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Not sure if this will help anyone but being a Philadelphia resident originally from Akron and a big Zips fan I felt the need to pass along some general Philly info for anyone making the trip. I am also a Philadelphia Union season ticket holder so I spend a lot of time at Talen Energy Stadium. I hope we have lots of Zips fans in the building Friday as I will be there and the Browns Backers of Philly is pushing to get some local Zips fans to attend. It's only a 6.5 hour drive from Akron so that's the closest College Cup they have been in. Talen Energy Stadium Info: Beautiful stadium even better than the Crew stadium which some of you are probably familiar with. Great views of the Delaware river, good food options, plenty of free parking close, and good tailgating usually. All that said, the neighborhood stinks. It's actually Chester PA which is 15 minutes south of Philly towards Wilmington Delaware. Very poor and run down neighborhood with no bars or restaurants near by. However the stadium and parking lots are very safe with tons of police all around the area for gameday's. Just make sure you park at the Talen Energy lots and not the neighborhood ones off the ramp. The stadium ones are free all weekend so don't pay any lot! I wanted to warn everyone about the neighborhood but please don't let this stop you from attending. The stadium is one of the best facilities in the MLS. Tickets. Not a bad seat in the entire stadium. . They are also offering a $15 extra ticket to get into the Tru Mark Financial Club. If you want to be inside at times this is a solid option. Still a great view of the stadium and you'll get access to outdoor seats still along with better restrooms, better food options and a nice bar. Philly info: Center City (downtown) is awesome, safe, tons to do and 20 minutes from the stadium. Hotels will be more expensive but you could walk around all weekend outside going to the game. There would also be a ton of great AirBNB options in Center City. If you don't want to go downtown the airport area is the closest to the stadium with reasonably priced hotels. Downside less choices of restaurants near by. You could go Wilmington DE area as prices would be cheaper and you'd have a real easy drive to the stadium up 95. Last hotel area is King of Prussia. Wealthy suburb with the 2nd biggest mall in america and tons of great food options. Also 25 minute drive to the stadium. When we beat Stanford Friday hopefully a lot of fans can stay till Sunday. Some ideas for that Saturday. First Army vs Navy game is in town even if you don't have $200 to go to that game it's a pretty fun day, great tailgating and then just hit a bar. The bar scene is best in center city, on south street, and Fishtown/Northern Liberties. As far as sight seeing, go check out Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell tons of free history stuff to do. Go grab a cheesesteak and see the rocky statue. I know all the generic stuff but it's fun to be a tourist. Lots of good museums also, revolutionary war museum, multiple art musueums, Franklin Institute, and a local favorite the mutter museum. Hope this helped someone, hope you come enjoy this awesome city of Philly and hope to see you at the stadium Friday night. Go Zips!

Wait...it's on a TUESDAY NIGHT? The MAC are the masters of Tuesday night football! Take the Zips plus the points!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to us all... Or Happy Hanukkah... Or [fill in the blank]... It all adds up to MORE ZIPS FOOTBALL!!

Hmm. You just gave me a brilliant idea.... RUBBER DOME.

It really is funny for us - the Boca Bowl has a lower payout (I actually think it is $400k) than if we went to St. Pete, but of course we would have had some expenses if we went to any other location. For the 3rd year in a row, the CUSA champion is playing in Boca, but there was this idea that the team should be rewarded with more of a "bowl experience" for having the best season in the history of the program and as outright conference champions we got to pick the bowl - if that were true we would be heading to St. Pete for a weekend game rather than a Tuesday night. CUSA bowl tie-ins: Boca St. Pete New Orleans Bahamas New Mexico Heart of Dallas Secondary to Independence (much higher payout) I can tell you as a transplant from NC you will love the weather. FAU also has a very pretty stadium, nice campus (most buildings are new), a view of the Atlantic from our pressbox, and a ton of shopping, restaurants, etc. All of that relatively close to West Palm, Fort Lauderdale, or Miami if you want to venture out. I live in Orlando, and it is about a 3-hour drive from my house (less from the amusement parks) if you make a longer stay out of the trip.

Bottom line: You lose your right to complain about your bowl match-up once you have a loss to Buffalo on your record.

I think what you're seeing is people looking at this from two different perspectives. 1) We finally played well enough, often enough, to get to the top of the MAC East (yet, everyone will debate forever about how strong the division was this year). 2) After the two blowout losses to Toledo, we also realizes just how much higher we have to climb to get to the top of the entire league. I will predict this: Football will now have the dreaded "expectations" going into next year. And if we don't win the East again, the detractors will be back out. I've commented on this previously, but I will repeat it here. Without the injury problems, we're only potentially one WIN better than we finished this year (the road loss at Miami). I don't see any other loss that would have reversed if we still had a few more of those guys in the lineup. And we still would have ended up as East Champs, and still would have lost to Toledo on Saturday. So fortunately, nothing was really impacted by those personnel losses. Every other team we played likely had key players missing too. It's part of the game.

Very proud of this team, gutsy bunch that never gives up. We were not picked to finish where we are AND we've had some major losses through the season. Warren Ball Deltron Sands Mykel Taylor-Bennett Zach Guiser Two captains, wow!

Near perfect scenario for me. I live about half an hour from FAU. A perfect game for me would have been impossible for a couple reasons. Being an Air Force veteran it would have been amazing to see Akron vs. Air Force at FAU. I couldn’t lose with that ticket.

The crowd was great yesterday; and when the boys looked up into the stands all they saw were people that wanted to show support. They had no idea or cared what the count was; and it was enough for them.

Wow

I talked to Isaiah at the JAR just after Thanksgiving. He is in Akron and has decided to not go back to play for the team in Sweden. It was not a good fit for him. His agent is working on a few other options including the NBA E-league.

Your post is ridiculous. I think it is very clear to everyone that both players, coaches and staff were well worthy of their win on PK's this past weekend and for you to question their "wanting it more" is out of character. Get behind this team - don't question their effort. Their smiles on their faces Saturday night reassured me they want to win it as much as we want them to win it. Belana played out of his mind in midfield. Cannot ever question his desire. I would like to know when this team has "looked to referees after a bump"? Could maybe question that in the past with Nagbe and Richie Laryea but I do not feel this team is as soft as in the past. Bringing up Embick and Porter is same context is irrelevant. Porters Akron days are over. Embick is out of his shadow now. He has done EVERYTHING Porter did her except win that title. My hotel is booked for Philly until Monday and I expect this team to take the title home.

You may not recall some of my previous posts about this over the years. But back in our Akron student days, several of us came up with the name CONDOME

On best conditions you should be able to do it within an hour. However, with I95 guaranteed conditions is a gamble, especially south of Boca. Look into flights going in to West Palm Beach as well. There is less chance of I95 traffic, and if worse comes to worst there’s lots of side streets.

Could be a mean DL like his granddaddy Walter Johnson of Browns' fame.

Tight End - To make use of his great hands. I wonder if any Safety in the MAC would want to try to tackle him?

FAU fans seems a little full of themselves for them historically being one of the few programs about as bad as Akron in their D1 time. They are no Toledo. If I was an Akron fan i would LOVE having our bowl game be at home. I hope the coaching staff and players have the same attitude towards it as they do.

Chiming-in as an FAU fan - feel free to ask questions if you want. The general disappointment from our fan base was not that we expected some huge bowl, but we had been projected for much of the last 4 or 5 weeks to play in probably the St. Pete bowl against USF or an outside chance to play in the Independence Bowl against FSU. Both the St. Pete and Boca Bowls are supposed to be CUSA and AAC teams, so the most likely destination for us was going to be St. Pete because our own administration is on record saying playing in Boca would be a last choice regardless of opponent. Playing FSU or USF no doubt was our dream scenario given 95% of our players come from the state of FL. Earlier in the day yesterday it was reported by credible sources (Brett McMurphy and other sites) that we were going to be in the Boca Bowl against Temple (AAC). That was already being seen as a bit of a letdown, to stay at home but then that went away in a last-minute deal and Akron is the opponent. Now all either side can do is get ready to showcase themselves as the only game on ESPN that day. Safe travels for anybody who comes down.

Not many nicer places in the US in late December other than south Florida. ???? Easy, and inexpensive to get to from CAK. ?☀️ 2017 MAC Bowl Schedule: Akron vs. Florida Atlantic (American), Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, Dec. 19, 7:00 pm ET (ESPN) Ohio vs. UAB (C-USA), Bahamas Bowl, Dec. 22, 12:30 pm ET (ESPN) Central Michigan vs. Wyoming (Mountain West), Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dec. 22, 4:00 pm ET (ESPN) Toledo vs. Appalachian State (Sun Belt), Dollar General Bowl, Dec. 23, 7:00 pm ET (ESPN) Northern Illinois vs. Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference), Quick Lane Bowl, Dec. 26, 5:15 pm ET (ESPN)

I think the loss of the big guy in the backfield really hurt. Ball was a real upgrade to the run game which statistically was pretty bad for the season. His presence would have helped Nelson or Woodson or whoever was at QB. It would have also helped a somewhat inconsistent O-line by giving defenses something they had to really respect. Now Bowden has to find a real threat at RB. And,he needs to shore up the O-line among other things. Hopefully,they will indeed have upgrades at WR. If he can find somebody,someway to 'coach up' Nelson,there should be improvement there. I am just not convinced that Milwee is the guy to 'coach up' your QB's. And,YES there will be expectations. Finally! Lets enjoy that!

Lets not complain too much after what happened on Saturday. Enjoy the fact that they got into 2 post season football games. Been a long time for that. BUT, hopefully Bowden/Amato has these guys a little better prepared for this one. Don't want another blowout 1) on national TV or 2) in an area where Bowden tries to recruit. Doesn't do the MAC any good for the future either if teams aren't competitive in post season.

Thanks for all the kind words guys, makes all the work worth it. ??

Semi-finals on ESPNU Friday. Championship game on Sunday is on ESPN2.

A lot of games where Utomi has an off shooting night will probably end up like this. We just don't have a lot of offensive fire power.

$50 deposit returned on bus. Hotel Included ... excellent!

Thanks for putting this together ZV but putting my auditor hat on , I had all 4 final 4 teams (I picked UNC) so I should be at 61. With Akron winning it all against UNC, I think I still have a chance!

Oh, and if you want to gamble, Tunica Mississippi is only a short drive from Memphis.

I know that I have been a critic of the athletic department and the admin for lack of support for the soccer program I am very happy to see this. Thank you to all involved in making this happen.

Came here to say something similar. The rest of the MAC is most definitely jealous of our bowl pick. The fact that it is a home game for FAU is a bummer, but I can't imagine a higher profile G5 vs G5 match up, mostly due in part to the Lane Train. Big opportunity here for us to go down to FAU and pick up a big win in our target recruiting area. Can we take advantage of it?

They had a good season but definitely have a higher opinion of themselves than the rest of the world and A complete lack of understanding. Why this match up? Tv ratings. Bowden vs. Kiffin. Both recognizable names to college football fans. I am guessing we were bound for the Camelia Bowl and either Bowden wheeled and sealed his way up or ESPN saw the advantage of us in the Boca bowl and decided they would put us there, instead, and thus we used our bowl tie in with the switch. FWIW, I saw tweets from some OU, IN, and Toledo fans jealous of our bowl pick. Our system is messed up. Congrats, Toledo, you won the MAC Championship. You get to go to Mobile, Alabama! OU, you list the MAC East. You get to go to the Bahamas! Akron, you beat everyone's expectations, but still got soundly beat in the MAC Championship. You get to play Lane Kiffin in the Boca Raton Bowl! UB, you had 6 wins, but still were not that great, you can sit at home. Oh, and by the way, we are going to pass on the Camelia Bowl.

I get that they need sponsors...but c'mon companies make it UNIQUE! like "The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl" Good name, memorable, cute...kinda hokey. But I guess there's no way to make Cheribundi Tart Cherry unique...but hey Purchasing the sponsorship has had it's desired effect: never heard of them before...and now I've been to their site.

No... Kato was only out 1 play after he lost his helmet.

I am a bit jealous of you guys going to a bowl in Florida. We have never had a bowl in Florida. Hope you give Kiffin a good kickin'!

Reminds me that I wish Akron would schedule the academies again. We used to play Army (and Navy) from time to time. Nothing like hearing the Army band play the Akron Blue and Gold as part of a Cadet review. Also cool to watch the Army Black Knights parachute in with the game ball. West Point...beautiful!

The Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl...what an awful name. Just keep it at Boca Raton Bowl, sponsored by Cheribundi Tart Cherry....good lord.

Amen to that.

I think it's more of an indictment against the University and its marketing department. Soccer is the #1 sport in the world and is rapidly growing in the US (look at the MLS expansion in the last 5-10 years). The game on Friday is on ESPNU, with the Championship Game airing on ESPN2; this isn't a low end tournament/sport. The football team just laid a major egg on ESPN yesterday, but that can easily be forgotten with good showings on Friday & hopefully Sunday. TennZip isn't the only one frustrated with the lack of attention given to the soccer program in recent weeks. There has been virtually ZERO mentioning of their NCAA tournament matches at Zips basketball games, while the football team has had fanfare daily. The football team should absolutely get attention, but there's plenty of room for Akron soccer, too. We are the Alabama/OSU/Clemson/Duke/Kansas/UNC of Men's Soccer. Regarding the game, the only question I have is how wide is the pitch in Philadelphia? Someone mentioned that Louisville plays on a narrower pitch, hence the reason Akron found finding space difficult on the offensive end. Stanford's experience scares me more than their game does. Akron is the best team in this tournament from a pure soccer skill and technical ability standpoint; I hope it isn't automatically neutralized like it was on Friday with the narrower pitch.

The MAC blows.

This is just my opinion, nothing personal, i don’t think they should of went to Woodson, i think they panicked a little when Toledo scored & thought they needed to pass to stay with them & feel more comfortable with Woodson in that situation & abandoned the game plan, Woodson was bad though, that late read coming back across the field for a pick was a terrible read. & i think that made it worse with short offensive possessions & clock stopping on all incomplete passing & i was begging for 0.00 on that clock before halftime because it was like throwing ⛽️ on a ? and it got ugly in a hurry but if i could point to one thing, penalty on Newman’s touchdown followed by another & a blocked field goal. That was a huge swing

I don't know Kato personally, but I'm not sure bashing of him is warranted based on what we know or don't know. I don't see him posting or saying the things his father says. Unfortunately (and naturally) that is the perception you will get when his father acts as a mouth piece. My thoughts: I had a good time. Not too bad of a drive to Detroit at all and we are lucky to have the MAC Championship for football (and basketball) in short driving distance at such great facilities. I would consider going there annually even if the Zips aren't there. I've never really spent time in Detroit and it reminds me quite a bit of Cleveland. It was a nice atmosphere and felt.....like an actual real college football environment for once. I didn't hate the pregame party, but it most definitely was not worth $35 for a so-so breakfast buffet and cheers. I would not do it again. Regarding the game, I'll start with coaching. Can't say I'm too pleased with the offense or defensive coaching yesterday, more so the offense. I do not agree with benching Kato mid-way through the first quarter. The O wasn't effective (not all his fault), but its not like the game was getting away from us either at that point. Woody wasn't effective either. Yeah he had the TD call back but anyone on the roster should have been able to execute that play to a wide open TE. It was one of the most disappointing halves of offense I can recall during the Bowden era. What was it, 88 yards? Then I knew Gasser's kick was going to get blocked. I still am not sure he is better than O'leary, (even though that isn't saying much). I believe that is 3 straight weeks now where a kick has been blocked. Then we bench Tommy for Kato. That's something Hue Jackson would do and that isn't a compliment, even though it worked out. The whole QB carousel definitely did not cost us the game, though. The defense did a good job forcing turnovers, but it doesn't seem like any adjustments were made from game 1 to game 2. Maybe Toledo is just that good though (and they probably are). Just a ton of talent on offense and I think both of the Johnson WRs will be back next season. I did like how the team never gave up. It would have been the easy thing to do. Even though the game was over, we fought back, made it look respectable, and actually ended up beating the spread. Made some nice plays in the 4th. Kato took maybe one of the hardest hits I've ever seen a QB take. You could tell he was really hurting, but he looked able to go back in if the coaches want. Kelley led a nice drive as well. Even though we got spanked, great programs like Miami, Auburn, and TCU actually ended up losing by more than us yesterday. Funny thing is, Auburn spanked Georgia just a few weeks ago! It happens. Point is to hold off on the ridiculous knee jerk reactions that losing to by far the best team in the league has somehow undone everything that has happened the past month of the season. Progress was made this year. We obviously aren't striking gold overnight with the Bowden regime, but there is no question that the program is still trending upward under him. Let's regroup and get ready to go out and try and win this bowl game. I don't recall any serious injuries yesterday.Alvin's looked bad, but he went back in IIRC. I also hope our wait to go to Detroit again comes a lot sooner than the 12 years it was this time.

After 3 years of crap, I'm finally happy to hear people saying that the committee "Removed politics from the equation, and did what was right". And it's funny that many people have pointed out that the Suckeyes were always the ones who were at the center of the political garbage. Maybe that era is over? Don't bet on it. Here's another interesting fact I just learned that all of the Suckeye and Big 10 complainers will need to face. The Big 10 was the ONLY conference in the country this year that had ZERO non-conference wins against any team in the Top 25.

Quite the vertical by UG5 - has he been working out with the basketball team?

The problem parents have moved up from youth sports to high school sports to college sports. Damn, there's even one in the NBA now.