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Buffalo is clearly the favorite and rightly so. Nevertheless, this is great bulletin board material. The Zips were shown no respect with 5th place voting and neither Ivey or Utomi making either the first or second teams. Great opportunity for the team, Ivey and Utomi, to prove them wrong. #GoZips

• Lako went from (undersized) walk-on to MAC defensive player of the week. • Brian Bell has a hamstring issue. • NIU has a great defense, and they score just enough to win. They don't care about stats. • We went back to basics on Sunday practice, how to hold on to the ball. • NIU leads the league in sacks #15 is one of the best at it. • NIU blitzes through the run lanes. • You can pick up stuff watching a game live (BYU vs NIU) rather than the tape because announcers can give away stuff during the broadcast. They get to interview the coaches during the week.

Fearless Forecast: Zips - 3 Huskies - 6 No TD's scored in the game. We'd like to call it a defensive struggle, but deep down we know neither offense could punch it's way out of a wet paper bag.

Hearing some rumors of Missouri State for our 12th game. They also only have 11 games scheduled and would be open Dec. 1st.

Coach singles out "number fifteen" in his press conference calling him one of the best. Sutton Smith, #15, is 11th in the nation in sacks with 7. According to Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune...The redshirt junior spent the offseason figuring out how to add to his frame and his legacy, which he said he hopes will include a Heisman Trophy candidacy. “Everyone says (opponents) have had a year to prepare for me,” Smith said. “I look at it differently. I say I’ve had a year to prepare for them.” His formula for adding about 20 pounds of muscle, bulking up to 241? “A lot of freaking eating,” he said. He consumes about 6,000 to 7,000 calories per day, including three 1,500-calorie protein shakes. He eats every 2½ hours, devouring broccoli, rice and chicken like it’s a job. At home this summer in Missouri, he and his older brother spent hours in the gym. Photo: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

I want to consistently be competing for MAC Championships. Dambrot consistently achieved that so you won't find a single post in this forum of me calling for his job. Akron plays in arguably the worst division in all of FBS yet Bowden has managed to only lead the Zips to the title game once in 7 years (yes, I'm already penciling in Buffalo to make it this year). Trying to compare what Bowden achieved, which isn't much, to the success Dambrot had is a disservice to the basketball program that went to 9 MACC in a 11 year span. If Bowden achieved that level of success, I'd be asking for him to get a statue.

Quan Easterling picked up an offer from Wisconsin. Christopher Uran is Zips' LB commit Jared Uran's father & drops encouraging notes to other Zip recruits on twitter. He seems like a great guy. He tweeted this: I, of course, "Liked" his tweet. Lol

Fearless forecast: Zips have zero fumbles.

I think a 6 win season that was only 11 games gets us a bowl bid. Everyone knows we would have beat Nebraska and they were too afraid to reschedule.

I'm not surprised at UB. The road to the MACC will go through Buffalo for at least the next year or two. I am surprised at how high voters have Miami. We need a lot of pieces to come together quickly to contend, but the talent is there.

I agree, contingent upon the occurrence of several tragic bus accidents.

Fearless forecast - The Zips defense forces numerous NIU punts, and Jeremiah "Boogie" Knight dances not once, but twice in the endzone as the punt return team leads the Zips to victory!

Zips win a close one. FF: We don't have a fumble this week But really, I'll go with - Van Edwards breaks 100 yards this week

Blows my mind how many people want Matt Campbell to be the next Browns coach. I'll admit I've always disliked him since his days at Toledo. Not many college coaches are successful in the NFL without any previous NFL experience. Can't imagine if guys like Spurrier and Saban couldn't do it, that a guy who is 15-17 and barely beat Akron this season would succeed in the NFL. But hey, the Browns have always been good at picking coaches.

Wow.... then you should know better. I’m done.

my FF - D scores more points than O

Thank you for your fandom. Thank you for your support. I'll stick by calling Kato stupid because he forced the refs to call an unsportsmanlike penalty on him by going to the other teams bench, which is never, ever allowed. We were going to get a 15 yard penalty on their stupid LB who ran off with Kato's shoe. Be mature, let the refs handle it. They saw it. We get the 15 yards and a first down. Kato is supposed to manage the game, not emotionally let the game manage him. I expect us to play good football. If we do the W's will take care of themselves. When we don't I'll say so. To me it starts with the coaching staff. They are there to solve it especially when we are playing worse than when we started the season. I wish you well and hope your son stays healthy and achieves all his dreams at Akron. I also played for the Zips. Go Zips.

What is the next level you all are looking for? So, who can lead us to the next level....a young hot shot coach who will leave after 2-3 years? This reminds me of the discussions around our basketball team "going to the next level" and KD not being the guy to do it. Bball wins 20+ games, MAC Championships, loses marquis games - deemed a failure by most...KD can't win the big ones and take us to the "next level" FBall is consistently competitive, has marquis wins, 4 years with Wagon Wheel, bowl appearances, a bowl win - deemed a failure...TB can't take us to the "next level" The definitions of "next level" on here are all over the place. We are and will remain a MAC school - that in itself limits what level you can get to IMHO.

To be clear, I made no mistake. I’ve only missed two games this year (Buffalo and CMU); and yes, I see the quality of the players being recruited. Look, there is always room for improvement; but I think we have a good group to continue to build upon. I would venture a guess that there is not one player or coach that wakes up on game day and says “I think I’ll only give 50% today”. I know the results are not always what we want or expect; but sometimes we have to be adults and understand, this football thing is hard, winning ain’t easy. Calling Kato stupid was clearly out of line; it was immature and irresponsible. From what I’ve observed he is competitive and has a true passion for the game. Perhaps we are in different places in our lives; but I’m a Zips Fan because my son chooses to play the game. Because my son chooses to play the game; I chose to be a fan win, lose or draw. Just my opinion, from one ZIPS fan to another. Go ZIPS???

Nearly 2 out of every 3 FBS teams (61.5%) make bowl games now. Making a bowl game use to be the benchmark of a good season, but now even 5-7 teams make bowl appearances.

If changes were made; you would just find something else to whine about.

Try to look at the glass half full. We forgot about Zips beating Northwestern who beat Wisconsin yesterday. Bowden is a pretty loyal guy. I don't see him getting rid of Milwee. The MAC is a pretty good conference this year. E .Michigan and Miami are both decent programs now. E Michigan beat Purdue earlier in the season and Purdue taking out the OSU a weeks ago.

Gone from an 1-11 team to winning the Wagon Wheel 4 years in a row, a MAC East title with a team that shouldn't have made it in the midst of a QB controversy, and 3 bowl appearances, including a bowl win, best record since moving to Div 1A, and beating aquality B10 team for the first time, ever... The people who think Bowden's job is on the line are simply out of touch with reality.

Kato runs to the other sideline...to get his shoe. Quite forgivable. Strangest thing I have ever seen. Brady does not even know he bumped into an official .....what a lack of discipline. I get that some of you cannot get over your hate of Milwee and that you have to have someone to blame when kids make mistakes, but seriously, are you not able to look at the the bigger picture, ever?

"Larry Williams has to make a move. Insist Bowden make a move at OC. If not, I suppose we’ve gotta clean house (which I don’t really want to do). This product is not worth spending $$ to watch." "This is a ridiculous comment." Why is it ridiculous to state the obvious? We do not play good football! This team has no discipline. Look at the penalties especially the player control ones. Kato is stupid and runs to the other team's sideline so he negates their unsportsmanlike penalty. Brady bumps a ref and is tossed. Petersen is good for penalties every game. The OLine sucks and has done so for years. Council being out is no excuse. We are always bad on the line. The coaching is pathetic. Milwee is in over his head and Bowden won't make a change. We do not play well yet alone win against the better teams in the MAC. Our record is horrible against MAC teams with winning records. I totally reject the philosophy that says if you win you are doing OK. You can not build a program, nor a following, on that because the better teams will beat you when you have been used to winning ugly, like today. Remember Toledo and FAU at the end of last season. We should, and must, expect more than winning ugly and our program should be better.

I'd agree with this in most any other case, but my biggest beef is Duquesne showcasing its brand to the recruits in our area, especially when they aren't going to be playing us.

Zips are is good position to win the rest of their games. So will be 8-3. Won't need this extra game.

Picked 5th. No one on pre-season All-MAC. Should be a nice little chip on the shoulder