were played last season. I need to skim through your board here to see if you have begun posting updates on this year's Zips team. In the meantime, I appreciate your continued graciousness!

Honestly, IMO, (and it was quite a...discussion...here on this forum) you guys should have been in the Championship Playoffs last year > the likes of State Ohio University. But oh well.. I, like skip, enjoyed that win of yours equally.

I'm probably in the minority, because I'd rather be at a Zips football game than doing most things, it's not hard to get me to a home game. I don't need wifi, beer, scrolling tickers, flashing lights, dancing bears, etc. I'm most interested in the game. I'll take a good opponent and decent weather. Those two factors increase my entertainment value. There has only been one thing (a head coach) in the history of me watching Zips football that made me think of not coming to a home game, and that guy is long gone. I'm pumped for this season, I wish it were here this weekend. ?

It's a great sign to see them all on campus!